Regenerative, No-Till Farming
This is a family dream and a community vision. As a young family of three setting up a home in the bush of Ushongo Beach, we are dedicated to the self-sovereignty that comes from successful gardening & farming. We are currently in the beginning stages of setting up our first garden, starting to create our first homemade organic compost, and planning for the land in front of us that we would love to fill with various kinds of animals, including chickens near the home (after running a first chicken farm on the other side of mentioned land). Having learned from the mistakes of the first chicken farm and studied up on regenerative, circular, no-waste permaculture, we are excited how the chickens and other animals can help us co-create great compost while they simultaneously enjoy extra garden scraps. We plan to work with local sawmills and coconut scraps to layer our soil with homemade compost each season and then protect it with natural resources that support greater water retention and limited topsoil run-off. We hope to make coconut chips from the hard shell to help absorb excess waters and help store the water deep in the soil when the rains are less. We also hope activated coconut charcoal can enrich our compost and soils. Prioritizing natural resources, we are working with a fresh water well and a solar-powered energy. We hope the implementation of composting systems will serve our nearby sandy village that is currently throwing many of their food scraps on the beach in the absence of gardens around the home. We would love to see nutritious pops of color added to the sandy grounds! As our homestead and unique farming methods blossom over the seasons, we plan to initiate the first local, intentionally organic farmer’s market (connected to various Umoja Ushongo projects, like the Wellness Market, Soko Mshindi). When reaping exceptional harvests that motivate others, we hope to initiate a community garden and embedded farmacy of natural medicines that improves the village’s vitality while sharing regenerative farming principles and relieving socioeconomic pressures from local fishing industry.
We believe in partnering with nature, we believe in biomimicry, we believe in the power of diversity, we believe in a holistic approach that protects and nurtures the earth, providing abundantly back to us (gifting & receiving).
Three important films have helped shape our core values and our core WHY’s (including soil health that grows over time with environmental impact — including carbon sequestration and high-value nutrition):
“We believe in plants, wildlife and livestock working together. That everything has a purpose…even the pests, have a role to play.”— John & Molly Chester, Apricot Lane Farms
A sneak-peek into our early days, before our first compost pile was made, before our first beds have all been complete and covered and our first seeds sown.
In the making of our first active hot compost pile, preparing to nourish, feed & cover our new beds, we were excited to have found our first worms that made their way to our emergent garden and farm. A handful of healthy soil has more life than there are people on the planet — worms and their castings support it!
These are our days of sowing our first seeds, preparing for years of harvest, and learning to share market & community projects. Like our distant role models mentioned above & below, we believe that regenerative, small-scale, local farming is about way more than self-sufficiency, but community resilience, health and prosperity. Additionally, we look forward to supplying the local lodges, accommodations & our hub with more local fresh produce and products of various kinds.
Below, is another one of our role models: The Perennial Homestead by Ali & Scott Yahnke. They have been in the game together since 2018, creating a homestead serving their local community, providing seasonal produce & products via their farm stand, and run an online marketplace all year round.
Their offline & online marketplace is an inspiration for Umoja Wellness, home to Umoja’s emergent wellness eco-market, Umoja Soko. In the marketplace, we hope to to offer special, organic, local products produced from the small-scale gardening & farming — including essential oils, coconut oil, and beeswax candles.
We have recently heard about the Echo East Africa, working in agricultural education, and we are open to exploring where we are aligned in partnership. We believe education is a big part of our journey, focused on a very specific community that may serve as an example. We are looking forward to meeting, aligning. and moving forward with the right donors and/or impact investors interested in supporting Umoja Ushongo develop and run a prosperous, regenerative, organic family-run farm that uplifts the community, offers a healthier marketplace, and nurtures no-till methods with local projects.
Another interesting part of our vision that has to our awareness is a geodesic dome structure that can serve as a greenhouse for medicinal herbs and plant medicines, alongside other homegrown plants (like aloe vera & moringa) dispersed throughout the farm, gardens, and homelands. Trillium Domes is an expert in custom designed greenhouses and has dome kits and woodworking plans to help anyone put their plans into action from anywhere in the world.
Overlapping with Umoja Marine and Umoja Wellness with its marketplace, is regenerative seaweed and sea moss farming with its possibilities to be produced into various products. Regenerative coastal farming may include ethical beekeeping in the local mangrove for organic mangrove honey, limited honeycomb & beeswax (supporting Umoja Farming as a whole due to the increased presence of bees in the area, if possible to do so through conscious practices).
NOTE: This information has been gathered with the support of a local Tanzanian from our local Tanga area, Walter Mwai. Walter has started brainstorming and partnering with us while working researching these topics to complete his dissertation, “Asili Pwani: Environmental Management using Human Activities to properly Utilize Coastal Resources to Eradicate Poverty, Promote Sustainable Development & the Blue Economy in Tanzania”.
