5 Oasis Lake

5 
 "Oasis Lake"
Project

Design of a lake to support a forest garden with fertilization and biodiversity and to create an educational example about how to create an aquatic microclimate and the impact that they have on the ecosystems regeneration.

"Lotus in Oasis Lake"

The best example of the use of the principle about the edge effect, and the creation of areas of ecotone is the development of aquatic systems.

Lakes are fountains of biodiversity that are extremly important to use in any permaculture system.

In the margin of lakes we can find this transition area were both the aquatic and surounding area meet, considering that inside of the water there are 10 species of plants, and that in the surounding we can find 10 species of plants more, in the margin of the lake we can find the 20 species of plants plus 2 or 3 more that develop only in that specific microclimate.This area is caled ecotone.

The oasis lake area would become a sanctuary for biodiversity and a live example of the importance of implementing ecotones in permaculture systems.

The idea for this project was to develop an area that could be a direct example of the creation, and impact of a aquatic microclimate in a mediterranean forest garden system.

This project was developed at the Vale da Lama permaculture institute to support the educational programs.

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

Intuitive Observation

-Almost no maintenance in the area

-Next to zone 1 gardens

-Very exposed to wind

-Soil tilled and exposed

-Next to greenhouse

-Close to main road

-No Trees

-No ground covers

-Soil compacted

-Water tank close

-Far from main house

-Some wild olive trees

-Some neglected orange trees

-Gentle sloap

-East west orientation

-Small area

-Bottom part of Forest Garden

"First tests about lake possibilities"

Deductive Observation

-Potential for extreme biodiverse system

-Possibility for multiple irrigation methods

-Possibility to produce a lot of food in small area

-For full production high maintenance required

-Importance of creation of wind breaks

-Large amount of mulch needed

-Many microclimates possible

-100 square meters area

-Easy access for plants in the farm

"How to find water?"

D.A.F.O.R.

Priority of Ideas

Dominant

Needs heavy machine to dig lake

Potential for amazing educational area

Abundant

Importance of wind protection

Good for planting many different plants

Possible introduction of animals in lake

Potential for large fertilizer production with water covering plants

Frequent

Important to have help from volunteers to start it.

Possible genetic bank of water plants from all the farm

Possibility hot summers

Occasional

Limitations on materials and tools

Potential for getting great practical experience

Rare

Difficulty on holding water

Weeding maintenance

Boundaries

Holistic objectives

Vision

The Vision for the “Oasis lake” is to create a educational area of permaculture methodologies in aquatic systems, for the students of the Permaculture Institute.

Mission

The mission for this lake is to be a genetic bank of aquatic and marginal plants , producing food at the same time as performing as an educational area.

Values

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

Quality of life

By developing this project i am looking to have a deeper understanding of Natures patterns in lakes and water systems and its seasonal flows, and to create a good deposit of productive marginal plants and trees.

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.

Visible Boundaries

100 square meter area

Exposed soil

650 mm rainfall

Dry summer

Water from well and canal

No shade

Very close neighbors

Limited working materials

Working volunteers

Invisible Boundaries

-Time

-Ideas for some areas

-Presence of client

-Limited knowledge

-Budget

-Time for maintenance and development

The scale of permanence

1-Climate

Very stable weather

Warm temperate climate

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

-Gentle sloap of around 2%

-Compacted and eroded landscape

-Rich ecossystem

-Estuary

-Forest is east west oriented

3-Water

-Water from irrigation canal and well

-Flooding irrigation system

-30 000 liters water tank

-Intensive mulching

4-Access

-Road paralel to forest

-Acces from canal at the top

5-Habitats

-Not much biodiversity

-Introduction of flowers may attract many insects

-Some stone structures for reptiles

-Lake margin plants

-Water loving trees

6-Micro climates

-Easy implementation of micro climates

-Stones to preserve heat

-Stable temperature

-Not much shade to create cooler areas

-2,5 Meters deep create different temperatures

7-Buildings

-30 000 liters water tank

-Water canal from 15 km damm

"Soil testing"

8-Zones

-Rural coastal context

-Easy social interconnections, local, national and international

9-Soils

-Compacted soil

-Very low in organic matter

-Deep clay soil

-Ph 7.8

-No mulch

-Tilled

10-Aesthetics

-Very coasi

-Perfect for as an example of a aquatic system

-Characteristics of intensive system

-Potential for art

Subtile boundaries

-Wild olives wind break already stablished as microclimate in north side

-Water acumulation point

Desire lines

-Desired lines need to be developed

-Need to implement permanent paths

D.A.F.O.R.

Bounderies

Dominant

Poor soil

Abundant

Irrigation system

Frequent

Working force

Ocasional

Combinning with other activities

Rare

Financial limitations

Resources

Visible Resources

-Virtually unlimited water

-Some gardening tools

-100 square meters area space

-Vertical growing space

-Trees already there

-Irregular volunteers presence

-Local plants nurseries

Invisible resources

-Limited knowledge

-Abundance of ideas

-Around 5 hours per week to maintain

Early stages

P.A.S.T.E.

Plants	Animals	Structures	Tools	Events
Annuals Lettuce Spinach potatoes Tomatoes Sunflower Pumpkins Courgette Corn Melons Cucumbers Perennials Cabbage Swiss chard Taro “Banana” Sugar canne LEGUME Beans Peas Fava Luzern Clover TEA/MEDICINAL Mint Pennyroyal Basilicum Calendula Mint Red mint Shrubs Fisalys Abutilon Trees Plums Oranges Apples Pears Wild olives Vines Chuchu	Mammals Rabbits Cats Dogs Mowls Birds Black bird Sparrow House Martin Pigeons Insects Bumbblebee Carpenter bee Honey bees Dragonflies Sirfids Monarch Mosquitoes Reptiles Rat snake Water snake Turtle Amphibians Frogs Fish Koy fish Cherry shrimp	Buildings 30 000 liters water tank Paths Paths needed for trees access Structures Lake	Machines Streamer Shreder Digger 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

Evaluation

Imput and output analysis

Inputs

Needs

D.A.F.O.R.

Dominant

-Volunteers

-Watering

-Wind breaks

Abundant

-Introduction of plants

-Propagation of trees

Frequent

-Measuring water quality

-Plant propagation

-Straw

Occasional

-Ferilization

-Visits

-Tree plantation

Rare

-Grafting

Outputs

Yields

Dominant

-Quality of life

-Knowledge

-Biodiversity

-Fertilizer

Abundant

-Soil improvement

-Propagation of self seeding plants

Frequent

-Learning Experience

-Gound cover plants yields like pumpkins and sweet potato leafs

Occasional

-Seasonal fruits

Rare

-Enouth production

-Deseases

North wall

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?

-Introduction of more plants

Energy leaks

Where are you bleeding?

Watering system

Poor soil quality

Not having a constant work force

S.W.O.C.

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

"The fertilizer factory"

Systems dynamics

Key functions

Learning

Food production

Composting

Planting

Watering

Getting fertilizer

Systems to support the key functions

Plant and fruits harvesting

Different watering systems

Practicing

Recycling

Researching

I.T.

Elements to support the systems

Myself

Volunteers

Students

Compost bins

Water tank

Greenhouse

Nursery

Whyte House

Relations + + between systems

Water from Forest garden + + Lake

Lake + + water cover fertilization plants

fertilization plants + + trees

Web of life

Insects drink water in lake

Insects polinate trees and control pests

Forest produces food for chickens and people

frogs eats mosquitoes larvae

"Profile design"

Design

Master plan

Moment 1

-Dig Lake

Moment 2

-Develop effective irrigation system

Moment 3

-Plant new plants

Moment 4

-Open for visits

Moment 5

-Courses and education

Zoning

“Oasis Lake” was part of a zone 2 area

-Most of the Lake for fruit production

-Vegetables and medicinal toguether

-Mixed garden with perennials and annuals and fruit trees

-Wild life sanctuary

Sector analysis

Sun sector

Wildlife sector

Shade sector

Wind sector

Access sector

"Top view and sectors"

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 and trees	Maintenance Not much time for observation Combining with educational activities Quality of soil Watering system	Abundance of resources Experience in semi arid landscape Easy promotion Frequent visits Use of permaculture principles Interesting for regeneration Many plants and tree species possible

Filtering Tools

Permaculture Ethics

Care for earth

Reduce

Reduction on water uses

Reuse

Use of many local species from stacking

Recycle

Water from forest garden irrigation

Repair

Soil

Biodiversity

Care for people

Social landscapes

Landscape used for many visits, courses, and education for volunteers.

Fair share

Seeds exchange

Open visits to the lake

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 seeds, plants and compost

Expenses in machine and man power

Driver and machine 2 hours 60 euros

Working force from volunteers and myself

Quality of life

-The quality of life we have tried to achieve, despite the limiting boundaries, was to have a constant fruit production and courses to share the research with students.

Implementation

D.A.F.O.R.

Dominant

Get heavy machine

Improve watering system

Implement wind break

Develop water cover protection

Abundant

Observation

Start germination

Mulching

Frequent

Tree planting

Plant flowers for insects

Occasional

Fruits harvesting

Rare

Weeding

"Worms were added to the beds"

Stacking

Time

Life story

May

-Dig lake

-Built wind break walls

June

-Introduce wind break plants

-introduce water cover plants

July

-Walls soil protected

-Margins working by capilarity

August

-Water surface protected

-Producing fertilizer

Seasonal

Spring

Intensive germination

Introduce leguminous plants

Propagate worms in walls beds

Intensive mulching

Summer

Planting of pumpkins and melons

Special attention to watering

Autum

Heavy mulching

Seed harvesting and organizing

Winter

Improving growing areas

Space

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

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 Reproduction by cuttings Grafting Seed saving Protection from animals Harvesting	Improve shelters Protect fruits from birds Attract insects Worm incoculation	Harvest fertilizer plants in lake Maintain structure of wind break wall	Organize garden tools Measure ph Measure humidity and temperature	Harvesting fruits Composting Mulching Prepare for winter rains Make fertilizer from water cover plants Organize courses Plant pumpking

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 HERE

Celebration

D.A.F.O.R.

Dominant

Courses

Visits

Abundant

Observation

Frequent

Building stone piles as reptiles habitat

Occasional

Art

Music playing

Meditation

Rare

Painting

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 Sharing Relaxing Exchange	Combining with other developments Space for big groups

EVENTS

Characteristics

The events organized in the “Oasis Lake” were mostly related to education, having the students maintaining and developing some of the elements, and also researching and designing.

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 farm Trees develop in amazing way	Incredible impact on the number of biodiversity Many more insects and lake animals Monarch butterfly established Turtles arrived	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 right time Events must be very well planned before Use energy flows as much as possible

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 more niches?

- Better alocation of plants acording to their needs.

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?

-Introduction of fungal structures.

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

Systems dynamics

Web of life

A nice story about the influence of this project to the biodiversity of the area is that the "Oasis Lake" attracted one of the two native portuguese turtles, the Emys orbicularis considered to be in danger in Portugal.

Emys orbicularis 

Cágado de Carapaça Estriada click HERE

Final observations

The "Oasis Lake" is problably the most diverse system i have implemented in Vale da Lama Institute.

The creation of the wind breacks, the companion planting, the fast growing plants, the use of lake plants as fertilizer for the food forest and the biodiversity that it have atracted, specialy the most indangered turtle in Portugal that decided to go and live there.

Ive tryied to apply all the permaculture principles in this small project so that it would represent the impact of the permaculture regeneration in such a degraded landscape like the semi arid mediterranean region.

This project became a big example of how fast we can have a serious impact on the support of local ecossystems and on the creation of microclimates full of life.

I would like to dedicate this project to Lesley Martin, my diploma tutor, since in these last 2 years she was the person who supported me in the development me develop the "Oasis Lake" and get to this point of experience.

Thanks Lesley