Permaculture in Practice
with Kyle Smith
Five days on trees and tree systems. Read a landscape for where tree systems belong, lay them out and plant them, propagate the species that go into them, and understand how trees, crops, and animals share the same ground.
This is not a lecture course. You learn by doing during the month when tree planting happens, or you wait another year.
No prior experience needed.
Join with a friend and receive 10% off • Early bird 10% available till 30 December • Portuguese residents 10% off • One offer per booking
Why Agroforestry?
Trees in a farmed landscape do several jobs at once. They shade the soil, slow wind, hold water, cycle nutrients from depth, feed people and animals, and make a place survivable as summers get hotter and drier. Agroforestry and silvopasture are the practical answer to a climate that punishes bare ground.
They are also slow, and the decisions that matter are made before anything goes in the ground. Much of this course focuses on those considerations, and on planting well enough for the trees to survive their first summer.
Permaculture is the design framework we use to connect the systems agroforestry depends on: water, soil, trees, and animals. The trees are the visible part. The thinking that places them is the rest.
The A Quinta da Lage Land as Classroom
A Quinta da Lage is a 130-hectare regenerative farm near São Luís in the Alentejo. It is not a demonstration site or a model garden. It is a working, evolving farm with active agroforestry systems, water-retention landscapes, regenerative agriculture, and a year-round community that lives and works here.
February is still the wet part of the year here, and the trees are dormant. Anything planted now has the longest possible run of moisture and mild weather before winter arrives, which is why we plant in February. It is also the window for grafting, while the wood is dormant and the sap is about to move.
You will work across established agroforestry plantings, newer ones, and areas still to be planted, alongside the water-retention earthworks that make planting viable in the first place. Seeing the same practice at three different ages in one landscape teaches more than any one alone.
For the duration of the course, you are part of the A Quinta community, sharing meals from the farm kitchen, participating in daily land work, and living within a place that has made a genuine commitment to doing things differently.
-
No prior experience is required. If any of this describes you, you are in the right place:
Anyone with land, or working towards land, in a dry or drying climate
Farmers and growers considering integrating trees into productive systems
Someone planning a food forest, orchard, windbreak, or shelterbelt
Someone who has completed a PDC and wants to see design decisions carried into the ground
Anyone interested in grazing animals and trees together
Anyone who wants to raise their own trees rather than buy them
Someone who learns best by doing, observing, and reflecting
You do not need to own land to benefit from this course. Learning to read a landscape for where trees belong is useful long before you have somewhere to plant them.
-
Each day centres on direct engagement with the farm. Sessions connect practical work to the ecological and design thinking behind it.
You will:
Read a site for tree planting, working with slope, aspect, wind, water movement, and soil, and understand why trees go where they go
Set out tree lines, alleys and windbreaks on contour, using simple tools to mark and space them accurately
Select species for this climate across fruit, nut, nitrogen fixers, fodder, and timber, and understand the reasoning behind each choice.
Plant trees properly, and give them what they need to survive an Alentejo summer, including protection, mulch, and watering.
Spend a day on grafting and tree propagation, so you can multiply the species that work on your site rather than buying them in
Look at silvopasture, how animals, trees and pasture are combined, what has to be protected from what, and the timing that makes it work
Think about management over time: pruning, thinning, chop and drop, and how a planting is meant to change over decades.
There is also time to slow down, ask questions, and reflect. That rhythm of doing and noticing is where real learning happens.
-
The ability to look at a piece of land and see where trees belong and why
Practical tree planting and establishment skills that hold up in dry conditions
Grafting and propagation skills applied directly to the trees you want to grow
A working understanding of silvopasture and what it asks of you
Species knowledge you can apply to your own climate and conditions
A longer sense of time, and more patience with it
About the Facilitator Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith has spent his adult life learning from land and sharing what he finds there. He trained in horticulture, completed an internship at Soil for Life in Cape Town, worked at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, conserving indigenous plant species and establishing education gardens, and spent three years at Panya Project in Thailand, facilitating permaculture and organic gardening courses.
He is now based in southern Portugal, building Casa Tartaruga, a regenerative homestead rooted in small-scale food production, plant conservation, and propagation. His work centres on planetary regeneration through individual empowerment: the belief that education and hands-on capacity building, multiplied across many people and places, is one of the most meaningful contributions a person can make.
His teaching is unhurried, practical, and grounded in genuine curiosity about how living systems work.
Location & Logistics
Step into a lifestyle of regenerative practice on our 130-hectare farm. Beyond the canopy and the food forests, you’ll gain firsthand insight into intentional living and what it means to care for the land in cooperation with others.
Included in the fee:
● 3 wholesome vegetarian meals/day
● All tools, materials & tuition
● Stays in own Campervan/Tent:
Private rooms/cottages available on request (extra fee).
Prices
€485 with your own caravan or tent
€555 with accommodation in dormitory
Join with a friend and receive 10% off • Early bird 10% available till 30 December • Portuguese residents 10% off • One offer per booking
We have private cottages, rooms and bell tents available, if you prefer this option please contact us to inquire about availability and pricing.
Your course fee supports both our facilitators and the ongoing regenerative projects at A Quinta.
How to Book:
Click "Book Now" to fill out our registration form.
After submitting, you will be redirected to Stripe link to pay a non-refundable deposit to secure your spot.
The remaining balance is due upon arrival (Cash or Bank Transfer).
Ready to join us?
We keep the group small, usually around 8 to 12 people. If this course has been on your mind, now is a good time.
Note: If we cancel the course, your deposit is refunded in full. If you cancel less than 7 days before the start, we ask for 75% of the total fee to cover our costs.