Toni's Permaculture Project Profile

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:

Broken tiles/gravel base a few inches thick
Layered rocks. Filled small gaps with gravel
Made cob mix, clay+soil+straw to use for mortar
Built ring around edge of rocks with cob
Laid pre-made cob bricks around 15 bricks in total for 1.5m diameter circle
Cobbed in bricks. Build up layers
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
Added a few slate shelves under where door was to be (for matches etc), and around other side for convenience
Once at correct height for base and once dry, filled with rubble/rocks
Smoothed a flat cob layer over top and let dry
Made a sand mound large enough to be the internal section of the bread oven
Cobbed over sand quite thick with the door attached and let dry
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

Project: Herb Spiral

Aim: Create and environment suitable for every type of herb, within easy reach of kitchen

Location: Central Portugal, Corga da Peirera

Permaculture Aspects/Benefits:

Spiral is a common pattern of nature
2m round is a small area, enough to be watered within the reach of one circular sprinkler head, wasting no water or time
All herbs are together in one convenient location near to kitchen, all within reach from the edge
Suitable environment for all herbs, ie:

Shade- North facing side eg; mint, chives
Sun- South facing side eg; lemon balm, thyme, sage
Top/Sun- Most heat eg; rosemary, oregano
Half Sun- East/West facing sides eg; hyssop, mint, calendula, parsley, chamomile, watercress

Method:

Chose location, measured out area with string and pole, leveled ground, decided on where to make a large planned pond to use for topsoil for spiral
Worked out which is north and south facing sides
Dug in tyre for small pond on the edge of spiral for aquaculture and watercress. Lined with old plastic lining. North/West facing for evening sun
Laid rocks around edges
Began filling with soil (found the only worms we'd seen on the property!)
Laid more rocks as the soil rose
Filled to about 1metre and completed rocks
Planted herbs in assigned spots, many to still be planted in spring
Mulched
Covered tyre and sealed with cob mix (straw, sand, clay)

Digging the new pond to use the soil for the spiral

Aysha plants out first herbs

Spiral with a view!

Final product, mulched and growing!

Project: Outdoor Shower

Aim: Re-build collapsed shower to be functional and efficient

Equipment provided/found/available:

'The Dragon'- fire heated cob outdoor water heater
Green mesh
Eucy poles, cut/found- long and straight
Bonfire
Lime, buckets, wheel barrow etc

Method:

Leveled ground
Worked out direction of spiral and laid it out with hose pipe
Lit the bonfire to clear land (clear felled pine covering hill), used some half rotten poles and newly cut poles (from areas needing to be cleared) and burnt 1 to 2 metres along the bottom to avoid rotting
Rock base foundation. Collected rocks from nearby
Dug holes around edge 30cm apart using spike. Fit in poles, sometimes using wedges so they remained sturdy and vertical
Mixed lime with sand and clay (1:5:2) in wheelbarrow
Covered rock flooring with lime mix, smoothed then sponged off
Attached plumbing from The Dragon
Attached green mesh as screen
Attached bark/cork as shelf, made bench/hooks for clothes
Dug swale below to catch water run off

Permaculture Aspects:

Waste water irrigates tomatoes/herbs planted in gutter around shower
Swale retains grey water run off
Next summer's plan is to attach black pipe as roofing to solar heat the water and asd shade.