The blooming ground

In a field trip we coordinated in 2009, 10 farmers and teachers from Namje and Thumki went on a tour around Permaculture and organic farms of Nepal from Chitwan, Pokhara to Kathmandu. Not knowing where it would lead us and how it would foster on the ground, we visited environmentalists and agriculturalists to take lessons from their farms.

Since then, Hari Ale Magar has attended numerous workshops, extended the network and also has received training in Permaculture design. With his guidance along with Temba and Pathiman, the Thumki plot has grown to embody Permaculture and organic farming philosophies and now accommodates over 50 different species of plants along with nurseries and compost stations. Along with the development of the plot, they have also been training and educating the community to build a stronger grassroots approach. In a few years the farm hopes to evolve into a regional centre demonstrating alternative sustainability.

MAP project: A week-long field trip to Ilam

11 participants from Namje, Thumki, Majuwa and Mukten villages left on a week-long field trip to Ilam guided by Temba and Hari. The trip was focused on educating the farmers on the medicinal plants project initiated by Karma Bhutia and Temba about 13 years ago. As a result of the successful implementation of the project, the harvesting of chiraito and lot salla has expanded to 35 VDCs in Illam district. Under their guidance, Bhedetar VDC will be the next to emulate the MAP project. The participants of the trip will be key towards the implementation process.

Kudos to a successful tour!

Ancestral Memorial on Thumki hill!

The 16th cultural marker by Spirit of Place has been built on the ancient burial grounds of Thumki village within the Learning Grounds plot. The memorial was completed after a 9 day design/build program with 25 graduate students and teachers from Catholic University. They were accompanied hand-in-hand by 40 locals from the village led by our local field supervisor Karna Magar. The result is a memorial and an outdoor prayer space for the dhamis (shamans).

The construction preparation leading up to the design build was coordinated over a 6 month period by Uday Sunder Shrestha, an engineer and the main editor of Spaces Magazine along with the field supervisors Karna Bahadur Magar and Mekh Bahadur Magar. All funding required for Spirit of Place administration was raised by Learning Grounds through our private donors and supporters including Ms. Sheila Chellgren, Phul Maya Foundation and Aim for Seva. Finally, despite being the busiest season for farming and school activities, the village volunteered to build the structure along with accommodating the 9 day program with open arms. Thank you very much to everyone who have dedicated their time and energy into the project and special thanks to Nabin Bista from Koshi Travels, Photo Circle, Spaces Magazine and the Institute of Engineering.

Ground Breaking at Thumki! Locals begin the foundation of 'Spirit of Place' project

The work for the Spirit of Place Project has begun under the direction of local architect and editor Uday Sunder Shrestha of Spaces Magazine, the local engineer Karna Bahadur Magar and our young project manager Mekh Bahadur Magar. While the completion of the project will be done by students of Catholic University led by Travis Price in the beginning of June, much of the ground work is already underway for the foundation and the plinth. And of course here's the design of the memorial.

MAP project training and implementation begins!

Led by local field coordinators Temba Bhote and Hari Ale Magar, under the supervision of Karma Bhutia, the Map (Medicinal and Aromatic Plants) project has officially begun training farmers from the village on herb plantations, organic farming and creating nurseries. The team has been working very hard over the last few months to collect data and create plans to implement the project. Here's to a great beginning!



First training session by Hari and Temba. Kudos to them!