Mellow Cogumelo
Mellow Cogumelo is an off-grid permaculture project in the Alentejo combining a gourmet mushroom farm with a mobile Neapolitan pizzeria, all…
Permaculture
Permaculture found fertile ground in Portugal, from Várzea da Gonçala's smallholding in the western Algarve to Terra Alta's courses near Sintra. Design with nature, learn by doing, and visit the places where it works.
Projects in this focus
Monte da Luz Dourada
Monte da Luz Dourada is a French-American family homestead and nature reserve in Alentejo, Portugal, combining permaculture, natural health …
The Quinta Project
The Quinta Project is a queer permaculture farm and ecovillage in the São Mamede mountains, growing food, regenerating land, and hosting vol…
Oasis dos 3 Sobreiros
Oasis dos 3 Sobreiros (also known as Oasis des 3 Chênes) is a permaculture garden and eco-living project in São Francisco da Serra, Portugal…
Florestas de Iroko
Florestas de Iroko is a regenerative polyculture company based in the Alentejo that designs, implements, and manages productive agroforestry…
Herdade do Freixo do Meio
Herdade do Freixo do Meio is a protected agroecological estate in Montemor-o-Novo, Alentejo, combining organic food production, biodiversity…
Permaculture in Portugal
Permaculture arrived in Portugal with the people who came looking for cheap land and long growing seasons, and it stayed because the design problems here are real ones: thin soil, hard summer rain that runs off instead of soaking in, and five dry months to plan around. Swales, keyline design and water retention landscapes get used here because they have to be.
Várzea da Gonçala works a smallholding in the western Algarve. Terra Alta teaches courses near Sintra. Between them sit farms, land projects and design practices at every scale, several of which run the full Permaculture Design Certificate.
If you want to learn rather than read, the project pages list who teaches and who takes volunteers, and our events calendar carries the courses with dates attached. Related focuses: regenerative agriculture, syntropic farming and agroforestry.