New School Permaculture: 3 Wonderland Garden

3 Wonderland Garden

3
The

“Wonderland”

Garden

"Golden Beetroot Mangel"

Educational area developed with the idea of creating a very diverse and multifunctional garden that would be an example of what can be done on a small scale.

This garden would provide food for the Vale da lama permaculture institute, a shop and café, with all the herbs and teas in combination with the function of being a seed sanctuary of perennial and annual plants.

"Wonderland poem"

This project was born after I left the “Toca do Rebento” project and went to live to Lagos in the southwest of Portugal with the idea to implement a national permaculture institute that would represent Portugal.

I presented this idea to Lesley Martin and Walter Ludwick looking for a possible support for implementation.

After the aproval from the economic part and the educational part we have dived into the process of developing a permaculture school.

The first idea that came to my mind was that to be a permaculture school we needed to be as much sustainable as possible, and to convert many of the Vale da Lama farm structures in a transition from a agro turism project to a more low impact example.

Our goals for the farm were that we would be sustainable in the aspects of food, energy and water, and that I would be developing the educational programs and the demonstrative gardens for intensive food production.

The farm was very big and with an amazing potential, 42 hectares in an estuary region facing the Atlantic ocean with a relaxed mediterranean to sub tropical climate

"Banana temple"

The potential for growing subtropical plants in Portugal was one of the targets by thoes times so this context was perfect to start my research about the possibilities.

The “Wonderland” was a demonstrative garden about the possibilities of design and implementation of a zone 1 area, with the goal to be as much productive as educational.

"Wen i arrived "

It would also act as an sanctuary for wild life and seed preservation, designed specialy to preform the function of improving plants genetics so that then they could be tried in a more demanding area of the farm.

O.B.R.E.D.I.M.C.E.

Observation

Intuitive Observation

-Abandoned growing area

-Next to support house

-Very exposed to wind

-Some wild vines

-Next to greenhouse

-Close to main path

-Some small fig trees

-No ground coves

-Soil compacted.

-Water tank close

-Far from main house

-Some trelices installed

-Some abandoned raised beds

Deductive Observation

-Potential for big production

-Possibility for multiple irrigation methods

-Possible area for chicken tractors

-Possibility to produce the vegetables for a big group of people

-For full production high maintenance required

-Big need for organic matter production

-Large amount of mulch needed

-Easy cardboard access in the city

-Some difficult weeds

-600 square meters area

-Raised beds need recovery

-Possibility for ponds and vertical growth

"Worm towers in early days"

D.A.F.O.R.

Priority of Ideas

Dominant

Needs strong improvement on soil

Potential for amazing educational area

Abundant

Possibility of vertical stacking

Good for planting many different plants

Possible introduction of animals

Frequent

Important to have more workers

Possible genetic bank of plants from all the farm

Occasional

Limitations on materials and tools

Potential for getting great practical experience

Rare

Possibility of heavy wind and hot summers

Irrigation and weeding maintenance

Boundaries

Holistic objectives

Vision

The Vision for the “Wonderland” garden is to create a educational area of permaculture methodologies used in Zone 1, for the students of the Permaculture Institute.

Mission

The mission for this garden is to be a genetic seed bank of useful annual and perennial plants , producing food with some of the strategies developed by the permaculture science.

Values

This project has as main values, education, integration, patience, sustainability, hope, creativity and healing.

Quality of life

By developing this project i hope to have a
deeper understanding of Nature and its
seasonal flows, and to create a good deposit of
plants in a very calm environment.

Future resource base

For the Future of this project the idea is that other permaculturists and volunteers can keep on learning and developing its structures and thecnics.

"Possibility of space stacking"

Visible Boundaries

600 square meter garden

Big green house

650 mm rainfall

Dry summer

Water from well and canal

No shade

Relatively close neighbors

Limited working materials

Working volunteers

Invisible Boundaries

-Difficulty on cleaning irrigation system

-Ideas for some areas

-Presence of client

-Limited knowledge

-Budget

-Time for maintenance and development

Countdown Clockgreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

"Biochar raised beds"

The scale of permanence

1-Climate

Very stable weather

Most of rain in the winter time

Not extreme summer

Maximum rain in one day around 40mm

Temperatures between -5 and 38ºC

Possible frost for 2 weeks in February

Orographic effect due to close presence of mountains

Very big Wind exposure

2-Landscape

-Totally flat garden

-Compacted and eroded landscape

-Rich ecossystem

-Estuary

3-Water

-Water from irrigation canal and well

-Dripping irrigation

-Some sprinklers

-Intensive mulching

-Possibilities for ponds

4-Access

-From all sides of garden

-Car access close

5-Habitats

-Not much biodiversity

-Introduction of flowers attract many insects

-Some stone walls for reptiles

-Some blind mowls detected

-Possibility of small domestic animals

6-Micro climates

-Easy implementation of micro climates

-Walls preserve heat

-Stable temperature

-No shade to create cooler areas

-Walls facing west

-Wine trelices

7-Buildings

-House in the east side

-Green house in the direction north south

-30 000 liters water tank

8-Zones

-Urban environmental context

-Easy social interconnections, local, national and international

-Temporary rented house

9-Soils

-Compacted soil

-Very low in organic matter

-Deeo clay soil

-Ph 7.8

-No mulch

-Abandoned raised beds

10-Aesthetics

-Very coasi

-Perfect for as an example of a zone 1

-Characteristics of intensive system

-Potential for art

Subtile boundaries

-High vine trelice

-Water acumulation points

-Flooding greenhouse

Desire lines

-Desired lines already implemented

-Need to built garden beds access

D.A.F.O.R.

Bounderies

Dominant

Bad soil

Abundant

Dripping irrigation

Frequent

Working force

Ocasional

Presence on site

Rare

Financial limitations

Resources

Visible Resources

-Virtually unlimited water

-Unlimited cardboard

-Abundant kitchen scraps

-Some gardening tools

-300 square meters gardening space

-Vertical growing space

-Irregular volunteers

-Local plants nurseries

Invisible resources

-Limited knowledge

-Abundance of ideas

-1 person 40 hours per week to maintain garden and greenhouse

"Green house developments"

P.A.S.T.E.

Plants	Animals	Structures	Tools	Events
Annuals Lettuce Spinach garlic onions potatoes Tomatoes Sunflower Pumpkins Courgette Kholraby Melons Cucumbers Perennials Cabbage Swiss chard Petunia Primula Fleur du lis Strawberry Wild strawberry Taro “Banana” Sugar canne LEGUME Beans Peas Fava Luzern Clover TEA/MEDICINAL Mint Pennyroyal Basilicum Aloe Citronela Thyme Calendula Viola Mint Red mint Shrubs Sweet lime Fisalys Fushia Abutilon Trees Fig trees Vines Passion fruit Wine Chuchu	Mammals Rabbits Cats Dogs Mowls Worms Birds Black bird Sparrow House Martin Chickens Pigeons Insects Bumbblebee Carpenter bee Honey bees Dragonflies Sirfids Reptiles Rat snake Water snake Amphibians Frogs Fish Koy fish Cherry shrimp	Houses Storing house Buildings Green house Sheds Germination area Paths Paths around all raised beds	Machines Streamer Shreder Tools Gardening tools	Natural Heavy rains in April Hot summer Strong winds Courses Introduction to permaculture courses Several permaculture design courses Permaculture internships Visits Schools visits for environmental education

"Desired Lines"

Evaluation

Imput and output analysis

Inputs
Needs

D.A.F.O.R.

Dominant

-Volunteers

-Watering

-Wind breaks

Abundant

-Introduction of plants

-Germination area

Frequent

-Compost

-Worm composting area

Occasional

-Chickens

-Ferilization

-Visits

Rare

-Grafting

"27 Kg pumpkin""

Outputs

Yields

Dominant

-Quality of life

-Knowledge

-Worms

-Rare plants

Abundant

-Vegetables

-Biodiversity

Frequent

-Learning Experience

-Adding manure

Occasional

-Seasonal fruits

-Eggs

Rare

-Enouth production

-Deseases

Vertical stacking in greenhouse

Limiting factors

What is limiting your yield?

-The factor that limits mostly the yield is the not constant flow of volunteers.

Were can i open more niches?

-Many places to develop microclimates

What improvements can be done?

-A good organization of time and tasks

How to extend limits and comfort zones?

-Trying to plant new species of plants and at different times of the year

Energy leaks

Where are you bleeding?

Watering system

Poor soil quality

Not having a constant work force

"Making hugulbeds"

S.W.O.C.

Strenghts	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Constraints
Central area Easy resources	Time Permanent maintenance	Education Networking Experience	Other activities Climate

Systems dynamics

Key functions

Learning

Food production

Composting

Planting

Watering

Making fertilizer

Worm composting

Systems to support the key functions

Plant harvesting

Different watering systems

Worm compost bathtubes

Practicing

Recycling

Researching

I.T.

"To big to be true"

Elements to support the systems

Myself

Volunteers

Students

Compost bins

Water barrels

Greenhouse

Nursery

Whyte House

Relations + + between systems

kitchen + + compost

compost + + garden beds

garden + + kitchen

Web of life

Snails as food for chickens

Chickens weed and fertilize garden

Garden produces food for chickens and people

Pond attracts insects

Insects control pests

frogs eats mosquitoes larvae

Flowers attract insects

Insects pollinate flowers

Flowers produce fruits

Fruits get eaten or composted

Compost fertilizes soil

Soil produces flowers

Design

Master plan

Moment 1

-Improve growing beds

Moment 2

-Increase quality of the soil

Moment 3

-Design new beds

Moment 4

-Open to visits

Moment 5

-Courses and education

Zoning

“Wonderland” was a zone 1 garden

-Most of the garden for vegetable production

-Vegetables and medicinal herbs around garden

-Mixed garden with perennials and annuals

-Worm and hummus production

-Composting area

-Chickens

-Pond

-Wild life corridors

Sector analysis

P.M.I.

Plus	Minus	Interesting
Micro climates Vertical stacking Resources in close city Fast development National exposure Create the opportunity for permaculturists to learn Experience on design and implementation Long growing season Potential for subtropical plants	Maintenance Not much time for observation Combining with educational activities Quality of soil Watering system	Abundance of resources Experience in semi arid landscape Being in permaculture school Easy promotion Frequent visits Use of permaculture principles Interesting for regeneration

Filtering Tools

Permaculture Ethics

Care for earth

Reduce

Reduction on water uses

Reuse

Old bath tubes converted in worm farm

Recycle

Cardboard from city for compost and mulch

Repair

Old dripping irrigation system

Care for people

Social landscapes

Landscape used for many visits, courses, and education for

volunteers.

Fair share

Seeds exchange

Open visits to the garden

Fruits and herbs for visitors

Information Knowledge

Permaculture Principles

The most frequent principles applied were:

The problem is the solution

Integrate rather than segregate

Start small

Use local resources

Each element must perform several functions

Financial analysis

Important to have a good investment in plants and compost

Quality of life

-The quality of life we have tried to achieve, despite the

limiting boundaries, was to have a constant vegetable

production and courses to share the research with students.

"New draft about central area"

Implementation

D.A.F.O.R.

Dominant

Improve garden beds

Get compost

Improve watering system

Abundant

Observation

Start germination

Vegetable harvesting

Frequent

Built trelices

Plant flowers for insects

Apply mulch

Occasional

Fruits harvesting

Introduce chickens

Rare

Weeding

"Vertical grow pumpkin"

Stacking

Time

Life story

2011

Improving soil

Creation of composting area

Fertilization program

Germination area

National TV reportage

2012

More stable flow of volunteers

Worm composting at full power

initial stages of aquaponics system

"Volunteers"

Seasonal

Spring

Intensive germination

Introduce leguminous plants

Propagate worms in garden

Intensive mulching

Summer

Planting of pumpkins and melons

Special attention to watering

Make preserved foods

Autum

Heavy mulching

Seed harvesting and organizing

Winter

Heavy composting

Improving growing beds

Improve drainage

Space

-The project was design to use as much as possible the vertical space without compromising the sun sector.

"PDC students @ Wonderland Garden"

Maintenance

S.W.O.C.

Strenghts	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Constraints
Education Soil improvement Diversity of plants	Irrigation Permanent maintenance	New crops Experiments Experience	Weather Time

P.A.S.T.E.

Plants	Animals	Structures	Tools	Events
Water 2 times a week in summer Doesnt need water for all winter time Constant germinations and sprouts Reproduction by cuttings Seed saving Protection from animals Harvesting	Feeding Collecting manure Collect eggs Improve shelter Reproduction Release in garden Protect fruits from birds Attract insects Worm composting maintenance	Organize storage room Chicken coop Build chicken tractor Organize seed bank area	Organize garden tools Measure ph Measure humidity and temperature Maintain aquaponics system	Harvesting fruits Composting Mulching Prepare for winter rains Make fertilizer from willow and nettles Organize courses

6.600 Kg beetroot

Collecting data

Most of the data collecting was done by videos and pictures since the beginning of the project.

The video reports can be seen at
My You tube Channel
CLICK HERE

"Visits"

Celebration

D.A.F.O.R.

Dominant

Courses

Visits

Abundant

Painting

Relaxation

Frequent

Observation

Building Trellises

Occasional

Art

Music playing

Meditation

Rare

Buillding ponds

S.W.O.C.

Strenghts	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Constraints
Central area of farm Frequent students Creates a lot of inspiration	Time Maintenance of demonstration areas Logistics	Education Experience Sensitive plants Experiments	Combining with teaching courses Space for big groups Knowledge about local growing season

"Yelds"

Evaluation

P.A.S.T.E.

Plants	Animals	Structures	Tools	Events
Crucial importance in choosing the best place Shaded area for shade plants Many plants collected around the city Trees develop in amazing way	Chickens eat more than expected Chickens are very easy to breed Incredible impact in wildlife Mowls sometimes attack the garden	Constant possibility for improvements Limitations acording to resources available Many improvisations Required	Tools dont last very long Important to reduce the need of tools as much as possible Better to invest in quality	Extreme importance on doing things at the wright time Events must be very well planned before Use energy flows as much as possible

Its not a turkey...its a beetroot

Limiting factors

What is limiting your yield?

-The factor that limits mostly the yield is the need for constant working force for implementation and maintenance

Were can i open new niches?

- Applying new gardening permaculture technics

What improvements can be done?

-Make the system in a way that it can be maintained by a small number of people

How to extend limits and comfort zones?

-Moving to international projects and try new things

S.W.O.C.

Strenghts	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Constraints
Knowledge Experience Attitude Networking	Finding proper niche Timming Angsiety Patience	Personal and professional growth Quality of life Learning	Language Time Confidence Luck

Web of Life

A nice story about the influence of this project to the biodiversity of the area is related to the introduction of Asclepia, a plant brought from the Forest garden project, that attracts the Monarch butterfly to the "Wonderland Garden.

Some other interesting animals that made their home in this garden are the Lacerta lepida and the Hyla arborea.

Sardão
Lacerta lepida

Rã arboricola
Hyla arborea

Future Developments

In my opinion the next steps will be mainly

focused on filling up the empty spaces on the

raised beds with more plants and also keep a

good cover with straw to prevent evaporation

and also to reduce the irrigation needed

What would i do different?

riThe main thing that i would do different

would be to spent more time in the garden and

also at the same time to bring more people to

see the developments.