Author: emma

We have been working with a community group in the town of Tortosendo who are developing an urban community garden. We visited them and did some workshops on permaculture – on Saturday they came to US! The group arrived in a huge bus into little Povoa de Atalaia. We met at the village hall and walked up to Mount of Oaks.

On the way the group had wanted to learn how to identify a few local edible plants. We stopped frequently to speak and taste!! The plan was to collect wild greens and flowers for the lunch…..

In total the group was aged between 5 months (!!!) and a gentleman in his 70’s! The majority were youth and were very inquisitive.

We arrived at MoO just as the heavy rain was beginning to fall. We sought shelter in the common space and then divided into two groups. Those who were preparing the edible wild greens for the salad…..

……and those who were learning to make a macerated oil with lavender flowers.

The poor weather prevented us making the raised bed – but we improvised after lunch and split again into two teams – some in the poly tunnel…

…where we were transplanting little plants into the ground. And the other team were under the shelter also dealing the plants…..

Cucumbers and melons were easier for them to transplant as the plants themselves were bigger….the little basil plants were much more difficult!

The lads were really funny in the kitchen washing the dishes – we came around the corner and they had their tunes blasting out with a mini speakers and they were almost dancing as they scrubbed! The shared lunch was fun and as diverse as the group!! They ate the wild salad they had prepared along with crisps and a home made pesto – and that was just for starters!!

The weather was not the best, so the main activity planned – to make a raised bed was impossible. However we did plant 2 chestnut trees – seeds we had collected from the Gardunha before the fires. It was special to plant these with this group.

In our final circle the group shared their highlights and things they still wanted to learn. We expect that we will continue to journey with them – sharing what we can and learning with them (certainly I am learning more Portuguese!!)

There have been monthly gathering in the local area since August – since we had the visitation of Dearbhla Reynolds (and family) and her passion for sharing the art of transforming foods!

So what is wonderful is that monthly the desire to meet, chop, chat, swap recipes and encourage each other has continued to grow…

September the first gathering, post Dearhbla’s workshops was at Nicky and Erd’s beautiful quinta…

Lime Pickle….tomato salsa, ginger bug and much more!

And so it continued, I will need help from the group to remember where we went next….and in time we will add pictures and descriptions …..

7 months later, we are back at Mount of Oaks – a much bigger group – so the culture is spreading and attracting a wider and even more diverse bunch of people.

14 adults and 2 youngsters crammed into the common space to make sauerkraut, preserved oranges, an orange salsa and fermented ginger…

Then the following weekend several of us from the group gave a little demonstration as part of the eco-market in Alpedrinha of how to make a basic kraut!

It was super fun and somehow we managed it in both Portuguese and English!

Next up is an afternoon workshop for those who are beginning their fermenting journey…it will be in Alpedrinha, 8th April. For full details and the registration form, check the event

Many thanks to all the fermentalists those in this local group, and those all over the world who share, inspire and conspire to create the yummy health revolution!

This last week, the progress on the communal kitchen has been helped along by Eric’s Dad, Jens, Carlos and Mario and Ruby! These men, plus Eric and Barbara have been doing some fantastic work inside and outside….

First task of the week was the lime-washing of the walls…

Our amazing volunteer Ruby, and Eric found themselves in all sort of challenging positions reaching the corners with the lime wash! Even Ruby’s dog Stella got whitened in the process!

The animals paid close attention to the developments….

Once the walls were ready, the next job was the FLOOR….the cement cleaned and ready for the tiles to be laid…

Here is Carlos expertly laying the tiles – it was a wet day, but nonetheless his humor kept the job light and fast.

Carlos and Mario left, and we had Jens take over….he made a paste that looked like chocolate moose and spread it all over the tiled floor…

And boom – the result is beautiful!

When the sun was shining, Eric and Rubi were stripping mimosa poles – for the new chicken house…

And Jens was power-washing the outside of the kitchen walls in preparation of the ‘pointing’ work.

This last week the team did AMAZINGLY! And we are moving forward with excitement. Solar panels and batteries are due to be set up this week, so more transformations on the way….

Special thanks to Rubi who was with us the last couple of weeks – he left on his travels yesterday. We were grateful for your help and hope to cross paths again in the future!!!

For information on either the permaculture experience programme, the natural building courses or workshops, or planning a visit to us- check the main page of the website.