OLIVE HARVEST IS ON THE WAY...

the land has been blessed with lots of rain these days:-)
And the olives are getting ready...
I still don't know when the press is going to open to take the olives, but people are saying the harvest will be sooner than later this year...
So, we'll appreciate help for the harvest...MAYBE FROM THE 19TH TILL 26TH OF OCTOBER...in few weeks... but I'll confirm it as soon as I find out about the press...
I might start next week to harvest some to mature...

LET ME KNOW IF YOU'RE WILLING TO COME AND HELP...AND SHARE WITH OTHERS WHO MIGHT ENJOY IT TOO !!!

BE PEACEFUL...

working hard this week...but satisfying :-)

I've been enjoying lots, building a roof for the washing dishes station... something I'd like to be done almost a year ago...Tim and his group came from Scotland to build the floor and we were supposed to finish it...but it never happened till now :-)
...mainly because people wanted to do many other things, and the one who said he could take charge of it, never really did... anyway... that's how things went... I really wanna focus this winter to finish all the things we have started since I move here...making things nice and a bit more stable... by the way, I'm really thankful for a donation I already got to buy building materials... that's gonna help!!!
Not going far from our main center of activity, I really wanna work on the basics : the kitchen, the bath-house, compost toilet and prayer shelter...

So, I started to put the 2 back posts that were missing (the Scottish group forgot about that :-)...it happens!!!)...they should have been inside the concrete floor, so I had to make a stone pile around it to hold it well (I hope so :-)... )...That was hard!!! lots of carrying stone and making cement (not that I like the material, but fo r the purpose I guess it was the best option, and also what I already had (no need to buy)...

Then the wood structure that needed to be strong to hold the roof... I used some eucalyptus and Mimosa that we had already dried and was the straightest I found...

The rest, as I needed flat wood, I used some nice pine boards and beams that a guy left here...he made a "5 star" floor under an almost rotting yurt...what happened was that the guy left, the yurt end up rotting and almost falling apart, till the guys who stayed here last winter nicely took it away and piled the wood to prevent more damage... But still, it was a bit left under the rain and sun, so I thought the best would be to use it... (not everything that people leave behind is useless :-)...)
I took the nails away, chose the best ones, carry them down,
measured them and

cut them all the size I needed... (thank God for the Japanese technology...as Ricardo told me, they are years ahead of us...he left this saw here when he came for the prayer week...thanks Ricardo...it's really great !!! )


The hardest work was done... now the fun to lay board by board...
I haven't finished and I'm taking a day off today...
On monday I'll have to buy some straight thin boards (must have a name in english) to support the clay tiles...

So, I'll let you know next time how it end up...I hope nice and secure :-)... It's the first time I've done something like this... but hey, we can learn so much just by trying and doing it :-)... And I do love carpentry !!!

Winter's projects

Summer is almost over...even though it's still sooooo hot...
you can read some of the last events here on my blog ...
I have to apologize for being so rubbish writing on this blog, but summertime is just not the most encouraging time to seat with a computer, specially when I don't have electricity :-)...
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know of some ideas I have for winter projects, in case you'd like to come and put your hands on the work or contribute to its expenses...
Speaking about that, I'm trying to get some donators for the Land's projects, so, if you have some extra money in the end of the month, or if you want to consider separating some to help the land, get in touch with me (Barbara)... or maybe you don't have that spare money, but know some people who might want to contribute for projects like this one...
The ideal in the future is for this piece of land be the most self sustainable as possible, but we need to realize it does require some investment in the beginning...
It is step by step , I know, and that's why I took the time to think about what could be the next step...

As you can see by this picture, the roof of the kitchen (our central common place) needs an improvement (actually we don't have a single permanent roof so far, what makes it a bit hard when strong winds and rain comes)...
well, actually, I'd rather just make the whole adjustments to the kitchen... I'd like to build a room attached where we can have a bread oven, wood storage and a place for the dairies...It would be also nice to have a storage for food (whatever we harvest or transform)...so, I came up with this ...don't mind the technical design :-)...

Can you get an idea?!! So, the attached room will be also a terrace, the roofs will be green roofs as it's the best solution I thought of considering the very strong winds we have here... The front roof of the patio as well... And I'd like to make a cement/stone floor for the patio too...
The terrace will have an external stairs, and from the kitchen there will be another stairs for the 2nd floor (connected to the terrace with a door...
On this drawing I also put on top the terrace a solar water heater...
And this will lead us to another project, which is a water tank on the above layer, so we can have pressure for the kitchen, garden and bath-house...
Speaking about the Bath-house, another one that needs improvements...

And if we have time, I'd like to build below the bath-house a shower house with 4 shower places...
I'd also like to replace the shit-pit for a proper compost toilet house...or at least make a better roofing on this one...

So, these are all nice dreams and ideas, which would improve this place for those who want to come by...
But as I mentioned before, it would be nice to have some money to invest in materials to build all these... Just the water tank would be around 1.500 E...the house maybe 2000 E, as I might use clay bricks, for walls and terrace...and we'll probably need to buy some straight wood boards and water proof sheet material for the roofs... I'm just shooting up in the air, but I already asked some budgets for material and shouldn't be far from that...
So,let me know if you want to contribute to any of this...either by coming to help, or by sending us some donations... (I'll not be able to say when we're gonna go for it unless we have the money for the materials)...
I've been here for almost 3 years now, and I feel it's time to start building more lasting structures, so we don't need to replace and fix things every year...

O.K, I'll let you know more about it as I plan it...

be peaceful :-) Joyful :-) Loving :-)
Share your Light

Barbara

How did the course go?!!

We just had an amazing time during the Permaculture course, as it was expected... so, let me share with you some of the things we experienced...
Just before we started, Simone (who was at the land in the early beginnings) came with 7 other friends from Berlin, and they all helped us to set up the last things we needed for the course to start...It was a time for them to rest as well, so it was great how it all worked out...they could rest, and we could rest... We knew it would be a very intensive time, so we didn't want to do all things at the last minute... it all went smoothly...shantii, shantii, as we like...


The "class room" was ready... and we could enjoy the chilled times around the table during our meals as well...

Lesley Martin was our teacher, who, with a very sincere and humble heart, told us she had come to learn as well... We could all say that she is an amazing teacher... I loved the way she wouldn't simply download all her knowledge, but she would lead us to get there for ourselves... besides, we had the privilege to hear the many stories of her personal life...again, with a very humble heart...another kind of knowledge, one that is only gained by experience...

All together, we were 13 students...Emma, Maren and Steffi were coming in and out, as they were helping Ton in the kitchen... Amelie was also helping everywhere, and also taking care of baby Shiloh (who requires lots of attention, eh, eh)... The food was amazing by the way...Thanks to these ones... It was a blessing for me too, cuz I was already willing to not attend the course in order to help in the kitchen...but all went well, and I'm so thankful for all who helped...

As I said, we were 13 students...me, Chris (Amelie's husband... who came from California,USA), Dane and Jillie (also California...Hmmm,kinda...they were actually living here, and they invited Chris and Amelie), Josh and Rosie (who were living here but moved out to another piece of land in the south), Daniel (who was also living here before, and he's Ton's nephew), Nuno Raposo (who came from the surroundings of Lisbon), Miriam (Emma's friend from Belfast), Hanna (From London, who is about to move nearby here), David Juan (a Canadian who lives in Spain with his wife for many years), and Ishmael (from Sudan, who is living with David and Sharon in their community)...
what a diverse group hey?!! in age, we had Dane with 19 and we had David with 66... what a good mix...

As diversity is so important in Permaculture, I guess we had a good example with our group...
As you can see in these pictures, we didn't seat in "class" all day...we also had some nice "exercises" and fun experiences where we also learned...like this one, showing us how in all creation, everything is interconnected, everything plays an important role to create the original balance of it all... unfortunately we've been messing up a big deal, but hey, I don't like pessimism nor fatalism...There's Hope !!!

And this is something we also received from this course... We can all make a big difference, in our "littleness"...As Margaret Mead said : " Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Here's Shiloh in this picture also making a point... we should all walk in our own shoes (even though it's fun to try big shoes sometimes, but not really if we want to walk, eh, eh)... We are to BE who we are, and not trying to be someone else...not comparing ourselves with others... we were created for COOperation, not competition...

" If we are being less than who we are, we're stealing the world a great treasure" (a quote from myself, eh, eh)... We're all so precious !!!
Anyway, I'm drifting away here...sorry about that !!!
Here are some other practical things we did...like here on the side, Miriam, David and Ishmael, making an easy and useful tool to measure contours...







The same tool, if we have other materials, like a hoze and tape...

And practicing...Off we went to the woods...


How to make a sheet mulch...

easy and fast...


ready to plant...

During the evenings we also watched different interesting Dvd's

And finally, the interesting part came...we had 3 groups presenting a design for the land... it was really interesting to see the different points of view of each group...

While a group was presenting their proposal, the others would listen...in the end we would all have to say something we really like about the design, and also something we would change...

I was glad with all the designs... and I'll definitely take some good ideas from each one...

Hanna and her beautiful presentation...

Nuno...a bit shy, but he did well...

Jared, in his rap style presentation :-)... I loved his veggie garden design, and the thought his group had about the amount of land we'd need with food to feed the average of people who live here...

Emma and Maren would participate while chopping veggies...I liked that !!! Thank you so much girls...

Amelie and Shiloh, picking some cabbage for dinner...aren't they sweet ?!!

The design the group I was with made (me, Rosie, David and Chris) end up not being much different than what I had in mind before...
even though I tried to interfere as least as possible... that was cool too...



It was nice to have some tips and opinions from Lesley, specially about the irrigation system...
Well, now it's time to move on...
To define priorities and establish the different stages to implement this design in this land... Of course, being always flexible... if something doesn't seem to work along the way, lets see other options :-)

WE NEED SKILLED PEOPLE NOW TO IMPLEMENT ALL THESE GREAT IDEAS... AND SOME MONEY AS WELL, SO, FEEL FREE TO PARTICIPATE :-)

We were all satisfied in the end, and this made me think about more possibilities for more workshops and courses...not only permaculture (maybe next year translated in Portuguese), but also natural building, like straw bale houses, cob, etc...
we'll see...
step by step...

In the evenings we'd often had dinner around the fire place, and we had such a lovely time in the last night...
It was so nice to get to know those who came , and get to spend some more time with those I knew already... it felt like family !!!
And I'm sure we'll all be connected somehow...

CONTENTS OF THE PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE

here are the general contents of the permaculture design course:

An Introduction to Permaculture Ethics and Principles
Cultivated Ecology
Water in the Landscape
Forests and Trees
Soils
Microclimate
Buildings and Structures
Social and Financial Structures

And ends with a Design Workshop.

we already have a good amount of people coming, but let us know if you're still interested...
It's gonna be great !!!

Last chance to make your inscription...

We're getting close to the 1st of March, the date we proposed to receive your confirmation to attend the Permaculture Design Course ...

So far we have 2 brothers coming from Ghana, 1 american who live in Spain in another pioneering community who will bring a friend from Nigeria, 1 girl from Porto, still to be confirmed, and a group from Ireland also needing to be confirmed...
It's looking good !!!
But you still have time to join this amazing opportunity... If you ever consider learning more about permaculture, this is a real good chance as the costs are not so expensive... 9 days intensive course, with food and camping facilities, in a beautiful piece of land in the centre of Portugal, with a well experienced lecturer...
Consider all these !!! And get in touch this next week !!!

We've also been involved here in some building projects as you can see here ... If you'd like to come and help or support any of these projects with some donations, that would be most appreciated and needed :-) ...

We'd also need some volunteers to help cooking during the permaculture course, so let us know if you'd like to support us that way...

Thank you all !!!

Upcoming courses and events

Permaculture Design Course

We shall be holding a permaculture design course at the land from the 28th March - 5th April.
This is a 72 hour course, spread over 9 intensive days of practical experience and learning the principles, methods and applications of permaculture, sustainable land design and growing.

The course will be led by Lesley Martin a teacher with twenty years teaching experience.
The course will cost 150 euros including food. Believe me, it's a bargain compared to the usual costs of this course.

Accommodation is camping so bring a tent and your sleeping bag.

We will need your confirmation and a 50 euro deposit till the 1st of MARCH so that we can know the number of attendees and if it's viable to run the course.

We'll also need 3 or 4 volunteers to help with cooking :-). That would be great as we all here want to attend the course. That would be great !!!
We'd need your confirmation ahead of time too, till the 1st of MARCH. Thank you so much!!!

Please contact us for more information:
house phone: (00351) 275561057
mobile (Barbara) : (00351) 965429083