Chris Cross

There is also Permacredits that is under the Counterparty umbrella.

https://permacredits.com

I really really really really really need to finally learn Spanish now. Hah. Or just Catalan as I dont see myself moving away from there to Spain anytime soon.

This link here, its in the original post as well, has a collection of information. I am unsure as to how accurate and up to date it is, but it´s something:

http://reddepermaculturaiberica.pbworks.com/w/page/13844757/FrontPage

Dawn Hoff wrote:Related to Can Masdeu - is Permacultura Barcelona: http://www.permacultura-bcn.org (or isn't it?)

Yes and no, yes in that it involves some of the same people I imagine, no because permaculture-bcn is more a collection of information and news, whereas Can Masdeu is an occupied area turned into a community/permaculture site. (http://www.canmasdeu.net/en/)

When it comes to rural internet access on the Iberian Peninsula, these guys are definitely the ones to talk to:
https://guifi.net/

It´s a community run mesh network (node to node) and with the wireless equipment you can get these days setting up a so called "air-fiber" is not as expensive anymore.
It will still need an end point connected to the internet, but this is a great community building tool. It is especially well developed in Catalunya, but in theory it can be used anywhere.

I know the people in the core do travel around and advice on setting up community infrastructure. And the best thing about it is that it´s community owned.

First off, a little bit about building regulations etc:
http://www.fincasdirect.com/en/planning-and-building.html

Permaculture Spain:
http://www.permacultura-es.org/

Projects:
http://www.laciutatverda.org/
http://www.canmasdeu.net/ <- occupied property quite close to Barcelona
http://www.permacultura-montsant.org
http://reddepermaculturaiberica.pbworks.com/w/page/13844757/FrontPage <-- Network of permaculture projects, part of transition network

Nurseries:
http://www.viverosbotanica.com/ <-- Bamboo
http://www.soljardi.com/web_eng/productos.html <-- all kinds of edibles
http://www.viverosalcanar.com/patrones.html <-- citrus
http://www.cultidelta.com/index.asp?i=en
http://www.catalunyaplants.com/
http://www.viverosdecardedeu.com/

Other:
https://guifi.net/ <-- urban internet provider / mesh network that spans big parts of Catalunya (a decentralized peer to peer/node to node network with internet backbone owned by the community with no fees, you just buy the equipment)
http://www20.gencat.cat/portal/site/parcsnaturals/menuitem.1942a21487b35eb0e6789a10b0c0e1a0/?vgnextoid=133ec2acf7a3d310VgnVCM1000008d0c1e0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=133ec2acf7a3d310VgnVCM1000008d0c1e0aRCRD&newLang=en_GB <-- has a list of native fruit species for catalunya (replanting project)
http://www.triodos.com/en/about-triodos-bank/ <-- ethical bank who provides loans for environment and culture businesses or NGOs
http://www.coop57.coop/index.php?lang=ca_es <-- financing co-op that does something similar
http://cooperativa.cat/en/ <- co-op of co-ops in Spain/Catalunya, working to create an alternative to the capitalist market with their own social currency, quite fast growing (documentary: http://vimeo.com/89454294)
http://calafou.org/ <- connected to cooperative.cat, occupied hacker-space/permaculture/culture center where they work on bitcoin related things, will start working on open source ecology, social currency, etc.


And if anyone is interested in some Spanish modern history, the first thing I would read is George Orwells Homage to Catalunya about his own personal experiences in the Spanish Revolution/Civil War, an absolutely fantastic read. It was these events that inspired him to write Animal Farm and 1984.

If anyone has suggestions I can put them in this list, if not I will update it when I find anything interesting.

Thanks for some great advice!

We already have lawyers here for different reasons and one of us has a family member working as a real estate agent in Spain, so we might be able to procure some good advice there.

I´m excited to get down to some real planning for this and actually going around looking at places.
Will probably end up with 10 people and a total budget anywhere from 110 000 to 150 000 euro budget so hopefully we can get a really good start considering we will have a lot
of craftsmen helping and machine operators.

Looking mainly in southern Tarragona. Will not be leaving Catalunya, far to attached. But thanks for the tip.

If it´s advertised as "you can build another building on it" does that mean it has building permissions? And also, if it´s a secluded place and all your going to put up is a tiny cabin that matches the local style, will anyone actually care?

How about shaping the enviroment, say for making ponds etc, or tearing up part of an olive field thats on the property to put in something else. Is this all allowed?

Popping in here to say that me and around ten friends are looking to buy a property/finca in catalunya within the next year with the goal of being independent.

We are looking to have in excess of 70 000 euros left to prepare the land, build ponds/swales, fix up old buildings, build bungalows/mobile homes for sleeping rooms(here it has to be mentioned that we have people who can operate any equipment we would need, as well as having people of most crafts available to us).

Considering the size of the group, a loan for something like that is very easy to pay off.

We have all lived together for periods of times at one point or another and the group dynamic should not be a problem.

I was wondering if anyone had any input on the budget side of it?

And also, I know building rights can some times be a hassle here, permits dont apply for "mobile homes" do they?

Hi there. I came across this a while back when I was looking at all kinds of different soil remediators.

http://www.biozome.com/

It's a mixture of different microbes in the archaea domain, originally assembled to fight oilspills and the like:




But they do wonders in the garden as well, I have been using it for a while and saw definite improvements.

The interesting thing is I can't really find any info on Oppenheimer on wikipedia and few other places as well. Even though this was quite the innovation.

I came across his CV though, which is impressive to say the least:

http://www.obio.com/docs/cv.pdf