Volunteering area

Earth Care

Location

Genappe, Belgium

Project description

Here is the biggest nonsense nobody is talking about: there’s excess carbon in the atmosphere but a lack of carbon in the soil.

Did you know soil actually needs carbon to grow trees, plants and food? Did you know gigatons of carbon are supposed to be present in the soil in the form of carbohydrates and decomposing organic matter?

Well, this gigantic carbon reservoir is being released in masse into the atmosphere as we speak by modern agriculture practices such as compacting, tilling, spraying and leaving soil bare. On top of fossil fuel emissions.

Modern agriculture is also the biggest contributor to biodiversity loss, soil erosion and health issues like cancer and obesity due to the low quality of food produced. This is precisely why we believe the way we grow food is the single greatest challenge of our time to address.

There’s a solution though. A beautiful solution.

On a small 4-hectare piece of land at the gates of Brussels, Pachaland hosts an active social hub and a startup studio. Their land-restoration centre is strategically positioned, finding itself in a small biodiversity oasis with lots of ongoing regenerative experiments, and surrounded by thousands of hectares of conventional farmland.

Every year, they come up with new experiments they want to learn from. Pachaland then create blueprints they openly share with others. They usually don’t have the time to take the lead on each of those projects, so they connect with people like you to volunteer their time to help make the experiments happen. You don’t need to be an expert. You just need to want to become one, and learn what needs to be learnt. Their collaborators help them finance the investments. You take care of the rest.

Some of their current experiments are:

• Reintroducing native endangered farm animals to as many Belgium farms as possible.
• Becoming food autonomous during the winter periods using the Walipini greenhouses. These are underground structures which use several natural features to stay warm during cold winters.
• Close-loop worm composting. Learning about it all, and taking the lead on implementing a production unit at Pachaland. Also producing compost tea out of it.
• Switching to an ecological pool. They want to build a detailed how-to guide with the best suppliers for each parts in Belgium. Starting with their own pilot at Pachaland.
• Working with connected ponds. Build a network of ponds to filter the nitrate excess and to grow pond weeds which will feed out of this nitrate. The weeds will later be used as fertiliser for our farm.
• Roof-top water harvesting. Design and build clever functional systems to harvest water from the many different roof-tops of Pachaland’s buildings.
• Plus others experiements. You can even come up with a suggestion yourself!

Main activities will include
(but not limited to)

• By volunteering at Pachaland, you will be leading one of our Experiments.
• You’ll also most likely work on some of the many activities going on at the farm such as gardening, building, designing, cooking, help hosting our guests etc. You will learn/develop skills that should serve you later on.

Specific information/requisites

You will also have access to healthy, organic food, share experiences with people from many walks of life and be part of the multiple activities organised weekly.

We would like you to enjoy your time here as much as you can and leave this place inspired and energised to bring about a positive change to the places you go.

We won’t lie though – we work a lot! We are energetic and enthusiastic and we are fully focused on our mission. If you don’t feel like working hard while you’re here, or if you don’t have a profound passion for the kind of activities and projects we’re working on, then this might not be the right place for you.

More information

pachaland.org / Their Instagram page