Guba uses Vegware in Swaziland's music festival, Bushfire

To raise awareness for Guba in one our local communities, we were delighted when the organisers of local music & arts festival, Bushfire, agreed to allow us to run a small cafe selling locally produced food in their stunning Sacred Circle over the festival weekend.

Our team of Permaculture facilitators & natural builders became the cafe team overnight for 3 days only. Everyone involved did so as volunteers - the vibe & teamwork was incredible & a lot of fun!

The Gube Story

The Guba farm began as 2.2 hectares of invasive bush & pineapple stumps. The soil was a mix of sandy clay & silty loam but had been depleted by aggressive, non-indigenous plants & decades of conventional pineapple farming that stripped away the topsoil & beneficial nutrients with each rain storm. Although almost three quarters of the land was bush, it added little diversity to the area. The year was 2009. Here we could practice the Permaculture theory we wanted to explore. 

Our enthusiasm was greatly influenced by Masanobu Fukuoka's observational approach to farming combined with an urgent need to appropriately respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis gripping the Swazi nation. Fukuoka reckoned that one-&-a-quarter acres of arable land, farmed naturally, was enough to feed a family in Japan & to leave

“plenty of time for leisure & social activities within the village community.”

Inspired by Fukuoka & other Permaculture-related activists, we began our preparations to become part of the solution, as Permaculture gardeners & trainers growing with our communities toward a more resilient future. Completing our Permaculture Design Course in 2009 helped frame our past sustainable agriculture training & laid the groundwork for the ongoing development of the farm as a working example of tools outlined in Permaculture, Holisitic Land Management, agro-forestry, natural building & natural resource management, to name a few.

As Darrell Frey eloquently stated in his book, Bioshelter Market Garden: A Permaculture Farm, to the student of Permaculture,

"problems are signposts pointing to solutions... Thoughtful application of ecological design for problem solving can set in motion regeneration of soil, watersheds & local ecosystems that in turn help heal regional & global environments."

All the tools & information we need to design & plan sustainable communities are available now. 

We believe that a sustainable future will be rooted to the land. Our farm has been designed to be a valuable educational resource that offers many different types of training, from diet & nutrition, nutrient cycling & diverse agricultural enterprises to our interconnection to the natural world & the social dynamics that perpetuate poor quality of life. Guba is intended to be a tool for those who want to participate in the continuing evolution of a sustainable society.

We are a registered not-for-profit organisation working to reduce inequality in Swaziland by supporting people to affect planned change in their own lives through the provision of high quality learning opportunities, rooted in sustainable & ecologically sound approaches to farming & human development.

Our vision is for all people in Swaziland to have secure access to nutritious food, clean water, shelter & economic stability through their own energies & practices that nurture their physical & social environments.