Permaculture Design Course
Completed at Keela Permaculture Farm in Central Portugal, establishing practical foundations in ethics, observation, pattern literacy, water, soil, food systems, and ecological design.
Lead tutor and founder
Mark
D'Cruz
Permaculture designer, educator, technologist, bonsai practitioner, and steward of Vila Pinheiro.
Ecological wisdom.
Human stewardship.
Intelligent technology.
A life shaped by systems
Where technology, ecology, and stewardship meet.
Mark's teaching draws on a lifetime of disciplined learning across engineering, artificial intelligence, education, bonsai, and regenerative land design.
From early years spent learning practical engineering in military workshops to leadership in enterprise computing and university teaching, Mark developed a deep understanding of how complex systems behave.
At Vila Pinheiro in Central Portugal, that systems perspective found a new expression: permaculture as the practical design of relationships between soil, water, climate, plants, animals, buildings, and people.
Training and practice
Grounded in learning,
tested on the land.
Mark combines formal permaculture training with years of implementation, reflection, teaching, and ongoing experimentation at Vila Pinheiro.
Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design
Completed under the guidance of Dr Tom Henfrey and Chris Evans through substantial designs for water, energy, food forests, silvopasture, education, and Mediterranean resilience.
Permaculture Training of Teachers
Studied at Applewood with Looby Macnamara and Chris Evans, strengthening his practice in facilitation, adult learning, curriculum development, group process, and reflective education.
Teaching philosophy
Observation before intervention.
Mark's approach integrates traditional Japanese apprenticeship, permaculture pedagogy, systems science, adult learning, and decades of practical leadership.
- Learning by doing
- Reflection after action
- Accessibility without oversimplification
- Rigour balanced with encouragement
Vila Pinheiro · Central Portugal
Learning from reality
Vila Pinheiro is the classroom.
The one-hectare property is Mark and Rosalind's home, a regenerative smallholding, demonstration site, research environment, and educational venue.
Here, ideas about water resilience, food forests, ecological restoration, appropriate technology, Mediterranean growing, and regenerative enterprise are tested against real conditions. Successes and failures both become part of the learning.
Explore the PDC“Wisdom from the past, combined with appropriate technology, can help create regenerative futures.”
Mark D'Cruz