This ‘fifth floor farm’ in Nairobi, Kenya will amaze you.  It is permaculture in action, in experimentation – a great example of what is possible in small spaces everywhere, particularly in apartments.

My (then 12 yo) daughter filmed this conversation I had with the inspirational and innovative permaculture designer, Natalie Topa, in her apartment in Nairobi. My kids and I visited her at the end of our month journey in Uganda and Kenya working with local permaculture projects that you helped us raise fund for through Ethos Foundation and we sponsored through Permaculture Education Institute.

Balcony Permaculture

There are chickens on the balcony, mealworms in the main room,  perennials in pots, hardy herbs, greens and self-seeding vegetables, vertical trellises, edible vines for shade, habitat for wildlife, homes for pollinators, ceramic plates full of seeds being saved, mushrooms, ferments, dried foods and a tank for a future spirulina project.

Permaculture for displaced people

Natalie Topa experiments relentlessly to find simple positive solutions that can make a real difference in the lives of many. She is the Regional Resilience and Livelihood Coordinator, Danish Refugee Council – which she says is essentially about sharing, exploring and adapting permaculture ideas.  She oversees teams building resilience for displaced peoples, including refugees and internally displaced peoples, in the countries of Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Yemen.

Insights for a changing climate

For the past 16 years, she has been based in Africa and SE Asia working in community development, post-disaster recovery, post-conflict community and town planning, and community resilience and adaptation to climate extremes and disasters.  Natalie’s insights are incredibly valuable in a climate changing world, where people are already feeling the impact.

Permaculture laboratory

As we wander through her permaculture apartment in her home base of Nairobi, Natalie talks about how this balcony garden is her experimental lab for the work with displaced people who have little space, little resources and mostly waste to work with. During this conversation she shares simple permaculture design ideas that can make a huge difference and she shares some stories of how this is happening. 

We talk about ways to use wastes, make soil on a balcony, create small ecological systems, grow a diversity of foods, produce protein and share surpluses, and explore & learn from traditional cultures.

Balcony Garden Film with Natalie Topa (40 mins)

I hope you find this 40 minute walkabout with Natalie full of wonderful inspiration. As we walk and talk, Natalie shares so many great lessons for food resilience, learning how to live with a small footprint, getting rid of waste – and also about climate resilience, working for the common good, being a permaculture educator, being a permaculture designer…

For more information about small space permaculture design, watch my masterclass: Small Space Kitchen Garden: The Permaculture Way