A Literary Tour of Surya Nagar Farm

Surya Nagar is Sanskrit for “House of the Sun.” This is an appropriate name for this few acre farm and home to Lonnie Gamble, his wife, their newly-born son, and another super-friendly couple who live there during the growing season. Powered solely on sun and wind power, my time at Surya Nagar was my first experience with off-the-grid living. Since the wind turbine was down for repairs during our three week stay, all our power came from the energy absorbed from the sun by a large array of solar panels. I am not very technologically-savvy, but, luckily, we were blessed by the presence and knowledge of Josh, student of mechanical engineering living on the farm in return for working on solar panels and the rotors of the broken wind-turbine. I quickly became accustomed to using the sun’s energy when it was available (in other words, during the day), but I made a few mistakes during the first few days. For instance, I was so excited to have access to a freezer the first night, that, without thinking, I plugged in the freezer in the intern kitchen without telling or asking any one. It quickly sucked out enough energy from the batteries that it depleted the energy storage to a level lower than desired. (Capturing solar energy requires only a solar panel, but to store it for more long-term use when the sun is not shining, batteries can be used. To prolong the life of such batteries, it is common practice to fully charge them, and then deplete them to only about 50% before recharging. This saves the energy user money, as well as decreasing the amount of battery corpses chucked into landfills.) I soon learned that a bucket filled with cool water set outside at night makes a perfect substitute for a freezer or refrigerator. To further conserve battery life, I learned to think ahead when using major appliances or electronics such as a computer or television. I checked my email and watched some of Lonnie’s permaculture movies during the day when the sun was bright.

Adjusting to life on Surya Nagar was not difficult; it simply required a small amount of forethought and the willingness to alter one’s habits. As I learned how my actions were impacting the surrounding environment, I was only too willing to do things the permaculture way. For instance, instead of cooking meals in the gas-powered oven, with a little planning, I would chop up vegetables for ratatouille and place them in the solar-cooker. This simple machine uses mirrors and the greenhouse effect to trap heat in a satellite-shaped contraption with a plastic lid. When aimed at the sun, it gets warm enough to cook eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, and garlic into tender morsels of deliciousness. Planning meals became quite fun, because it was an adventure to learn how to use what was in season on the farm. However, this meant that one did not go out to the store to satisfy every little craving. But, who would grave a frozen dinner when one can pick fresh okra and eat it with a salad made from greens and tomatoes picked minutes ago?

While at Lonnie’s, we slept in the loft of his barn, used the newly-constructed composting out-houses, and used a black bag to warm water for showers. Except when cooking, we spent our waking hours outside. Surya Nagar was a nice transition back into living in a stationary home after calling home to a different state each night. I was actually excited to use the outhouse, as I knew that my waste was going to be used to increase the fertility of this land on which I was living. According to permaculture, and common sense, all waste is really an unused resource. Why is this society so afraid of dealing with our physical waste? Very little is actually garbage. In fact, if you have enough creativity, you can completely delete this concept from your mental vocabulary. As well as recycling our human waste, we composted all food scraps and recycled this back into the ground as well. What was unusable one year nourished the food that would be consumed in the next year. This is a beautifully simply cycle.

A bit on the physical design of Surya Nagar: The intern kitchen, the barn, and Lonnie’s home were constructed from hay bales covered in plaster. This inexpensive building material is multi-purpose. It serves as the structure of the home as well as the insulation. Windows were used strategically in these buildings to take advantage of passive solar heating. Placed in certain angles, a window can block intense summer heat, maintaining a cool indoor temperature, while also allowing passage of the winter sun in order to heat the home. This reduced heating and cooling bills for the home owner. Outside, garden space was arranged around homes in order to maximize the efficiency in harvesting. For example, herbs used in daily cooking were located right outside Valerie’s door, while nuts trees producing an annual crop, were planted on the edge of the property. Finally, for domestic water, the Gambles utilized a constructed pond and rainwater catchments. A solar-powered pump moved water from the pond to showers and a cistern in the greenhouse for irrigation. The gutters on building rooftops moved water to the cistern as well.

Overall, Surya Nagar was an amazing example of self-sufficient living. Granted, Lonnie had an outside job, which made possible the on-site projects. However, it was a good starting point for me in order to critically examine the next communities I was to visit, as well as the community I have dreams of creating, one day in the future.