What is Permaculture? Meet Perma Club's Sacha & Pamela.
To start off with, I would like to drop the exciting news that we will be...... sharing the harvest from Perma Club with you!
At Perma Club, it is now the cherry-harvesting season and Surinam Cherries (a.k.a. Brazilian Cherries) are ruling!
Care to know why those are taking the spotlight? These exotic Brazilian Cherries are tiny in Cinderella Pumpkin shapes with a glossy red peel. Or would they look like mini festive lanterns to you?
This variety is very juicy and has a medicinal herb-like flavor to it. They are undoubtedly very different from the commercially grown cherries inside-out and now that I have finally tasted some, another finger is taken down when it comes to 'never-have-I ever'.
Bless her heart, Pamela of Perma Club has generously shared her harvest with us and we want to pass on that unconditional love to all of you that are keeping up with FoodCraft's next move. For orders placed for Tuesday (May 10) delivery, we will include a free portion of the cherries (while stock lasts).
This is the Brazilian Cherry! Too cute to munch on!
I first met Pamela in our cooking class. With Pamela pointing at the kitchen scraps that I was collecting in a bowl, I clearly remember the conversation starter: "Do you compost here?". Yes, I knew about composting and almost immediately anyone would relate it to soil. FoodCraft does not have any soil in proximity. That was when Pamela taught me a technique called 'Bokashi' - which is actually a Japanese term! It is a method of composting in a double-layered bucket and you can totally do this in an apartment. (I'm not going into details about this today!)
Anyway, that was how I got to know about Pamela's passion for sustainability, food and Perma Club where Pamela and Sacha, her husband run a farm that is beyond organic. If you have heard the word "Permaculture", that is what they are doing. If not, keep reading.
This is Perma Club in a nutshell 👇🏻
"Perma Club is a permaculture farm located on a small plot of land in Clearwater Bay which first broke soil in October 2012. By replicating systems in nature we house over 100 varieties of edible plants separated into different zones. On one side we have an agroforest where our big fruit trees live and on the other end we have our kitchen garden which we tend to on a regular basis as the seasons evolve. We are NOT agriculturalists, we are horticulturalists. We practice the management of plants, not the management of land. On our mission to care for people, care for the planet and SHARE THE SURPLUS, we don’t just educate people on how to grow their own food, we raise awareness about the social injustices surrounding the food supply chain."
“In university, when we learned about economics and supply chains, I came to the conclusion that we were living ‘unsustainably’ and that the world was going into dangerous territory if we did not change our habits. At first I was just interested in growing my own food to understand how to solve the issue of hunger. However when it came to practicing agriculture, it required a lot of land manipulation, so when I thought about starting my first project I was fortunate enough to meet Andrew McAuley from Kadoorie Farm and he introduced me to permaculture.
There are three ethics to permaculture: “Care for people, care for the planet, and share the surplus.” Permaculture is also holistic, so when I started Perma Club it was initially about creating a settlement where we live in harmony with nature. All I wanted to do was plant and build things and I reached out to the community to help me through the process. On this journey we came up with the concept of Perma Club, which is an incubator for permaculture solutions at a grassroot level.”
Sacha Van Damme
If you visit Perma Club, you will see that Pamela and Sacha walk the talk. To share my honest impression about the farm, I was surprised by how geographically confined the land was. Pamela is always sharing her surplus with us which led me imagine a very large piece of land there is to manage but no. That was a lesson to learn, it is not the more the better, we don't need a lot of land to feed everyone.
They have a just-the-right-size beautiful garden and farm with an outdoor kitchen to enjoy the freshest harvest. If you have ever come across the farm-to-table experiences in Sicily, the South if Italy, you should know that Hong Kong surprisingly has the same to offer and to plan yours with Perma Club!
As we mentioned about the Brazilian Cherries, they are now doing a 'Cherry Jam Sesh' in May at their homey farm. Remember, harvests have seasons and this will not last forever!
They have a just-the-right-size beautiful garden and farm with an outdoor kitchen to enjoy the freshest harvest. If you have ever come across the farm-to-table experiences in Sicily, the South if Italy, you should know that Hong Kong surprisingly has the same to offer and to plan yours with Perma Club!
As we mentioned about the Brazilian Cherries, they are now doing a 'Cherry Jam Sesh' in May at their homey farm. Remember, harvests have seasons and this will not last forever!
To visit Perma Club, visit their website for more details.
Enjoy the days ahead to look forward to a visit to Freida Club's local sanctuary that will reconnect you with yourself and nature without stepping foot on a plane.
PS. This is the seed of a Brazilian Cherry - its big and the shell is soft! (wish technology nowadays would allow a 4D reading experience for the senses!)
