Terramada
Terramada is a permaculture ecovillage near Castro Marim, in the Algarve, with over 20 years of soil regeneration behind it. It combines nat…
Composting
LIPOR composts at municipal scale near Porto, while NÃM Mushroom Farm turns used coffee grounds into food and compost. Farms also close the loop by returning organic material to the soil.
Projects in this focus
Quinta da Zira
Quinta da Zira is a pesticide-free farm in Albufeira producing vegetables, fruits, herbs and eggs, paired with a rebuilt local accommodation…
Mushroom Compadres
Mushroom Compadres is a specialty and functional mushroom producer based in Rogil, West Algarve, making tinctures, coffee and cacao blends r…
Monchique Homestead (Terra do Milho)
Monchique Homestead is a self-sufficient organic farm in the Serra de Monchique, Algarve, where a family grows vegetables and keeps chickens…
Carbon Conscious Creations
Carbon Conscious Creations, based in Algoz, Algarve, produces high-temperature biochar and wood vinegar and builds the equipment to make the…
Várzea da Gonçala
Várzea da Gonçala is a 7.5-hectare permaculture smallholding near Aljezur in the western Algarve, developed over 18 years into a food forest…
Composting in Portugal
Portuguese soils are typically low in organic matter, and the summer burns off what little there is. Compost is the cheapest answer to both problems, which is why it is one of the first systems a land project sets up here.
The scales differ enormously. LIPOR composts the organic waste of Greater Porto. NÃM Mushroom Farm grows gourmet mushrooms on Lisbon coffee grounds and composts the spent substrate. Várzea da Gonçala and Aldeia do Vale do it at smallholding scale, and Carbon Conscious Creations turns the woody fraction into biochar instead.
Separate collection is now obligatory for municipalities, so household habits and public policy meet directly here. See also food waste reduction, organic farming and regenerative agriculture. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.