I am Canadian, but my home is with my partner on São Miguel Island who is native to the island. My background is that I owned and operated a commercial apple and cherry orchard in Canada for 7 years. My belief systems evolved as I saw the many flaws of traditional monoculture farming, and I felt I could no longer farm in a matter that I saw was ineffective and harmful. The farm was sold and I started learning more and more about permaculture. I did some small scale, intensive backyard permaculture projects, and fell in love with all things Permaculture.
In October, 2021, I completed My Permaculture Design Course in Portugal. I also met my partner at that course:) We bought our land July 2022 and our priorities this year are to build no-till market gardens, restore the ruin to serve as our home, plant our food forest, and plan a community area to host events for our community (farm to table gatherings, workshops, etc) We are passionate about living soil, so we use regenerative, no-till, organic methods.
I am so thankful to be part of a Permaculture community. I see so much growth in myself and enjoy the kinship that can be found in other permaculturist.