“People often say that I’m curious about too many things at once… But can you really forbid a man from harbouring a desire to know and embrace everything that surrounds him?”
―Alexander von Humboldt
We are Glen and Karen Noon and we are based in Brittany in Northern France, having moved here permanently in mid 2016. Since then, we have been renovating the house, redesigning and regenerating the land. We are following our dream of leading a more balanced and connected lifestyle in the French countryside.
It is our aim and vision to set up our property as Permaculture demonstration and education site. We are creating a poly-income scalable farm, and we welcome people from all walks of life interested in living a more sustainable lifestyle to visit, learn and share.
About Karen
I am a Permaculture designer and educator. Coming from a corporate background in Finance and IT, my life changed after I undertook a Permaculture Design Course in 2011.
Thereafter, I have studied and developed an interest in regenerative agriculture, climate appropriate planting, perennial food orchards, holistic land management, organic vegetable growing and herbalism. I also make my own salves, creams and soaps from herbs grown on the property. I love preserving food that we harvest, from fermenting to making jams and chutneys.
In addition to this we are keenly interested in all aspects of social Permaculture. This lead us to co-establishing a Community Association with other like-minded folk close to our home in order to share skills, work on projects, support one another and share equipment.
Thus far I have worked and designed eco-education projects, corporate garden, community gardens, recycling projects as well as home scale garden designs. These have been done in the Middle East, UK and France.
Permaculture CV
Current: Studying for MSc in Integrative Eco-social Design with Gaia University
Past:
Diploma in Applied Permaculture
PTLLS
Permaculture Teacher training
Permaculture Design Course with Aranya
RegenAG courses with Darren Doherty
Holistic Management with Kirk Gadzia
Small Scale Mushroom Production with Gourmet Mushroom Academy
About Glen
My background is in engineering having served in the Royal Navy for 22 years, and in the last few years I have had a freelance IT and Project management career in the airline industry.
I consider myself to be an all-round handyman, solution engineer, and the projects long term visionary.
I have a keen interest in beekeeping which we embarked on 2 years ago.
My special interest is woodland management (which includes milling all our own wood from our forests). I am learning about forest gardens (perennial food forests) and in the near future when I have completed all the other projects, I plan to set up an aquaponics system.
Following on from my love of flying (I am also a qualified paraglider) I have in the last few years qualified as a drone pilot and have been honing my skills in land surveying and orthomosaic mapping.
Over the last 10 years I have been building up my skills and knowledge by taking a number of courses that have been relevant to my interests. These include a RHS course on Forestry and Arboriculture and many more listed below:
Pizza oven build – Sustainability Centre
Coppicing – Ben Law
Round timber build – Ben Law
Charcoal – Ben Law
Woodland Management – Centre for Alternative Technology
Traditional Timber Building
Traditional Austrian Scything – Bright Permaculture trust
Traditional Hedge laying – Sustainability Centre
Orchard Management and Pruning – Brighton permaculture trust
Forest Gardening – Martin Crawford
At Afrinoon Permaculture we have dogs, chickens, bees, ducks, pigs, sheep and goats, and we also grow our own vegetables in a potager raised bed garden as well as in broad bed’s and polytunnels. The design is to move towards lower energy input growing by creating a number of perennial food forests, which we are setting up in our orchard and woodlands.
All our animals are integrated into our systems and serve multiple purposes. For instance, our rare breed pigs are reared outdoors and we keep them for meat and land rotovating. Our rare breed sheep are pasture raised and we practise rotational grazing management in order to bring some very derelict fields back to life. They provide us with meat, they help with land regeneration and eco mowing, and we also use their fleece for creating a variety of products. We believe passionately in good animal husbandry and in treating all our animals with respect and care.
Our faith in the principles and ethics of Permaculture carries us through the inevitable bumps of multiple new and ambitious projects. We learn as we go and continue to design, observe, experiment and give thanks for the life we are able to live here.
“A wonderful place, filled with interesting characters and stories, and a great introduction to the principles of permaculture. Really gave me hope that there IS a future for the planet, and for humanity”
― Margo
Reach Us
We would love to hear from you.
9 Bellevue 56320 Priziac
+33 788113505
karen@afrinoonpermaculture.org