Tunisia -- Permaculture Farm near Tunis

We visited a permaculture farm about 60 minutes from Tunis. It belongs to Gihad and his family.

 

 

 

 

Gihad was an engineer who just days before his marriage made a bit decision. He quit his job and began working on a farm. A couple years into his farming venture, a friend gave him a book on Cuba's experience with permaculture and decided to do it. He followed it as he developed his own farm, and he has been successful.

 

 

 

 

  

Gihad explains the importance of good roots on plants that are the results of good soil. To achieve good soil, he aerates it by hand instead of using a plow. 

 

Compost is also essential for healthy soil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gihad also built a pond where he breeds fish.

 

Today, he raises olives, vegetables, and chickens. He realized that he could learn to work with Nature's logic although he said that climate change is having an effect on Nature's predictability.

  

 

 

 

 

A prized possession that he grew himself: olive oil. 

Gihad and his family also process foods that they grow themselves or buy or barter.

 

As part of our OAT experience, we immersed ourselves in the culture by learning how to make some typical Tunisian food. One of the women helped us. We tried our best amid some skepticism and fear. The women then fried the food in a big skillet--after fixing the dough so it would hold.

  

 

We enjoyed a delicious lunch made with our own hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gihad also said that making money at the office rarely shows one's own effort for the work done. Farming does! He grows what he needs to eat and then sells the rest. His family buys certain products that he can't provide on his farm or they make barter trades. 

He conducts tours of his farm and teachers other young farmers what he has learned about permaculture. They pay 200 dinars for a week's lessons. If they complete the course, he gives back their money. If they don't, he keeps it. In this way they remain committed to their learning and he has some workers who work for free on his farm. 

Gihad is the son of a Berber father and an Andulusian mother. This blend of cultures is common in this area and acceptable. We have seen this blending of cultures before. When I asked Gihad who influenced who--Sicily or Tunisia--he said they just worked together and shared ideas. It's all quite a natural thing people did in the past.

Tunisia represents a successful blend of cultures without the stress that we sometimes experience today in the USA. Contrary to what I saw in Central Europe where Russia and Germany were constantly picking on their neighbors and trying to dominate them, Tunisia is much more mellow about living with its neighbors, learning from them, and adopting and sharing cultures. An amazing story.