Quinta da Mandrgora Permaculture Design

By Veronica Setterhall 2010

(The image has been attached in full resolution as a separate file to be able to see the numbering.)

Description of the property and the goals:

Quinta da Mandrgora is a farm situated 35 km north-west of Lisbon city. This property has been empty for a longer time until 2 years ago when we moved here and we are now planning to transform it into a course center focused on historical reenactment and self-sustainable living with permaculture as one of the corner-stones. The land is around one hectare (10000 sqm) large and currently only holds an older brick-house of around 100 sqm + a garage as permanent buildings. The climate in this area is temperate and we live fairly near the coast (around 15 min drive) so we get a lot of moist coming in over the hills surrounding the area and a lot of rain in the winter. The location is also rather windy. In summer it's usually around 25-30 degrees celsius and sunny. 1-2 months are usually completely without rain.

The idea is for the property to be able to feed 2 permanent inhabitants (me and my boyfriend) + volunteers that might come frequently. Eventual surplus of vegetables, fruits and other resources will either be made into products for sale or used for food in courses held on the property. Disadvantage: We're renting this place which gives us some restrictions on what we are allowed to do, even if the owner is happy about getting the place transformed (since the property has not been used for many years). For instance some pathways have to stay the way they are and the concrete area in front of the house kept open for cars to be parked. Only movable containers can be placed there. The owner has one condition for renting the place to us and that is for him to use a part of the land for planting potatoes. This area is away from the house and luckily he only uses manure as fertilizer and no pesticides so it's not something bothering us. Explanation regarding water-collection on the property: In addition to the water-tanks and ponds/dams that can be seen on the drawing, we plan to dig a lot of small swales when planting trees and bushes to get more natural infiltration into the grounds. This is important since most of the land has a sloping inclination and we want to avoid erosion due to the heavy winter rains. It would be hard for us to for instance create a large artificial lake to create a large surface-water area due to the fact that we are renting the place.

Description of the elements in the drawing:

1: Main vegetable and herb-garden for the house. Here we grow the food for daily use. The plants will include cabbages, tomatoes, squash/courgette, dill, coriander, parsley, mint, garlic, thyme, basil, lavender, strawberries, broccoli, onions, peppers, lettuce, blueberries, artichokes, asparagus, carrots, peas, beans and much more we haven't yet tried cultivating. The beds shown in the drawing are a temporary sketch. (The only current existing bed is the herb-spiral.) At the top will be a small pondsystem catching run-off water from the higher land. At the lower end of this garden will be rose-bushes, preferably a type that gives rose-hips, to be used for food and cosmetic use. Below them will be parking for guests. Around the house there are also several plant containers spread out for easy-access just outside the main doors. 2: Medicinal/Household plants. Plants for medicinal use and plant dyes for dyeing yarn and similar. I preferred putting them apart since our place will also be used for demonstration to the public. I don't want to risk people eating plants from this part. It is better to keep everything potentially poisonous apart from the edible plants so people don't mistake a plant when they are allowed to test the others. These plants are put near the house since some of them will need close monitoring and also to be harvested gradually to be saved for later use. Also, being in this position they are close to the fireworking part where plant-dyeing will be done. At the top will be a small pond-system catching run-off water from the higher land. 3: House. Living space for us 2 already living here and 1-2 rooms available for guests/workers. The house is heated with a fire-place, but needs increased insulation and probably additional heating sources to work optimally. A solar air-heater will be installed on the South-West facing wall (in between where trellises will cover the front). The main door has a large window beside it used for seedraising/nursery. The most eastern part will be covered with a green roof for increased insulation. Around the house are rainwater tanks placed out for collecting water. The front of the house will be

covered with trellises where we will grow climbers such as wine, kiwi, passion fruit and maybe hops. Behind the house we will put a closed compost bin for meat-scraps and other food that the animals won't eat. It will have window-access from the kitchen. The plumbing-system needs to be renewed in the house. If getting the money to exchange it, the runoff water can be filtered out into the garden with medicinal plants and the land below it used for fire-activities. 4: Garage. This is the main storage for the things we only use seasonally. Storage for motorbikes, tools, gardening material and pre-cultivation of mushrooms. The roof runs off to water collection tanks. Behind the garage a long working bench including sinks will be installed to be able to work outside and for visitors to use to prepare food. Water will be taken from the rainwater tank. 5: Barbecue/outdoor eating space. Large table for many guests, barbecue and possibly a permanently mounted solar-oven. This is a wind-protected location and also has a water-tank just next to it which is good for safety. 6: Well with wind-power + water-tank. Already existing old well that is covered on top. On the to we plan to install a small wind-power plant, mainly for generating power to the pumps used in the well and for the nearby pond. Hopefully we can make one that generates enough to run a part of the house's needs. In front of the well is an old washing-tank that is good for washing heavier stuff such as carpets. 7: Chicken tractor. The chickens we will get will be kept in a mobile system. Not sure if we're going to use a tractor or a small chicken-coop + a mobile yard that is a bit bigger. To start with it will be placed in the orchard near the house to start clearing up the land for planting more trees and bushes there. 8: Compost toilet and solar-shower. Since the farm will house visitors, campers etc we need some extra facilities for them. A compost toilet and a solar-shower will be installed to suit these needs. The compost from the toiled will be provided to the orchard as well as the run-off water from the shower is to be used for irrigation. Water will be taken with the pump from the well and from a rain-water barrel when having enough rain-fall. 9: Demonstration garden and larger vegetable production. This garden will be used for growing crops in larger quantities. Some for the house-needs and some for preparing products for sale/feeding to animals. It will work as the demonstration garden for the project. The garden has a dam where ducks will live and possibly some fish if it has enough circulation. On the top right we will grow wine for household use. On the arch by the fence we will grow hops for beer-production for other products. The garden holds the main garden-compost. On the outside of the fence will be composting of manure from the surrounding animal pastures in case they pollute a bit too much so the land cannot absorb it straight away. The garden is surrounded on the left with blackberry bushes and at the top with other wild trees and bushes. These can be trimmed occasionally for mulch. Also inside the garden some wild bushes have started to grow that we will use for the same. 10: Animal food storage/saddle room. Shed for storing animal food and to keep saddles and other horse-equipment, brushes and other things for animal care-taking. The Shed will have rain-water collection on the roof and automatic water-feeders connected to it. This location is also close from the well in case the rain-water tanks are not enough (probably they won't be in summer). 11: Pastures for animals and forage crops. Animals will be kept in a rotation system to let the land rest in between and to avoid parasites. They will have free access to go out since we plan to only put

wind-shelters, not stables, on the property. The main one has been drawn on the top-pasture. The bottom left one has a pond since this part of the land already is prone to gather water. At the bottom some fig-trees grow and we will plant in forage bushes for the animals to eat. Also, sometimes in the rotation we are counting on planting parts of the land with grain-crops if we see a need for this. The animals also has the possibility to in periods graze on the land in the orchard or up by the historical demonstration site. The animals that we plan to have in this rotation are pigs, sheep/goats (maybe a few of each), horses and maybe donkeys. Since we are just a small family we will not need many individuals of each animal so the impact on the land will not be too high. 12: Fuel-forest and wild-land. Planting of more pine-trees for firewood and trying to get a larger variety. The soil here is sandy and pines enjoy it so we will use it to plant more of different type. Also, this part of the land will mainly be left alone so wildlife has a refuge. 13: Historical demonstration site. This will be one of the income-sources for the farm. We will hold activities and workshops showing historical life from different eras. For instance we will offer the opportunity to camp in a viking tent or sleep in a small iron-age cottage. We will do outdoors cooking and handicraft with older methods. This is thought both to inspire people's interest in history, but also to show that some techniques can be useful even today. There is also space around this area for animals to graze sometimes and this will be the method to keep this area open. There is a Eucalyptus plantation behind this land that protects the area from the north winds, but we will also plant a border of windbreaks ourselves at the border of this land since the Eucalyptus is cut down in cycles and we also want to protect our land from being invaded by it. 14: Vegetable plots for lend/rent. We wish to give other people the possibility to use a part of our land since we don't need to use the full amount of it for our project. We have been considering lending or renting two-three plots of land for this. If renting, the fee will basically be to cover maintenance of tools, pathways and water-pumps. It can also be paid in work-exchange of course. We think it would be enriching to us if having other people around that also work the land in similar ways to exchange ideas with. Each plot will have at least one small pond or tank for water-collection. 15: Pond for run-off water collection. This pond will catch the water from the upper part of the land (the historical site, the vegetable plots and the owner's potato-plot. Also rainwater will be collected. This pond can be used for irrigation to the orchard below and the trees growing wild on its side. Fitted with a pump the water can also be pumped back to the upper part of the land when very dry in summer. This pond will probably get fish planted in since it is the most natural and untouched one. 16: Camping. Here there will be more open space for camping for the occasions where more people are around than fit in the historical tents. We are considering this as an extra-income in summer since we live ca 15 minutes drive away from some of Portugal's most popular surfing beaches and the campings in that area are usually full and/or very expensive. 17: Orchard. Fruit-trees and bushes of different kind. We plan to put in olives, raspberries, blackberries, oranges, lemons, limes, apples, quinces, almonds, pears, chestnuts etc here. Under the trees we plan to grow wild flowers and let the land live as freely as possible. Sometimes animals, for instance the chickens or sheep, will be allowed to graze here to keep the land open in between the trees and bushes. 18: Wind-breaks. The strongest winds coming in on our land come from the north-west and currently this part of the land is not protected well enough. We will plant in wind-breaks of different height and

make sure to have it in several layers for succession. Behind this there is wild land and we want to leave this part as untouched as possible. Just occasionally we will cut down trees/reeds that are too high or in bad shape to use for firewood or mulch. 19: Cork-trees. Just by the house grows a huge cork-oak that we are very happy to have. It gives nice shade in summer and protects the house a bit from winds in winter. Near it grows two more small ones and all over the land grow more of them. They are a protected species and they also give food for pigs with their acorns. 20: Fire-activities. This part of the land is in a spot that is fairly protected from wind and it has natural borders that helps protect against fire spreading from here. The upper part of the land runs off to here and we will dig ditches to protect the road up to the house since this now gets damaged in winter with the heavy rainfall. We will collect the water in a pond and in case it flows over we will let this run out to the gutters in the street below. This pond will be used mainly as a fire-protection, but also the water can be used for some of the planned activities such as dyeing yarn. Other activities we will do here is for instance to burn ceramics, use a portable hearth for iron-works and there are plans to build a coboven for baking and also to connect the outgoing smoke to an old abandoned dog-house that has already been used for warm-smoking that way creating a cold-smoking device as well. 21: Guest-parking and mushrooms by mailbox. Our mailbox is situated near the end of the land and near it is a part with shadow under a tree and quite moist soil. This would probably be perfect for cultivating mushrooms and it would be great to pick some up when going to catch the mail. Also by the edge of the stairs down we plan to have the guest-parking for us to easily see when someone comes to the farm if being in the house.