Malawi Landscape Architecture: Kusamala Institute of Agriculture and Ecology

The comercial garden is in the foreground and
one of the many thatched buildings is in the background.

Yesterday John and I went out to visit Kusamala Institute of Agriculture and Ecology in Lilongwe. I've mentioned Kusamala in a few of the previous blog posts. Kusamala has offered me advice on what grows well in the rainy season and I have also signed up to purchase vegetables from their farm once a week. It was great to make it out to their site after emailing back and fourth with them for the last few weeks. John was also excited to go because even though he has been farming and managing the guest house's grounds since 2006 he hasn't had much formal training and says he relies mostly on his intuition to determine which vegetables to grow. I think that observation is one of the most important aspects of managing a landscape and that he probably knows much more about the surrounding landscape and what grows well in the garden than I do with all my education and training. Still, a little education can go a long way and Kusamala helped provide examples of crop rotation, pest management strategies that don't include pesticides, livestock integration, and seed saving techniques. Kusmala is only three years old but they seem well on their way to a sustainable agricultural system!