Halo,
conservation-minded
viewers, and welcome to
Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.
On this week’s program
we journey to
the pristine land of
New Zealand to visit
Shangri-La, a splendid
green center promoting
vegan organic
(or veganic) agriculture.
Nestled in the mountains
of beautiful northern
New Zealand, Shangri-La
is an earthly paradise,
a 180-hectare
veganic haven that’s been
cultivated for the past
10 years by volunteers
from the US-based
non-profit group
Gentle World, which
actively promotes
the vegan lifestyle.
Shangri-la is home to
a vast array of trees,
flowers, vegetable plots
and fruit orchards.
It is also the site of
cooking classes
and seminars put on
by Gentle World’s
volunteers so the public
can learn about the many
benefits of veganic living.
Today we will hear some
veganic gardening tips
and get a brief tour of
the center, where we will
see delicious
fruits and vegetables
growing abundantly in
a loving, Earth-friendly
environment.
Hi everyone and
welcome to Shangri-La.
My name is Angel
and I’m a volunteer
for Gentle World,
a vegan educational
organization and
intentional community
in existence for 40 years.
For the past 10 years
Gentle World volunteers
have spent four to six
months of every year
in the far north of
New Zealand,
transforming 454 acres
of beautiful New Zealand
countryside into a
vegan educational center
where visitors from
all over the world now
come to learn about the
many benefits of veganism
and how to live vegan,
healthily and joyfully.
As part of our program
people learn how to grow
their own food,
not just organically,
which is without the use
of chemicals, but also
without the use of
any animal by-products,
including manures,
blood and bone meal, fish
emulsions, or waste from
the slaughterhouse floor.
Magic is Shangri-La’s
head gardener who has
been a veganic grower
since 2000.
He will now explain
the differences between
the veganic method
of cultivation
and conventional
organic agriculture.
It’s very similar to
organic growing but we
have more compassion
in our growing methods.
We don’t use fertilizers
like blood and bone
or animal manures
from exploited animals.
And we also have
compassion with our
growing methods in that
we take care of the plants
without using sprays
and use simple methods
that we don’t harm
the earthworms
and other creatures
that are in the soil.
We plant our crops to
rotate and grow things at
the right time of the year
so they don’t get
pest problems.
And also we keep
our plants healthy with
green manure crops
and rotation so the plants
are not susceptible to
the fungal diseases and
the insect attacks
that it’s possible to get.
Growing nutritious
veganic produce begins
with loving cultivation
of healthy soil,
which of course requires
healthy worms.
Veganic gardening is the
same as being a vegan.
You want to be healthy,
so part of being healthy
is getting your plants
healthy.
And to get your plants
healthy it’s really crucial
to have healthy soil;
that’s the important thing.
So we really
encourage the soil.
The soil is
a living organism that’s
full of life and worms
and things, so the idea
of being veganic
in gardening is that
we are gentle with
those organisms that are
in the soil because those
are what keep our plants
healthy because that’s
where their food and
nourishment comes from.
A fresh, nutritious
garden salad can be part
of any tasty veganic meal,
and Shangri-La’s
salad garden contains
plenty of delicious greens
to choose from.
And this garden is
our salad garden,
so it’s near the house so
we have a huge range of
different plants and herbs.
So I’ll just list a few
to give you an idea.
We’ve got celery,
we’ve got dill, parsley,
coriander, beans,
bok choy, and we’ve got
a mizuna mix,
which is quite a mixture
of different plants.
And we’ve got carrots
and beetroot, tomatoes,
lettuce, arugula, peas
and a few other added
in there for the mix.
We next learn a helpful
tip in keeping plants
disease and insect-free
without chemicals.
Okay, these are some
of the tomatoes that
we grow in this garden.
When we plant them,
we dig a hole and put
compost in the ground
and then the plants grow
really well because
the compost holds the
moisture and nutrients.
And we put a wire netting
ring around them so that
they keep off the ground
and so it keeps them
disease-free.
And so I’ve found that
when your plants are
healthy, the insects
and bugs don’t seem to
bother them so much,
so that’s the key thing
with veganic gardening
that we’ve found here,
that if we keep our plants
healthy, the pests
and diseases don’t seem
to bother them.
And I think that goes
for people too
and your health.
If you’re healthy you’re
less susceptible to
all sorts of problems.
Harvesting
and preserving
your plants’ seeds for
next season’s planting
are important steps
in maintaining
a vibrant and flourishing
veganic garden.
Also here in this garden
we also save our own
seed as much as we can.
And here are some peas
that we’ve harvested
the crop and we’re
leaving some for seed.
And so we’ll let these dry
on the vine and then
when they’re dry we’ll
pick them and shell them
and dry them, finish
drying them and store
them away for next year.
We’re trying to save
more seed each year.
It’s time consuming and
labor consuming
but it’s very worthwhile.
It’s sustainable and saves
us money buying seed,
and plus the seed is
far more healthy,
we know it’s veganic, and
we know it’s going to be
reliable and grow how
we like things to grow.
After the following
brief message, we’ll
learn more about
veganic agriculture while
continuing our tour of
the Shangri-La center.
Please stay tuned to
Supreme Master
Television.
Here we are in
our second garden
and as you can see
we’ve got watermelons
growing here
very prolifically.
And we’ve got courgettes
with cucumbers
growing in between
and sweet corn.
Welcome back to
Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home,
as we continue our visit
to Shangri-La, a center
promoting vegan organic
(or veganic) agriculture
that is operated by
the vegan advocacy
organization
Gentle World.
Practicing veganic
agriculture involves
applying vegan and
organic principles to
all aspects of
the cultivation process
and avoids the use of
manure, blood, bone,
fishmeal and other
animal by-products as
fertilizers as well as
abstains from spraying
chemicals on crops.
Veganic produce is
healthy for
our body and our planet
and growing it does not
involve the suffering
of sentient beings.
Head gardener Magic
will now provide us
with another useful
veganic gardening tip.
In veganic gardening,
one of the things that’s
really beneficial, is to
have a variety of plants
that bring in lots of life;
bird life, insect life and
just enhance the quality
of our lives from
the pleasant sight of
the colors,
and it brings the bees.
And so we grow a lot of
different flowering plants
to enhance the beauty
of the place and also
to make food for different
insects and the bird life.
And it’s really beneficial
for the orchard.
Here’s a healthy, veganic
avocado and you can see
it’s got some beautiful
little avocados
for next season
just happening here.
That’s one of
the varieties of fruit trees
that we grow here.
We also have peaches,
plums, apples, pears,
and a variety of
different citrus fruits.
We have cherimoyas,
which are from
South America,
along with feijoas
from South America,
and casimiroas.
The surrounding
mountains nourish the
land with the treasured
gift of fresh, crystalline
water, a blessing for
the gardens as well as the
inhabitants of Shangri-La.
Here in Shangri-La
we have beautiful rivers
that come down from
the mountains that
surround the beautiful
land that we have here.
And the water is beautiful,
it’s clear, and
it’s just ideal for veganic
gardening because
you want to nourish
your plants with beautiful,
clean water and
we’re blessed here
to have this water.
It’s beautifully clean and
healthy, and we all drink
this water, and it’s
from the mountains that
surround us that have
thousands of acres
of reserve.
So we’re one of
the luckiest people
in the world; you can’t
do this in a lot of places
anymore.
But we still can drink
this water and it is
really beautiful tasting.
Mulch is a protective
soil covering that is
highly beneficial
for growing trees as
it keeps moisture
from evaporating away.
It also lessens
soil erosion and prevents
weeds from sprouting.
Here we are
in Shangri-La in one
of the veganic orchards.
The main way we fertilize
our fruit trees and other
trees in Shangri-La is
we use mulch that is
actually harvested,
the grass that’s growing
around the trees
in the orchard.
So it’s collected up and
raked up and put around
the trees in a thick mulch,
which conserves
the moisture,
and feeds the soil.
The worms just love it,
they really thrive
under there and they turn
the mulch into beautiful
fertilizer as it rots down
into black compost.
So it keeps the trees
really healthy.
We also occasionally use
a dusting of dolomite
if the trees prefer
a more alkaline soil or
occasionally
some rock dust.
But other than that
our main fertilizer source
in the orchards is
the grass that we grow.
We also have
a composting toilet
in Shangri-La and we
compost that for a year
and then that gets
put around the fruit trees
as well,
as an added fertilizer.
Here we are under
a feijoa tree; it’s been
mulched for the summer
and the mulch is
protecting the soil
and feeding the tree.
And as it rots,
it breaks down into this
beautiful black soil that
feeds the worms and
the microorganisms and
stays nice and moist.
And you can actually see
the fine feeder roots
from the tree taking
their nutrients from it.
Many thanks Magic,
Angel and the loving
Gentle World volunteers
at the Shangri-La center
for creating a veganic
paradise for all to enjoy,
and for sharing your
invaluable knowledge
about compassionate
cultivation with others
who wish to know more
about the benefits
of veganic gardening.
Our Earth is truly blessed
by your commitment to
promoting a world where
all life is cherished.
For more details
on veganic gardening,
please visit
www.GentleWorld.org
Loyal viewers, thank you
for your company today
on Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
after Noteworthy News.
May the veganic trend
soon sweep our world,
making it a place
full of love and light.