Enchanted Studio: Cabiokid

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural production based on natural ecological relationships. It results in a more sustainable land use method and better usage of resources in a cyclic rather than single directional system.

To learn more about such design principles, we stayed in a permaculture farm called Cabiokid, situated in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. The farm was jointly started by Bert Peeters and Tolits Sagustin.

Set against the beautiful Mount Arayat, the land was originally used for rice farming, which was grown using a lot of chemicals and non-sustainable methods. However work was done in May 2001 to re-design the land and restore the soil to its original wealth by introducing local crops back into the ecosystem.

Apart from an overall planning for land use on the site, much of permaculture design encompasses small scale ideas that work symbiotically with others to create an entire network that works. After which, nature takes over to keep the place vibrant and growing.

The lagoon is designed in the shape of a hand, which allows water to reach further into the land. The tip of each ‘finger’ is also made deeper, thus during dry season when the water level recedes, the inner areas still remain moist.

After breakfast, Bert brought us around the farm to explain how some of the elements were designed.

The ideas introduced to us in Cabiokid was of great help during our Masterplanning process for Enchanted Farm as it offered an insight as to what to consider in design such that the land grows sustainably. We would highly recommend that everybody experiences such a style of living at least once!