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7 mar. 2024
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I operate a 42 acre organic coconut / teak estate in the Coconut Triangle of Sri Lanka. This is my late wife Jeanne's ancestral property and we have been living on it since 1999. Since we came here we have been working towards turning a bi-culture plantation in to a model of restorative bio-diversity to which end we have spent the last 14 years developing infrastructure and restoring soil fertility through remineralization. We use renewable energy in the form of Solar, Wind and Bio-gas generation and it is our aim to eventually get off the National Electricity grid.
We practice regenerative agriculture and are replanting our teak wood lot with indigenous forest trees designed to restore bio-diversity and make the estate a model for easy emulation. We hope to ensure financial viability by producing the highest value added Extra extra Virgin coconut oil from by cold pressing the coconut in a hydraulic press operated by renewable energy sources.
At the same time we are inspired by Marcin Jakubowski's Open Source Ecology and will be developing his Global Village Construction kit in a Sri Lankan context.Tipos de ajuda e oportunidades de aprendizado
Trabalho beneficenteProjetos artísticosPrática de idiomasAjuda em projetos ambientaisJardinagemConstrução/faça você mesmoCuidar de animaisAjuda em fazendaAjuda a cuidar da casaManutenção geralAjuda com computadores/internetOportunidades de intercâmbio cultural e aprendizado
We are developing a model for sustainable living through mindful practise.
Ajuda
Update 16 Jun 2021
So we lost Jeanne in December 2019, and then the pandemic hit. The estate needs a lot of tlc, systems restored and unfortunately the Golden Spiral has not survived. First however we have to set about getting the farm on a sound footing again, so we have plans for a replanting program for coconut and vegetables. The analog forest needs some landscaping and planting as well. I also want to scan Jeanne's photographs and create an archive of her work.
Update 18 Nov 2019
We have been offline for awhile because Jeanne has not been doing too well, physically. I am looking for volunteers who would be interested in rehabilitating the Golden Spiral, which involves a lot of weeding, replanting and laying out. Our analog forest also needs some tlc, but at the moment the Spiral is my prerogative. I want to be clear, at the moment Jeanne and taking care of her is our focus. Whoever applies to volunteer with us at this time must have experience looking after older people.
Update 07 Jan 2019
Much of the past year has been spent extracting the timber and planting the forest. We lost much of our giant bamboo waters edge plantings but the Kumbuk trees held. The pandanus held too. We expect to finish our extraction by the end of this month and as such will slowly begin to replant and revive our village garden, pepper plantation and the Golden Spiral. We need to replant pasture grass, fertilize the coconut trees with green manure, which we also have to make, there's weeding, planting, fence repairs, and most importantly landscaping, planning, and laying out the replanting of the forest. It will be a slow wind up because more planning needs to be done, but overall we are interested in hearing from workawayers from February on.
Update 13 Feb 2018
After months of waiting we finally received clearance to carry on with the teak harvest at the end of January. We have started the rest of the extraction. While the teak is being extracted there is only limited work on the farm such as composting, weeding, replanting, fence repair, collecting coconuts etc. As such for the time being we have kinda suspended our volunteer program until there is more work to do on the riverine restoration. If someone is very keen to volunteer with us we might be amenable but for now we are mainly honoring prior commitments.
Update 25 Sep 2017
Well we've just replanted the river bank and the spaces where the teak has been harvested. We have started our nursery with about 400 plants and planted in excess of 1800. Volunteers from Workaway have been indispensable in this effort, putting their backs in and working hard to get the planting done before the rains took hold. Thanks to all who have volunteered over the last few months. Now we await inspection by the Irrigation Department (under whose purview the rivers come) of our replanting before we can proceed.
Update 24 Apr 2017
So we have harvested the first lot of teak and are sourcing plants to begin replanting the riverbank. Simultaneously we begin the nursery for the tertiary planting in a few years.
Update 9 Dec 2016
The harvesting of the teak trees is in hand in preparation for the riverine forest restoration. This is our focus at the moment. We've recently had some bad experiences with people who did not stay the time they agreed to and used us merely as a cheap holiday location, not pulling their weight and making it uncomfortable for us. From our feedback you will see that this is our home and we treat Workawayers as friends. Please only apply if you are willing to keep your commitment.
Update 6 Oct, 2015
The preliminary work on the riverine forest is in hand at the moment. The next step will be to do the design. As of this month we are only accepting Workawayers for a minimum of two (2) weeks as that seems to be the minimum time to accomplish a specific task on farm or in the spiral.
Update 20 June, 2015.
Jeanne tells me we have had volunteers from 27 countries. I try to keep up to date with feedback but must confess there are a few that need updating at the moment. We must thank Xavi and Alba who introduced us to Workaway as we really do enjoy welcoming the world at our doorstep. The experience has made our life quite exotic: sampling a variety of cuisine we would have had to travel the world to experience.
The spiral is now in its third season of growth. After it was laid we went through seven months of drought and we were able to see which plants lasted. Imagine our surprise when we found that although the area around the spiral went brown, the spiral itself mostly remained green. It is our delight that the energy of the spiral will mingle with the good people we meet.
The soft drink factory apparently had their wells dry up during the drought, and the villagers have found that the effects of the drought were exacerbated by the factory taking upwards of 294'000 litres of water per day. Rain water harvesting is something that has become a necessity to us and will be the subject of the third stage of infrastructure.
For now we need to concentrate on restoring and redeveloping the riverine forest that abuts the Maha Oya on the Western boundary of our property. The flood in December 2014 flooded out our neighbours' homes and reached more than 4' higher than our property gate. Fortunately our home is on high ground and so it was not affected but the main road and our land along the river was under water. When these floods were followed by seven months of drought it became clear that while Dabur (the soft drink manufacturer) might have compromised our survival, rain water harvesting can effectively mitigate their worst effects.
We have already started planting an analog forest among the teak trees as they are harvested, but this has not been on our river land which is an 8 acre plot consisting of mainly mature teak and coconut. Analog Forestry entails creating a 'formula' based on criteria of an extant natural forest close to the land to be restored and in as similar a terrain as possible. The target land is then evaluated and its formula described. The deficiency between the natural forest and the land to be restored is then addressed in the design of the analog forest restoration, with a data collection element for future study. We need help to make some preliminary investigations and evaluations that will provide the source data for the design. This includes a tree map, a drainage map, an evaluation of general terrain characteristics, the erosion of the river banks etc.
So while the normal spiral and general farm work is also available we are looking for someone interested in helping to prepare to an application for approval as a Special Project under the Central Environmental Authority for Riverine Forest Restoration using Analog Forestry. This would be a 3-month assignment and would include preparing data for and
assisting the creator of Analog Forestry in creating the design.
Update 20 January, 2014.
Xavi, Alba, Marcin, Monika, Ravi, Rev. Rahula Thero, Govinda, Chandra, Yaso, Rohini, Kalyani, Lalani, Baby Nona, Srimathi, Pemawathi, Kavita, Samira, Dumindu worked and finished the first planting of the spiral. Xavi did a wonderful job plotting the spiral.
Now we are tending to it, continuing with the planting grooming and landscaping the spiral and the area surrounding. We still need help doing these things.
We also need help setting up a website to promote the struggle against corporatization of public sovereign resources.
Original Listing:
Two years ago the land adjoining our land which had been sold by Jeanne's sister was purchased by a large Indian fruit drink manufacturer with Sri Lankan government approval and active support to exploit deep groundwater resources and export some 3.36 million litres of fruit based beverages to South India every month. This approval was given without any assessment of available groundwater resources and we are currently in litigation about this.
To counter this loss of Pranic energy and based on a suggestion of a Spanish couple Xavi Sort and Alba Muniz Bravo we are building a 60m Golden spiral of plants to channel a portion of our daily quota of cosmic energy back in to the ground and surrounding area. With the Court case coming up on December 2, 2013 we hope to build this spiral of Life during the month of November 2013 to focus Global attention on this de facto corporate privatisation and sequestration of water resources.
The work entails the pegging out of the spiral, which is ongoing, and the planting of some 4000 plants that will make up the 8 arms of the spiral.Idiomas
Inglês: Fluente
Sinhalese: Fluente
Tamil: FluenteAcomodação
Dormitory type accommodation for four (4) to (6) people.
Travelers with their own tents and interested in camping may also be accommodated in suitable areas on the 42 acres.
Vegetarian food.Algo mais...
Kotadeniyawa is an hour North East of the capital, Colombo and is a few hours away from the UN Heritage Sites of Anuradhapura, Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa. Trincomalee on the East Coast is about four (4) hours by car and the Hill Capital of Sri Lanka, Kandy with its famous Temple of the Tooth is two hours away. We are easily reached by public transport - buses on the road that runs through our property and a main line rail access is some 8 km away at Mirigama. We are 28 km from the beach resort of Negombo.
It will be useful for Workawayers to carry Medical Insurance although Medical Care is not as expensive in Sri Lanka as it is elsewhere.Mais alguns detalhes
Acesso à internet
Acesso à internet limitado
Temos mascotes
Somos fumantes
Pode hospedar famílias
Quantos Workawayers pode acomodar?
Mais de 2
Horas previstas
five (5) hours a day, five (5) days a week
Comentário (76)
Each day we would begin by drinking coffee and often chatting to Jeanne, then walk the estate looking for windfall coconuts. We would then eat breakfast… read more
Comentário
Each day we would begin by drinking coffee and often chatting to Jeanne, then walk the estate looking for windfall coconuts. We would then eat breakfast… read more
I felt at home really quickly, and they do everything to make you feel comfortable. They are very considerate and open-minded. They have an amazing house and lovely dogs that you won't ever get tired of cuddling. There is a team of local staff helping them with house chores and the… read more
Basically we help them with gardening and picking up coconut. For every questions we had ,they had an helpful answers! So if you love simple life, keeping in touch with nature and all the animals around ( we missed tango and bolt already!!:() you couldn't find… read more
We wish you well.
Thanks
While Jeanne and Feisal are nice people and will certainly show hospitality, I wouldn't say the place is suited for everybody. They are very attached to rules which is not quite the way I am used to.
This and the fact that the main goal of my travels (learning about permaculture/natural… read more
We helped with digging free the roots of the teak trees, which was quite exhausting but we felt good to move and that we were useful.
On our free days, fabio got… read more
I will never forget this expirence and… read more
A fabulous immersion in Sri Lanka,
Big and generous hearts, so attentive,
Long, deep, funny, political and dynamic discussions,
Wonderful locals to work with,
Incredible cooking,
Animals everywhere,
A magnificent domain,
Unforgettable sounds,
Smiles all the time,
New words in Singhalese,
A knot in our stomach… read more
Feizal and Jeanne are the loveliest people imaginable. I was lucky enough to meet a few members of their family who are equally amazing. Same about… read more
Sorry for late comment after months :)
Staying with you was an experience that I treasure in my heart. Contemplating fire flies at night, cooking Spanish food for you with the monsoon rains falling outside. Getting to know deeper about Sri Lanka history. Picking up coconuts with Govinda. It was a pleasure to be… read more
Two weeks fly like an arrow. We collected coconuts and fallen leaves, watered the pepper tree, dug the soil…… read more
Jeanne and Feisal are so friendly and accommodating, they made me feel at home immediately. Govintha is a great guy with a lovely family.
The food was a highlight too and I loved coming in for the delicious meals and interesting conversation each day.
The farm is a beautiful place to help… read more
Great people whose keeping buffaloes and cattles only because they are beautiful:)
Thank you it was such a nice experience!
The work was all I was expecting, always outdoors, in touch with the… read more
I thank you so much for giving me a home for a week on the beautiful land of Sri lanka.
It was a great pleasure to be with you.
Thank you for the great feedback you left for me. I would love to come again in the future to pick more coconuts, swim more in the river, cook you more of my specialty dishes ;) and have more… read more
thank you so much for making my first workaway experience such a great one. I had two amazing weeks with incredible delicious food, good conversations and a lot of fun! I really enjoyed the farm work! Also thanks to Gowintha and the other local workers, they were so kind and helpful - you all made me feel at home. I would… read more
Have a wonderful place for worker awayers the hosting, the food, the people are amazing, i felt very welcome and at home. Feizal has some great ideas and i hope his dream of bringing the jungle back works!! good luck thanks and enjoy.
Also make sure you go for a post work swim in the river!!
Both of them have just incredibly interesting personalities, and i can truly say that it has been an honor to have met them. They immediately gave us a warm welcome and let us be a part of their lifes. They have so many hilarious, exciting, sad and happy stories to tell, keen to share any they… read more
this was my first workaway experience and you make it to an live experience. Thank you for really everything whats happend in this, at the end, to short three weeks. The food, the place and the conversations were great but at the end the best is to know that i have good friends like you on this fare away place from home… read more
I had such good time in this beautiful farm, the work was really interesting and concerning the dogs I was really afraid at the begining but at the end I was so sad to leave them.… read more
The one house needed some rennovation and they showed big trust in us and our work without knowing us.
Thanks again for the great experience!
Lea & Sam
Thank you for everything - amazing people, amazing food, amazing home, the dogs AND THE SHOWER!
We had such a lovely and relaxing time there. We worked hard on the coconut yard and chilled in the evenings. The farm is huge and at times it felt like being on our own countryside back at home, that’s how cozy that place made… read more
Feisal & Jeanne were wonderful hosts, some of the most interesting people I have had the pleasure to meet in fact. I enjoyed the routine of life here. I chose to get up early and get my work done when it was cooler. I very… read more
The helped on the farm, collecting nuts, weeding and applying green manure.
I enjoyed every minute working on their estate, from working on the spiral, pruning trees, weeding scanning and help look after their new litter of puppies.
The food was wonderful, that conversations were enlightening and enjoyable and the dogs are… read more
Jeanne and Feisal are fun, fair and simple!
Volunteering in the estate gave me a chance to:
-meet other volunteers
-taste delicious food!
-enjoy conversations on the food table
-see a coffee tree
-many other nice details...
Thank you Jeanne, Feisal, the farmers, the animals for making me feel home away from home!
Definitely… read more
And Feizal and Jeanne are wonderful hosts. I loved every talk and stories we shared during our meals.
It was really great meeting you.
To be Volunteer here, for as is to discover new world, we didn't know.
To meet interesting people we had together long hours of conversing on many many important subject from all disciplines in every meal especially at dinner time.
The work was important, and we tried to do our best (hope we had success in it) but… read more
The… read more
We were only at the farm for less… read more
Federica
We spent most of our time gardening and weeding in the idilic spiral.
The food was always wonderful local food that was brilliant to learn about.
Thanks for sharing all this with us !
before talking about my very own experience on your beautiful coconut-farm, I want to thank you, for not loosing confidence in the youth of today and the world in general. It's so good to see people reflecting on what is happening in this crazy world and even better to see them doing something against it. I want you to… read more
They immediately became part of our family and fit in so easily and always after talking with them I felt my energy had lifted. They are not just multi-talented they have a gift of enjoying what is around them and have a natural work… read more
Jeanne is a charming woman and has a lot of stories to tell and it was always fun and interesting to hang out with Feizal.
I will miss you two and the dogs and it has to be said, the… read more
The place is amazing and we loved the philosophy of life, sharing everything, living trought the exchange, not thinking about money.
So, we miss you, friends, all of you!
We hope see you again, soon!
Alba and Xavi
Incredible experience in the middle of Srilankan culture. Open home and beautiful experience working together with Sinhala, Tamil people, as well as from many other countries;)
We will come back soon:)