Q. How did you find this place?
A. (Rory) I was living on the coast and I used to visit a friend with land up here. I liked the area and started looking for a farm for myself. At that time almost anywhere was for sale: people would approach you in the village and ask if you wanted to buy their land. I was lucky as I didn't know so much about land then (it was 1988) but I still bought a really good farm.

Q. Are there still lots of farms for sale round here?
A. No - the people value their land much more now and don't sell so many of the good pieces of land. The trend for locals to leave the area has reversed, and now, more of the young people stay and work their farms.

Q. Why did you want to have an organic farm?
A. (Rory) I had worked for other people and done voluntary work, and I liked the idea of being my own master and settling on a piece of land. I never had any idea to do conventional farming, it was obvious I should do it organically.
A. I studied as a biologist and when I finished I went to South America for a year working on rainforest conservation projects. I realised then the importance of sustainable agriculture in habitat conservation. You can't just tell local people to stop cultivating the land because they happen to live in an ecologically unique area; you've got to give them alternatives so they can grow their food and make a living but without damaging their environment.

Q. How did you come to join Rory on the farm?
A. I was working in Sevilla, and looking for contacts in organic agriculture, when I discovered La Mohea and met Rory. When my job finished I did a permaculture design course and came to live at the farm. Everything just fell into place for me.

Q. What do the locals think of what you're doing?
A. It's not that strange for them because it's basically the same as what they've always done themselves. They do think it's a bit peculiar that we don't have a television and washing machine, and that we don't want a house in the village so we can have these mod-cons like they all do. The neighbours are always curious about what we're doing here, and they give us help and advice - most of which is very useful. Recently one old neighbour (he's 84 years old) started mulching his garden like we do, which is a complete contrast to the "bare-earth" policy they normally follow, so that gave us a good feeling when we saw it.

Q. Do you ever feel isolated living in such a remote area?
A. It's not really that remote because in just 40 minutes drive we can be on the Costa del Sol (not that we go there unless we have to!). We're lucky because the world comes to us: we get volunteers and visitors from all over the world, and that offers a tremendous potential for interchange of information and experience. We've put Genalguacil on the world map!

Q. Are there things that you miss from a more "normal" lifestyle?
A. For us, our lifetyle is normal! You get used to living without all these mod-cons that have taken over people's lives in the first world. I suppose there are some things that we miss out on, like going to films, but such small details are more than recompensed by positive aspects of our life, such as the freedom and space, that we both value very highly.

Q. Do you find some people can't cope when they come?
A. It's all a question of your expectations and attitude. Someone who expects a countrified middle-class Western lifestyle will get a shock! We've opted for simplicity in our lives, and trimmed our lifestyle back to the basics of good food, clean air and water, and a satisfying and worthwhile occupation. Having said that, we're letting some complications creep in, such as the computer; it's hard not to, when that's what is all around you. Most people who come here enjoy the experience, and it prompts them to question what sort of a lifestyle they want.

Q. What is permaculture all about?
A. It's all about design - the conscious arrangement of different elements within the system - to build up a network of beneficial relationships between the elements. It can be applied to food production, community development, house building, and planning processes.

(Rory) The right thing in the right place! You can interpret that at any level, from the purely physical such as the kiwi vines and comfrey we've planted below the sink under the shade of the grapevine, to the social such as making connections between community composting schemes and the growers supplying the veggie box system. Permaculture in farming comes down to harmonious methods of production that will be good for hundreds of years, so we don't run ourselves out of fertile soil and fresh water, which is what's happening in conventional agriculture.

Q. How does La Mohea as a permaculture site differ from an ordinary organic farm?
A. A lot of techniques we use are common to both organic agriculture and permaculture. Perhaps the most striking difference is the density and complexity of the plant combinations, so you'll find "guilds" of plants that benefit each other mutually grouped together, which is what happens naturally in the wild. For example, we have young kiwi vines with maize and squashes surrounding them, giving them protection from the drying sun, and tagasaste (a leguminous nitrogen-fixing bush) interplanted with young apple trees to give them shade, protection and provide them with nitrogen. We also leave a lot of garden annuals and perennials to self-seed, so they propagate themselves from year to year, and have aromatic plants like fennel and wormwood combined with vegetables and fruit trees for the protection they give against insect pests.

Q. What advice would you give to someone thinking of starting up their own permaculture farm?
A. "Work with what you've got" is a useful maxim to bear in mind. That could mean working within existing parameters like climate, landscape, infrastructure, tree cover and so on, or it could be as simple as eating the food that is around you, in season. It's also important to keep your ideas flexible and your eyes open; observation and lateral thinking are useful skills for developing your permaculture design. Be aware of limiting factors like water availability, temperature, topography etc., and don't forget that your own imagination (or lack of it!) can significantly limit the productivity of your land.
(Rory) When you're looking for land, don't undervalue esisting infrastructure like trees, terraces, water catchments and deposits; this can save you a lot of hard work and expense in the beginning. And if you are starting from scratch with a piece of land, be prepared to work hard; permaculture might be minimum-maintenance, but that's when your system is set up and functioning. Don't be fooled by people who have a garden full of weeds, with a few struggling vegetables in between, who claim that they are doing permaculture! (unless the "weeds" are actually useful edible plants, which is often the case with our gardens in wintertime) A permaculture farm should be very productive above all.

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