Mini Review of 2024

Here is a bit of a review of 2024 that gives a general of a sense of the year we have had up until mid Nov. If you go to Barbara’s personal facebook (https://www.facebook.com/monte.doscarvalhos) or her instagram account, you will find many photos and videos that bring this report to life via images. There is also a fb page for Mount of Oaks with some snaps too https://www.facebook.com/mount.of.oaks. What I have done below is to attempt draw a few highlights together….

Winter

In the Winter of 2023 we had Tomas come from 10th Dec – 11th January 2024 to farm-sit while Barbara and Emma visited Angola. Tomas completed the apprenticeship earlier in 2023 and then came back to land and animal sit. We were incredibly grateful for his care of the land and the animals – both dogs and the 3 cats all slept in the common space with the warmth of the fire and cuddles from Tomas!!

As it turned out none of those who applied for the internship were able to commit in 2024. We received Soraia for a couple of weeks in April to volunteer, and the rest of the year we (Emma and Barbara) managed the hosting, courses, land and animals ourselves. This was not ideal, yet it was a year for recognising and feeling the different areas and the needs of the land and new animals, plus dreaming into being some new projects – such as Primative Camp and Crescent Moon Crew – more about those later… We were super grateful to enjoy the fruits of 2023 in the garden – Tomas did an incredible job at planting brassicas. We were eating huge cauliflower and brocoli end of Winter into the beginning of Spring – well done worms, soil and the soulful work of this precious brother!


Spring

Our open season began on 25th February with the first of the Singing Circles. These we have been hosting with our local circle for the last 4 years – at a time they were weekly, and this last year they have been bi-weekly gatherings. In February we were meeting at 5-7pm in the Common Space, lighting our candles, listening to our intentions and prayers and making music together. As the year went on we have met another 22 times, and moved time and locaton to the N’jango when the weather warmed up. As we consider this more of a closed circle, it was beautiful to witness how generously the group opened this sacred time to guests who requested to take part.

So our first residential activity was a Lime and Tadelakt Workshop in March just before Easter. This included a mixture of local friends/associates and two ladies who had travelled up from Alentejo for the course. More pictures from the final result of our TADELAKT Introductory course @mountofoaks …You can also see more professional photos from our friend Keri who also did the course…she is an amazing photographer among many other things (Pass:crackiscrack). Kirsty also made us part of one of her videos from her Youtube Channel “Portugal from Scratch” and you can also check here...it’s the middle part..

March continued with the work in the forest and sowing seeds in the polytunnel and preparing for arrival of guests on retreat – Rik from Netherlands and Julie from Lancaster – both came overland via train and bus. At Easter we had the visit of Kathy and Colin and the kids from Edinburgh. Together we planted 2 new fruit trees – a pomegranet and a pecan, complete with names (oops I forget them!!)

In April we organised a Herbal Yoga Journey with Daisy May, input from Olli and the star of the mini retreat was Nettle! There were 12 beings who took part and it was a beautiful mixture of sensorial herbalism, movement, nourishment and laughter.

As the days warmed and lengthened, the Bell Tents went up and we welcomed the return of Eva, Isik and their Yoruk Residency. 10 beings, mostly from Scotland, England and Germany delved into the transformational work for 5 days together. The title of this gathering was ‘Voyage to the New Dawn’ and included another magical trip to the Gardunha. (https://www.fourthland.com/voyagetothenewdawn)

Summer

Barbara taught another 2 natural building workshops in June and July which were 8 day courses – introductions to Earth Building. In June the course supposedly for women ended up including Phillipe, who was clearly not a woman!! Here are some links from Ba’s “>here or “>facebook page… and “>here

In Summer we hosted more families, Dane, Jilly and their boys; Juran, Ulli and their kids; our mums, cousins and Edna and our twin nephews! It was busy to juggle time with friends, family and the normal daily routines of the garden, animals and usual daily activities of cooking, cleaning and harvesting and transforming the garden produce!

In August we also hosted Dearbhla, Jule and Rachel as part of a Creative Residency based around our overlapping loves of Food Jusice, Herbalism, Health and Healing and practices of land Commons. These were really special long lush days and while we chatted Barbara continued to work on the area outside the bus and new chicks were born!

Arrival of Gerry and Tilha

At the end of August we welcomed a a male donkey, Gerry and a mare, Tilha – both about 4 years old. They needed rehoming and so it seemed that the ecosystem here and around us was ready to have these two ‘Brownies’ as part of the pack. Our aim is that we can develop a collective of walking distance farms where they can pasture, manure and be with other humans and animals… For now it is Barbara and I  looking after them alone. We have the support of an amazing horse whiperer trainer called Nina coming now weekly to help us connect and ‘join-up’ with them safely. They came from Amandine and Mark, and they still come and visit with the kids, which is great. We all envisage a time when we can walk with Gerry and Tilha in the mountain or use the cart for hauling wood around the land! It’s really hard to explain how our lives have changed since their arrival – its not just about the time dedicated to moving them almost daily, creating fencing or the training, or the new expenses we hadn’t budgeted for…..it’s like we adopted two new beings, and I (emma) am still getting used to this all, probably like Gerry and Tilha are getting used to us!!  Definately a different energy to the arrival of the ducks, geese or chickens!! Step by step we will create more efficient systems

As September came to a close we welcomed Helen and then, Jayne and Charotte on a retreats and only a few days later 14 ducklings were born! The ladies and the ducklings brought us lots of joy at the end of the summer season.

Autumn

October began with the a visit from Catherine from Malta and the decline in Tali’s health. It was a really difficult decision, but we let Tali return to Source on 17th October and you can see a post just about that here

Normally this time of year we are super busy harvesting the olives and preparing to close for the year – we did a few things differently. We harvested for eating (currently the olives are in water and salt and herbs will be added when they are ready).

Samhaim/Halloween/All Soul’s and All Saints at the end of Oct/beginning of Nov is also Barbara’s birthday. It being her 50th, we celebrated with our usual Singing Circle and a special Sweatlodge and inaugaration of a dedicated area to honour our ancestors.

Mushrooms

We organised 2 wild mushroom identification walks with Tristan Coverdale and it was a delight to be able to see how many edible and delicious varieties we have growing in the woods at the back of the land – on the last walk 16 different edibles were identified. We also enjoyed tasting these under the watchful eye of our local expert! Tristan also became an assocate this year, so we look forward to more offerings together with him in 2025 – there is chat of some work with miso for example!! You can see more pictures in this post.

A few weeks later we welcomed, sister Ulli Butterfly for a week. Our similar interests in peacebuilding and reconciliation had us up on the cold nights talking and praying for the world. She stayed with us to be at the AGM – and it was so special to have a friend who has visited Mount of Oaks annually since the very early days to be present for the more formal aspect of the AGM.

Soon there will be a post specifically about the AGM!

For today we want to share some exciting news …..

We will host a Permaculture Design Course taught by Sílvia Floresta from Aldeia do Vale from 11-23 March 2025!! For more details follow this link – http://mountofoaks.org/bi-lingual-pdc-with-silvia-floresta-march-2025/

Yearly news 2022…

Hello friends of Mount of Oaks and White Stone Associates,

I hope this post finds you well,and I hope you don´t mind my english mistakes 🙂 … This is my yearly update and it might take some time to read (15-20 minutes), so if you are interested in what has been going on this last year at Mount of Oaks and what are our rough plans ahead , grab a cup of a nice drink, seat comfortably and relax 🙂

I’m sitting at the window of our lovely guest room that some of you have been staying in… I rarely use this space and it just invited me to some peace and quiet to write this letter 🙂 Just for fun I will post here some “befre/after” pictures from Mount of Oaks , like our kitchen here 🙂

I’m very aware my communication has not been so consistent for many years, and I don´t think I will get any better… I haven’t been on social media very often either, especially these last 3 years when I stopped organising events that required more constant use of those means. It became overwhelming for me, and in many cases, a waste of my time, as it is so easy to get “lost” with so much information about so many people and so many things. I just realised I don’t have the capacity for it, emotionally, mentally and even physically as my eyes’ sight gets worse when I spend time on a screen.

(our Guest room… early days and today)

 

Life with land has been changing my habits over the years, and I have observed that I mainly write during Autumn and Winter, when days are shorter, and there are more rainy days to stay cosy around a fire stove, in a much more quiet and relaxed space.

Our own solar powered energy is also more efficient these days as we have invested in a better system.  It is probably the first winter here where we don’t need to keep worrying about our energy use. We even have a small fridge now, and we will be able to run a washing machine once I have the time to research and install an efficient one 🙂

Once preparation for Spring starts, around February, that’s it, we are open for guests, apprentices, events, etc…which means more people are around and require more attention… and I require more time to rest and receive the energy I need to give to those who are present.

This is something that I have observed in myself the last years, how much of an introvert I am or have become. It seems that I need more and more time alone, in prayer, silence and solitude in order to be able to give my time and energy to other people. Therefore I love Autumn and Winter to rest, evaluate and prepare myself for next season. 🙂

There are often exceptions and last year as we had a local friend and brother, Ricardo and his 2 kids, Eva,10, and Amadeu, 4, who were in need of a place to settle and process a painful divorce from their mother. They delighted us with their presence for almost a year, and this Spring time we all felt it was time for them to move on to another chapter, especially for the kids, who need more stability at this time in their lives. 

They are still nearby, at Ricardo’s grandma, Teresa, who is 91 years old, and Eva loves to have her own room now 🙂. Teresa spends the days at the village care house, so it is not too much extra care for Ricardo at the moment. This was a concern when he chose to come here instead, because there was already a lot to adapt in his life with a divorce and two children to look after.  

It is nice, I have to recognise, when we have this season with the land and all common spaces for ourselves. 

We are still living in the big bus Willi has brought back in 2008 😂, which is still pretty much the same 😕, as we never made time within our priorities to upgrade it … But 🙂… we are (slowly) building a house for ourselves, as I find some time between all the other things I do to maintain MoO running 🙂 and as we get some income to invest in materials. 

I’m not rushing either (and neither is Emma at this stage) as I want to enjoy the process and take as much time and attention to detail as possible 🙂. It’s going to be quite a life change once we move in, and it will be easier to welcome others to spend the winter here with more comfort.

The idea is that we can have more privacy to work and rest and our common spaces can be more available for other Associates to use for events, retreats, guests, etc, including over Autumn and Winter 🙂

After 16 years, Mount of Oaks has offered an off-grid setting for many different itinerant groups to experience community life… for a few months to a year, and some for several years. Not all experiences were “good”(whatever that means)… they were what they were, learning experiences that made us all grow ( so I hope).

 

Throughout the years I have changed my ideal of “intentional community”, and some of the “not so good experiences” made me more protective of my heart and also my marriage with Emma which suffered along the way with the many tensions that community life brings.

Despite all the challenges, MoO is still welcoming communities… itinerant ones, during our 8 month open season, with volunteers/apprentices who have their lives changed, and with passing-by guests, who have a little taste of it and leave inspired and hopeful… 

Locally, in this bio region around the Gardunha Mountains, our community is getting stronger and more resilient every year… 

Many new people have been moving to the area the last years from all over the world… the local town of Fundão has been investing a lot on welcoming many “new locals”, which include not only “alternative” young people wanting to live off-grid and more sustainably, but also new migrant workers coming from Brazil, Nepal, India, Afghanistan, and recently many refugees from the Ukrainian war, offering housing, school for children and jobs to start a new life in central Portugal.

MoO is only a piece of a huge colourful mosaic that has been built by many of those who are moving to the area with a desire to BE a different and resilient community… it is happening 🙂

Soon in Fundão (18-20 November) a convergence of many people in many different areas will gather to share and dream about a sustainable future for this bio region of “Cova da Beira”. Our friends and partners from the “Ananda Marga community” are organizing it and our brother Ricardo and others like Njiza, are involved in this kind of proactive actions for the sustainable development of these lands.

So, yes, my concept of “community” went way beyond the land of Mount of Oaks, and it is a delight to witness 🙂.

There are many other community projects, family projects, educational projects, permaculture projects, organic markets with local producers every weekend, and the list can go on.

I have to say that it’s even too overwhelming for me, and most of the time I avoid going to many of the social events that happen in the area. I’m delighted it is happening, and I don’t even have to be involved 🤣 

Emma on the other hand, has actually been the instigator of a lot of what is happening. (no surprise for those who know her already )

Last year she was offered a job by the city hall of Fundão, as a mediator between the city hall and the “new locals”, as we are called. This has been quite a change for us here at MoO, as I found myself holding the space alone again.


We are still evaluating this experience, and it has been really hard for us to discern what is best because, on one hand, we can see how much life she gives and receives from it, but on the other hand we see how overstretching it is for us and the land.

The plan now is for her to stay until the end of her contract, which is April next year, and then take less hours work and focus more on the things she really wants to get involved in the city with “new locals”… She has been doing way beyond what was expected of her, and even though she has been starting amazing things, we know this is not sustainable in the long run. She misses working in and from the land… And I miss her too 🙂

I hope you are still there… I just wanted now to share some ideas that are crossing my mind at the moment concerning future steps… 

When we knew Emma was not going to be available in the land this year, we accepted a long term volunteer, Emi, to be in charge of the garden. (in the picture, happy with the results of her earthbag steps 🙂

We are not accepting short term volunteers anymore because the time we were spending “managing people” and the time we were spending “managing land” was very unbalanced… people had a great time and learned a lot 🙂 and that was ok for many years, but now we are longing for more balancing exchanges 🙂 .

It worked really well this year with our lovely volunteer Emi, a 24 year old German girl who had the best time of her life. She was looking for a place to put in practice some of the things she learned on her Permaculture Design Course (PDC) with our friend Silvia Floresta.

I asked her to write us a review of her time with us, and here is what she shared :

My journey at Mount of Oaks started in April 2022 and it was truly a life changing experience for me. I was welcomed so warmly and with so much love, not only by the residents of Mount of Oaks, but by the entire community in the area. I had an instant feeling of belonging. 

I came with the intention to be in charge of the garden. But it was so much more than just volunteering as a gardener. 

It was the life in a community, the consciousness of sustainability and the treatment of nature, animals and human beings that profoundly shaped my time at MoO. 

As a landscape gardener I was familiar with most of the work and after my PDC (Permaculture Design Course) I knew about the Permaculture Principles. But at Mount of Oaks I have seen these principles put into practice and I saw my work and duty as a gardener in a different way. 

At the beginning it was a challenge for me to work mostly on my own, but with time I knew the garden, I knew the land and gained more trust in me and my work. 

In a community it is very important to see the work yourself and come up with solutions and ideas which then can be shared with the others. This has contributed a lot to me becoming more independent and also more creative. Besides that, I had the space to make mistakes, which really helped me to learn even more. 

The everyday Life changed with the seasons. We would often welcome the day with a prayer and then everyone went on with the work for the day. 

We tried to have dinner together once a week to spend time with each other and share thoughts, ideas and achievements. So there is a balance between spending time with the community and having enough time for yourself and doing things you love. 

I could really write a book about the things I experienced and learned in these six months. After a while I started to make a list of all the things I did there for the first time. And this list kept getting longer and longer. So it is not easy to summarize my time at MoO here. 

It’s an absolutely magical place and the nature and this land kept me so grounded and alive and I have really found a family in these amazing people.  

And I know I always have a place to come back to. “

It is worth all the years and all the work to get feed backs like this 🙂 . Thank you Emi for all you have given to this place, and we will look forward to having you with us again when you want.

She would like to come back next year, let´s see where Life takes her on her journey. It was a very good experience for both parts, and all it took was very clear communication and very clear expectations. This experience has shaped the new way we want to approach these experiences, and my next post will be about this.

I´m sure it will evolve with time, but for now we are thinking to develop a sort of an “Off-grid Permaculture apprenticeship – with a monastic rhythm“.

These are 3 concepts that have been part of the shapping of Mount of Oaks.

The word “Monastic”, reminds me of spiritual communities that spread all over Europe in times when connection with God was too Institutionalised and became irrelevant to some monks and nuns who wanted to go deeper in their relationship with Spirit , and be more relevant in the societies they lived in, more independent from “Rome” and the institutionalised society. “Monasteries” were houses of Light and Hope for the communities around them, and had a big emphasis on prayer, education, compassion for the poor, healing with natural medicines, and self-sustainable farming .

The word “Off-grid” means we are not dependent from public utilities (provided by a System we no longer trust), like water, electricity, sewage systems, etc. After all the lock-downs people experienced in cities these last years, this is becoming quite crucial for those who don’t want to live “domesticated” lives where you get all the basic needs and other “comforts” from a system that is not personal and in reality doesn’t really seem to care much for the individual.

There are more and more people wanting to learn how to live more independent from a system that is not inspiring much trust, and here is where the word “Apprenticeship” comes along. We already offer many skills that we ourselves aquired over the years, as you can read from Emi´s words, and that is what we would like to shape in the next seasons.

More than just having helping hands, I feel this place is ideal to train people on many off-grid living skills, and also spiritual “skills” to find their way to relate to themselves, to Nature, to God, The Great Spirit, as well as empowering them to be leaders and producers, and not only followers or consumers. 

With this in mind, I would like next year to call in specific “apprentices” who would like to come for 3 to 6 months and be immersed in our monastic life at Mount of Oaks, with its different rhythms of prayer and singing, working, resting, creating, hosting and growing together in many different ways.

There are 2 or 3 main areas that are a priority and I would like others to be responsible for next season : the Anual veggie Garden and different sustainable food production designs; General Maintenance and Natural Building; and Kitchen and processing food . Im working on a call for my next post. Keep an eye on it if you are interested or share if you know someone who might. 

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 I would like to finish this already long letter sharing about our weekly “singing circle” that we started to host about 2 years ago.

I still feel the need to gather with others to pray and seek Great Spirit for guidance. It has not been easy for me to not have a spiritual community for so long. We live in such a priviledge time when we have been exposed to so many different ways to relate to this Divine Mystery with so many names, faces, narratives… but I don´t feel we gather enough as communities to seek this guidance and healing we so need along our lives…

today´s western societies are also so disconnected from it, or so afraid to get “trapped” into some religious fanatism based on our past experiences of institutionalised religions… when we look closely, each religion or path tells us the same stories, the same messages… like this to a community who resisted the 1st century Roman Empire : “Do not conform to the pattern of this society, but transform yourselves by the renewing of your consciousness. Then you will be able to experience what God’s will is—the good, pleasing and perfect will.”

It is about renewing our consciousness… entering the spirit world… thankfully we are seeing more and more these ancient wisdoms reaching us in many different ways…

In our weekly circles we use songs inspired by north and south american indigenous songs, songs with christian cosmology, african cosmologies, hindu mantras, rainbow songs and simple spirit lifting and healing songs each person is welcome to bring. Every tradition, belief system or cosmology is welcomed…

It is the simple lighting of candles with simple prayers and intentions, the heart opening with songs that speak and touch our hearts, and The Spirit gives to each one what we need each time we gather.

 

It has been a gentle and quiet journey we have been very grateful for. We give thanks to all those who make these gatherings so powerful. We come as we are. We give what we have. We receive what we need. And there is so much more we are not aware of I believe.

We have experienced and we know where The Spirit can lead us, and how powerful and strong The presence of Spirit can be… this is my prayer and hope every time we gather…

 

We live in a very broken and sick world here in these northern western societies… Many people feel lost and disconnected, many people want a family to belong to, many people live in fear and things don’t look like they are getting any better since the global panic in 2020.

The reality of most of our relationships and most of Europe’s lives (as I perceive it without watching news) is that spiritual communities became too institutionalised and irrelevant to even be an option in people’s minds, and there is little trust everywhere… in governments, in schools, in hospitals, in religions and even within families…

 I’m not one to blame anyone… But I do want to live differently…we still live among people who are desperately looking for answers, for healing, for guidance, for leadership, for depth, for powerful encounters with this Unknown Divine … and I include myself among those people… Maybe is naive or childish, or utopia, but I believe in a better life for everyone, than that which has been presented to us by this society for centuries.

It is time to pray, surely, and also to model different ways to live in harmony with each other and our lovely planet Earth… Because ultimately it is this Earth that provides all our basic needs…

 

As long as we keep choosing greed over love, we will keep seeing injustice where some have too much and a lot don’t have enough… I still cannot accept that this is still a reality today… corruption, lies, lack of honesty and transparency… I feel helpless a lot of times, when I happen to pass by a place with a Tv and watch the terrible news all over the world or the weird shows of people who don´t seem real… it makes me sad to see where we‘ve come to… and where so many people spend their precious time of their very short lives.

 

What world are we living in? What world are we creating? I feel so alienated a lot of times, and this gap seems bigger and bigger as years go by… Sometimes I get concerned that I am becoming too out of touch with the “normal” reality most people are living in today… but when I hear about it, or see it, I’m so thankful I live where I live and the way I live… choices I have made following this voice and guidance I call God, companion and friend… for me, this is the “normal”…

Most people, especially in cities, are more and more dependent on a system that cannot promise them anything… dependent for their basic needs to be met… water, food, shelter, clothing, energy… totally domesticated and at the mercies of Governments and Corporations who don’t even know their names, who don’t even care, as long as they pay their tax and their debts… we’ve been there before, in other shapes and forms… and we can also seek wisdom and guidance from all those witnesses and ancestors… We are evolving I want to believe… And we are trying our best to play our little part in the much bigger picture we call life on earth.

That´s all for now… Thanks for staying with me until the end 🙂

Many blessings your way

Much Love, Peace and Hope.

Barbara

Successful Natural Building Course

Last week Barbara taught another of her marvellous 8 day Natural Building Courses, at Keela Yoga Farm. The participants were an international bunch from South Africa, Portugal, UK, Italy and Holland. The team learned a variety of techniques and quickly got the chance to get their hands dirty and practice their new knowledge! Straw bale, wattle and daub, cord wood – earth plastering, just some of the variety of skills they learned!

Some of the photos below are from one of the participants – Damien Walsh, the others from Barbara’s phone, so the quality is not the best, but you get the picture (pardon the pun!)

and they sum up the fun, as well as the work that group practiced.

On the day off, mid way through the course, the group came to Mount of Oaks. We prepared a meal, and Barbara gave a tour of our natural buildings. A great way to relax.

I was grateful for the help from Tatum and the girls in preparing for the guests!!

Alexa, Sven, Stephan, John, Damian, Clara and Ugo. WELL DONE!!!!!! We look forward to seeing what you will do with what you gained on this course! Please stay in touch!

Special thanks to Kimberly and Laurence their super hosting at Keela, and for their fantastic volunteers!! The pizza night on the final night was really special.

News and Dates for Natural Building Courses taught by Barbara will be shared in the Autumn.

Summer Gathering

We had a most fun Summer Gathering! If only the pictures could convey the amazing smells of the delicious grilled veggies, or the laughs as we danced and later played music – or making of new friendships and renewing older ones….

Our programme was pretty simple – eat together, play music together and dance together, thanks to our dear friend Ana Teresa teaching us some traditional Portuguese dances!

we were over 45 adults and 15 kids – and representing approximately 9 different nationalities. Truly a beautiful mix of ages and backgrounds living in the area!

Special thanks go to Helen, a volunteer who was with us for 6 weeks this summer – she was such a help in every way. Her bubbly personality and over flowing youthful joy made her a joy to work with and to be around.

Many thanks too to Keri Millard who took the action shots that follow – it is one of her passions and professions. She caught many of us in blissful moments…

Thank you for all of you who came along and supported the project by your presence and your generosity of heart. Recently we read a quote – ‘some of the best memories are made in flip flops’. It made me think of this night and several of us making fools of ourselves and having a right old laugh while dancing in flip flops!

Until the next time…..

New Moon-‘Seed Cycling’ Workshop

We were utterly blessed to have the wonderous Dearbhla Reynolds leading a super workshop on the powers of syncing the woman’s moon cycle with benefical gut cleansing foods and seeds.

The preparation of a kombucha based tonic drink, a recipe of Dearbhla’s called ‘Madam Tonic’ took place in the Mount of Oaks kitchen the previous day – to give time for the herbs and fruits to infuse and do their magic.

And then as the workshop began, all the ladies present got a shot of the good stuff!!

In total we were 21 ladies of different ages and stages of life. The information that Dearbhla shared applied to us all because whether we are pre or post menopausal all women have a cycle that can link with the moon.

When it came to attending to our gut health, eating foods, especially seeds, in seasons to help the balancing of hormones seemed to make so much sense.

Within the circle of women there were folks with all sorts of knowledge of health and healing, those with issues that Dearbhla addressed, and many of us keen to have more harmonious cycles.

Half way through we paused for a delicious dinner, inspired by the theme of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter – foods to eat at different times in our monthly cycle. Before heading for food, we tried one of Dearbhla’s ‘Digestive Bitters’ – a squirt into the mouth to get the gut going even before food enters!!

And afterwards, we heard from each person something of their experiences. Thank you so all who attended and for our special Irish guest. For me personally, the evening ended with a sense of great empowerment. Knowing that there are simple changes that can be made to diet and weekly practices that means I can flow with my inner rhythm for the benefit of me and others around me!

For details of the work that Dearbhla does, check out ‘The Cultured Club’ where you can find recipes, and a link to her book ‘Funky Ferments’.

In Autumn we will host more fermentation workshops, keep an eye out for dates!

Kombucha with Rose

Last week we had Rose Chandler come and host a morning dedicated to Kombucha and her sister Honey Jun, both healthy probiotic drinks that are good for your microbiomea.

     

We were a small but enthusiastic group, all keen to know more about the gut benefits of these drinks and how to flavour them with fruits and teas.

We began with the basics of learning about scobies and we even touched and tasted one! Looks pretty disgusting, but it was surprisingly not soooo weird afterall!

Rose explained how scobies also benefit the skin, so we took the chance to wipe our faces!! FUN!

Fun and bubbles all over the place as we taste tested brews from at different stages of fermentation (F1, F2, F3)….. Like the fizz in this bottle – Rose was really enthusiastic about the brews – that was passed to us!

Rose instructed us about Batch versus Continous Brew Techniniques and we tried A LOT of different drinks. On a personal level, it was enlightening to learn about making herbal kombucha bases – using our own herbal tea mixes!

Well done Rose ! Thank you for your passion for the delicious drinks you make.

One of my main take aways from the morning was Rose’s description of kombucha (which I really love to drink daily!), she said, ‘kombucha is like a liquid hug for the gut’ That sounds great!

To contact Rose to buy some of her Honey Jun or Kombucha, she is part of the BioEco association and comes to the local markets in Alpedrinha and Covilha.