What do we mean by self-sustainable?

Posted on by Laurence Manchee

Permaculture Courses in Portugal

Learn how to live a more self sufficient life at home or off grid

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Living in cities, I have always tried to be as sustainable as possible. But in reality, most of the products and services we buy have travelled across the world and are made either using fossil fuels or in places that once had ecosystems such as forests and woodland. We want to create a place that doesn’t harm the planet but instead heals it.
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Nursery at Rak Tamachat Thailand

Our goal is to be in a position where there are zero degrees of separation between us and where we source our food, products and services. This means we will either grow it, make it ourselves or buy what we need from the people that made or grew it. We don’t plan to buy energy but to create it ourselves. We will turn our waste into resources for things like composting, building and art. In fact we won’t have waste; everything will be viewed as a resource.  We will even take this one step further and take waste such as broken tiles, plates or car tyres from the local community and use them for projects on our land. We won’t pollute our water with our human waste. Instead we will save every drop of water we use from the spring and well, naturally treat it and then store it in the lake and ponds we will build in order to add biodiversity to the farm. We will experiment with different permaculture principles to create a place where people can come and learn how to integrate some of these same systems into their homes or businesses, saving them money as well as  helping the environment. If each person learns just one small thing and takes it home with them, together we can make a difference.

Permaculture has many principles and we will write our own principles over the coming months. However in short it means that there are multiple mini systems in place that are all linked together and that compliment each other. The waste from one system is used to fuel the next, creating a sustainable way of life. These are some of the systems that I am looking forward to building with friends and volunteers. I will write a bit on each of these over the coming months: Energy will come from: Solar panels Ground source heat Composting Excess heat from cooking Excess heat from greenhouses and structures for animals Water A natural, uphill spring supplying the plants with water through a gravity fed irrigation system A borehole to supply clean drinking water A lake to store harvested water, add bio-diversity, and to swim in Ponds, swales and streams to harvest water and slow down its flow through the land, bringing the water table up Rocket stove This ingenious invention uses twigs and branches to heat the oven Excess heat, usually lost in the chimney, will be used to heat the stove and water A second one is used to heat an additional stove, the kitchen water and will power an oil burner, eliminating the use of candles Pipes heated by the stove will supply the showers and will go through the tropical greenhouse to keep it warm We love trees Trees will be planted to provide shade in the summer and wind protection in the winter The food forest will provide nuts, fruit, firewood, timber, sawdust for the compost toilet and bark for mulching The trees prevent soil erosion, create biodiversity and a place for climbers to grow Permaculture not agriculture We won’t buy woodland, cut down the trees and use the open space for agriculture We will buy agriculture land intending to replicate woodland but with edible trees, shrubs and plants. Nature doesn’t need fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides, and this leaves the natural woodlands abundant with life Natural woodlands provide biodiversity of food so food is ready for harvest all year round Biodiversity continues up the food chain; bacteria, insects and animal life help prevent the need for pesticides All food will come from our farm or local organic farmers with zero degrees of separation in the use of permaculture principles between Keela Permaculture Farm and the products and food that we grow or buy Compost Leaves won’t be thrown away but will be used as mulch, imitating the natural process in the the forest. This will prevent weeds, keep the ground moist, and will eventually turn into compost and soil Compost toilets will turn human waste into compost A collection of worm composts will be used as a quick natural fertiliser Additionally, the worms are feed for fish and chickens The waste from the kitchen will fuel the abundance of the farm Waste water There is no such thing! Water is a precious resource and we will not be contaminating it by putting toxic chemicals from food, cleaning products, cosmetics or toiletries down the drain A series of filters, followed by a bog and then a stream to the ponds and the lake will naturally treat all collected water Kitchen Greens will be grown in and near the kitchen. Herbs, lettuce and vegetables will not be refrigerated but instead will go directly from the garden to the plate. With less time passing between harvesting and eating food more nutrients are available for you to benefit from Micro-greens, the saved food in the root cellar and the greens grown in the greenhouse will see us through the winter Greenhouse The greenhouse will be heated using deep underground heat, hot water pipes, homemade solar panels and the heat from inside the composts Heat is used by placing pipes through the ground and compost and into the greenhouse. Since heat rises a flow of warmer air is created when the pipes are laid correctly A part of the greenhouse will be placed above the chicken coop to collect the heat from the chickens. Buildings Earthships can literally be built from waste, with walls made from car tyres or beer and wine bottles Broken plates and tiles will be used to create beautiful mosaics on the walls and floors Home made bricks and cob buildings are easy to make Yurts and wooden buildings will be made from materials from the land Not a SINGLE resource will be wasted! There are so many other systems we have been learning about, from aquaponics (I built my first one of these in Singapore!) to building an Earthship. Above are some of the first and most essential ones we will build into and on the retreat. I have saved helpful Youtube videos on our Youtube channel for us and for you for easy access. In early 2016 we will be on a one month permaculture course at Rak Tamachat in Thailand. After this we plan to spend 3 months working on a permaculture farm in Portugal to further our skills before buying our land. We will make videos on these systems as we go. Onward!  

Next Permaculture Courses in Portugal

Check out the dates of our upcoming Permaculture Design Course (PDC) and Specialist courses. Each specialist course is held right after a PDC so that you can attend both together if you want.

PDC : 1st- 14th November 2026

Followed by  – Food Forest Course : 15th – 22nd Nov 2026

PDC : 12th-25th April 2027

Followed by – Organic Gardening Course : 27th April – 3rd May

PDC : 6th – 19th June 2027

Followed by  – No specialist course

PDC : 25th July – 7th August 2027

Followed by  – Natural Building Course : 9th – 15th August 2027 

PDC : 13th – 26th September 2027

Followed by  – Food Forest Course 28th Sept – 4th Oct 2027

PDC : 31st Oct- 13th November 2027

Followed by Land Restoration Course – 15th – 21st November 2027

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