2022 ANNUAL REPORT

After a very eventful 2021—as you may have read on our blog a year ago—came the “turning point” year, or at least that’s how we feel! So much to share, so much to celebrate!

Toward the Horizon

We use permaculture to design paths, to reach the place we want to go, and to come to love the place we arrive at.

Every stage of growth is also a letting go—leaving behind the stepping stone that supported us—but it’s also a celebration and a welcome to that new stretch of the journey, which is as exciting as it is unknown.

Vision, Love, the Journey, and the constant surprises of Life…

What tells us that the path we’re on is the one that brings us closer to the life we desire?

Metrics, goals, numbers, emotions… reason and intuition working together to navigate the path… Fortunately , we have design methodologies, such as OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), which are helping us provide a framework for planning, monitoring, and evaluating the journey of La Casa Integral—a collaborative project that Juan Pedro and Aline have been incubating and developing since the 2020 lockdown.

Indicators

Here we’re sharing part of the work we did in 2020 and 2021, including the development of our business plan, designed by our friend Mayi Lekuona from MAÏA PERMACULTURA: Inspiring Change in the Basque Country (maiapermaculture.com):

Objective 1: WE PROVIDE TRAINING IN #KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION (Regenerative Solutions for People)

OKR 1.1: Achieved

OKR 1.2: Achieved , and we’re continuing with it to explore the niche and the need

OKR1.3: On schedule (scheduled to open in late 2023)

OKR 1.4: as planned (number?)

OKR1.5: On schedule (obtaining official documents and a liability insurance policy; initial discussions underway)

OKR 1.6: As planned (“the guild” is currently being designed; we had an intern thanks to the Gentis Foundation…)

Summary of the Teaching Team

• From approximately 25,000 euros in total revenue in this sector in 2021 to 23,000 euros in gross revenue in 2022.
• We have certified 14 people in Permaculture Design at the hybrid CDP #SABERES2022, and 10 participants in the hybrid CDP in Gran Canaria, co-designed with Luna Red Cultural → 24 people certified in Permaculture Design
• In the new edition of the CDP Online #SABERES ’22–’23 , 33 people registered; in March 2023, we’ll have the final presentations and see who receives certification. Based on feedback from the two previous editions, we’ve launched the next edition #SABERES2023 (we’re returning to a smaller number of participants, increasing the number of live sessions, etc.).

• Aline has mentored four students in the Iberian Permaculture Academy’s diploma program → Two of them have already given their midterm presentations and will graduate in 2023?!
• We have taught two online courses on Domestic Wastewater for a total of 25 people and a course on Food Sovereignty for 6 people in its first edition.
• We were able to hold two in-person workshops on our #SIP (Landscape Infiltration System—for graywater only) and #SIRAR (Comprehensive Wastewater Reuse System—for all types of water, including blackwater and yellowwater), one at the Can Bosc project and another at our own home, Can Cel, for a total of → 24 people
• We have conducted a training session on Hydrological Design of Rural Landscapes (focusing on the key-line technique and (micro)earthworks) in Extremadura, funded by a European Union project, for a total of → 20 volunteers + 15 interested individuals from the livestock industry, producers, and the veterinary field, etc. = 35 people in total
• And another training session on Línea Clave and water management in the landscape for the Anoia Regional Council, with the group Eixarcolant for a dozen people.
• The Association PermaMed has been collaborating on an Erasmus+ project , Gaia YES!, in which we co-authored a curriculum for Education for Sustainable Development, based on the Gaia Education curriculum for secondary-school-aged youth, and a guide for educators to support the implementation of the curriculum. In July, Aline traveled to Findhorn in Scotland for the final working meeting. In August 2022, we presented the results at a “Multiplier Event” at Can Cel; the project’s publications over its two-year duration reached nearly 15,000 people.
• Speaking of Gaia Education, Aline co-facilitated the Ecological Dimension in English (online) in early 2022, with 44 registered participants, and facilitated the Spanish-language version with 23 participants. She also mentored two groups of four people in the Design Studio (Gaia Education’s final project). The 2023 session begins shortly (January 7 in English and February 25 in Spanish).
• Juan Pedro co-organized the meetings of the BiorNE (the Iberian Permaculture Association of the Northeast Bioregion) spring meeting at Ecovila Sequoia (Osona), the summer meeting at Basecamps (Cerdanya), and the fall meeting at Ecomercaderet ( Anoia), attended by a total of about 200 people.
• We have traveled throughout our bioregion and beyond to conduct training sessions and give talks: the Basque Country (Bioterra), Extremadura, the Canary Islands, Espelt, l’Empordà, la Cerdanya, and Mallorca.

As they say in *The Future of Work*, you need to retrain every three years to continue being “successful” in the job market. At La Casa Integral, it’s not so much that we’re driven by that notion of success, but rather that we’re big fans of continuing education—to deepen our knowledge more and more and offer better service to our clients, to stay up to date on the latest developments because science never stands still, and to observe how other educators and trainers conduct their training sessions.

In 2022, we completed the following training courses and workshops:

REX ( Regrarians – Darren Doherty)

Biogas Education with Kathy Puffer

Training on biodigesters for the Miogas network of partners (we are distributors, and we hope to soon be able to show you our own biodigester installed at Can Cel!)

MasHumus: Online KeyLine Course

Course on Hydrological Design and Key Lines with Sustraiak Habitat Design, organized by Regenerative Agriculture Aragón

Milkwood: After taking their “Permaculture Living” course in 2021, this year—2022—we’ve delved into the world of mushrooms with their course: Home Mushroom Cultivation

Kiss The Ground: Soil Advocate Training & Introduction to Regenerative Gardening

NESI: Master’s Degree in New Economies

Master’s in Landscape Architecture with the Online Graduate School of Engineering and Architecture (the only program among all of them that we don’t want to recommend; the truth is that it’s VERY lacking in content, outdated, visibly copied from other sources, has a methodology that’s not at all interesting, and Aline was able to “get through” it without even trying very hard)

Jeremy Lent: Principles and Practices of Deep Transformation (Gaia Education)

The Economic Dimension of Gaia Education

Regenerative Tourism with Seeds for Sustainability

Ecotourism Subsidized by the SEPE

Designing Resilient Regenerative Systems (MOOC)

Online Forest Gardening Course – The Agroforestry Research Trust

Sociocracy 3.0 | Sociocracy —a customized training program for the Iberian Permaculture Academy’s Circle of Tutors, facilitated by Maria Rute Costa of WE – ORLA DESIGN

Regenerative Management of Fruit Trees and Orchard Lands, with Alberto Pérez-Roldán and Miguel Angel Gz Tenorio, funded by EIT Food and organized by Agricultura Regenerativa Ibérica (ARI).

The Climate University (lamarea.com)

Aline continues on her journey as a trained but non-practicing massage therapist, and in 2022 she completed the Esalen training with Rob Wilks (Barcelona, November 2021) and Ingrid May (Mallorca, April 2022), organized by Sujati: Esalen Massage International Certification | Spazio Masaje School (masajecaliforniano.com)

A workshop on making natural soaps and shampoos with Curare.Sostenible

And a number of webinars and mini-courses on wastewater treatment, natural swimming pools, green building, syntrópica, holistic and regenerative design, seeds, “Water Stories,” etc., etc…

And we still have so much to learn!

Objective 2: WE DESIGN THE REGENERATION OF THE SPACE WE LIVE IN, BOTH OUR OWN AND THAT OF OUR CLIENTS (Regenerative Solutions for Housing)

OKR 2.1: Achieved early

OKR 2.2: Achieved early

OKR 2.3: On schedule (we continue to expand the collaboration database)

OKR 2.4: Not achieved

OKR2.5: as planned

OKR 2.6: Achieved early

Design Studio:

• Our design studio’s revenue has tripled compared to 2021, rising from approximately 10,000 euros to approximately 35,000 euros gross.
• We have worked with a wide range of professionals, including architecture firms, engineering firms, consulting firms, neighborhood associations, individuals, and others, and our network of professional contacts continues to grow.
• We are reaching more families, as well as some companies and housing cooperatives that want to implement Regenerative Solutions in their projects.
• This year alone, we are already purifying and reusing nearly 1,000,000 liters of water (divided among 15 SIRARs and 2 SIPs) in useful or edible landscapes.
• We have advised and designed for nearly thirty people; with some, we are still in the process or have just begun.
• As part of one of the projects, a team came to film for a YouTube channel with 1.8 million followers; Kirsten Dirksen interviewed Aline while visiting the mini edible forest that we helped design in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres.
• We hope to be able to offer a direct job in 2023 to one or more people who can help us grow this branch of La Casa Integral; we feel that now is the right time for expansion—even if it’s modest—and to free up a little time for ourselves, since we’re currently handling all the roles. The transition to a cooperative and the associated costs will give us a better idea in a few months.

Objective 3: WE ARE CO-CREATING A LIVING-LAB WHERE WE INVITE ALL PEOPLE, ORGANIZATIONS, AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN OUR COMMUNITY TO EXPERIENCE AND SHARE NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS (Regenerative Solutions for the Community)

OKR 3.1: Achieved

OKR3.2: As planned (currently in the observation and analysis phase of the Can Cel design)

OKR 3.3: As planned (implementation plan as part of OKR 3.2 in Q2 2023)

OKR 3.4: Achieved early on, though only in bursts of two posts

OKR3.5: As planned (monthly event with 12 people instead of a quarterly event with 25 people)

OKR 3.6: It’s not necessary at this time; it’s probably going according to plan.

OKR 3.7: As planned

OKR 3.8: As planned

Demonstration Area:

• The value of this branch of our company is primarily social and difficult to measure. We believe that these forms of capital are perhaps the most valuable and interesting for our resilience (social, because of our connections with those closest to us as well as with the people who follow us on social media and can use the information we share; living, because of what we plant and regenerate on our plot of land and in our immediate surroundings; and material, because of what we exchange during open house events, etc.).
• WE ARE A COOPERATIVE! This step, which has taken us over a full year and will finally bear fruit on January 1, 2023, with the launch of La Casa Integral SCCL, seems to us to be a great example of “practicing what we preach.” We are committed to the Social and Solidarity Economy, and we partner with other organizations that share the same core values: collaboration, care for people and the earth, sustainable innovation, and the regeneration of our ecosystem.
• On social media, we’ve grown with the new La Casa Integral account; we now have about 2,200 followers on Instagram and a very similar number on our Facebook page (2,470 “followers”). We aren’t putting enough effort into our LinkedIn account—with only 79 connections, it shows—and, with great optimism, we’ve opened a TikTok account. We haven’t posted anything yet, but I’m sure the Johnnies would have a good following there!
• We now have our own channel on Telegram, La Comunidad Integral, which is mainly for local people, and Juan Pedro continues to co-moderate the BiorNE chat, which now has over 400 members.
• Within the broader community, we have found a use for the donations made by some of the speakers at the #SABERES Seminar that we co-organized with the Sembrares team last year. Through PermaMed, we contributed €1,000 to the fund for the“Teaching Permaculture Teachers 4 Refugees (TPT4R)” course led by Rosemary Morrow and Alfred Decker to support the training of several individuals working in refugee and displaced communities, thereby doing our part to care for some of the most vulnerable people facing the consequences of climate change.

In the physical aspect of this branch (Sharing and Demonstrating), within the so-called “Visible Structures,” we’ve left behind a beautiful spot in the forest (Can Cabra), where in May 2022 we welcomed local youth on a visit organized by the Punt Jove of Sant Cebriá, to head to another, even more charming—and TOTALLY different—home, Can Cel, just 2 km from where we were.

If you clicked on the link to our business plan at the beginning of this article, you’ll have seen that we didn’t have the financial capital to purchase a property. How were we able to buy Can Cel? We are so grateful for the confluence of circumstances and the presence of several people in our lives who have helped us make this dream a reality (by covering the down payment and purchase costs). You know who you are—we send you a huge hug and our infinite gratitude. See how the idea of different forms of capital really works? Let’s cherish them all—not just the financial kind!

Since June 1, 2022, we have been designing and developing our Suburban Demonstration Space, which has already welcomedabout a hundred people— neighbors from nearby and some from farther away—during our famous monthly open houses and volunteer events, the CoCoteras ( Sharing and Building Community, in a climate that’s perhaps becoming increasingly tropical?!—Next CoCotera on the last Sunday in January); participants in our hybrid CDP #SABERES2022; people interested in “Domestic Sustainability” and “How to Design Your Holistic Home?” (the next edition of this ecotourism “experience” will be on January 8, 2023, in collaboration with La Xarxa Aethnic), as well as people with whom we collaborate on our the local consumer group, the mutual support group in Vallalta, neighbors from the homeowners’ association —of which we are now members as well— friends we’ve met at the meals we’ve organized for various celebrations , and the people who’ve helped us with the move and/or the design of the space!

We are currently putting together a report on our first steps in designing Can Cel—the #SABERES that we have been observing, analyzing, and already implementing during our first summer/fall season here—and we hope to share it soon.

Conclusions

It has been an intense year, full of changes and many important decisions—not always easy or clear-cut. Nevertheless, we feel we have a lot to be grateful for, and that we are on the right track.

We are driven by an immense passion and conviction regarding change, hope, and taking responsibility for our lives. We are constantly refining our Life Design, and we plan to include feedback and evaluation phases throughout 2023 as well.

We want to increase our food sovereignty both on our property and in our community (S), we want to devote more time and energy to our rainwater harvesting system so that we’re prepared for another summer without water in the neighborhood (A), and we realize we need to decide on the next structural component: a workshop, a classroom, a shed for volunteers and guests, or an outdoor kitchen (B). We’re pleased with the reduction we’ve achieved in our household electricity usage and the improvement in our financial situation; on the other hand, we’re somewhat concerned about our transportation costs and the financial strain of recurring bills (E). More tenderness, love, compassion, empathy, collaboration, and time—above all, time—that’s what we want to give to ourselves, to our partners, and to our immediate community (R). We want to continue offering permaculture workshops and seminars, starting this January, because demand is high from what we’ve seen, and we also love facilitating change and getting to know many people and their diverse realities (E). And finally, we’d like to make significant progress in professionalizing the design reports we present to our Design Studio’s clients, as well as presenting the completed Can Cel design in the first part of the new year and ensuring its implementation is well underway across all the #SABERES pillars we consider essential for living in a regenerative way (S).

The #KNOWLEDGES that transform our lives help us achieve our Holistic Vision, and we hope that in 2023 we can continue to support Planetary Regeneration through the Individual, the Home, and the Community!