Myanmar Youth Sustainability Training Centre

Dear Friends and Family, 

With the onset of another long monsoon season here on the Shan Plateau we focus on our design work and strategic planning for the our new training centre in Sha Bin village 12 km from Kalaw. 

Kokopelli Seed Saving Video about Whispering Earth
A while back we had the pleasure of meeting Alexia who brought with her to Myanmar an enormous bag of life….seeds, seeds, seeds!!!! She donated the seeds to us on behalf of Kokopelli, a seed saving organization based in France who had put together a variety seeds to be shared here in Myanmar. Along with this wonderful gift, Alexia also made a wonderful video to raise awareness about Whispering Earth and the work we are doing.  We are working on planting the seeds and sharing the seeds with other groups. Please see the link below for the video!

Massive Tree Planting
Over the last month, with a long list of trees we wanted for planting at the centre,  we traveled to several government nurseries between Kalaw and Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State.  Between the nurseries, friends and collecting cuttings from local trees around Kalaw we just completed a massive tree planting of over 600 trees!!! It has been challenging work, especially with travel in and out of the farm on bad roads in wet and muddy conditions, but we are so happy with the outcome. An enormous variety of fruit trees, medicinal trees, flowering trees, hard wood trees and more. 

Design Work for Farm and Buildings
We continue the design work of the land using Permaculture principles and mapping out specific areas of the farm.  We have been slowing watching the land and adjusting our design work as the seasons change on the land over the last year. We are also continuing design work on the buildings which we hope to start in November of this year. Design work will also include our first rocket mass heater which we very excited about building and will share more once the building work begins. 

Search for 4x4 Vehicle
As some of you may know, the distance to the farm is only about 12km, but due to bad conditions of roads, it can take us 45 minutes to 1 hour to reach the farm.  We have been using motorbikes to haul everything out to the farm and are in desperate need of a vehicle to help us safely transport ourselves and materials.  As we get further into the design and building of the centre we will need a 4x4 truck.  Luckily we have found a rugged Toyota 4x4 pick up truck and are aiming to raise funds to purchase the vehicle.  This will make it possible to start the building work once the rains stop in November. 

We are thankful for all the support we have received and looking forward to sharing more updates in the next report.

Warmly, 

Whispering Earth Team

Links:

• Introductory video to the farm and seed saving project