This message of unique potential cannot be communicated if we continue to hold "sameness" as a value. We need to celebrate diversity in talent and approach. #ValueDiversity

he two essential ingredients for mixing good cob: music and beer. Along with clay, sand, straw and shiny happy bare feet
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The Post-PDC Practical course in full swing as students implement designs for a “chill & grill” area outside the Wee House kitchen-to-be.
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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!
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#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.
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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.
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#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.
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#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 view of the main building through the cherry tree. Just 5 places left on our courses this year - 2 for July and 3 for August - so come and learn how to save the Earth and avert climate disruption by working with nature, not AgaInst it! (Do you see what I did there …?)
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#permaculture #permaculturedesign #permacultureliving #permacultureprinciples #selfsufficient #centralportugal #organicgardening #regenerativeagriculture #patterntodetail #workingwithnature #forestgarden #foodforest #biodiversity #valuediversity #buildresilience #natureeducation #offgridliving #offgridlife #slowliving #simpleliving #sustainableliving #greenliving #permaculturedesigncertificate #permaculturedesigncourse #permacultureeducation #ourplanetourhome #bethechange

Aboriginal art? No. Snail art. On the earthen plaster walls of the cob bathroom. Nature never ceases to delight.
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#permaculture #permaculturedesign #permacultureliving #permacultureprinciples #selfsufficient #centralportugal #organicgardening #regenerativeagriculture #patterntodetail #workingwithnature #forestgarden #foodforest #biodiversity #valuediversity #buildresilience #natureeducation #buildlikeagirl #womenbuilders #womenwhobuild #selfbuild #livinginportugal #portugallife #sustainablebuilding #greenbuilding #learningbydoing #naturalbuilding

A couple who were to have been coming to July's Permaculture Design Course in their camper van have unexpectedly just found their dream home in Portugal and are having to postpone their participation. So we now have two spots AND a camper van place (if needed) on the course which was previously fully booked. This is a great opportunity for anyone travelling around right now to join a great bunch of students and facilitators in a thorough exploration of how to work with nature, not against it. We also have just 3 spaces left on the August PDC. (Check out the Courses and Workshops link in our link tree.) Come and join us!
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#permaculture #permaculturedesign #permacultureliving #permacultureprinciples #selfsufficient #centralportugal #organicgardening #regenerativeagriculture #patterntodetail #workingwithnature #forestgarden #foodforest #biodiversity #valuediversity #buildresilience #natureeducation #offgridliving #offgridlife #slowliving #simpleliving #sustainableliving #greenliving #permaculturedesigncertificate #permaculturedesigncourse #pdc #environmnentaleducation

Japanese dogwood (Cornus kousa) flowering for the first time. Looking forward to trying the fruits. An easy to cultivate small tree or shrub with a long history of use. It feels so rewarding to revive these old varieties which have ended up being ignored because they don’t suit our supermarket-based eating habits. Particularly when they have such delightful flowers.
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#permaculture #permaculturedesign #permacultureliving #permacultureprinciples #selfsufficient #centralportugal #organicgardening #regenerativeagriculture #patterntodetail #workingwithnature #forestgarden #foodforest #biodiversity #valuediversity #buildresilience #natureeducation #offgridliving #offgridlife #slowliving #simpleliving #sustainableliving #greenliving #japanesedogwood #cornuskousa

Cherry time!
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#permaculture #permaculturedesign #permacultureliving #permacultureprinciples #selfsufficient #centralportugal #organicgardening #regenerativeagriculture #patterntodetail #workingwithnature #forestgarden #foodforest #biodiversity #valuediversity #buildresilience #natureeducation #offgridliving #offgridlife #slowliving #simpleliving #sustainableliving #greenliving #freshcherries #cherryseason #homegrowncherries