113: Colin Crawshaw, Creating Heaven on Earth!

In episode 113 of The Permaculture Vine podcast, Cormac chats with Colin Crawshaw, who lives on a steep farm in Switzerland between 860 and nearly 1,000 metres in elevation. The land had been fallow for 70 years and previously supported families for centuries. Colin frames his move there as part of a commitment to contribute to practical ecological solutions.Colin completed a Permaculture Design Certificate with Geoff Lawton in Hungary. He highlights teachers and participants he met there, including people working on projects in France, Romania, and Austria, as well as practitioners focused on animal care, mapping, cob building, and rocket-stove systems. Several instructors and classmates are identified as influential to his ongoing work.Significant personal changes followed the course, including the end of his marriage and an active legal process to determine whether he will retain responsibility for the land. His stated intention, if granted full responsibility, is to establish a permaculture foundation on the site and create space for a long-term community of at least eleven residents.Recent developments on the property include expanded grazing, increased animal numbers, creation of 13–14 water catchments, new terraces, additional tree planting, and access agreements with neighbouring landowners. Colin identifies sun exposure, predictable winds, water management, and windbreak establishment as major environmental challenges. Attention has shifted toward completing Zone 0 and Zone 1 areas due to public visibility from a hiking trail crossing the property.Colin commissioned mapping work from designer Ben Missimer and uses the resulting set of maps to plan access, water flow, and future infrastructure. While awaiting legal decisions, he continues essential daily work such as grazing management and animal care and is learning design software to prepare plans for presentation to local authorities.Long-term plans include a connected pond system inspired by mountain-based projects, expansion of grazing across up to 50 hectares, development of on-site processing facilities, a restaurant serving farm-grown produce, educational areas, community gathering spaces such as a peace circle, visitor infrastructure, and workspaces for more than two dozen people.Practical topics in the conversation include terracing methods, material options, strategies to limit wasp nesting near structures, and the importance of habitat creation. Colin emphasises the realities of physical land work, the value of showing mistakes openly, and the need for more hands-on practitioners in permaculture. He also comments on navigating local bureaucracy, including examples of retrospective approvals and ethical civil disobedience in ecological restoration. Get full access to Cormac Harkin at cormacharkin.substack.com/subscribe