SEPP HOLZER -PERMACULTURE-

Water is life! Water is capital!
Development of a water landscape as a model for the ecological recultivation of the Alentejo

On 21st February, the ecologist team of the peace research center Tamera close by Colos invited ecologists and specialists from the region as well as from the universities in Lisbon and Evora to show them the state of the renaturation project inmid of the dry Alentejo region: a model for the ecological healing of the landscape applying the concept of „Holzer´s Permaculture“. Sepp Holzer, mountain farmer, Permaculture specialist* and “rebel farmer“ from Austria, was there and led the guests around the new permaculture lake of Tamera. He explained the principles and experiences of his naturlike agriculture which made him wellknown in many countries.

Fluffy clouds are running over the sky. Fresh green is sprouting on the banks terraces. The team of co-workers and students is planting fruit trees, berry bush, and reed. Around 30 guests have come on this Thursday in February to get to know the permaculture composition and specially the lake of Tamera. Looking closer, the densly growing leaves and spems on the terraces show to be radice, cabbage turnips, different salads, and original cereals growing here lushly. Not in lines and files but higgledy-piggledy like sown by mother nature herself; and the participants of the tour are allowed to taste from this abundance. This first impression of Holzer´s Permaculture which presently is being designed in the peace research center Tamera is convincing. Also to Ana Firmino, biology professor of the university of Lisbon; and her collegue, biologist Daniel Pires from Lisbon, promises to help to choose the right fish. The other participants of the walk among them biologists and naturalists from the region and from Evora want to use the inspiration and experiences for their own work and projects.
The excavation of this first water retention pond around the auditorium of Tamera started in last August.
It is part of a comprehensive concept for the retention and saving of the winter rain, for renaturation of the landscape, for reforestation with mixed cultur and for food cultivation. The basic of the pond is full now. In the case of havy winter rains the water level can grow three or four meter higher – water which then, in the hot summer season can supply the earth body with water.
Mountain farmer Sepp Holzer has gone unusal ways in agriculture for decades. In the last years he had an extraordinary success in many more countries around the world. Tamera invited him last year to help with a comprehensive project of renaturation.
As he came to the Alentejo for the first time he was shocked. “How this land has been treated is bloodcurdling“, he says. „Deforestation, false fire prevention, monocultures, overgrazing: the consequences are erosion, loss of fertility, draughts, tree dying, desertification. After decades of wrong treatment it´s not small steps which are needed, but bigger steps of correction.“

The most important element for the recultivation of such a dry region like the Alentejo is water. “Water is information. Water is life. Water is the biggest capital“, Holzer states. “If nothing grows in summer this is not the fault of the region but of those who work the land. There is enough rain, however the winter rain has to be retained on the site in the right way.“

What is the right way? In the frame of Holzer´s permaculture the basic step is to build decentral retention basins in form of as many as possible tarns, ponds, and lakes in different sizes - embedded in the natural shape of the landscape. Holzer worked like this on his farm Krameterhof which is situated 1700 meter above sea level in the mountains close by Salzburg. There he also built tarns and ponds up to the alp, and made use of their ability to save water and warmth and to grow many different crops – including potatoes, cherries, and even Kiwis.

In the Estremadura in Spain he started three years ago with the renaturation of a site with ill and dying holm oaks (ilex). Meanwhile inmidst of region that slowly is turning into a steppe a lake landscape has emerged which convinces also the most sceptical scientists: lush harvests of vegetables are made on the lake banks, the ill holms are recovering, and the biotope has become a home for bird and other wildlife.

Comprehensive knowledge is needed to design a water landscape with so many functions. Decisive is the shape and the various deep zones of the lakes.
“Look here, the wind washes the mote ashore“. Sepp Holzer shows a more shallow part of the shore in which veils of mold drive in the water close to the bank. “Here we are planting reed and bulrush presently. For them the mold is fertilizer which they filter out of the water and thereby clean it.“
The shore zone do not only serve for the self purification of the lake. Also tropical and subtropical will be grown here. For that the Tamera co-workers fetched some dozends of natural marble stones in a stone pit – stones which otherwise would have been worked into gravel. Now they are stand on the shore and in some shallow parts of the lake. The giants look wonderful – and they are useful as well.
“They work like a tiled stove“, the mountain farmer explains. „During the day the stones are heated by the sun, and in the night they radiate the heat to the surrounding. In this climate you can grow even bananas and avocados, as the warmth of the stones protects them of frost.“

At the deepest spot the lake will have more than 12 meters. „Deep and shallow zones serve as temperature regulators. In winter they will stay warmer and in summer cooler. Thus, many fish will find their different ideal climate and can survive be it trout, carp, or catfish.“
The differences in temparture lead to water movements which carry oxygen into the lake and aid the thriving of fish. In co-operation with local ecologists, Tamera will grow domestic and endangered fish species. They can spawn and later be returned to the local natural waters: an active participation in nature conservation.

The bank terraces are used as cultivable land, tree nursery, and recreation areas. “Edible landscapes“ is a term which which makes the mouths of some participants of the walk water. At many places already now the mixed cultures grow which were sown last year. Sepp Holzer: “We don´t use highly cultivated sorts but as much as possible original ones. Only those plants will sow themselves later by themselves. Those plants – salad, radices, original cereals – are helping plants. They don´t serve only as food but consolidate the teraces, keep the soil covered for the whole year, and support the growth of fruit trees and berry bush. In nature it is the same like with human beings: community is better then solitude.“

Soon water lillies and other water plants will follow, and then also the first fish cultures. “How will the terraces be irrigated?“ a participant wants to know. Sepp Holzer: „The water of the lake soaks the body of the soil during the whole year. The coverage of the ground diminishes the drying additionally. Therefore we need much less irrigation, and for that the lake is close by and the irrigation can be made with tubes easily.“
The terraces of the first lake will completely be designed as edible landscape and tree nurseries. At the shadow side, between the light cork oak forest, different trees and bushes have been planted. When they are bigger they will be used to reforest further parts of the site.

The construction of this first water retention basin since last fall has been made in six weeks with four excavators which moved 100.000 tons of ground. A public road has been displaced. A smoothly rising dam with overflow and an outlet discharge structure, which regulates the water level and make the populations of water plants and fish controllable, belong to the security installations of the lake.
“The local authorities have been extraordinary cooperative and understood the situation“, Holzer praises. “In this first step we have felt supported in our wish to build an ecological renaturation project for the Altentejo.“

Beyond its task of recultivation such a water landscape can become an important economic factor. Sale of water lillies, ornament fish, and edible fish as well as vegetable and fruit, plus the organisation of seminars offer various possibilities.
“It is an interesting thought which however is not our first task“, Silke Paulick explains, on of the project facilitators. “Our most important wish is to give a contribution for healing the landscape and to create a model for a sustainable supply with high-quality food for several hundred people.“


* Permaculture: This term is composed of permanent and agriculture and was first used by the Australian Bill Mollison. Permaculture is a naturlike method of cultivation where not the single crops are cultivated but whole mixed cultures and biotopes. Idea is that a biotope once it is designed rebuilds itself, that the plants resow themselves, and that all the different elements of the ecosystem support each other – just like in nature.


LEILA