The association owns a 1.1 hectare farm near Mostar (Humilišani). The farm consists of a building with an office space, a classroom for 20 people, a conference room, two rooms for 4 people, a kitchen, a garage, a guest room, a bathroom and an elevator for disabled people. All rooms at the property are fully accessible to people with disabilities.
The farm also has concrete tracks that connect all the facilities on the farm. The facility where the offices are located is protected from external influences by a green flat roof on which a large number of succulents (guardians) of various kinds grow. This roof also serves as a collector and purifier for rainwater that we collect at another utility facility and that we use to water the plants on dry days. The auxiliary facility has an installed and additional cooling chamber with a capacity of 10m3.
The cooling chamber, as well as other electrical consumers, is partly powered by our 4.5 kW solar photovoltaic power plant. In order to have clean water in sufficient quantities for daily use and watering the plants, we made a 90m deep well from which water is also pumped by the sun with an electric submersible pump. The farm has large greenhouse of 500 m2, two orchards with 200 different trees, an apiary, a composting plant, an automated clearing house, a 300kg solar electric dryer and many other amenities.
The farm serves us as a place to work, to educate, to serve as an example and a place to socialize.
The farm operates on permaculture principles without using any herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers and chemistry in general.
Our permaculture farm is a hub of knowledge that contributes to enhancing the quality of life for individuals and communities, promoting nature and the importance of its conservation to preserve it for future generations. So far, we have held 85 workshops for people with disabilities on our farm, along with over 70 workshops for other interested individuals and organizations. We taught various skills, enabling adults to become gardeners within their capabilities and teaching young ones why plants are essential, giving them the opportunity to grow them themselves.
We also worked with elementary and high school students, teaching them how to plant and care for plants and how to reduce waste and improve the environment. With these students, we conducted over 140 workshops, some of which were held on our farm, while others took place in their schools.
We had the opportunity to share our knowledge with international students as well. Our collaboration with United World College in Mostar has been ongoing for seven years, with their students visiting our farm to learn about permaculture. To date, more than 70 of their students have participated in our programs, and each year, interest continues to grow.
In addition to our regular local volunteers, numbering around ten, we have hosted 25 interns from local universities who each spent eight weeks working on our farm. Additionally, we hosted 16 volunteers and 15 interns from abroad who wanted to learn about permaculture and engage in concrete permaculture projects on our farm. Most volunteers and interns came from France and the USA, but also from other countries like the Czech Republic, Spain, Ukraine, Switzerland, and more. The knowledge we have gained on our farm and through permaculture and organic farming education is shared with gardeners across the region via our Facebook page “Ja sadim, a ti,” which has 20,000 members. The farm is also a place where we preserve and exchange a large variety of local seeds with our members—a true Seed Bank!
Since the launch of our permaculture farm, it is estimated that more than 5,000 people have visited or participated in its activities.
