Land life…
The land is more and more fruitful and abundant…
Last year I started to design and “intervene” in the area of the citrus grove, where the chickens´ park was… Ive made new raised beds connecting the different citrus´ trees and introduced other trees and bushes gooseberries, goji berries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, mulberry bush, chestnuts, almonds, comfrey and many other medicinal herbs and vegetables that can still have enough sunlight to thrive… so far most things are enjoying eachothers´ company…
After one year without any chickens, I thought it would be a good occasion to improve the system. This year one of the priorities became the creation or extension of 4 different parks around the chicken house, nicely fenced from predators – the fox, mongoose and genet whom we believe was responsible for the loss of our 10 birds last year…
I don´t mind every now and then losing a bird to these predators or a little chick for an eagle to feed herself or her young, but we are raising them not only to improve the ecosystem we live in, but also to feed ourselves with meat and delicious healthy eggs.
Different wildlife is also more abundant around us – many more birds, squirrel, frogs and toads, lizards, snakes and spiders, bugs and all sorts of pollinators… nevermind the food chain in the unseen untilled soil which is more and more fertile each year…All this life is feeding and helping many other diverse creatures to settle in the valley…
There is enough food for all of us, and we all play our part to improve the system even more… composting food, pooping and peeing, digging and aerating, scratching and grazing.
Now that our designed system is in place, we finally introduced our new birds… Geese, ducks, hens and broilers… So far we have 32 birds, and we are just waiting for more geese to join the first crew… They will be our grazers, scratchers and pest control team :-)… They are just getting used to their safe home and the systems I created with electric fencing to move them around the land… I´m only at a practice stage, after doing my research, and slowly getting to know new animals… It didn’t take much to absolutely adore the gentle ducks and geese :-)…
I´ve already identified things to be improved, like having our broilers separated from our hens, in their own chicken tractor that will go along as the electric fence moves… The idea is that we can provide some good meat to some of our local Associates, in exchange for donations that aim to cover all the extra expenses we are having with this new improvement of our Ecosystem…
I have learned many things so far over these years and now I will dive deep into animal care, in the most natural way that I will find possible for our already domesticated species of animals…Who knows the next step ahead might be hunting, but that might take a while still …
Animals are a very good and relatively easy source of food, and in my opinion essentially vital for the regeneration of any ecosystem (contrary to some things I hear around these days)… being well managed and imitating their ecological and natural function in our systems they can be a great help…
Anyway, this is also part of my life at this moment… a new area of learning..
We´ve been increasing our food production too, extending our irrigated raised bed area for annual veggies and expanding our food forest systems to other terraces. The system gets more and more diverse, abundant and resilient.
For these results we give thanks to our friend Emi who came back for 4 more months, and our 3 Apprentices on the summer block. Max always ready to help in any way, Raymundo using his organizacional skills in our kitchen and jar shelves and Tomás who took over Emi in our vegetable garden. Having already some experience in previous farms, he increased significantly our vegetable production especially the brassicas!
Education… I love teaching as I love learning …
At the beginning of each Apprenticeship block I taught the most significant themes from the PDC (Permaculture Design Course) for an off-grid 5 hectare farm context : Introduction to Permaculture, Design Process, Soils, Water, Plants and Tree´s systems, Food Production in regenerative ways and Natural Building.
I invited all our “walking distance neighbours” to join the open classes, 8 mornings in 2 weeks. It was really stimulating to learn from each other´s experiences and strengthen our connections locally. It made me realise that this is a really good kick-start for those who come to enroll on a 3 month experience-living, working and developing a permaculture designed off-grid/greed farm…
At the same time it was really good to be an apprentice myself … It came my way, in a very perfect timing, a course on Agro-forestry and Regenerative farming taught by a portuguese regenerative farmer, Claudio Esberard, who collaborated with the IEFP (portuguese employment center) to offer an introductory year long course on his family Agro-forest not far from here… I´m very grateful for all the beautiful relationships that emerged through the course. I was also able to go deeper in my studies on Agro-forestry and also encouraged to keep developing our Forests of food that already shape the landscape at MoO. We are adding more species to the existing patterns and develop more guilds around each established tree in each cycle.
Singing / Praying Circles at MoO…
Another exciting part is our singing / praying circles that are now getting to a stage when a significant group of us are able to hold space for all to be lifted and carried by the Spirit where the Spirit wants us to go …
It´s a simple structure that always creates different outcomes depending on the ones who are part of the circle… different combinations of people, different days, different seasons… we have been journeying together many of us for over 3 years now. Different people have been called or brought into the initial circle… we now have a list between 20 to 30 people, and each circle is usually between 10 and 15 people, as not everybody is available all the time.
I believe it meets the longing many of us feel these days, in places like this where we come from different cultures, different backgrounds and faith traditions and we feel a desire to connect in the spirit… It´s a way to appreciate the many different spiritual cosmologies and also go deeper in our particular one. An open dialogue where our different voices literally become one… in prayer, worship and thanksgiving…
These circles have been sustaining our spiritual journey and our connection with those who come… we also feel it is an act of service to the local community where we feel so privileged to give and receive.
Visitors…
This past year we´ve had many lovely and familiar visits… Earlier on there was Hannah and Claire from the UK and later Anne, Jonathan and their kids Elias and Emma, Katrin and Jo from Germany, Mike and Sarah from Ireland, Lyna from France, Ulli Flaeming from Berlin and Jules from UK.
These visits reminded me that we also need more prayer support, as we recognise the importance it has in all the work we do here. We give a lot in many different ways and it´s not always easy… This year in particular was quite hard, and we were so blessed for all those who were praying for us and offering their support in different ways.
We do miss those with whom we can use the same language and those who have been journeying with us even before I came to commit to this land…
We feel blessed with the diversity around us, but sometimes it´s just so nice to use a common language
Personal Relationship…
Speaking of languages and differences and hard times… me and Emma have overcome some big differences and managed to remain in our marriage…These last two years have been a roller coaster… if we were in a refinery, I guess this was the highest temperatures we´ve reached so far… 6 months ago I thought it was all over and I couldn’t see a way forward… I´ve lost my trust and hope …
I give thanks for all those who were aware of the process and prayed for us, and for all those who prayed unaware of it…
It was a massive adjustment for us when Emma accepted a job offered by the city council of Fundao 3 years ago. Emma did an amazing work, as she does so well simply by being the amazing person she is, but the way she gives herself so fully to her work and all those in need of her meant that she got less, if any time for herself, or me and our relationship, our home or our animals, our trees, plants and the land …
Thank God, our friends´ support and a lot of work on our part we are now in a very good place… Reset and ready for the next season in our lives…
Community…
The concept of community also expanded from our original ideas… To be honest, the community around Mount of Oaks that exists today surpasses all that I imagined…
We obviously have a closer group of friends, but our wider network of relations is actually too much for my capacity as I find myself more and more introverted as years go by, and I feel I don´t have the real time to offer to so many people we know…
When I came here in 2006, I only met one other Dutch couple who were foreigners to this land, then after 2 years there were a few more people coming and now, just in Fundao area there are thousands of what we are calling “new locals”, from all sorts of nations and languages.
We are definitely responsible for some of those who came and also bought land to live and work, but many others have been “mysteriously” attracted to this area.
Fundão Council is very open to all sorts of migrants and refugees, so now the town has been nicely populated with much diversity, from most other European countries to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel, Sudan, Angola, Mozambique, Guine Bissau, Brazil, North America, Canada, China, and probably more… Last year the work in Fundão that has already been done in the area of inclusion of migrants received recognition as one of the “European capitals of Inclusion and diversity”…
We keep gathering people at the land with different purposes…
- Because of our practice of Permaculture and sustainable off-gr(ee)d living for the past 17 years we can now host 2 blocks of 3 month apprenticeship each year with Permaculture teachings, lots of practice and intentional community living, trying our best to balance work, rest, prayer, study, contemplation and social life.
- Because of our singing/praying circle we have been hosting the past 3 years, we gather people with all sorts of spiritual backgrounds and practices every 2 weeks.
- Because of my Natural Building skills (teaching and building) I host several courses over the year and at the same time I get to continue building the facilities that are needed to run the farm or to improve hospitality.
- Because of Emma´s continuous learning about herbs, healing plants, fermenting and transformational methods, she is willing to offer more workshops, or use those skills to also connect with different migrant groups along with her crew of collaborators …
- Because of Emma´s endless ways of supporting this community we now have a much deeper relationship with the local council and we (along with many other likeminded people) are even able to influence the direction this region is choosing for its future…Emma was part of the city council team as a mediator within the European community that she represents. Her main work has been to build bridges between diverse communities.
- Because it´s not only about us, we are welcoming our Associates to develop their ideas using our spaces and Daisy May has done that beautifully hosting “Herbal Yoga” Retreats every first sunday of each month (with few exceptions)… It was such a success that she is planning to continue together with Emma in a slightly different format.
- And of course, because of the natural peace and beauty that this place holds, we are also able to provide many of our visitors with the space, rest and nourishment needed for each one who comes and enjoys it
We came to a close of this intense year with the usual Olive harvest and on the 12th of November we had our common space full for our yearly White Stone Association AGM.
For those who would like to be part of all these here is the link to the FORM if you would like to become an ASSOCIATE or renew your commitment with only 25e a year.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeu510sxamfTGvJR3RnRyzF4Xb1Z4WUTz7YK2M6mBW4fWVUJQ/viewform
Interfaith dialogue in Fundão…
On the 2nd of December there was an interfaith gathering in Fundão with representatives of different christian denominations, muslims, sikhs, jewish and spiritism… It went really well for a first approach of the kind in this region. Emma, Njiza and Ricardo (all board members of White Stone Association) were involved in the facilitation.
As different cultures and faith traditions are coming to the region (as it happens today in most cities), there is some base work to be done to keep the respect and peace between all followers of different traditions and cosmologies… An important work to do too.
Pray for wisdom and for all those who will take part in this initial dialogue that hopefully will form strong and solid roots with acceptance and inclusion.
Closing with a deserved rest…
This year my mum really wanted us to go to her house in Angola, so from the 13th of December to the 13th of January we were away on a “Reset holiday”.
We feel we are coming back to yet another cycle at the Mount of Oaks.
This was only possible because Tomás, a new brother and long term apprentice who was with us since June, stayed looking after the land and animals (and my mum paid for our flights and we stayed at her house… Thanks Mum !!! ) .
Tomás also took the responsibility for our annual vegetable production since June and it went well… we are still harvesting the amazing fruits of it : different kinds of Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, beets, parsely, corriander, brussel sproutsswiss chard, etc…
Wrapping up …
Emma finishes her commitment with the city council in March with an “Art of Hosting” event in Castelo Novo – Fundão (Again working with Njiza and Ricardo), and then she will be more committed with the work in the land, with plants and the medicinal garden, hospitality and different events. I´m sure she will have a step or two in the city, specially with migrant and inter-faith work, but that will not be her main occupation as it was the previous years.
For now, until the end of April will be us here… time to settle, dream and plan together, pray and listen to what lies ahead for us, this land, and this region…
Nothing is by chance, and the 2 participants who were coming next week for the Apprentice block got in touch to postpone it to the Summer and Autumn, which we were actually glad with…That means we will have our time to plan and prepare for the year, as we missed our Winter when we generally do that.
I guess that´s all for now…thanks for hanging in there, and thanks for all those who have supporting me, Emma and the work at Mount of Oaks for the last 17 years.
Be blessed…Be a blessing
May you give what you have, and may you receive what you need…