Terra Alta Permaculture

Terra Alta Permaculture runs 10-day Permaculture Design Courses on two hectares in a protected valley near Sintra, 45 minutes from Lisbon. The centre is off-grid and works as a site for both education and research. Pedro Valdjiu and Rita Seixas founded it in 2008, out of a shared idea of regenerative culture and alternative education, and it came from the same community spirit that gave rise to Escola da Terra, a local Waldorf school. The courses are immersive and introduce permaculture principles, regenerative agriculture, natural building, water management and ecological design. The 12 principles of permaculture guide the teaching. Each course is also built as a lived experience of community dynamics and sustainable co-living. The land itself is the classroom. There is a small-scale intensive food forest with a mix of young and old trees, plant guilds and productive growing areas. Alongside the technical skills, students work on healthy social relationships, creative expression and personal resilience. Terra Alta wants to be an inclusive learning centre for people from all walks of life, inviting them to become active agents of cultural and environmental regeneration and to spread an international movement of transformation. The team includes certified permaculture teachers, educators, market gardeners and health coaches. Pedro Valdjiu leads the courses; he is a certified permaculture teacher of the UK Permaculture Association and has studied with Sepp Holzer and David Holmgren. Co-founder Rita Seixas brings Anthroposophy, Waldorf education and the arts. Jenny Ready, also a certified permaculture teacher, co-facilitates the courses and coordinates the project. Henrik Ellerbrock contributes experience in biointensive market gardening, and Inês Barros supports nutrition and health coaching. More than 40 certified courses have been completed, with hundreds of students each year. The project was featured in Permaculture Magazine issue #124.