PERMACULTURE CONSULTANCY

Rory Corcoran is a qualified and experienced permaculture designer, 
At La Mohea we offer a consultancy service for people wanting to put permaculture principles into action on their land.

If you are in one of the following situations:

  • you have just bought a new piece of land and don't know how to begin

  • you already have a site but are unclear about how to continue developing it

  • you have a working small-holding or farm but feel you are losing out on productivity

then you should consider having a permaculture design drawn up for your site.

What is a Permaculture Design?

Rory in the apple orchard Basically a permaculture design gives you a plan of what to aim for on your land and how to achieve that aim. It gives details of the components to be incorporated (eg: buildings and other structures, trees and shrubs, herbaceous plants, livestock, earthworks, aquatic systems, energy sources), the layout and relationship of these components, and a time scale of the work necessary.

While all designs share a common basis of the permaculture principles of diversity, energy cycling, integration of components in complex relationships, self-regulation and constant evolution of the system, every design is unique and is created around the characteristics of the piece of land and the needs and wants of the people using the land.

Sample Design Plan for Majada La Higuera (40k) .

What are the Benefits of having a Permaculture Design drawn up for your Land?

  • Every design is site-specific and is developed to optimise the site's possibilities, taking into account limitations of climate and terrain.

  • The design is centred on your needs and your vision for the land.

  • The scope of the design is determined by your eventual aims and available resources.

  • You benefit from our knowledge of the Mediterranean area and climate, capitalising on our years of continued experience in sustainable agriculture and forest farming, thus avoiding mistakes of using techniques or species inappropriate to this area.

  • If you are starting out with a piece of land, the design's timetable of implementation will help you save time and effort by ensuring that high-priority work (eg: establishment of a tree nursery, soil conservation measures, construction of water deposits) are started in year one.

  • After the initial labour-intensive phase of putting the design into action, you will need to spend less and less time working on the land (permaculture systems are low-maintenance systems when mature), and you will have more time to enjoy your creation, observing how it evolves and fine-tuning it to your needs.

  • Mixture of fruit treesThe diversity of production in a permaculture system is fail-safe and protects against suffering major losses if one crop has a bad year. In our climate, by spreading our production we can eat fresh fruit and vegetables year-round, and there is always something to eat or sell even if one crop fails.

    Diversity of vegetable crops in the garden: chillis, tomatillos, maize and fruit trees behind >>>

I could go on, but I think I've made my point........ permaculture works!

 

Our permaculture design
consultancy service

Having decided you want a permaculture design for your site, next you should think about whether you want a fully-detailed design or an overall picture, a written report and plan or an informal discussion of options and ideas. We suggest four basic alternatives:

  • Half-day or one-day site visit involving a general walkabout and appraisal of the site and your needs and desires, followed by an open discussion of possible developments and areas of action.
  • Half-day or one-day visit, as above, and subsequent written report of our observations, ideas and recommendations.
  • In-depth visit of 1-3 days (depending on the size of the site), involving observation, appraisal and mapping of the site, and discussion of your needs and desires, followed by detailed recommendations for action and timetable for implementation. We would normally produce a written report together with design plans as a result of an in-depth visit.
  • If your land is too far away for us to visit, or you don't need a fully-detailed design, then you can come here instead on a short visit. You bring as much information as possible about your site (photos, map, soil samples etc.) and we can orient you on possibilities and priorities for action.

Please contact us (e-mail, address and telephone number below) to discuss your requirements and for an estimate of costs.

"La Mohea is the most productive permaculture site I've ever seen" - 
 Stephen Nutt  Dip. Perm. Des., English Permaculture Designer and Teacher.

Implementation of your Permaculture Design

Another of our areas of expertise is in the implementation of permaculture designs. Just as we have developed our own site over the years along the lines of our constantly-evolving design plan, so can we assist you to convert the design for your farm into reality.

We can help you with many aspects of design implementation, such as:

  • planting up areas with trees, shrubs and perennials
  • sourcing of trees, plants and construction timber
  • fruit tree pruning and grafting
  • fencing and earthwork construction (swales and water catchment systems)
  • forest management and felling of timber trees
  • ecological construction using natural materials, where possible from your own site or your local area.
    Rory cutting beams from a tree-trunk

    We renovated the farmhouse at La Mohea in summer 1996, using local timber which Rory cut to size from whole trunks using the chainsaw, as in the photo.

    The roof was reconstructed in the traditional way using wooden beams, chestnut wood planks and clay tiles, with the addition of a waterproofing layer.

    Since then, we have rebuilt other old stone-walled houses that were in various states of collapse, using combinations of old and new materials.

    		 Working on the house roof

Still looking for your Perfect Permaculture Site?

Probably by now you're itching to get going, 
but maybe you don't yet have a piece of land to work on.

We can assist you in finding land which is suitable to your needs, 
in our own area or elsewhere in Andalucía, and, most importantly, 
we can advise you on the good and bad points of any potential site to help you decide whether or not to buy it.  

Check here for details of land which is currently available

Contact us at: Finca La Mohea, Genalguacil 29492, Málaga, Spain.
e-mail: email@lamohea.com
Tel: (+34) 95 2117121.

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