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“If you go to the vegetable garden and your slippers get wet is that your vegetable garden is too far” – Alessandro Ardovini quoting someone

Today has been a hands-on experience day and the group enjoyed it!

The first part was about the world climatic biozones. We had a little introduction about the physical aspects of the differences between the biozones of the planet.

This introduction allowed us to understand that all of the plants, animals, soils and techniques were evolving and living together. It lead us to realize that before acting on a land we have to be conscious of all of these elements and research and use old or local technologies, materials and species in order to make sure we are minimizing the possible damages on the population or the environment. The interrelationship will be greater than expected.

We then had a introduction to different techniques on how to manage arid landscapes and wet tropics.

After this talks Rosemary and Alfred began to explain the zone method design. This method is a way to manage the energy, the nutrients and the permanence of the land  you are working on.

Zone 0 – home

The ethic in this zone is that the all structures should be environmental living zones, build to preserve nonrenewable resources, create zero waste, use few external inputs, las long, be beautiful and comfortable.

Principles:

• Admit and store suns energy when needed and remove and exclude it when not needed
• Generate designs wich reflect simplicity, economy and resource recycling.
• Design to related space and function
• Design or retrofit your house yourself
• Design and build houses which meet their own needs for renewable energy, food, waste, processing and that use only natural light during the day

Siting the house:

• Climate: seek cooling in hot climates…
• Topography: more than 18 degree should be forested (no house), hill can block winds and create thermal zone…
• Water: springs, tanks, dams, rainwater…
• Soil: drainage, suitability for building…
• Access: erosion potential, water harverst potential, escape…
• Vegetation: leave native vegetation, don’t cut without plan…

Avoid:

• Sick houses: build tight, ventilate right
• Vulnerable house: each function dependent on 1 source
• Consumer junkies

Zone 1 – Kitchen Garden 

Its the place where you have to grow as much food as possible, it must be very intensive and productive, is where we recycle the wastes of Zone O. It has to be non polluting and reduce the foot miles and our foot print. The aims are for it to be permanent, annual, productive and recycling.

Is where we plant veggies, herbs, small fruit trees because is a place we visit often.

Criteria of garden:

• provides 80% of our food
• less than 50 m from house
• SE or NE (east is the mild aspect)

After this very theoretical morning we split in groups of 5 and began to design propositions for Valldaura’s landscape. After realizing we were only beginners it was time to get our hands dirty. Rosemary lead us for the creation of a Permaculture Blitz design on one of the terraces that we hadn’t been using yet.

We did use the technique of Sheet Gardening which consists in creating a garden from scratch by covering completely its bare ground.
The steps were:

• Edging: rocks, tiles
• Wet the soil
• Add dolomite on ground if contaminated
• Add fresh organic matter
• Lay wet cardboard (cut light out) on top of the organic matter
• Design paths with sawdust (thick).
• And then for the beds put  hay then compost and finally straw

  

” The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness an benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products  of its life and activity; it offers protection to all beings”

- Buddhist Sutra

We started the day speaking about THE SUBJECT of Permaculture: PATTERNS. These are repeated shapes or forms that configure landscape. Our tasks as Permaculturalists to implant restorative patterns on degraded landscapes. The pattern IS the design, and design is the subject of permaculture.

In nature we can find different types of patterns:

• Branching/dendritic: trees, rivers. Function is distribution up/down.
• Circle: amongst the different shapes, for a same area the circle has the smallest edge, conserves energy, get more sun
• Spirals: water, seeds, trees, ferns, storms.
• Luneate: dunes (4 orders). In the wind-protected side, accumulation of nutrients.
• Tessellation. Allows structures to move while are growing

After that we began to speak about our beloved friends: Plants. We split in groups and took a walk around the site and searched for five different plantspecies and then we tried to identify the patterns in them and also their function in the ecosystem.

Then we moved on to discuss the limiting factors on plant growth, the ethics of Permaculture concerning local varieties and different ways of propagation and reproduction.

After lunch we talked about trees and forest and the many factors that a forest can perform. Forests are complex systems that can buffer climate and have huge effects in the area around them. Forest area has been declining all over the world during the last years, and this loss is exacerbating the effects of climate change and supposes a severe threat for future generations. After this discussion we  all just wanted to go out in to the world and start to plant trees all over the place. If you want to feel inspired too, watch “The Man who planted trees”

Then we discuss how to use trees to affect microclimates. One of the most common uses is to plant trees as windbreaks. Windbreaks can serve as suntraps, increase of decrease wind velocity, decrease evaporation up to 70%, control erosion and act as dust filters and nutrient traps.

To change the subject and activate our bodies and minds we went outside into a heap of sand to discuss the exercise that we did some days ago about key lines and key points using the sand as a 3-D model of the contours plan for us to experiment. While we where there, Rosemary also shared some advice on dam building.

” Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads” 

Today we began the day talking about climate and microclimates. Climate is the patterns of the weather in a particular area across time, with our designs we want to minimize the climate extremes to reduce or avoid climatic disasters, especially in an age of climate change.

Climate change is generating changes in the precipitation patterns and distribution and also affecting plants’ photoperiod.

Climate affects our designs in three major elements:

- Wind: it shapes & prunes trees, is a source of energy, transports things…

- Precipitation: cleans, hydrates, shapes the landscape, retains energy, erodes, gives life…

- Radiation: controls the cycles in nature, sterilizes, causes evapotranspiration, heat…

In our lands we work with microclimates because it is not difficult to change and manage them. Microclimates have 5 elements that we can manage directly: vegetation, structures, water, soils and topography:

- Topography: aspect and slope. We can generate thermal zones, cold sink,  sun traps…

- Vegetation: forest moderate temperature and increases moisture…

- Structures: passive thermal design, bioclimatic houses…

- Soil types: warm dry, cold moist…

- Water: light reflection

After this two sessions we had lunch and a little time to relax. After that, Rosemary and Alfred taught us in a very dynamical way how to recognize a good and fertile soil.

We split into different groups to perform a soil test. We had to analyze the structure, texture, tilth (how the top soil is, good or bad), percolation (how quickly water soaks in), pH (are nutrients available to plants), humus (decomposed organic matter that becomes humic acid, which in turn can hold water and nutrients, and give them back to plants when they need it), peds (soil should have light ped structure), OM, porosity, salination.

Other way to analyze it is making use of the traditional soil classification:

• colour: white to black
• vegetation: what is growing
• parent material: bedrock
• smell: sour (sulfure dioxide), sweet or soapy (acid), calcium (hard)
• soil life
• how it manages water: does it drain within 24h
• history: how was it, how did it change

To work with soils there are three key points: use appropriate soil restoration strategies, have it covered always, and add more organic matter than what we remove.

If we understand the soil as a living organism we need to avoid certain practices that are common place in industrial agriculture. Like removal of surface vegetation (plowing), the application of chemical fertilizer, the accumulation of biocides, the salinization (white death) due to vegetation clearing and irrigation and inappropriate farming methods (monoculture, heavy machinery, draining wetlands)

To repair a degradet soil we need first of all bring water in to allow the life, there are different techniques to get it for example, landshapping (terraces, swales),  cover the soil, bringing back vegetation and improving soil qualities putting organic matter.

“To treat life as less than a miracle is to give up on it”  Thomas Berry

Today we began talking about Design Methods and what to look for on a plot of land.

First we look for things that affect the property from the out side, for example the water, the sun, climate, wildlife, bureaucracy, pollution… and we draw the fluxes in to a map to understand the land. We also look at the land form and the aspects to see how the sun will shine on the slope.

Then we talk about the most important element in Permaculture: Observation. It is the most important because if you make a wrong observation you will do a wrong design.

After that we talked about zoning. In Permaculture we recognize 6 zones for the design, from 0 to 5. The zones are determined by how often you visit it.

You live in Zone 0, its your home.

You visit Zone 1 every day, this is where you will have your vegetable garden.

Zone 2 is an intensive cultivated orchard with small animals like chickens.

In Zone 3 you will have your commercial crops and large foraging animals like cows.

In Zone 4 you have a harvest forest for timber and other things.

Zone 5 will be dedicated to wild life, this zone is not cultivated.

To understand all of this and put it in the map we talked about topographical maps and we did some exercises how to read contour maps.

After lunch we began a new topic that interested everybody, is so central in Permaculture designs and is vital to ValldauraLabs, WATER.

At the beginning of the afternoon we talked about strategies and how to maximize water retention in a landscape. This is important in drylands because the 70% of the fresh water that we use is dedicated to irrigation.

The average person in the city is 300l/day and the FAO estimates that 45l/day is adequate to satisfy our needs. So in cities we need to think how to reduce, reuse and clean the water to use the water in the best way possible.

We did calculations to find how many water we can use in relation to the rainfall, it was surprising that most of us used more water than our roofs collect.

Later we talked about the eternal mantra of Permaculture: Slow, Spread, Sink and Store. All of these four are strategies to keep the water in your property. We can store the water in soil, in dams, rivers and aquifers and biomass, soil being the most important one.

Trying to store water in the soil without planting trees and plants is futile. We begin by planting the hill tops with the help of swales which are designed to slow the water flow. The second think that we need to do is replanting the rivers sides to prevent soil erosion and to store more water and biomass.

In hawaii they say ” If you cut the trees of the top of the mountain the goods will be angry” 

SOLAR SHOWER WORKSHOP  (Rodrigo Rubio)

We spend the weekend understanding how to use solar energy. In order to get heat water using solar energy and thus get a shower in summer and in winter with no active energy demand. We will cover the basics of plumbing technicians and care to create a beautiful and functional design with sustainable materials, integrating the structure and waste in our permaculture design.

Nos pasaremos el fin de semana entendiendo cómo utilizar la energía solar . Con tal de conseguir calentar agua mediante la energía solar y por tanto conseguir ducharte en verano y en invierno sin ninguna demanda energética activa. Cubriremos los fundamentos técnicos de fontanería y también del cuidado para crear un diseño bonito y funcional con materiales sostenibles, integrando la estructura y sus residuos en nuestro diseño Permacultural.

Rodrigo Rubio 

Architect / Escuela Politécnica de Madrid (ETSAM), first prize at the Selfsufficient Building International Contest, and master degree in Advanced Architecture in 2006. Since then, Rodrigo Rubio has been leading several research projects at IAAC such as the Albacete Effect, the Hyperhabitat Venice Bienale, or the Solar Decathlon Europe FabLabHouse. He founded, along with Daniel Ibáñez, the MaRGeN architectural office in Madrid in 2005, inside the FreshMadrid platform, focused on landscape and selfsufficiency issues, awarded with several prizes in national and international competitions. Nowdays he is directing the Projects Office at IAAC from which the recently finished Endesa Pavilion was developed.

Arquitecto / Escuela Politécnica de Madrid (ETSAM), primer premio en el Concurso Internacional de Arquitectura Autosuficiente, y Master en Arquitectura Avanzada en el año 2006. Desde entonces, Rodrigo Rubio ha liderado varios proyectos de investigación en el IAAC, tales como el efecto de Albacete, la Hyperhabitat Bienal de Venecia o el Solar Decathlon Europe FabLabHouse. Fundó, junto con Daniel Ibáñez, la oficina Margen de arquitectura en Madrid en 2005, dentro de la plataforma FreshMadrid, dedicado a cuestiones paisaje y autosuficiencia, galardonado con varios premios en concursos nacionales e internacionales. Hoy en dia está dirigiendo la Oficina de Proyectos de IAAC de la que se desarrolló el Pabellón de Endesa acaba de terminar.

STRAWBALE WORKSHOP (Jamie Nicol) 

Building with strawbales provides a rapid, cheap and insulative alternative to conventional materials. Come and join us to learn construction basics; of the importance of providing adequate ´hat and boots´ – roof and foundations – and the varied and creative possibilities of strawbale wall-raising, including the theoretical detail necessary to understand both load and non load-bearing types.

Brief summary of the subjects:

* How to build with straw bales
*Calculation of the constructive forces
*Different types of construction
*How to build a greenhouse – chicken coop

La construcción con balas de paja proporciona una alternativa rápida, barata y aislante a los materiales convencionales. Ven y únete a nosotros para aprender los pilares básicos de la construcción como la importancia de proporcionar un buen techo y  cimientos.  También se aprenderán las variadas y creativas posibilidades de la construcción con fardos de paja.

* Cómo construir con balas de paja
*Cálculo de las fuerzas constructivas
*Diferentes tipos de construcción
*Cómo construir un invernadero – gallinero

Jamie Nicol 

Long time student of Permaculture, fortunate to have had great teachers Emilia Hazelip, Masanobu Fukuoka, Marc Bonfils; gardener, forest gardener, natural builder and writer.

Estudiante de Permacultura des de hace mucho tiempo, con la suerte de haber conocido y aprendido de grandes maestros como Emilia Hazelip, Masanobu Fukuoka y Marc Bonfils.  Jardinero, constructor bosques comestibles y escritor.

FOREST GARDEN WORKSHOP  (Jamie Nicol & Ferran Masip) 

This weekend will continue the work begun on December 4, 2012, coinciding with the 850th anniversary of the founding of Valldaura, when we planted 150 trees and shrubs. Forest gardening is a low-maintenance, sustainable, plant-based, food production and agroforestry system based on woodland ecosystems, incorporating fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs and vines and perennial vegetables which have yields directly useful to humans. Making use of companion planting, these can be intermixed to grow in a succession of layers, to build a woodland habitat.

Brief summary of the subjects:

* What is a Forest Garden and its functions – History and evolution
* The 7 layers
* Succession
* How to implement a Forest Garden
* Plant new species
* Mulch, protection and maintenance of a Forest Garden

Este fin de semana se continuará con el trabajo empezado el 4 de Diciembre de 2012, coincidiendo con el 850 aniversario de la fundación de Valldaura, día que se empezó la plantación de 150 árboles y arbustos. El trabajo práctico contará con la implementación de nuevas especies vegetales, mulch… La teoría se basará en explicar los detalles necesarios para el establecimiento de bosques comestibles en espacios forestales pequeños hasta en patios.

Materias:

* ¿Qué es un bosque comestible? – Historia y evolución
* Conocer las 7 capas
* La sucesión natural dentro de un bosque
* Cómo implementar un Bosque Comestible en tu finca
* Plantación de nuevas especies
* Mulch, protección y mantenimiento de nuestro Bosque Comestible

LICHT HUNTERS WORKSHOP  (Alfonso Borragán) 

Light Hunters is a space in which to experiment and create this illusion. Since its inception, pinhole photography has worked on these ideals, breaking the barriers that the language of photography itself has built, and opening the door to a whole new field of experimental photography. Jumping into the void with no strings attached, where play and intuition are the tools. To live is to play, and the game the key to creativity. One step back to “standby” to primitivize and re-imagine technology.

Photosynthesis is a production workshop about experimental photography and pinhole, and is mainly aimed at creatives. The workshop will develop in the context of the forest, using all means and materials that can contribute to the creation of images. In some ways it could be called vegetal ‘estenopia’ (vegetal recording devices). The workshop will experiment with natural photosensitive materials, the place and the imagination to derive the hidden images of the forest.

The workshop will be held in 10 days, divided into two parts. The first part will take place in the month of May by a 5-day intensive immersion, beginning with an investigation into the site, the materials and the content of the workshop. This will initiate discussions about potential projects. The second part will take place in the month of July, and in the same way using a 5-day intensive immersion, the realization of projects will be held through seminars, field work and workshops. The intervening months between the two phases will be devoted to the development of individual projects supported by digital tutorials.

Throughout the workshop will alternate fieldwork and theoretical and critical material, placed in artistic projections, technique and practice for enhancing the imagination and the world of ‘estenopia’. Each participant must make a device capable of generating images with the forest.

Cazadores de luz es un espacio en el que experimentar y crear a través de los límites de la fotografía. La fotografía no es sólo una herramienta para representar, es un medio lleno de magia e ilusionismo capaz de imaginar. Desde sus inicios, la fotografía pinhole ha trabajado sobre estos ideales, rompiendo las barreras que el propio lenguaje de la fotografía construía, y abriendo así las puertas a todo un nuevo campo de fotografía experimental. Un salto sin cuerdas al vacío en el que el juego y la intuición son las herramientas. Vivir es jugar, y el juego la clave de la creatividad. Una vuelta atrás, un “standby” para primitivizar e imaginar la tecnología. 

Fotosintesis es un taller de producción alrededor de la fotografía experimental y pinhole. Esta principalmente dirigido a creadores. El taller se desarrolará en el contexto del bosque utilizando todos los materiales que ese medio puede aportar a la creación de imágenes. De algún modo se podría llamar estenopia vegetal. En el taller se experimentará con materiales fotosensibles naturales, el lugar y la imaginación para obtener las imágenes ocultas del bosque.

El taller se desarrollará en 10 jornadas, divididas en dos partes. La primera parte tendrá lugar en el mes de Mayo mediante una inmersión intensiva de 5 días se comenzará la investigación sobre el lugar, los materiales y el contenido del taller para empezar a discutir sobre los posibles proyectos. En la segunda parte que tendrá lugar en el mes de julio, del mismo modo mediante una inmersión intensiva de 5 días, se llevará a cabo la materialización de proyectos mediante seminarios, trabajo de campo y te taller. Los meses intermedios entre las dos fases se dedicarán a la evolución de proyectos individualmente con el apoyo tutorizado digital. 

En todo el taller se alternará trabajo de campo con material teórico y crítico apoyandose en proyecciones de artistas, técnica y práctica para potenciar el imaginario del mundo estenopeico. Cada participante deberá realizar un artefacto capaz de generar imágenes con el bosque.

Alfonso Borragán  

Artist. He lands on the art scene as he finds it the best way to develop his ideas. He’s only interested on works that serve as a vehicle of an experience. He creates installations that will be consumed, turning into experiences that aim to modify somehow the perception of reality, interfere on it, or simply imagine it.

He has developed and shared works in Spain, Portugal, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Norway and India. His last works have been shown in Slade School of Fine Arts, London (Aether), in Khoj Artist Association, India (Fosfofagia 03); in StudioP52, Barcelona (Documentation of 19 days living in a cave) or in Blackboxxx, Basel (Watergames).
As a teacher he has taught classes and workshops at the Swansea Metropolitan, at the Cantabria University, at the Barcelona University, in the Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña (IAAC) or in the Institut d’Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya

Artista. Se sitúa en el mundo del arte por ser el canal que mejor le permite desarrollar sus ideas. Sólo le interesa la obra cuando esta canaliza una experiencia. Crea instalaciones que nacen para consumirse, convirtiéndose en experiencias que pretenden modificar de algún modo la percepción de la realidad, interferirla o simplemente imaginarla. 

Ha desarrollado y compartido trabajos en España, Portugal, Alemania, Reino  Unido, Suiza, Noruega e India. Sus últimos trabajos han podido verse en Slade School of Fine Arts, Londres (Aether); en Khoj Artist Association, India (Fosfofagia 03); en StudioP52, Barcelona (Documentation of 19 days living in a cave) o en Blackboxxx, Basel (Watergames).

Como docente ha impartido clases y talleres en la Swansea Metropolitan, en la Universidad de Cantabria, en la Universidad de Barcelona, en el Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña (IAAC) o en el Institut d’Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya.

BIOINTENSIVE VEGETABLE GARDEN (Mariano Bueno) 

We are very happy to announce this first weekend workshop at Valldaura with Mariano Bueno on planning, implementing and the daily maintenance of organic vegetable gardens to keep them productive.

Brief summary of the subjects:
* Basic requirements about how to design a Vegetable Garden – design and layout of spaces -
* The soil, its fertility, organic matter, compost, composting and fertilizing.
* Basic tools and management. Tillage and soil conditioning.
* Performing different cultivation terraces, high, online …
* Possible crops: vegetables, fruit and medicinal plants …
* Playback of cultivated plants: seeds, cuttings, layering, sowing, transplanting …
* Combined crops and rotations.
* Any problems (diseases, pests, weeds ..) methods of prevention and control.
* Practice in seed sowing and transplantation and terraces.
* Irrigation techniques and installation of drip irrigation system.
* Protection and maintenance of the garden and crops.
* Calendars cosmic influences culture and in plant development.
* The monthly garden, grown in the four seasons

Curso presencial donde aprender desde las bases, la planificación, la realización, la gestión del día a día y el mantenimiento de huertos ecológicos, productivos y de autoconsumo.

Materias:

* Requisitos básicos y planificación del huerto – diseño y distribución de los espacios –
* La tierra, la fertilidad de la tierra de cultivo, materia orgánica, compost, compostaje y abonado.
* Herramientas básicas y su manejo. Laboreo y acondicionamiento de la tierra.
* Realización de diferentes bancales de cultivo, elevados, en línea…
* Posibilidades de cultivo: hortalizas, frutales, plantas condimentarías y medicinales…
* Reproducción de las plantas cultivadas: semillas, esquejes, acodos; siembras, trasplantes…
* Cultivos asociados y rotaciones.
* Los eventuales problemas (enfermedades, parásitos, hierbas adventicias:..) métodos de   prevención y control.
* Prácticas de siembra y trasplante en semilleros y bancales.
* Técnicas de riego e instalación de sistema de riego localizado.
* Acolchados, protección y mantenimiento del huerto y de los cultivos.
* Calendarios de cultivo e influencias cósmicas en el desarrollo vegetal.
* El huerto mes a mes, cultivar en las cuatro estaciones

Mariano Bueno

Expert, pioneer and great teacher of Ecological Agriculture, Geobiology, Bioconstruction and healthier life choices in Spain and Latin America. His personal and professional career has enabled multidisciplinary cover areas such as Agriculture, Ecology, Biology, Physics, Architecture, Psychology, Healthy Food and Natural Health.

Experto, pionero y gran divulgador de la Agricultura Ecológica, la Geobiología, la Bioconstrucción y las alternativas de vida mas saludables en España y en Latinoamérica. Su trayectoria personal y profesional le ha permitido abarcar áreas tan multidisciplinares como la Agricultura, la Ecología, la Biología, la Física, la Arquitectura, la Psicología, la Alimentación Sana o la Salud Natural.