For about three weeks, our team worked on a Permaculture design for the market garden proto.topia near Jüterbog. Under the guidance of the internship supervisor, we focused on getting to grips with the design process, trying out new methods and consolidating those we already knew. The requirement from proto.topia was to bring a largely unused area into production, while incorporating fire protection, water retention and soil building. The result included water retention elements, road layout, and vegetation that has fire-retardant properties, produces biomass, and has marketing potential.

Together with my partner Nikolas Mews, I held the first course on water retention at the Maitreya Healing Biotope. The course covered theory and practice of water retention in the landscape, low-water-use planting, and graywater utilization. The semi-arid conditions of southern Spain provided an authentic setting for this. After the theory sessions in the morning, we tried out various methods of surveying and addressing the terrain before working together to install a swale and several half-moons. These served to collect water from a nearby road where it was causing erosion. In addition, the overall infiltration capacity of Maitreya was increased and the water was used to irrigate the exposed, particularly dry ridge. Finally, the retention elements created were planted according to the model of syntropic agroforestry systems.

Throughout the week, there were additional activities for community building, nature-connecting exercises from wilderness education, yoga, and a sound journey.