Agroforestry & Sustainable Farming

A forest garden should do more than grow food. It should also reduce your workload over time while improving the land. In this guide, we break down the key forest garden design goals that create a low-maintenance, high-function system built for long-term resilience. As a designer, I focus on two core outcomes when designing forestContinue reading “Forest Garden Design Goals: How to Build a Low-Maintenance, High-Function System”

Contemporary farming faces a huge range of challenges. The urgent need to protect the soil, decarbonise, reduce pollution in all its forms, protect the wildlife on which we depend, adapt to our changing climate, and create more resilient agricultural systems means that radical solutions are required. Agroforestry provides many of the sustainable solutions we seek.Continue reading “An Introduction to Agroforestry”

This case study outlines my comprehensive permaculture plan for a riverside property close to Coimbra, in Portugal. The design aims to regenerate degraded areas, enhance food security, diversify land use, and create a resilient, ecologically rich landscape that supports both productive agriculture and long-term environmental stewardship. The project site features gently sloping terrain running downContinue reading “Portugal Permaculture Design”

The design above is my initial concept plan for a property in the Margaret River Region of Southwestern Australia. The Margaret River region in South-West Western Australia has a mild, maritime-moderated Mediterranean climate, defined by warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Summer temperatures are warm but rarely extreme due to constant ocean influence, whileContinue reading “Southwestern Australia Agroforestry Design”

The design above is one that I created as an initial concept design for a client located in USDA Zone 8b, in Texas. The property is in a part of Texas which is a transition zone, where fertile prairie soils gradually shift to sandy, oak-dominated uplands. It is located at the intersection of the TexasContinue reading “Texas Permaculture Design”

It has been a while since I have added new designs to this website – but it has been a busy summer, and autumn so far has kept me very busy too – both in work and on my own property. But now that our bumper apple harvest processing period is coming to an end,Continue reading “Off-grid Irish Homestead Design”

This is my design for a client in Yorkshire, in collaboration with a client excited to be taking the first steps towards a more self-reliant and resilient way of life on this small plot of land. Like many of my clients, this one wanted some reassurance that they were on the right track, and someContinue reading “Yorkshire Permaculture Design”

Another design from late last year, for a client in South Carolina, explores a range of exciting ideas, including sacred geometry, mandala gardens, herb spirals, forest gardens and other forms of agroforestry, while also focussing on family and ensuring a high-quality family life. Zone 1: Zone one focusses around two loci – the primary homeContinue reading “South Carolina Permaculture – Sustainable Landscape Design”

This design for a site of approximately 44 acres, 33 of which are currently plantation woodland that I created towards the end of last year. I provided site plans to guide the formation of a sustainable, beautiful and productive homestead for the extended family, including planting schemes and plant lists, alongside the information given below:Continue reading “North Carolina Permaculture Design”

Here you can see my concept design for a site of approximately 2.5 acres in the California interior chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. It is located within an area where blue oak woodland predominates but the site itself has been degraded by human activity and largely denuded of its native vegetation cover. The client’s primary goalContinue reading “Regenerating Native Oak Woodland: Holistic Permaculture Design”

This is the initial part of a design for a commercial farm in Vietnam, where the owner wishes to implement agroforestry and permaculture principles to improve carbon sequestration and sustainability on site, and boost biodiversity, while also earning an income as a viable business. Slow, Steady Solutions for Sustainable Transition A work in progress, thisContinue reading “Commercial Agroforestry – Vietnam Permaculture Design”

Montana is a varied state with diverse eco-regions, incorporating parts of the Rockies, of course, as well as some of the Wyoming Basin and portions of the Northern Great Plains. This design is for a client based towards the south-west of the state, in a mesic montane area where small fragments of stable, climax AspenContinue reading “Case Study: Montana Permaculture Design”

This is my concept design for a client in the Western Cross Timbers bioregion of Texas who primarily reached out for help with their water management plans for the area around their home. Permaculture Water Management As you can see from the plan above, the design incorporates many water-management features commonly found in permaculture designs,Continue reading “Case Study: Texas Permaculture”

There are many ways to diversify income streams on a farm and many ways to obtain an income from a piece of land. This case study shows my preliminary concept design for a portion of a property in Georgia where the clients wish to develop a commercial flower farm, expanding an existing business. Diverse FlowerContinue reading “Case Study: Flower Farm Initial Concept Design”

A family in the Czech Republic requested this design for a portion of their property in order to grow as much of their own food as possible. They wish to create a pleasing place where their family of four with two young boys can spend plenty of time, relaxing, playing and foraging. They also wantedContinue reading “Case Study: Czech Republic Permaculture Plan”

This is my concept design for a site of approximately 2,500 sq m on Cabilao Island, in the Philippines. The design aims to maximise food production while also providing each of the elements desired by the client, responding to the strengths, opportunities, challenges and weaknesses of the specific site and delivering plenty of options forContinue reading “Case Study: Philippines Permaculture Plan”

Often in permaculture design, we encounter issues with water. In many areas and on many specific sites, a shortage of water is the challenge. But on occasion, we may find that the challenge we need to address is not too little water, but too much. In some regions, we are not faced with increasing droughtContinue reading “Case Study: Scotland Permaculture Design for Flooding Mitigation”

This case study is a broad-level concept plan for a large agricultural project of 25,000 ha in Angola. Of course, this gives only a broad overview of my concept for this site. This large farm operating according to permaculture principles can serve as a test site for agricultural progress and food security in countries whereContinue reading “Case Study: Large Scale Agricultural Design, Permaculture in Angola”

Happy new year! I hope that everyone has had a good start to 2024 and is ready to dive headlong into a new year of possibilities and a new growing season. For my first post of the year, I wanted to share this exciting concept design for a dryland permaculture design project in Arizona whichContinue reading “Case Study: Dryland Permaculture Design”

This is the preliminary permaculture concept plan for a farmstead in Illinois. the design aims to synthesise the ideas of the client with the demands of the site and to allow them to make the most of the property – recently purchased – that has been somewhat neglected in recent years.  The client, a hobby farmerContinue reading “Case Study: Illinois Permaculture Design”

I have been a little remiss in updating case studies to this site recently, but this is not because nothing has been going on but rather because there has been so much! Finding time to share what I have been doing has been a challenge, but I do still want to make sure that IContinue reading “Case Study: Scottish Forest Garden”

This is the concept plan for a project I am working on for a client in Turkey, who is planning to convert the barn on this piece of land, and create a homestead with a forest garden and vines. The primary concern was to create water systems to retain water on the property while alsoContinue reading “Case Study: Collaborative Permaculture Plan – Turkey”

This is the concept plan for a new food producing garden and agroforestry area of approximately 4 acres, on a smallholding of around 7 acres in south west Scotland, where the primary goal is to provide a substantial proportion of the diet of the inhabitants while also generating income through additional yields. As well asContinue reading “Case Study: Scotland Agroforestry”

This case study is an initial concept plan for a design I am currently working on in India’s Tamil Nadu region. The goal for this design is to create a syntropic food forest or agroforestry system on this site. To facilitate creation and water management, the main portion of the planting zone will be laidContinue reading “Case Study: India Permaculture Syntropic Agroforestry”

This site of around 2 acres is located in the Provence region of France, in the Mediterranean climate zone. It enjoys a long growing season ideally suited to the cultivation of a range of plants and crops. The primary challenges are heat and aridity in the summer months, so shade creation, and good water managementContinue reading “Case Study: Mediterranean Permaculture Concept Plan”

This is my concept design for a site of around 3 acres in Mississippi. The design aims to maximise food production while also providing for the needs of those who live on site and providing attractive and useful family space. The design is, of course, tailored to the client, the site, and the local conditions,Continue reading “Case Study: Mississippi Permaculture Concept Plan”

This month has been a little different to many for me because rather than working on a number of smaller designs, I have predominantly been working on the next stage of the large project in Cambodia which I shared before. Above, you can see a portion of the planting plans for the North Valley areasContinue reading “Case Study: Cambodian Project”

I’ve had a very busy week, so have not had time to write any other posts this week. But I did want to share with you an exciting and large-scale project which I have been working on, and will be working a lot more on next month. Eco- Resort, Restoration, Reclamation – A Sustainable FutureContinue reading “Case Study: Cambodia Permaculture Project”

This concept design, which I completed late last year, outlines a holistic plan for a small farm on the island of Guimaras, in the Philippines. The plan will bring together work already completed on the property, to create a naturally harmonious ecosystem which meets human needs while nurturing the environment and boosting biodiversity on theContinue reading “Case Study: Philippines Permaculture Plan”

When people acquire a piece of land, often, their first thought is to erect a large home on it. But as this interesting project demonstrates, we can live much more lightly on the land. This plot in Scotland comprises almost a hectare (just under 2.5 acres) of marginal land but will accommodate a wooden cabinContinue reading “Case Study: Tiny Home Agroforestry and Rewilding”