What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is a sustainable design system that provides for human needs while having positive effects on the surrounding environment.

It is based on the ethics of earth care, people care and fair share, and provides practical solutions to the global crises we are currently facing.

Permaculture is for EVERYONE, regardless of their education, background, or previous experience.

Permaculture is NOT just about trees, or just about gardening! You don't need loads of land to practice it and it's a design method that can be applied to all social systems.

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A Visitor’s Perspective: Sam’s Diary – A Foraged Salad

This is part of a series of posts where we ask one of our volunteers or visitors to say a few words. Sam is beginning his third week here as a volunteer and has kindly allowed us to share his online thoughts. Here, Sam gets creative with the prettiest of salads.

A Visitor’s Perspective: Sam’s Diary – A Foraged Salad

November 9th,2014  /  Sam Wilder

sam salad

An aspect of permaculture Casalinho embodies is utilizing what the surrounding land has to provide. They have an excellent understanding of all the weeds, plants, and herbs that grow here naturally. Many of these plants are healthy and delicious for both their animals and for us! Andrea helped me identify some of her favourite plants to forage for salad. 

sam salad 2

Depicted in the picture above are the five main plants they use for salads. Starting from the bottom left and moving clockwise the names of these plants are: mallow, calendula, chickweed, plantain, and sheep’s sorrel. I walked around the grassy fields with scissors and a bowl and collected a bunch of these weeds. Plantain and chickweed are some of the most nutritious weeds in the world. It took quite a bit of time to finally fill the bowl. At the end I decided to add a few chopped collards, fresh raspberries, and thyme. With a bit of homemade goats cheese and a sweet salad dressing the foraged salad was scrumptious. I know sheep’s sorrel and mallow grow in my garden at home, so might as well start eating them 🙂 

sam salad 3

 

You can see the original of Sam’s article, and read more about his adventures here.

 

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