Mediterranean climate

One of the highlights of the tenth International Permaculture Convergence was meeting Tony Rinaudo of World Vision Australia. Tony is a living example of the posture required for the development of truly regenerative systems. Tony has come to see patterns of people, plants and landscape which allow deserts to grow trees again. He does this by opening himself to the voice of the land.

Beginning with the questions

“What is the story of your place?” and “What is the story of its water?”

The morning swim in the creatively named “Lake One” at Tamera was one of my favorite parts of the time I spent in Portugal. If “Lake One” has something of the revolutionary resonance of “year one” it would not be wholly inappropriate. This first and (currently) largest of the rain-fed water retention basins at Tamera is, for the Tamerans, the first in the movement to re-hydrate the landscapes of Tamera, Portugal and the dry lands of the world.

The landscape of much of the Rioja district of northern Spain is characterised by ´patchiness´. Patches of vines, patches of olives and wheat and occasional patches or borders of walnuts or almonds or even apples if there is an irrigation ditch. Wine, olives, oil, bread, walnuts, fruit and vegetables. Not a bad subsistence diet. The contrast is stark between this area and, for example, the Margaret River wine region or the wheat belt of Western Australia. No doubt it is a function of their different histories. Western Australia's resource extracting history need not determine its future, however. Indeed it must not. Western Australia has a lot from its older Mediterranean sibling.

On a recent visit to Tamera in the Alentejo region of Portugal, I had the opportunity to see several examples of raised garden beds which had been made by Sepp Holzer according to the method he calls ‘hugelkultur’. I have been very curious about how well this kind of raised bed would function under Mediterranean climate conditions. My visit to Tamera has begun to satisfy some of my curiosity though I still have some questions.

Last week, on my way to a seminar with Sepp Holzer (more on that soon), I had the happy opportunity to spend some time in Lisbon, Portugal. On several occasions during my wanderings around this beautiful city I stumbled upon a little oasis amongst the meandering streets and tumble-down buildings.