Quinta do Boico
We initially planted up a small forest garden, in an existing pear orchard, when we bought the farm 10 years ago. Because of this climate, with its hot summers, we quickly reaped the benefits of mimicking a young, natural forest ecosystem. The forest garden was both beautiful and productive and it convinced us that this was the way forward for us.
We have had a head start here, as the farm had been a thriving fruit farm lovingly tended by a couple who obviously had a deep connection to and love of this land for over 50 years.
In the years since, on the rest of the farm, we have continued to plant trees, and allow self seeding, in amongst the existing wide variety of edible and native species and soon realised that the entire valley was turning into a forest garden. It feels like a very natural evolution of the land.
In the last year we have become inspired to continue the work.
It seems to make sense on many levels to plant up the land for human needs, both physically and spiritually, and ultimately will mean less work for us as the system will be self sustaining in many ways.
We don't kow what the future will bring but sustainable resources have to be a part of it.We believe that it is crucial to plant trees and useful edible polycultures and try to take a long term view of the land and the needs of following generations.We need to act like we are the ancestors and leave behind us a place better for our passing.
Mindful of our resposibility, we decided that a 2 hectare area lying at the bottom of the valley looked an exciting place to begin a more carefully planned and designed forest garden, so in 2008 we began......
The New Forest Garden
The first step was to draw a map of the area and start to plan our design.
We placed the trees and plants that were already there and then drew in positions for the many cuttings and transplants we already had.
In the autumn of 2008 the brambles were cleared and the land prepared for planting.
After browsing through listings of edible and useful trees and shrubs we came up with a list of potential buys. A visit to a local nursery made us realise that we were going to have to design for what was available, initially, and that the planting would evolve according to when we could acquire the rarer species on our list.
We were fortunate to be given a grant for tree planting and bought 45 trees which were planted out, with more to come.
Some of the larger trees are in place and we have the watering system installed now.We are currently continuing with other elements of the FG.
It's just a beginning and an ongoing project which will take some years to complete but we are enthusiastic about the possibilities we see for it.
If you are interested in being part of this project or volunteering please see our Visiting/Help page.
We want to show the enormous potential for meeting our needs directly from the land and offer that vision to others who may want to do similiar things in their areas .In the future we hope to offer permaculture courses and forest garden modules here, where students can live amongst permaculture in practice and experience for themselves the beauty and abundance of such a design.
A view of part of the site for the new forest garden after clearing in the winter.
There are four quite large terraced fields which lie along the bottom, of our part, of the valley and terraces which run up either side of them, this is the area we are planting the forest garden in. The valley continues down to join the main river valley through which the Rio Mondego runs.
It is a unique and special site, sheltered and beautiful to be in.