Permaculture? Portugal!

Many ideas and possibilities - just no place. . .

Wherever we are, we - Ursula and Kevin - actively help on site and implement permaculture into reality. We have gained a lot of practical experience and would now like to start a permaculture project ourselves. Help us make our dream come true and renature another piece of land. In this way you contribute directly to mitigating climate change.

In addition to permaculture, we have many ideas that can hardly wait to be implemented:

• Donkey farming: For the management of the areas
• Survival ecotourism: financing projects
• Tree houses for the favorable letting: In Portugal tree houses can be established without permission
• Water retention basin: For the production of electricity and fish and for the restoration of near-natural habitats
• Automated management of a permaculture area: Only in this way can permaculture be transferred to agriculture on a large scale.

In addition, half of every overpaid contribution is donated to the Donkey Initiative, a non-profit association for the advancement of single mothers in remote regions of the world, and to the Kantha Bopha hospital group in Cambodia.

Permaculture - the solution to many problems

The cultivation of monocultures leaches out the soil. «Pests» find a food paradise, which makes the use of pesticides indispensable. The soils erode and can no longer store moisture. A vicious circle that we want to break with permaculture. But what is permaculture?

The term permaculture was coined by the Australian Bill Mollison from the two words permanent and agriculture and means as much as permanent agriculture. The concept of permaculture is based on many years of observation of natural (circulatory) systems.

The goal of permaculture is

• to create an extremely productive. regenerative and nutritious system
• to keep the (energy) expenditure as low as possible and at the same time achieve a maximum yield
• to create ethically justifiable forms of life, which keep an eye on the well-being of nature as well as humans
• to generate surpluses that are shared

Permaculture does not use heavy equipment to cultivate the land, such as tractors, which unnecessarily compact the soil.

Even pigs, as can be seen in the video below, can be perfectly integrated into permaculture. They plough and fertilize the given areas and are lovable creatures.

For this we need support

Because we have so many ideas, we only want to buy an agricultural area with this crowdfunding, otherwise it would go beyond the scope. Not a house, not a villa with pool, but a cheap spot of green. We have informed ourselves and find in Portugal agricultural properties with a price per square meter of less than one euro. It is impossible to find such prices in Switzerland. Nevertheless, we have found two agricultural areas in Portugal that are large enough and affordable.

The breakdown of costs is as follows:

• CHF 34,000 for the property
• CHF 3,600 for ancillary purchase costs
• CHF 2,000 for taxes in Switzerland
• CHF 4’400 for the purchase

The ancillary purchase costs are determined by complicated tables and are therefore not easy to predict. The ancillary purchase costs include stamp duties, the tax number, the land transfer tax, the notarial certification by a lawyer, the land register entry and any certificates. Taxes are also payable in Switzerland when a crowdfunding contribution is received. After deducting the transaction costs of wemakeit, the budget is thus used up.

As a thank you for your support we give you self-discovered places all over Europe, far away from mass tourism. Or would you rather spend a week skiing or hiking? We have a rustic accommodation in the Appenzellerland with authentic wood heating and a large bathroom, which we are happy to provide. Hiking and skiing is not for you? Come visit us over the weekend and do what you like to do best. Ursula provides you with the easel and artist acrylic colours. If you have time and desire, you can visit us from 2020 in Portugal on your journey; perhaps we still have some travel tips for you.