The Shelter Farm | ReGen

A local pastor, continuing the legacy of his late father, developed a rehabilitation centre for the homeless in Central Asia. They took in and loved the outcasts - alcoholics struggling with their addictions, and older orphans seeking work and a home. Out of gratitude for their work, the local municipality granted the 2.3 ha of land to start a farm to support the shelter.

The land, however, poses immense challenges. Situated on the city’s outskirts, it is steeply sloped, depleted from centuries of overgrazing and poor farming practices, stripped of topsoil, and overrun with camel thistle. Because of the dry climate and lack of water, growing crops is daunting. Many have tried over the years, but with limited success. Yet a team from the Netherlands, Canada, and Central Asia has come together with a bold vision: to regenerate this land using Foundations for Farming principles. This year they fenced the property and planted a small garden.

In the years ahead, they plan to drill a well with drip irrigation, enrich the soil with organic matter, plant treed windbreaks, and cultivate diverse crops and vegetables for the shelter’s use and for sale. Their audacious hope is to restore the land to full productivity and, in doing so, create a model for land restoration across Central Asia while helping the centre’s residents flourish.