As part of their contribution to ‘The World is Our Household!’, our ‘Forum Partner’ Sakiya – Art | Science | Agriculture created a syntropic farm on their site in Ein Qiniya, Ramallah, Palestine. A syntropic farm consists of different kinds and levels of plants, from trees to shrubs to ivy, which are densely planted and support one another. Instead of input-based (like most industrial farming), syntropic farming is process-based, with forests growing and changing over time.
The planting of the forest farm at Sakiya started during a workshop by Yara Duwani from local farm Om Sleiman (“Ladybug”), who designed the garden, with participants consisting of Sakiya’s broader community, and students from Birzeit University and an-Najah University. Yara started by giving a presentation about the whats, hows and whys of syntropic farming, after which the group collectively planted trees and other vegetation, with seedlings deriving from local nurseries, and assisted by Om Sleiman’s Anas Salous.
Sakiya’s plot of land, which was bare before, is now home to a wide variety of local, endemic and indigenous vegetation. It includes wild trees; oak and carob trees; fruit trees endemic to Palestine like plum, almond and apricot; and indigenous herbs like thyme, oregano, sage and lavender. In-between this densely packed forest, seasonal vegetables can be planted–at the moment, fava beans are in season, which are carefully farmed, picked, cooked and consumed together (eating together being an essential and much valued part of Sakiya’s practice).
In the past 50 years or more, the face of the village of Ein Qiniya has changed tremendously, as people stopped relying on agriculture. Under Israeli occupation, most of the valley is off limits to Palestinian people; they are not allowed to cultivate the land, let their goats graze there or even forage there (an important source of livelihood before). The water in the streams running through the valley is contaminated by the Israeli settlement located on the hilltop to the West, and the growing development of Ramallah to the East, who dump their sewage water. This pollution has killed off the goats that used to roam in the valley, the bees, and much of the local vegetation and farming. Even sensorially, Ein Qiniya has changed, as the wide variety of fruit trees–almonds, apricots, peaches, figs and so on–that were once abundant, made the village smell of apricot blossoms all summer long. This is no longer the case.
Much of the land in Palestine, particularly the Highlands, is currently covered by olive tree, which is regarded as Palestine’s main tree species, and therefore replanted again and again, creating mono-crops. However, in the past 50-100 years, many fruit trees, other than the olive trees, died out as people stopped taking care of the land. With its syntropic farm, Sakiya tries to bring back the historical biodiversity of the land, whilst experimenting with different farming methods. For Sakiya, it’s not just looking at what they can do today or this year, but what we can do in 10-20-100 years or more. It is looking far back into history and far ahead into the future. Sakiya’s syntropic farm is therefore not only a site for farming and growing, but also a ground for learning (and unlearning), a way of coming together across generations and a means to create new rituals to preserve and protect local, traditional and sustainable farming practices and knowledges that would otherwise be lost.
Below you can find some documentation of the workshop & planting of the syntropic farm at Sakiya, Ein Qiniya, Ramallah, Palestine. Photo courtesy of Sakiya, 2021.
