It was a true joy to see it again. Years and years of effort to rehabilitate what once was just an abandoned track of land. The stacking in space and time, the building of resources to enhance succession, the diversity, it is all there on this special slice of land at Terra Alta, Sintra, Portugal. Its former state was simply being completely covered by blackberries with few trees on it. Now its a thriving jungle of food that has produced a lot over the years and now as the trees mature, its more the fruits that are the reward.
I stewarded this space from 2012 to 2016 and was the main architect of its development. I worked hand in hand with Pedro, the founder of the project, and many a volunteers and students and other permaculture professionals along the way. It is a joy to come back to such a spot. Now the need for soil building operations has lessened and less maintenance needs other than pruning. However Pedro and his cohorts continue to develop it and enhance its beauty and functionality!
This online PDC handbook is a collective creation brought to you by TreeYo Permaculture, headed by Doug Crouch. It is a fair share service to those who are seeking information about various aspects of Permaculture. By using a multimedia approach, we embody the permaculture principles and bring concentrated information to a central node. We really hope that you will leave comments or questions so that the collective genius of the Permaculture community can be realized. Through this blog/book format, we can have an open dialogue and co-create so that future users can access not only the valuable information presented but also discussions and comments brought by you the users.
Fair Share from You:
The author gardening in a food forest, 2012, Dominican Republic
Swale raised mound planted in humid temperate climate
Banana Circle Section View
Much of the information is derived directly from the curriculum presented in our courses and is a reflection of our take on Permaculture. The project of the PDC Handbook is a massive undertaking and we welcome any feedback to help drive it forward.
Furthermore, this is an online reader for those who will be taking permaculture courses with us or other teachers. We feel that it is a testament to the permaculture philosophy of being completely open-source with everything we do, Cooperation not Competition. At the same time we also recognize the intellectual property involved and we wish to honor the system of Collective Commons. Thus please do give us credit for our work here and please share this resource widely.
The Website is structured to echo the 14 chapters of Bill Mollison’s Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual with an additional three sections: Food Fermentation (Bill actually considers his most important work to be his book Ferment and Human Nutrition), Natural Building, and Animal Systems (emphasizing Holistic Management).
This is also the same framework in which we organize our Permaculture Design Courses (PDC). We find that people come to our regular TreeYo Permaculture site from googling things like Earthships and swales. So we have created this site, which is a five year project to create, and will be directing you as well to other places with more information so that we are not reinventing the wheel.
*** If you do use the pics or logos please give us credit on your site as you will see that we do the same. Enjoy the website and please do contribute anyway that is of value! ***
Paw Paw, a temperate fruit from the tropical Anona fruit family
For our website covering our courses and consulting and documentation in general, please visit www.treeyopermaculture.com and email at treeyopermaculture@gmail.com
