Terramada

Terramada is a permaculture ecovillage in southern Portugal, close to the Spanish border and the Beliche dam in Castro Marim. It describes itself as a space for human development through holistic activities, built up over roughly 30 years by a group of early settlers. The site includes dry toilets and showers whose greywater passes through a phyto-ETAR (a constructed wetland with several macrophyte species arranged in terraces). Natural building runs through the project: a tipi made from cane and cob, a dome built by hand at low cost, and a greenhouse constructed from recycled materials with the help of visiting volunteers. A chicken orchard combines fruit trees with a henhouse, and raised garden beds hold a range of vegetables, including thornless brambles brought from Switzerland. A 2014 visit from the Academia Portuguesa de Permacultura recorded soil that had been regenerating for more than 20 years, alongside native and exotic species distributed across the property's several microclimates. The project has also hosted a sound relaxation session run by The Inner Soundproject and welcomed visiting photographers from Estonia documenting community life. Terramada takes in volunteers for practical work, as it did with two volunteers, Jone and Nagore, who helped build the outdoor greenhouse in 2014. Visitors reach the site via a dirt track off the road between Cerro do Enho and Alcarias Grandes, near the EN125 and the A22 motorway.