Site analysis and design

I will be following the steps learnt during the “Permaculture Design Certificate” course I did with the Permaculture Sydney Institute.

Due to the size of the property and all the ideas we have, the implementation will be done in various steps and will take some time.

We are conscious that our needs will likely change overtime so the design should allow for that as much as possible.

We’re also learning about French’s regulations at the same time so there will be some good and bad surprises along the way…

The site

The property is at an altitude of around 280 meters. All dimensions are approximate and the North is always on top.

List of ressources

Firewood, leaves, branches, timber, water, chickens, bamboo… and plenty more to list once we’ll live there.

SWOT Analysis

• Strengths:
  • Space
  • Sunlight
  • Has a well (water quality unknown)
  • Beautiful woods with a lot of ressources
  • Massive south facing field which would be great for solar panels
  • A few neighbours close by while retaining a lot of privacy
  • Nearest town accessible by bicycle (25mn trip)

• Weaknesses:
  • Buildings are close to the road but traffic seems ok
  • Having to handle that much land could feel overwhelming
  • Don’t know anyone in the area
  • Agricultural land so comes with pros/cons
  • Neareast train station is 35km away

• Opportunities :
  • Farm animals breeding
  • Accomodation (cottage + camping field)
  • Permaculture demonstration and education
  • Water harvesting
  • Ecotourism
  • Mushrooms farming
  • Timber harvesting
  • Beehives
  • Woodchip
  • Create natural habitat for wildlife
  • (We have been told that there’s a spring somewhere on the property…)

• Threats:
  • Fire
  • Frost
  • Drought
  • Wild life: boars, deers, foxes

Cross section

Coming soon…

Sector analysis

Sun path

Winter sun

Summer sun

Microclimates

Coming soon…

Zoning

Coming soon…

Elements

Coming soon…

Contours

Map generated using contourmapgenerator.com with 2 meters contour interval. Accuracy will be verified on-site.

Earthworks

Coming soon…

Hardiness zone

According to this page: France Plant Hardiness Zone Map, the property is split over 2 hardiness zones. The northern half is on a zone classified as ‘8b’and the southern part is classified as ‘9a’. Not sure about the accuracy of this, I will try to evaluate once on-site. That info will be useful to determine what trees to select later on.

Hardiness zone on wikipedia

Rainfall

Coming soon…

Soil

• pH
  • Coming soon…
• Structure
  • Coming soon…