Mongolian Permaculture: Day 10 – Busbundt Co-Op

BUSBUNDT CO-OPERATIVE

Best efforts at growing vegetables we have seen so far.

Natsagdorg, the Co-Op Leader, is not afraid to experiment and try new things, and is clearly learning quickly. He lost all of his livestock in last years’ tzud, so he is highly motivated as well.

This landscape here is also very flat, and the Co-Op irrigates its fields by diverting water from a small stream which meanders through the basin, no more than two feet wide and just over ½ foot deep. Once again, except for the clumps of spiny grass which meander through the landscape, you wouldn’t know that water is flowing freely through these grassy plains.

On the mountains in the distance the keylines are clearly visible as the green band where the grass starts - right where the curve of the slope changes from convex to concave – almost ruler’s edge straight across one of the mountains. The brown stony color above this line indicates that there is not enough nutrient to support much vegetation.

This keyline would be the ideal place to catch and store water for distribution to the passturelands below, but it is also the ideal place for planting tree crops for animal fodder, timber, and food. The water slows down enough off the slope here to deposit nutrient before seeping down into the plain. A well-designed system here could feasibly feed and water itself, and be almost maintenance-free.

The plot is fenced, and the weeds have been left to grow outside of the crop rows. A weed with umbrelliferous flowers flourish at the perimeter, attracting predatory insects and the small birds that prey on them. Fat hen grows vigourously in the irrigation ditches, while daisies and dandelions are also prominent - a stark contrast to what the landscape outside the fencing might look like if left ungrazed.

10 tonnes of manure has been collected by hand from the surrounding grassland and used as fertilizer, the crops clearly loving it.

The potato crop in the fields is the best we’ve seen [including a 750 g monster potato grown last season], and the cucumbers in the long, narrow tunnel greenhouse are looking very healthy with some healthy cukes on some vines. Naars trees, the same ones we identified in Ulanbaataar, have been planted inside the fenceline to establish a windbreak. They will also double for animal fodder and a source of timber. Lots of good things going on here.

One of the biggest challenges growers face here is the very short growing season, and the turnips, beetroot and carrots are not looking good for this stage of the season.

Rick suggests some intercropping strategies [raddishes amongst the carrots to help evenly space them, mixing sand with the fine carrot seeds when sowing to ensure a more even distribution], and also teaches potato strategies again to maximize yield from their seed potato. Kat teaches her first session on seed saving. Class is held, like the last two days, huddled inside a small ger next to the growing fields.

We are treated again to a Mongolian feast, with meat so good that even our resident vegitarian conceeds it was tasty. Mongolian banquets are meat and dairy fests, which of course feature meat broth, noodles with meat, meat on the bone, more meat, and all washed down with milke tea, dried curds, clotted cream, and yoghurt…

Kat has figured out a strategy for vegetarians to survive this kind of celebration:

1. Choose your bone carefully - look for pieces with the leas amount of tendon / cartillege / unidentified objects and cling to the first piece of meat offered to you and nurse it through your entire meal. It's not the amount of meat that you eat, it's the length of time that you 'savour' it for. If you pick this bone clean your hosts will only offer you more.
2. Hold your breath when sipping the organ stew. Have some bottled water or fruit juice nearby in your canteen to wash the taste out of your mouth. Better yet, have some vodka handy so that you can work up the courage to swallow pieces of organs floating in your broth.
3. Beam with delight when offered pickled vegges or [on the very rare occasion] green salad to encourage your host to offer you more.
4. Sit next to a friendly carnivore whom you can offload your meat dishes upon when nobody is looking.
5. Clap your hands like a madwoman when the yoghurt appears. If you do this well, it will be lovingly prepared with clotted cream and sugar as you swallow back your drool. If you do this exceptionally well, you may even be given a jar of take-away yoghurt of your very own. Your belly will thank you for this. Your ger mates may not.
6. Mongolians can finish off a large bowl of meat squeaky-clean in about 15 minutes flat. A feast like this is a great honour, and a cultural experience you will never forget.

We stop in at a root cellar under construction just outside of Natsagdorg’s hasha [family compound] back in the soum center, 2 meters under ground with the capability to store up to 15 tons of produce, managing the temperature inside at around 0C during winter when it can get as cold as -40C outside.

Mongolians have also come up with a unique solution to extend their growing season using cold frames: Horse dung is collected near the cold frame and burnt. The dung will retain this heat for up to 60 days, and provides enough heat for the seedlings to grow in the cold frame until the frost danger passes.

As Bek walks us through their solution, we speculate on ways this design might be improved:

• Locating cold frames inside the greenhouse would create a micro-climate that can be as much as two climate zones further south, extending the head-start to the growing season even more, and providing further frost protection.
• Locating the cold frame and greenhouse directly adjacent to the growing plot would cut down on transportation costs and risks to drive seedlings out to the plot from the soum for planting.
• Using a hot compost instead of burning the horse dung may extend the useful life of this valuable resource because the compost can be used as potting mix to transplant seedlings into the field once it has cooled down. This may also save on valuable fuel that is currently burned to heat up the dung; this same heat can be created by the action of aerobic microbes breaking down a hot compost bed.

Highlight of the day? …Riding horse with Bek to the mountains in the distance after our meal, on Mongolian time… no rush. It is not often that those of us in the developed world get to enjoy the silent sound of being alone in the natural landscape, unfettered by fences or roads or traffic.

Then, a beautiful moment today that lasted for an eternity: Bek galloped up ahead of me and my horse to leave us in solitude, and the only sound was of the wind dancing through the steppe in time with the beat of trotting hooves and the ocasional horsey snort.

My mind empty, my heart full; today I rode the Mongolian Steppe with the ancients…

Mongolian Permaculture: Day 9 - Tudevtey Soum and Oyogni Shim Co-Op

Walking the streets of Tudvetey.

Met with the soum Governor in a large white building having its blue trim repainted in the town center this morning. The daytime temperatures range in the 20s during summer [though there were a couple days at 40C just before our arrival], and it can be easy to forget just how harsh the winters here can be.


We step through double-doors - as in the first door opens outwards, you cross a footlong threshold, then push the second door inwards - and climb a narrow stairway to the Governor's office. The double-doors are prevalent throughout the building, as are double-windows - a low-tech version of double-glazing - to keep precious heat in during the freezing winter months.

The Governor of Tudvetey

The Governor is on a phone call when we arrive, so we are ushered into a kind of trophy room full of oil painting portraits, photos, and a couple bust statues of prominent Mongolians born in this soum: past Mongolian Presidents and Prime Ministers, Working Heros from the Socialism era, Actresses, Military Leaders, Scientists, Composers... this is clearly a very talented town.


Kat is happy to find that women seem to have an equal ranking in Mongolian society, there are photos and portraits of men and women in all sorts of leadership positions.


The Governor's office is sparsely elegant and looks over the town square. He is a large man, resembling a retired wrestler to me. My suspicions are confirmed [perhaps?] when we spy some framed photos of Mongolian Wrestlers in his display cabinet amongst offical-looking gifts and certificates.


Speaking through Bek, Rick introduces us as Designers of Sustainable Systems, and respectfully explains why we are here and what we hope to achieve by teaching the Permaculture Design Course. I'll do my best to paraphrase:


"As you know, the land here has reached its capacity to hold livestock and weather patterns have been changing, giving you more frequent tzuds. We want to respect your traditions and help you preserve Mongolian culture, and help teach your people how to grow vegetables to be more resilient during the hard times..."


Rick sounds like an International Diplomat, and I suppose that in this context he is ...we get the distinct feeling over the next few days that many of the foreigners who have been this deep into Mongolia have been, well, different...
In a culture so steeped in such a rich tradition, and at the same time increasingly obsessed with the razzle-dazzle of the 'Developed World', three Permaculturists must be quite an anomoly:


"Yes, we in the West do have lots of bright and shiny things, but we are learning that all that glitters is not gold. The food we eat is controlled by big corporations more interested in their profits than in our health, and our taste for bigger, faster, sweeter, fancier, easier ...has caused us to swell up like a fat, rich, and spoiled child.
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse always gets the cheese. You can learn more from our mistakes than our advances, and use these lessons to grow stronger instead of losing your way like we have.
Our way of life is not currently sustainable; Permaculturists have gone back to study traditional cultures to learn again, how to design systems that take better care of the land we live on, so that we can take better care of our peoples. This is the information and knowledge that we are here to share."


It is a lot different than the typical western approach - hands on hips, this is how we do things, aren't you lucky I am here to help... well intentioned, perhaps, but how effective is that approach to Overseas Development?


More to the point, how responsible is the typical western approach to Overseas Development?


The Governor has known of arrival for months beforehand, pledges his support, tells us of some of the initiatives his government has begun [39 hectares designated 'protected' for growing hay fodder] and asks us for help in designing a better septic system than the existing pit latrines [dug just above the water table, not good].


One of his senior ministers and a staff agronomist sits in on the meeting and take notes. We invite her out to the Oyogni Shim Co-Operative site visit and training today, and we all squeeze into the 4WD to get there.

Swampland so flat and dense with grasses that
if you don't watch your step, you'll end up knee-deep in water.

The Oyogni Shim Co-Op is located on a swampland so flat that we cannot see the water flowing except for the tell-tale sign: clumps of reedy weeds meander along the water flow. We are unable to see the flowing water until you almost stumble into it.





This group is struggling more than than the others, and are very clearly novices at growing vegetables. They are hand-carrying water from the stream into their plot to irrigate 20 hectares+ with watering cans, quickly burning their labour resources and morale.

Rick explains to co-operative members
how mulching will decrease labour and increase crop productivity.

Again, Rick concentrates on the simplest areas that can have the most immediate impact: mulching to increase soil water retention, extending their growing season by pinching seedling shoots off potato stock and keeping in the greenhouse until the danger of frost has passed, and intercropping chives with cabbages to mask their scent from cabbage moth.


Bek has a long meeting with the co-operative members after class to rally their morale. A lot of work will need to be done here.

Mongolian Permaculture: Day 8 – Oyogni Khishie Co-Operative.

OYOGNI KISHIE CLASS PHOTO

After three hours of swerving through the countryside in the 4WD today, Ingktor pulls off the track into the grasslands towards a couple of gers in the distance. As we approach, a couple men are huddled around a freshly butchered goat carcass.

Welcome to Oyogni Khishie Co-Operative.

The Aid Agency seeded this project around 2002 with a $10,000AUS investment to bore a 40-meter artesian well so that the 29-member Co-Operative could access water and start growing vegges for a market garden.

Since then, changing weather patterns and increasingly severe winters have caused the Co-Op members to lose most of their livestock... but the herders are quick learners and have managed to grow and sell enough vegges over the last three seasons to replenish much of their herds.

Our mission today, Bek informs us, is to enjoy a traditional Mongolian Barbecue, then teach a short course in the aternoon. Not sure what the course is supposed to cover, or how long has been allocated, so we are reading the landscape as we drive up and are taken on a quick tour of the Co-Op’s plot.

Distance is relative to Mongolians, who have spent lifetimes wandering the vast steppe in search of good pasture for their herds… it is a short 300-400 meter walk from the ger to the plot. Compared to the grassy basin we are in, which stretches from low mountain to low mountain, the 9ish hectacre plot we are touring is a small vegge patch. Their herds are grazing somewhere unseen from where we are, well away from the delicious vegges.

Then, we are treated to a 10 course Mongolian banquet:

1. Clotted cream on fresh baked bread
2. Sheep and goat curds [cheese]
3. Pickled beetroot, pickled green tomatoes
4. Milk tea, two versions
5. Mutton broth
6. Organs
7. Mongolian Barbecue! ...hack, pick and chew meat off the bones...
8. Two more types of mutton broth
9. Vodka [just a sip, out of respect]
10. DELICIOUS Sheep and goat’s milk yoghurt with clotted cream and sugar

Traditional Mongolian Barbecue = Portable Hangi...

An old metal milk can is layered with hot stones from a fire that has been burning all day, a couple onions, a bucket full of spuds, and pieces of the butchered goat, then sealed and left to cook in its own heat.

No time to sleep off our feast; we wipe our greasy hands clean on leather bridles which are passed around the tent, and walk back out to begin the training. The thunder rolling in the background all day began to build, and just as Rick started the class outside the greenhouse, down came the rain…driving everyone sprinting back to the shelter of the ger where we had just feasted for two hours.

We all huddle inside, and Rick launches into almost four unscripted hours of training, focusing on the areas identified during our walk-around which can be applied most immediately and with the highest value return:

• Simple strategies such as pinching off and planting the shoots from your potatoes to help maximize potato production [The Ace of Spuds Method, from Robert DJ Hart’s book Forest Gardening]
• Simple strategies such as stressing seedlings until they flower before planting them to hep maximize tomato production
• Seed saving and selection
• Using southernwood species found in surrounding grasslands to create herbal pest barrier
• Using mulch to increase soil water retention, moderate soil temperature, improve soil quality, and increase crop productivity
• Using urine as fertilizer
• Intercropping to double crop yields from the same area of land
• Introducing chickens as a useful addition to the herd and high value crop [eggs, meat, more chickens]

Mongolian Permaculture: Day 7 - Rest Day

HOW'S DA HAWAIIAN T-SHIRT DEEP IN MONGOLIA!?!

HOE WA'A BABY

Nadaam celebrations and competitions continue for the rest of the soum. Most shops are closed while they enjoy their holiday. We decide to take it easy and give our bodies some much-needed rest. Our schedule has been evolving daily, and once things start rolling, we don’t know when the next opportunity for a full rest day may come.

A quick visit to the hyrdo-electric station on the river just outside of town which provides electricity for 10,000 people during the summer. When the river freezes over, there is no electricity for the soum. The water at the base of the small spillover dam, perhaps two meters high, is churning with small fish trying to leap up the embankment - so thick that you can fish them out, grizzly-bear style with our bear hands. [zing! =p]

Appropriate Technology. 

Fantastic that the community is using a renewable source of energy. Perhaps wind or solar may have been a better choice? Most gers out on the steppe are equipped with small solar panels to power lights and even satellite televisions inside, but there is a noticable absence of wind generators.

First shower since we left Ulanbaataar! …a public bath house costructed during Socialism times with a pipe coming in from the boiler room housed in a wooden shack in the courtyard. 2,500MNT gets you thirty minutes of hot water in a shower stall the size of my first apartment. Best. Shower EVER.

Catch up day on audio / visual. It takes at least an hour at the end of each day to dowload, log, and sort all the photos taken, and write the daily journal entry. Then it takes about another hour to edit together a short clip for our daily video log, which I am now shooting on my mobile phone camera because it would suck too much time and electricity to log, capture, and edit footage from The Program Director's video camera into our daily video entry.

Research continues. A walk around the compund where the PDC will be held, identifying opportunities to improve existing design in the compound, identifying opportunities to create design appropriate and replicable design strategies that will be easily transferred to a nomadic herder’s context. No sense teaching strategies that will only work inside a walled compund when our students live out on the steppe.

Question of the day: 

How appropriate is it to teach a culture that has adapted to eating meat and dairy over thousands of years to grow vegetables?

Mongolian Permaculture: Day 6 - Nadaam in Tosontsengel

NO SIGNS OF MALNUTRITION HERE

Today I travelled in time.

Standing there in the Soum’s Nadaam wrestling arena as stark eagle shadows circled the grass, big burly Mongolian wrestlers in their traditional garb circled each other while the entire village watched, as they have done for a thousands of years.

I am developing my own genuine Mongolian squint in the bright glare of the Mongol sun.

This is a fierce people, hardened by the harsh conditions of their land, a deeply proud and noble people with warm hearts and sunny smiles.

This is a people who walk with a confidence in their step born of a connection to their past, which lives and breathes in them with every step on the steppe.

This is a people who know that at one time they ruled over most of the known world. You feel it when they look into your eyes.

They have lived so close to the land for so long, walking a fine line between death and survival through -40?C nights in the long winter, living like marmots for half the year and then emerging into the flowering plains, blinking in the stark sunlight.

I sit in the crowd and watch the wrestling, men built like yaks who move like apes, lumbering about in their big boots, flying like eagles to pay respects to their tradition, exploding in a flurry to bring their quarry down.

Rick has designated me his champion should he be challenged to a bout, so should we be challenged my strategy is to find the biggest, baddest dude and lose to him without hurting or humiliating myself [ie last for more than 10 seconds]…

Meanwhile, Rick has entered the local chess tournament and is getting himself whooped and having a great old time. Kat has made friends with some locals and has been having a conversation for the last hour or so about what she has no idea, though the crowd that has gathered around her drawing things in the sand are all quite pleased about the way the conversation has been going.

Bek has left us to catch up with some work and sleep back at the compound, so Ingktor patiently waits and watches us and the wrestling.

Suddenly, the stadium starts emptying and Ingktor piles us into our 4WD. Clouds of dust trails rise into the sky from the mountain behind us, and everyone jumps on the nearest horse, motorcycle, car, or person and charges up the hill. The horse races have been spotted in the distance since we saw them start and disappear hours ago – we’ve guessed that their course was one lap around the basin, probably about 50km or so – and we pile back out of the 4WD with the rest of the soum to watch the end of the race.

Four riders gallop to the finish line, at first just another dust trail rising form the horizon, then a speck, then four specks, then we can see its an all-out battle for the finish… the third rider pulls to the front as they thunder down the home straight, and I rub my eyes to make sure I am really seeing what is unfolding. The riders are about 6 or 7 years old, charging along at full bore, whipping their glistening mounts while the crowd whoops with delight.

The rest of the field is not far behind, and everyone is home safely within five minutes of the leaders, at which point the entire crowd turns around and races back down the mountain towards the stadium to show of the winning horses.

Nadaam. Wrestling. Horses. Mongolia.

Oh yeah, and there was archery.

Awesome.