Permaculture in Practice
with Kyle Smith
Spend five days on a working regenerative farm in southern Portugal. Get your hands in the soil, propagate plants, work with water systems, and learn how to landscape the land as we move towards summer.
This is not a lecture course. It is five days of hands-on work on real land, building practical skills and a way of seeing that stays with you long after you leave. No prior experience needed.
Join with a friend and receive 10% off • Early bird 10% available till 30 January • Portuguese residents 10% off • One offer per booking
Why Permaculture in Practice?
Permaculture is a design framework for creating resilient, regenerative systems. It draws on ecology, traditional land management and community governance, systems thinking, and practical observation to help people make better decisions about land, resources, and community.
It is not the only approach to regenerative land management, and it does not claim to be. It helps you see connections that are easy to miss and turns observation into action. Whether you have a garden, a farm, a balcony, or simply a growing curiosity about how the natural world works, this thinking is useful.
This course is the hands-on entry point into that way of working.
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 of people who live and work here.
That distinction matters for learning - When you study water harvesting, you are standing next to a system that is doing it. When you learn about soil building, you are creating compost. When the course touches on community living and cooperative land stewardship, you are inside one.
Late May is when this landscape changes. The rains have finished, the grasses are going gold, and the growing that happens from here on is growing you support rather than growing the weather does for you. It is the moment when water, shade and mulch stop being ideas and become the whole job. Spring crops are still coming in, summer crops are going out, and there is more material to work with than at any other point in the year.
The farm includes agroforestry and food forest systems, water-retention earthworks, regenerative growing areas, nurseries, propagation areas, and ecological restoration on previously degraded land. You will move through all of it with intention, learning to read what you see and understand the decisions behind what has been built here.
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.
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No prior experience is required. If any of this describes you, you are in the right place:
Curious about permaculture and wanting hands-on experience rather than theory
A gardener, grower, or homesteader wanting to deepen their ecological understanding
Someone who has completed a PDC and wants to build practical confidence
Considering a PDC and wanting grounded experience first
Anyone growing in a hot, dry climate, or expecting to be
Interested in soil, propagation, and plant-based systems
Someone who learns best by doing, observing, and reflecting
Anyone wanting to feel more capable and connected in relation to the land
You do not need to own land to benefit from this course. The thinking and skills you develop here apply wherever you are.
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Each day centres on direct engagement with the farm. Sessions are led with intention, connecting practical work to the wider ecological thinking behind it. Learning happens through doing and noticing, working and reflecting.
You will:
Work with soil as a living system, composting, soil care, and understanding what healthy soil looks and feels like
Practice seed sowing, cuttings, divisions, and other propagation techniques, linking plant health to site conditions and timing
Engage with water systems, how water moves through a landscape, where it gathers, and how to hold and use it well when there is no more coming
Plant out and protect summer crops, working with mulch, shade, and watering that has to last
Observe microclimates, plant behaviour, and the feedback the land gives you
Explore small-scale nursery practices and how propagation supports resilient, locally adapted growing systems
Develop confidence in making simple, appropriate decisions about planting, soil, and site care
Understand the ethics and thinking behind permaculture practice, not just the techniques.
There is also time to slow down, ask questions, and reflect. That rhythm of doing and noticing is where real learning happens.
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Practical skills in soil care, water management, plant propagation, and garden establishment
Confidence in reading and interpreting a landscape
An understanding of how practical techniques connect to wider ecological systems
A feel for what a dry summer asks of a growing system, and how to prepare for it
Experience working within a real regenerative community
A way of seeing the world that does not switch off when you leave
Coming From the PDC
This course runs directly after the Permaculture Design Course here. If you are on the PDC, you can stay on and put two weeks of design thinking straight into practice while it is still fresh. If you are not, you are equally welcome. The course stands entirely on its own and assumes nothing.
About the Facilitator Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith has spent his adult life learning from different ecosystems and sharing what he observes. 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 Campervan/Tent:
Private rooms/cottages available on request (extra fee).
Prices
€570 with your own caravan or tent
€638 with accommodation in dormitory
Join with a friend and receive 10% off • Early bird 10% available till 30 January • 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.