Visits to Other Permaculture Farms

Farm: Corga de Peirera Location: Central Portugal, near Castanheira de Peira
Owners: Julie and Nigel
Date: November-December 2010
Situation: Wwoofed for a month
Projects during our stay:

• Rocket Stove
• Herb Spiral
• Outdoor Shower
• Adobe Oven workshops
• Olive Harvest, their property and others'
• Visits from Alpaca wool producers
• Mushroom and wild food foraging
• Preserving, ie; kiwi jam, Madrona jam
• Built structure to protect yurt
• Land clearing for pond/gardens
• Made creams, gels and toothpastes using natural products
• Ram Pump explanation



ram pump with holding tank above



Nigel's home made ram pump



shows the amount of head needed,
this carries the water 75m up the hill!



Farm Location: Andalucia, Spain, near Rhonda
Owner: Nico
Date: September 2009
Situation: Wwoofing for 2 weeks

Projects during our stay:

• Built large Geodesic Dome
• Prepared harvest for local markets, including baking and foraging
• Put together Teepee
• Ate, drank and was merry!



Entrance into the living area from the garden. Open 'tree house' type kitchen, couches under trees and yurts and teepees are living spaces





the boys begin assembling





plans





clear plastic weather proofing to keep light inside





swales built into the steepest slope,
trees have already been planted



Nico's wonderful solar cooker





Assembling the Teepee with a repaired canvas



the cob double storage compost loo

Farm: Ananta Sacred Space
Location: Cataluya, near Tarragona
Owner: Christina
Website: http://anantasacredspace.com/
Date: September 2009
Situation: Wwoofing for 2 weeks
Projects during our stay:

• Began building Geodesic Dome
• Built steps throughout property
• Assisted Moroccan builders with cob kitchen structure
• Prepared raw foods and learnt about the raw eating lifestyle
• Meditated, sun-gazed, swam, foraged

plateau on top of property where we camped

Farm: Quinta das Abelhas
Location: Central Portugal, near Tabua
Owners: Andy and Sophie
Website: http://www.portugalsmallholding.org/
http://www.pureportugal.co.uk/
Date: October 2009
Situation: Wwoofed for 2 weeks
Projects during our stay:

• Grape harvest and juicing
• Mosaics of stairs
• Gardening
• Visits to other permaculture farms in area
• 5 Rhythms dance workshops



me getting grape grubby!





small solar cooker

 



yurts and caravans





my mosaic!



view over the farm from the ridge

Farm Visit: Caryn and Steve's Permaculture farm, Central Portugal
Date: October 2009




practice cordwood wall




their beautiful natural swimming pool



Round house, built with the help of 'The' Tony Wrench!
Holds yoga workshops and other events



cord wood walls of the round house




the round house reciprocal roof

 

 

massive geodesic dome




Farm Visit: Permaculture Headquaters Slovakia, Southern Slovakia

Date: August 2009

permaculture gardens





Project: Adobe Bread/Pizza Oven

Aim: Build a functional Bread/Pizza oven using natural materials and traditional techniques

Location: Central Portugal, Corga da Peirera

Date: December 2010

Reasons for Location of oven:
 Oven to be situated inside the covered outdoor proposed kitchen area. At this point it is only a covered area, no structures have been place there as yet, so deciding on where to locate future structures eg; sink and benches needed to be decided before building the oven

• Oven to be a focal point of area
• Possibly will have a circular bench around the oven for 'assembly line' pizza preparation or putting awaiting/cooked pizzas on to keep warm, or general bench with stools for a breakfast bar type set-up
• people can gather for warmth all the way around if it is not built touching a wall
• It's the only space in the area that can't be utilized by other things eg; benches around the edge, but just open space in the middle
• Although corner is better for space, good workbench space will be taken up, and area around the edges to gather and be warm will be lost

Equipment needed:

• Cob bricks made at least 2 weeks prior to allow for thorough drying. A clay straw mix is best, but adding soil and/or sand is also possible. Best mix is Clay:Sand:Straw 3:1:1. We made many test bricks to see which dried faster, crumbled less and were strongest. Make in a quadrilateral shape with one side shorter than the other *drawing*
• Level, shovels, rakes
• Tiles/gravel
• Rocks, smallish for the rubble filling
• Door, cast iron is best
• Long flat rock ie:slate for shelves
• If oven will be exposed to the elements, use lime in the cob mix

Process:

1. Broken tiles/gravel base a few inches thick
2. Layered rocks. Filled small gaps with gravel
3. Made cob mix, clay+soil+straw to use for mortar
4. Built ring around edge of rocks with cob
5. Laid pre-made cob bricks around 15 bricks in total for 1.5m diameter circle
6. Cobbed in bricks. Build up layers
7. Lit a fire inside to dry bricks, it was winter and wet weather. If in summer, wet each brick before you lay it, otherwise bricks will draw moisture out of mortar
8. Added a few slate shelves under where door was to be (for matches etc), and around other side for convenience
9. Once at correct height for base and once dry, filled with rubble/rocks
10. Smoothed a flat cob layer over top and let dry
11. Made a sand mound large enough to be the internal section of the bread oven
12. Cobbed over sand quite thick with the door attached and let dry
13. Removed sand via door

This was a workshop project run by Nuno Mamede. It took 2 weekends to complete with the help of 7-9 people each weekend.

Nuno chops some straw

Adobe mix

The brick moulds

Drumstick pecks away at the straw while we mix

Clay and soil

Drawing out the location
and size of proposed oven

after the layer of tiles and rocks, we started
laying the bricks

Lit a fire inside to help dry the
bricks. Level whenever possible!

Adding a slate shelf 

Ahh! Collapse!

More official photos from the completed workshop here  http://permaculturaportugal.ning.com/photo/162911475867609226683519226592-1/next?context=user