Mastodawn

First phase of the new “chill ’n grill” area outside the wee house kitchen gets its roof just in the nick of time before rain tomorrow. The stone base, counter, pizza oven, barbecue and roof structure were constructed through two successive one-week Post-PDC Practical courses this summer. If there was ever any doubt that a bunch of people with little to no experience of construction and/or natural building are capable of doing awesome, solid and beautiful work, these folks have laid it to rest. You should all be super proud of yourselves!
.
.
.
#permaculture #permaculturedesign #permacultureliving #permacultureprinciples #selfsufficient #centralportugal #patterntodetail #workingwithnature #buildresilience #natureeducation #offgridliving #offgridlife #slowliving #simpleliving #sustainableliving #greenliving #lessismore #lowimpact #learningbydoing #buildlikeagirl #womenbuilders #womenwhobuild #selfbuild #sustainablebuilding #greenbuilding #naturalbuilding #cob #coboven #pizzaoven #earthovens

he two essential ingredients for mixing good cob: music and beer. Along with clay, sand, straw and shiny happy bare feet
.
The Post-PDC Practical course in full swing as students implement designs for a “chill & grill” area outside the Wee House kitchen-to-be.
.
The house was gutted in the fires of October 2017, but is being rebuilt. And now its pizza oven rises from the grave bigger and better than ever. Friday night pizzas, here we come!
.
.
.
#permaculture #permaculturedesign #permacultureliving #permacultureprinciples #selfsufficient #centralportugal #patterntodetail #workingwithnature #biodiversity #valuediversity #buildresilience #natureeducation #offgridliving #offgridlife #slowliving #simpleliving #sustainableliving #greenliving #buildlikeagirl #womenbuilders #womenwhobuild #selfbuild #sustainablebuilding #greenbuilding #learningbydoing #naturalbuilding #cob #coboven #pizzaoven

With just over a week to go before our first Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course this year, we’re going flat out to have new facilities in place for our course participants! This is a new vermicomposting flush toilet right by the classroom.
.
And thanks to a couple of late cancellations, we even have a couple of spaces left on what has, for months, been a fully-booked course. Come and join us! And along with learning about ecological waste treatment, you might even get to do some earthen plastering on this very building.
.
.
.
#permaculture #permaculturedesign #permacultureliving #permacultureprinciples #selfsufficient #centralportugal #organicgardening #regenerativeagriculture #patterntodetail #workingwithnature #forestgarden #foodforest #biodiversity #valuediversity #buildresilience #natureeducation #offgridliving #offgridlife #slowliving #simpleliving #sustainableliving #greenliving #buildlikeagirl #womenbuilders #womenwhobuild #selfbuild #livinginportugal #portugallife #sustainablebuilding #greenbuilding #learningbydoing #naturalbuilding

A bamboo floor for a new shower. Time pressure for completion changed my thinking on this one. I was going to build up a stone floor from ground level a metre or more below and pipe the water to a mulch pit.
Now the water drains straight through the floor into a mulch pit beneath. The floor is built to be easily renewed when necessary if the bamboo doesn’t hold up to the repeated wet-dry cycling. Bamboo grown on the quinta.
.
.
.
#permaculture #permaculturedesign #permacultureliving #permacultureprinciples #selfsufficient #centralportugal #organicgardening #regenerativeagriculture #patterntodetail #workingwithnature #forestgarden #foodforest #biodiversity #valuediversity #buildresilience #natureeducation #offgridliving #offgridlife #slowliving #simpleliving #sustainableliving #greenliving #buildlikeagirl #womenbuilders #womenwhobuild #selfbuild #livinginportugal #portugallife #sustainablebuilding #greenbuilding #learningbydoing #naturalbuilding