Holistic (Raw!) Gardening Course
14 - 19 September 2017 

Learn the ancient art of gardening and how to establish and maintain an intensive eco-garden
6 day course in Varzea da Goncala, Aljezur  

Syllabus and schedule 
​
Living Soils 
Erosion prevention and sustainable soil management and improvement.  Soil preparation stages from wild to cultivated;  Soil types, 

Natural Fertilizers :
C.C.G.M’s fertilizer annuals, Vermicompost, homemade E.M, aerobic compost, human-manure compost system, Bio-char (Terra-preta), learning about applications vs crop needs ; Fertilizer management    
     
Garden infrastructure 
Swales and terraces in the garden. Humus-channels, traditional African Zai-holes, traditional Portuguese Lameiro system. Bio-intensive double digging. 

Seedlings and plant nursery + seed bank  
Creating a plant nursery. Saving and selecting varaities. Seed bank establishment. Germinating and making a local potting mix. Seedling management 

Water management :
Natural methods of increasing soil-moisture ; Flooding to drip system irrigation.  Amount of water / specific crops.  Grey and rain water harvesting 

Integrating crops and perennials :
Inter-cropping annuals. Companion planting. Succesive planting. Square-foot gardening.  How to establish and manage a mixed Orchard.

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Daily Schedule

The day starts with breakfast!  There is a morning session of theory, followed by hands-on activity, until 
lunch/powerfood.  After lunch, practical work on different aspects of the garden, as well as the developing food-forest, and chicken and geese-husbandry.
Dinner is followed by 2 or 3 films, including discussion on agro-ecological ​topics.

The course is taught by Chaym Feldman, agro-ecologist and a certified organic farmer from Israel, who worked since 2005 with traditional Palestinian farmers, before moving to Portugal in early 2015. Since then has lived at Várzea da Gonçala, developing the garden, and has run several courses here.​