Designing Ecological Habitats - Gaia Education

116 Designing ecological Habitats
Buono amicos
– consapevole e
dignitoso.
Damanhurian family, in response to the global crisis of declining honeybee
populations.
Self-sufficiency is an ongoing learning strategy and a project with many
implications, and we are gradually moving towards our goals. As of today,
we have 60 hectares for growing crops and hay. By 2011 we will be 100%
self-sufficient in meat production; for dairy products 80%; grain production
70%; vegetables between 70 and 100%, depending on the season; wine and
olive oil 40%. Damanhur also has ample chestnut forests in an area we call
the Sacred Woods.
Damanhur’s several agricultural companies include farming, wine
production, fruit trees, wild plants and herbs, cheese making, a bakery, and a
seed bank for preserving the diversity of local plant life. A molecular biology
laboratory for testing to insure that our food products are absolutely GMOfree
completes the picture.
The Spirit of Damanhurian Agriculture
Farming in community, for those who take on the task, is a mission of passion.
What feeds this passion is the direct connection to energies beyond this
human realm, and the collaboration with those energies to not only sustain
our community, but to allow it to thrive, and contribute to the evolution of
humanity on this planet. The constant research to maintain a harmonious
ecosystem puts our farmers into contact with the essential aspects of life,
mediating between nature and our physical survival, in collaboration with
plants and animals, on both material and subtle planes.
Nourishing ourselves with other beings, both plants and animals, implies
a great responsibility. It is not enough for our meat to be organic. The animals
who make this sacrifice for our table must be provided both a high quality
of life, and a dignified death. The tomato and greens in our salad must be