From The Ground Up, by Garden Intern Sasha Lanham

It all starts with this. The foundation of a healthy soil is teeming with life. Thousands of earth worms slither through the decaying foliage, feeding off food scraps from the kitchen. Nothing goes to waste at Songaia. Looking at the second principle of permaculture, all energy is captured and stored for later use. The other interns and I learn from Reuben how the vermiculture bin works: what the worms eat, how much bedding or fine carbon material they need and how much water. They like really soft food, so a lot of the kitchen scraps are stored in large trash barrels outdoors for a couple weeks. Though the odor may be rather pungent to my human sensibilities, it rings a dinner bell for the earthworms! As the worms feed on the scraps, they break down decomposing material, creating a rich dark soil full of carbon and nitrogen. 

We move on to the compost where we go through the process of turning it. Using a three-bin system we turn one pile at a time so that they all break down evenly. This is typically done once a week or so. Think of it as a terrible lasagna: we stack layers of dead leaves, dried weeds and sticks, sawdust, and rotted food scraps, with a generous spray of fresh water between each layer. This creates a finished compost that the worms, arthropods, bacteria, and fungi have worked together on to break down the materials into their chemical properties. These chemicals can later become nutrients for seeds of just about any vegetable one can imagine. 

We break down one area of the garden by weeding and using a broad fork to disturb the soil. The finished compost is layered on top of the bed, spilling into the crevices that the fork creates. We create furrows alongside the drip irrigation lines, filling them with seeds and lightly covering them. A generous spray of water and these seeds can begin to catch energy from the chemicals, water, and sunlight. The garden is full of life and not just in the soil. 
When we look beyond the soil we practice observation. Observation is a key feature of the first principle of permaculture. We feel life almost slows down at Songaia as one begins to stop and simply take a look around the garden. Lettuce, herbs, roses, dahlias, tomatoes, peas and more all interact with the diverse wildlife. Bees, hummingbirds, and ladybugs flutter between the plants spreading pollen, increasing the fertility of the plants. This biodiversity creates a healthy and balanced ecosystem, minimizing our impact on the earth and reducing waste, while creating food to nourish us. 

This allows the crops to grow big and strong, creating an abundance of beautiful crops. From these we can create a salad or cherry crisp to share at dinner with the community. This feeds not just our bodies but our souls, as we build connections to the land and each other. We share stories and knowledge between generations. ​

A sparrow pauses on the water fountain in the center of the garden. She is stopping for a drink, possibly some shade from the oppressive heat. She too feeds on seeds and grain like us. Eventually she decides that she has had enough and takes flight.


Here at Songaia a sign on the fountain invites us to ask the question “Are you in the story or in the moment?” It’s so easy to get caught up in a story in our heads. People everywhere are dealing with climate change and social collapse. People are tired. We need to stop, observe, and interact. If I had kept myself ruminating on the cycle of doom and gloom, I would not have been able to pause and enjoy this moment and appreciate the simple beauty of nature.

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