tamera booklet "ecology for peace research villages"
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Ecology orPeace Research Villages
A model project or landscape healing, or Holzer`s Permaculture and or
training in the Peace Research Centre Tamera in Portugal.
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Imprint:
3rd Edition 07/2009Text: Leila Dregger, Drthe Goschin and the Ecology-Team
Layout: Boris Bonjour
Photos and maps: various sources
Aerial Picture: Instituto Geogrco Portugus, Licena n 014/09
Publisher: Projectgroup SolarVillage
Monte do Cerro
7630 Colos, Portugal
Tel: +351 / 283 635 313
solarvillage@tamera.org
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A warm welcome to theEcology Project o Tamera
by Silke Paulick, Coordinator o the Ecology Team
We have big plans. Big plans that make the heart beat with joy and excitement, since our
times require big steps or healing to occur.
Walking through Tamera today I can already see the beginning o the picture as we
cultivate it in our vision: a landscape blossoming with vitality, an abundant diversity o
ora and auna, a well-designed interplay o the elements, a living space that radiates
health.
A land whose abundance can eed all its inhabitants.We work on the development o a model or landscape healing. A water landscape is
orming, surrounded by permaculture gardens, or an edible landscape as we preer to
call it.
In this context I want to thank the Austrian Permaculture specialist Sepp Holzer or his
support. In his exemplary work in the area o ecology, he inspires and motivates people
to powerully enter into a healing cooperation between human beings and nature.
I have been living and working in Tamera or the past ten years and I have witnessed
the constant growth in the area o ecology:
The reorestation and the building o green oases, which we people need or the well
being o our souls.
The building and maintenance o special power places, which help the landscape to
gain health and balance at a subtle spiritual and energetic requency level. They alsoprovide human beings with spaces that serve their reconnection to the Earth and Crea-
tion as a whole.
In our contact with animals we walk the path o cooperation. The aim o the research
in this feld is to step out entirely o all incomprehension and maltreatment humans
direct towards their ellow creatures and instead enter into a relationship o acknow-
ledgment, cooperation and joy with each other.
I recognize the impulse o many people to now actively participate in the development
o our world. This too is part o our work: to create a place where one can see, eel and
learn what lie in harmony with nature can look like and how human intervention can
create power and health.
The term sustainability gains ulfllment through human beings experience to be able
to support lie in all its complexity.
I wish you much inspiration while reading this paper and thank you or your interest.
Tamera, July 2009
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Content
Beore planet Earth turns into a Desert:
Why we have to act now? 7
The Basic Idea o Tamera:
Those who dont want war need a vision or peace 9
The Outset o the Tamera Location 11
The Basic Ideas o the Holzer`s Permaculture
and its Application 13
Who is Sepp Holzer? 13
Reading natures book: every situation holds its own solution 13
Economy and ecology: Use nature, but do not exploit it. 14
Together is better than alone: The symbiosis o interdependencies 14
Guide nature, do not ght it: Animals as collaborators 15
Increasing soil ertility by establishing water retention basins 15
Water is lie 16
Experiences and principles regarding the work with water 16
The Project o the Water Landscape in Tamera 17
A nca in the Extremadura: An Example o
the Use o Holzers Permaculture in Spain 21
Practical Seminars with Sepp Holzer 23
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Extremadura, Spain
Tamera, Portugal
Tamera, Portugal
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I we should want to survive the ecologi-
cal and social crisis that we have broughtabout, we would be required to engage
ourselves in completely new and dramatic
community undertakings
Lynn Margulis
Colombia
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The ecological situation o planet Earth is dra-
matic. The destruction o rain orests, oceans and
ecological systems, the expansion o deserts, the
daily disappearance o animal species, hunger and
the beginning o wars or water are all symptoms
and direct consequences o the way we humans
live and operate economically which has lost allintegration within the cycles o nature.
Modern human beings treat the soil, the plants,
the water and the animals in such a dissociated
way and with total lack o contact, as i they have
orgotten what lie is and how it needs to be trea-
ted.
Nature answers storms and oods are only the
beginning o an extensive climate catastrophe,
which already has become a painul reality or
people in many places on the globe. Forecasts or
the Iberian peninsula are clear: Spain and Portugal
will become deserts i we do not act now.
The coming changes will be drastic and aect allareas o lie. People are not prepared or the extent
o the changes ahead o them. But does this mean
that these turmoils are necessary along with panic,
wars and violence? Or, will we have created special
places by then where we can learn on a global
scale how to handle conicts and to solve them
peaceully, how to produce energy in a decentra-
lized way, how to treat nature and earth in a way to
produce healthy ood and water abundantly.
This kind o knowledge already exist in many
places. However, oten its is still too unusual to
be applied as yet. The main things missing are:networks o dissemination, the inter-linking o this
knowledge, its actual application in practice, at
least in an exemplary way at some places in the
world, as well as a lack o educational acilities to
teach the youth o the next generation.
Tamera is an educational center and an ex-
perimental eld or the development o Peace
Research Villages and their worldwide distribu-tion. In an exemplary approach, we research and
study living possibilities or the human being to
be re-integrated into the whole o Creation, where
separation is is overcome at all levels separation
between human beings, between generations,
between elds o knowledge, separation rom na-
ture and rom the spiritual source. The creation o
such Peace Research Villages - or so called Healing
Biotopes - develop, combine and maniest know-
ledge and methods or approaches in the elds o
technology, ecology and energy production, or
conict resolution and community building and
or spiritual lie practice and ecological architec-ture.
Currently, about 160 people rom various parts
o the world are living and studying in Tamera.
Among other projects, an energy-autonomous
model village, the SolarVillage is under deve-
lopment: an ecologically and socially sustainable
model settlement that can be copied and applied
in areas o the world with intensive sun radiation.
The work and the research o the Austrian Perma-
culture specialist Sepp Holzer, his knowledge o
cooperation with nature, his intuition and experi-
ence with the production o natural oodstus andwith the revitalization and healing o the land, we
Beore planet Earth turns into a Desert:Why we have to act now?
by Barbara Kovats
Coordinator o the SolarVillage Project Group, Tamera
Alentejo, Portugal
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consider a promising and very central part o the
research or the development o Peace Research
Villages. His work in Valdepajares del Tajo in the
Extremadura region in Spain in 2007 gives rise to
much hope that something similar is also possiblehere in Portugal.
Meanwhile, hope has turned into experience. At
Tamera the water landscape, as proposed by Sepp
Holzer is becoming a reality and already ater one
growth period, the possibility o revitalzing deso-
late ground has proven successul. Wild animals
are adapting to this the new living environment,
ruit trees ourish in the wide shore zones as well
as a great variety o vegetables, herbs and medici-
nal plants.
Tamera is an example or Portugal and indeed or
all o Southern Europe both in terms o its beauty
and o the degree o ecological destruction withwhich it has to cope. The ecological healing and
revitalization project or this place can and will
set impulses or the entire region. Exemplary solu-
tions which are unctioning at this Peace Research
Center will be transerred to the home countries
o the Tamera students and are intended to beapplied there in the development o urther Peace
Research Villages.
How could the planet look like when, to begin
with, in each o its countries and in varying vege-
tation zones at least one site would be operable
where the knowledge, the seeds and the variety o
nature would be tended to and cared or and were
a shining example would serve whole regions as a
trigger or innovation?
We are invite interested and committed people
to acquire an overview o our project by studying
this brochure and to get in touch with us.
Please help to make this vision become a reality!
Alentejo, Portugal
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Five Basic Thoughts rom Is Peace Possible TheFuture Experiment Monte Cerro by Dieter Duhm
First: The outer (economic, military) violence
executed today against nature, peoples and the
biosphere is connected to an inner (o the soul and
the mind/spirit) corrosion and a loss o roots regar-ding human lie on earth. The ecological and the
psychological/spiritual destruction are two sides
o the same general problem: Only by looking at
them at them jointly can they be rightly under-
stood and solved.
Second: The human problems deriving rom this
destruction are the consequence o a collective
disease which besets all o civilisation and cannot
be solved at an individual level only. The therapy
requires the building o new human and ecologi-
cal lie systems.
The Basic Idea o Tamera:Those who dont want war need a vision or peace
The emphasis o the research and the experience in Tamera are on community knowledge and commu-
nity building and on social competence and conict resolution. Together, these disciplines orm the ocus
o the educational program o Tamera. Sepp Holzer`s view o community building in nature is largely
true or community among human beings too. Its ethical orientation is truth among its members, mutual
support and responsible participation in the whole. It is not individualization and separation rom others
that promotes individuality but cooperation and authentic communication. In Tamera we are, so to say,
investigating and studying the human inside o a healthy ecology.
Third: A peace project can only eect as much
peace in the outer world as it has been able to
eect in its human inner world. Part o the outer
work is thereore the inner work in the sense o
sel-change o all concerned.
Fourth: Inner healing requires a healing in therealm o love where the deepest injuries are to be
ound.
Fith: The necessary healing work requires an all-
encompassing cooperation between the human
being and all creatures o nature and the embe-
ding o human society into the higher orders o
lie and Creation.
Alentejo, Portugal
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A non-violent ecology cannot be develo-
ped without developing a new relationship
with our own inner nature.
Dieter Duhm
Pilgrimage in 2007, Israel
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Tamera is located in the South o Portugal, inthe Department o the Alentejo, one o the least
densely populated areas in Europe, at about 30
kilometers linear distance rom the Portuguese
West coast. The 134-hectares-site consists o a hilly
landscape with cork oaks, eucalyptus orests, bush,
grazing and gardening land. The soil, mostly clay, is
permeated with layers o schist. Long ago the na-tural cover o this landscape was a mediterranean
hard lea orest, which in its variety is comparable
to a tropical rain orest.
What happened during the last decades in Monte
do Cerro (the original name o the property) is the
evidence o extensive exploitation and the indi-
erence o modern man towards nature much the
same or similar as can be seen in Spain, in Europe as
a whole and in most parts o the world.
Already beore the water landscape was construc-
ted, Tamera had several natural springs and ponds
as well as a rain water catchment area o about 500
hectares. And although the average annual rainallamounts to 600 mm, water was lacking during the
The Outset o the Tamera Location
hot summers. A large part o the winter rain drained
o immediately rom the site, unused and washing
the remaining ertile topsoil with it.
To a great extent the land has lost its capacity or
water retention. This is caused through overgrazing
and the subsequent compaction o the soil. Deo-
restation (dying o cork oaks and cutting o trees)
and the depletion o the vegetation as a result omonocultures are the cause o this.
It is a vicious cycle: The less water retention power
a landscape has, the ewer plants grow. The thinner
the vegetation layer becomes, the lower the water
retention power o the soil.
The water situation o the whole country as well as
that o the whole Iberian Peninsula is deteriorating.
The annual winter rainalls become decreasingly
reliable. Devastating orest res in the eucalyptus
and other tree monocultures in the whole region
are a consequence which additionally aggravates
the situation.
Forecasts are thereore drastic: Spain and Portugalare turning into deserts.
Alentejo, Portugal
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Holzers Permaculture is landscape design
in a larger context. Correct the mistakes opast, enable the symbioses o mutual
eects, let nature work, reestablish
natural cycles.
Sepp Holzer
Extremadura, Spain
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The Basic Ideas o the Holzer`s Permacultureand its Application
Who is Sepp Holzer?
Sepp Holzer is an unyielding mountain armer rom
the Austrian region o Lungau, who has preserved
his own authentic ability o perception. With this
git he has since early childhood developed his
very own way o agriculture without at the time
being aware that in the world this is known under
the name o permaculture. With an open heartand an alert mind he knows how to engage nature
to be his cooperation partner. He is also called the
agricultural rebel since nothing can deter him
rom ollowing the impulses he receives in his
contact with nature, even though they requently
contradict the generally recognized doctrines.
Meanwhile his work is met with large interna-
tional interest. He works on projects in dierent
climate zones all over the world.
It is his interest to always wake people up in order
to take on responsibility or the health o planet
Earth and or the improvement o their social situa-
tions by dealing with nature in an appropriate way.
Reading natures book:
every situation holds its own solution
Sepp Holzer says: The possibility to cooperate with
nature, to regulate it and to cultivate exist with
every type o land, be it a ertile river valley in a
temperate latitude, be it in the tundra or in the
desert, always in accordance with the land and its
inhabitants.Holzers Permaculture is not a method that oers
the same procedures or every situation. On the
contrary, its central idea is to observe nature, is
to put onesel in the position o its creatures and
rom this understanding to recognize rom within
which measures have to be taken which will have
a healing and meaningul impact.
Sepp Holzer: Natures book always contains the
truth; we must only learn to read it.
An Inuit will arrive at a dierent solution than
does an inhabitant o the desert or someone in the
rain orest o Central America. And yet there are
recurring principles and experiences to learn rom.
Seminar in Tamera Sepp Holzer on the Krameterho
Extremadura, Spain
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A ew examples are mentioned here. For those
who wish to inorm themselves more in depth, we
recommend the books by Sepp Holzer.
Economy and ecology:
Use nature, but do not exploit it.
I one has land, then one should use it ully and
not let it lie allow. It is our responsibility to dosomething with it; that is why it was given to us.
This is the conviction o Sepp Holzer. There is no
contradiction between economy, ecology, agricul-
ture and environmental protection. Whether one
deals with extensive or intensive cultivation, those
who understand how to use nature and partake
in its abundance, also economically, will work
eectively or its protection. Thus, the interest in
natures health will never collide with saeguar-
ding one`s own survival.
Sepp Holzer has learned this rom the bottom up
as a mountain armer and he is convinced that the
human being can survive only i it pays attentionto and uses natures knowledge.
When he redesigns grounds he has three things
in view: the dream o the land and its creatures,
the provision o its inhabitants with healthy and
resh oodstus and the possibility o planting
something special or trade.
The combination o sel-sufciency and the spe-
cialization on a product which can be brought
to the market is one element o an interlinked
regional sel-sufciency. Regional sel-sufciency
is a necessity or survival. Building decentralized
structures is a central part o a new settlementstructure.
Together is better than alone:
The symbiosis o interdependencies
In nature, monocultures only appear rarely and un-
der extreme, oten already unbalanced conditions.
Border zones with a great variety o species are the
most productive zones.
Between the dierent plants and animals o a
biotope exists a a variety o symbioses which havehardly been researched scientically. Dierent
plants exploit dierent light, soil, nutrition and wa-
ter conditions in such a way as to optimally use all
resources and small ecological niches. One plant
secretes a substance that will keep pests away
rom another. The waste product rom one is nutri-
tion or another. Birdsong promotes plant growth.
A orest is more than the sum o its trees. Or:
Together is better than alone.
Biotopes are supporting communities. In interac-
tion with the whole o nature, optimal supporting
communities develop on their own.
Sepp Holzer thereore does not primarily cultiva-te a particular kind o eld crop rather, he designs
optimal conditions or biotopes to be able to orm.
He thereore never sows only one type o plant
but always adds the seeds o supporting plants.
These can be nitrogen attracting plants such
as peas or root vegetables which loosen up the
earth, or else poisonous plants, whose root excre-
tions add avor to vegetables and enhance their
healing powers. The human being is the guiding
and perceiving part o a biotope. He/she takes part
in its symbiotic interplay and learns to intervene in
the community o creatures in an observant andhealing way.
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Guide nature, do not ght it:
Animals as collaborators
An ecosystem unolds its ull biotope orce when
every being is in its right place. The human beings
task is to guide nature, not to ght it.
Every being that appears in a biotope has signi-
cance. I so-called pests appear, Sepp Holzer does
not ask: How can I get rid o them? But instead heasks: What are they good or? How can I use them?
The human being has the ability to give all the
components o a biotope the place and task that
best serves the whole.
What does this mean or example with regard
to pest inestations or with regard to an excess o
certain wild herbs?
First o all, they are valuable indicators about the
condition the grounds are in. Based on them,
Sepp Holzer draws conclusions. These indicators
are signals that something needs to be changed.
Maybe the vegetables are in a place that is too
moist? Maybe this soil was too at or the sot ruits,or the clearing too shady or apples?
The next question is always: How can I make use o
a negative condition? How do I guide the orces o
nature so that they work or me?
Animals play an important role in Sepp Holzers
Permaculture. Whether dealing with wild or dome-
stic animals, or Sepp Holzer they have to work.
For a hog, this may mean that it has to dig into
a thicket o blackberries to nd its odder - orexample legumes that have been rolled in lard.
Doing this the hog will uproot the blackberries,
tears up the soil, ertilizes it and thus creates the
conditions or sowing or or planting ruit trees or
example. For the hog this work means health and
joy o lie. It is a natural way o keeping this animal
rather than locking it away in a pigsty.
Successul cooperation with animals saves work
which the human being would otherwise have to
carry out with tools, machines or ertilizers.
Increasing soil ertility by establishing water
retention basinsIn Holzers Permaculture water is given the highest
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degree o attention. Water is more valuable than
land. The value o a piece o land is directly de-
pendent on its water supply and its ability to store
water. This is especially true or regions that are
threatened by desertication, such as or example
Southern Europe.
Water is lie
Everywhere, where wetlands, lakes, rivers and
ponds exist, a natural diversity o animals and
plants thrive.
Sepp Holzers method o using rain water andkeeping it on the land consists, above all, o crea-
ting water landscapes o connecting retention
spaces. (lat. retenire = to hold back) . From these
the water soaks deeply into the soil and saturates
the surrounding body o earth thus contributing
to increased dew ormation and sustainably im-
proving the ground water.
Water retention spaces are the ideal oundation
or the creation o edible landscapes, orest gar-
dens with ruit and nut trees and other plant bioto-
pes in the immediate vicinity o the water spaces.
Water that enters the roots directly rom the earth
promotes and supports the growth o the rootsand thereore o the whole plant in a better way
than does above-ground irrigation. I needed, the
water rom the lakes is still available or year-round
irrigation. It is close to where it is needed and does
not require long ditches and pipes.
In addition it is possible to grow a large variety o
water plants in and around the water spaces. They
serve to puriy the water, they are edible or they
can be sold and they provide a living environment
or sh and other animals.
Creating water retention spaces (rather than
retention basins) is a one-time measure and is, soto speak, the oundation or the subsequent esta-
blishment o biotopes.
To do this, Sepp Holzer does not hesitate to work
with heavy equipment since the transormation o
an area always begins with careul and perceptive
observation and a careully elaborated overall
plan.
Experiences and principles regarding the
work with water
As much intervention as necessary, as little as
possible. Sealing the ground with oil or concrete
is not only superuous but also damaging.
The creation o lakes and ponds should alwaysmake use o the natural conditions. They should
never look articial or be designed in rectangular
shapes. Holzer: I a lake looks as i it had arisen
naturally, we have done it right.
The way the water retention spaces have been
built, their orms and shapes, support the sel-
cleaning orces o the water.
Some ponds and lakes have a eed-in basin, in
which oating particles can settle down to orm
a ertile silt. The ponds will then be clear and the
eed-in basins become valuable reservoirs o hu-
mus that can be dredged every now and again.
The protection aorded by plants and dientzones o depth make it possible to keep predatory
and prey sh together in a lake: a natural sel-
regulation is possible.
Also or pond and water plants the rule is: diversi-
ty is better than uniormity.
The shore areas o the lakes are zones o great
productivity and are excellent ground to grow
vegetables.
Varying water depths and shades provide or
dierent temperature and vegetation zones which
bring many ecological advantages.
Lake 1, beginning o construction, Tamera, Portugal
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In winter 2006/2007 the Tamera community decided to take a big step orward in its plan or sel-suci-
ency with regard to oodstus, particularly ruit and vegetables. This decision was and still is strongly
motivated by the political wish to step out o the globalized supply cycles which cause so much suering.
The Project o the Water Landscape in Tamera
During a trip to Spain in January 2007 a grouprom Tamera made the acquaintance o Sepp
Holzer (see experience report s. 21). His work had
already been known to Tamera and had caused
much enthusiasm.In March o the same year Sepp Holzer and his
wie Veronika Holzer visit Tamera to view the land
and to address the questions o landscape healing
and o the development o sel-sufciency in the
area o ood supply. During this visit Sepp Holzer
drats a vision o an ecological model project or
the healing and revitalization o the landscape and
the supply o ood or several hundred people,
including ruits, vegetables, herbs and medicinal
plants.
In the community this vision meets with a lot o
resonance as it ts perectly with their own pictu-
res o a new uture. Very soon they decide to goahead with the plan and put it into practice. More
and more people rom the community grasp how
essential the right type o water management is
or the healing o nature; this brings orth a strong
power or maniestation.
Planning and practical preparations begin, in-quires are made and ofcial authorizations are
applied or. In August o 2007 the development o
the waterlandscape begins with the construction
o the rst large retention space.
The work is done by six Tamera co-workers and a
regional construction company.
Three months later the construction is nished
and the rst mixed seeds are sown on the new
shore slopes and terraces. In winter hundreds o
dierent berry bushes as well as orest and ruit
trees are planted, again along the shore, among
them old regional varieties. In addition dierent
direct seeds o ruit and orest trees are put in theground.
Lake 1, Tamera, Portugal
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Special work consist o setting stones in the shore
areas o the newly developed biotope. To enhance
the energy and the design, large stones are placed
in selected places. These old marble boulders rom
nearby quarries with their impressive shapes,
apart rom looking beautiul, add to the task o
creating a new and varied micro climate. They
store heat, give shade and preserve moisture. The
initial layout is nished.
In the course o the ollowing year the develop-ment o the aquaculture is carried on. Since then
a great variety o water purication plants have
been cultivated. The cultivation o water lilies and
other water plants are intended or sale and or the
provision o sufcient plants or the next retention
spaces to be built.
As soon as the so-called Lake 1 begins to ll up
with water it can be observed how wild animals
adopt to the new living space. Turtles, rogs, crabs,
and sh rapidly animate the new biotope and
shortly ater even the oot prints o the European
otter are to be ound.
The shore terraces are worked and vegetablesare harvested already all year round while the o-
cus is still on developing the soil. We also start to
produce our own seeds, an important element o
permaculture.
Parallel to this, the construction o the second re-
tention space, the integration o the so-called val-
ley garden into the waterlandscape, is underway.
In autumn 2008 the construction work is nished,
again ollowed by sowing mixed cultures and the
planting o ruit trees and bushes.
Also in autumn o 2008 a Series o Seminars orthe Teaching o Sepp Holzers Permaculture is
launched.
In the seminars, together with the Ecology Team
o Tamera, Sepp Holzer teaches his approach o
working with nature both in theory and practice.
The target o the training is to educate committed
people to become permaculture specialists who
know that landscape healing can be practiced
worldwide on both a large and a small scale.
A regular element o the seminars is an open
day where interested people are invited to a gui-
ded tour through the Tamera water landscape to
get an insight into the eects o this work. Amongthe visitors o these tours are lecturers rom Por-
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tuguese universities, Alentejo school teachers,
engineers, biologists, students as well as armers
and landowners who are searching or new ways
in agriculture.
It is most moving to experience how quickly ater
the intervention in the landscape a new sound
spreads across the land. The healing perspectives
open to the land can be sensed, i only humans
learn how to deal with nature in the right way.
The complete picture o the water landscapeincludes the building o urther retention spaces
in the western part o the grounds, the southern
valley and the center o Tamera. The dierent
retention spaces will be linked with each other
by overows and creeks thus creating varying
water cycles which can be moved with solar driven
pumps at any given time.
The healing and revitalization in the southern
part will be combined with a new drinking water
and irrigation supply.
The next step is the construction o a testeld or
the SolarVillage, which will be embedded in the
center o the waterlandscape. Here the researchon solar technology, permaculture and communi-
tarian social structures are to merge and come to
lie.
Financing
We are most grateul or the nancial support that
was orthcoming to acilitate the steps. People
rom all walks o lie made nancial contributions
to the project. They are moved by the vision and
strongly committed to a new uture.
For the urther realization o the venture additio-nal donors and sponsors are invited to participate.
Thank you for your support!
The Tamera Ecology Team
Tamera, Portugal
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Extremadura, Spain
The plans rom above to below: The Tamera com-
pound (detail) beore the work started, the water
retention spaces build in 2007 and 2008. The plan
o the Water Landscape as it will present itsel inthe centre o the grounds in the near uture.
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The successul reshaping o a semi-arid landscapeinto a water paradise with a lush plant biotope:
South o Madrid, in the middle o the Spanish
Extremadura region, which is acutely threatenedby desertication, a successul example o the
revitalization o a biotope can be ound. Based on
Holzers Permaculture concept, the 270 ha [675
acre] nca is a pioneer model or a green uture on
the Iberian Peninsula.
Long periods o drought and massive soil ero-
sion caused by strong winter rainalls led to the
desertication o the landscape. This was the
initial situation when an analysis was made and a
concept developed or a sustainable renaturation
o the property. One o the ocuses o the cause
analysis was concerned with the dramatic increase
in dying holly oak trees during the past ew yearsthroughout all o Spain. The scientic explanation
o a virus inection was subject to examination.
The situation o the holly oaks in Extremadura is
very similar to that o the cork oaks in the Alentejo.
When looking at the question o why the holly
oak was dying, Sepp Holzer arrived at a surprisingly
simple and logical answer. In his opinion, the agra-
rian economical development during the last 50
years has led to an extremely high overall strain on
the oak population, a large part o which is hund-
reds o years old. He pointed out the coarse way
the trees are cut leaving a large wound behind.This leads to the amiliar damages the trees suer
A nca in the Extremadura: An Example othe Use o Holzers Permaculture in Spain
In January o 2007 a delegation rom Tamera visited the fnca.
rom: disruption to the trees capillary system in
contact with air, ungi inestation o the weakened
tree and colonization with wood beetles whose
larvae create burrows and decay inside o the tree.Finally, the tree dies.
This process is avored by the extreme environ-
mental conditions. Originally the Mediterranean
hard lea tree, the oak tree, is used to long periods
o dryness. However, through the past decades o
overgrazing the soil has become extremely dense,
despite strong rainalls in winter. The water hardly
penetrates the soil, instead, it runs o the surace.
Additionally the grazing animals decimate the
plant diversity and prevent the growth o a young
orest. Thereore the layer o humus lacks the sta-
bility that derives rom the roots, and exposed to
wind and rain is subject to strong soil erosion. Thiscycle creates a general stress situation or the vete-
ran oaks and weakens their power o regeneration.
To Sepp Holzer, this chain o inuences shows
that the theory o a virus inection is an old wi-
ves tale. He shakes his head over the suggested
inoculation o the trees and over the prevailing
blindness towards the writing in natures book.
For the regeneration o the entire area o this tree
graveyard, he thus suggested a radical change in
the utilization concept. An important step was the
discontinuation o pasture grazing to revitalize the
ground and initiate the development o new ore-station. Supporting measures were added, such
Drthe Goschin
Extremadura, Spain
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as the systematic plowing o the compacted soil
in order to provide good soil or the tree seeds to
germinate in; ollowed by reorestation o a mixed
cultivation o ruit trees and supporting plants, like
salads, legumes and root vegetables, this suppor-
ted the improvement o the soil climate, and ac-celerated the creation o a natural layer o humus.
When visiting the place again ater a planting
period o one year where
Holzers ideas were applied, we were already able
to walk through large parts o a ertile edible land-
scape set in the midst o the rugal Extremadura
region. Under the trees in the middle o a meadow
radishes and salads were growing. They thrived
splendidly and were delicious to eat during our
long walks across the property.
Even more impressive was the change in the
landscape due to the many lakes that had been
built during the past two years. Filled by the winterrains, they gently t into landscape like a row o
pearls. The abundance o water owl and the glit-
tering o the lakes and ponds which are up to 10
hectares [25 acres] each, enchant the visitors. For a
while one orgets that one is in an area o Europe
that is threatened by rapid desertication.
Water is lie - This core statement by Sepp Hol-
zer can be experienced in this young permaculture
project in a breathtakingly impressive way. Ater
only one rainy season, eight lakes were brimul
with precious water. Now the body o the earth
has time to absorb the water over a long period
o time. The micro-climate is permanently vitalized
and a rich diversity o species o plants and animals
has gained a living space in surroundings that until
now were inhospitable.
Already today, a eeling o paradise can be
sensed, and it does not require much imagination,even by ecological laymen, to see the positive
opportunities or uture developments. The visi-
ble reality speaks clear words. Altogether, Sepp
Holzer introduced 50 hectares [125 acres] o lakes
and ponds into the overall design o the property.
These constitute the oundation or the ecological
revitalization and healing o the biotope during
the coming years.
The project can expand the mental horizon o
every visitor to embrace the certainty that there
are solutions to problems which until now seemed
unsolvable. The nca is an impressive signal or the
Iberian Peninsula and an important answer to thequestion o what is possible or the uture o this
region: catching water as the most precious subs-
tance, instead o letting i drain away.
A rich biotope o mixed cultivation will change
the characteristic landscape o the Iberian Pen-
insula. It will transorm a zone almost declared a
desert into a garden o Eden.
In the name o all o lie and in the name o uture
generations we are deeply thankul to Sepp Holzer
or his arsighted visionary power and his steadast
drive to bring about change.
Seminar in Tamera, Portugal
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September 26th October 1st
December 3rd to 8th 2009
February 1st to 6th 2010
June 7th to 12th 2010
September 2nd to 7th 2010
November 24th to 29th 2010
Applications:
ofce@tamera.org
Tel. +351 / 283 635 306
Since October 2008, rom time to time we oerseminars with Sepp Holzer in which the practical
and theoretical parts o Holzers Permaculture are
taught along with the actual construction o the
water landscape in Tamera.
The core issues are creating water landscapesor the ecologic renaturation o the earth and
the creation o diverse and complementary plant
communities and biotopes that guarantee sel-
sufciency or the humans living in it.
In addition to the core issues, every practical
seminar has some specic ocuses so that each
seminar can be attended individually, but comple-ments the others.
Practical Seminars with Sepp Holzer
Seminar in Tamera, Portugal
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Barbara Kovats
Sepp Holzer
Lilian von WussowPancho Mockenhaupt
Bernd Mller
Paul Gisler
Silke Klver
Silke Paulick
Thomas Preisser
urther inormation about Sepp Holzer:
www.krameterho.at
For detailed inormation look on our homepage:
www.tamera.org - Ecology
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For nancial support:
Portugal:Account holder: Associao para um Mundo Humanitrio
Bank: Caixa Crdito Agrcola S. Teotnio
NIB: 0045 6332 4021 9980 8662 0
IBAN: PT50 0045 6332 4021 9980 8662 0 BIC: CCCMPTPL
Germany:
Account holder: Karl-Rainer Ehrenpreis - Forschungsgemeinschat TameraBank: GLS Gemeinschatsbank Bochum
Account-No.: 400 635 2400, Bank Code (BLZ): 430 609 67
IBAN: DE02 4306 0967 4006 3524 00, BIC: GENODEM1GLS
Switzerland:
Account holder: Stitung FGB, Verein Netzwerk - TameraBank: Freie Gemeinschatsbank, Basel
Account-No.: 400.631.3, Clearing-No.: 8392, Postcheque Basel: 40-963-0
IBAN: CH20 0839 2000 0040 0631 3, BIC: RAIFCH22XXX
Tax deductible receipts or Switzerland are available or donations made to this account.
USA:Through the IHC (International Humanities Center), a non-prot organisation with 501 [c],
you can get a donation invoice or the USA.
Cheques:
please send them directly to: IHC - International Humanities Center, PO Box 923, Malibu, CA 90265, USA.As reason or payment, please write: IHC/IGF
Credit cards:
please call: +1-310-579.2069; Fax: + 1-206-333.1797,
Steve Sugarman: steve@ihcenter.org
Thank you or your supportThe Projectgroup SolarVillage
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For urther inormation:
www.tamera.org
Tamera, Monte do Cerro, 7630-932 Colos, Portugal
Tel. Ofce Tamera: +351 / 283 635 306
Tel. Ofce SolarVillage: +351 / 283 635 313
Fax.: +351 / 283 635 316
Projectgroup SolarVillage
Your contact person: Silke Paulick
solarvillage@tamera.org
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