Big thank you to Tristan Coverdale who joined us last week for a super duper wild mushroom idenfication walk. We were mostly members of the association and a few other neighbours, and in totaly we were 17 keen mushroom enthusiasts.
Because of the recent rains and sun, the conditions were perfect for the range of varieties that we can across. One of the first big finds of the day was a rare variety Boletus/ Cep/Porcini which was one of the first big mushrooms we found…
With delight we found a massive piece of chicken in the woods on a eucalyptus
The joy was electric as we continued to discover different Ceps, knowing that what we found, we would taste at the end! Several of the mushrooms we discovered were not edible, but oh sooo beautiful!
The mushrooms for this season that are the edible kings and queens are the Boletus and so we were able to find many of these – several varieties in the leaf mulch beneath or around the Oaks of Mount of Oaks!!
Here is Mark, delighted with his treasure!
The proof is in the pudding they say, well, the proof for us of the wisdom and laughs shared, the delight at soil, trees and mushroom culminated in the taste testing at the kitchen. Yummy!
We will organise a further workshop with Tristan later in November when other varieties of mushrooms are fruiting. For now we are enjoying the last of the parasols and the Boletus, pretty much daily. What a gift this wild and delicious food is, straight from the forest to the plate.
If you would like to be informed of up coming events, drop us an email with your number and we can add you to the mailing list, or the Telegram channel. Mount.of.oaks@gmail.com
Plus, dont forget to add 24th Nov to the diary – the AGM of the association!
Announcing the date and the invitation for the Annual General Meeting and family gathering of the White Stone Association to happen on Sunday 24th November at 3pm. The offical meeting will be from 3.30pm – 4.30pm in the Common Space, and a zoom link can be sent for those who would like to take part from a distance. If you are local and would like to spend some time together afterwards, bring some food to share and also any instruments! There will be a report of sorts post-meeting to share the main points. As always we will bring the accounts from the previous year, give an update of main activities and developments, plus leave some space to hear ideas from associates for the cycle of 2025.
If you would like a link to join via zoom, the last opportunity to ask for the link is 20th November. Please RSVP if you will being coming to our annual gathering by 17th November. Looking forward to celebrating together and hearing what some of the personal highlights have been for folks who particpated this year in some shape or form in the community life of this place.
Here is the link for the 2025 inscription to be a member. It is confusing as we are not actually in 2025 yet – but we run the year Celtic style – from Nov – Nov!
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.
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…
This is a quick note to share that our new season is about to start and we are super excited about it…
We haven´t got much time to seat in front of a screen to write and share anything about our past cycle, or share some ideas for this new cycle, but we will get into it on next posts coming soon.
I just wanted to share briefly a review from one of our previous interns on the 3 month Apprenticeship from June to September 2023, and if you or someone you know is still interested to enroll on our next block starting on the 12th February, find the link to all details here: https://mountofoaks.org/volunteering/
Here´s Max´s review of his own experience with us 🙂
” Before coming to Moo, I was looking for a place where I would be able to learn more about permaculture. I was traveling around and had the real will to go deeper being able to practicing the different skills required by the permaculture approach.
At the same time, I wanted to be surrounded by people with a good understanding of spirituality and some everyday discipline.
Mount of Oaks was a perfect match. Step by step, day after day, during the three months of my stay, we learned and practiced together with humility and determination.
I have been able to grow spiritually, taking advantage of the extraordinary vibrations of the place. First, we learned how to make a propre permaculture design. Then, we worked on different projects which were necessary to keep the system in function : irrigation system, new beds of different types to experiment.
Getting in touch with the people in the villages nearby was also extremely pleasant. Walking around and discovering nature and historical places was a great way to connect with the local and Portuguese culture.
Overall, it was the best experience I had so far as a volunteer. It did go much further than expected. I’m grateful to be part of Mount of Oaks and can’t wait to come back to enjoy again and share the good vibration of the singing circle.”
A lot of gratitude to Max, Raymundo and Tomás who were with us during this intense 3 months… What a great team ! Special thanks to Tomás who stayed on and allowed me and Emma to go in December to visit our family in Angola and get some rest for the year ahead. This was very precious as we haven´t got this kind of time out for many years.
May 2024 brings us more clarity about our role, our function, our passions and our callings in this life in this time in history.
We are announcing the AGM of the White Stone Assocation which is the legal framework for the Mount of Oaks for those who are assocates at 10.30am 12th November. The location is the Common Space at Mount of Oaks. We will share a zoom link for those associates who would like to take part from a distance. From 10.30-12noon we will cover all the offical things, then break for a shared lunch.
Those who would like to stay for the afternoon the place will be open with fire and chestnuts (and who knows maybe some dancing!!)
All those wanting to be an associte for 2024 are asked to fill in the online form and make the tranfer of fees. Here is the link.
HERBAL YOGA every 1st Sunday from the 5th FEBRUARY 2023
with Daisy May at the Mount of Oaks (Castelo Novo-Fundão)
Limited to 12 people
We will let the chosen herb of the workshop guide our themes as we work with sensory observation, herb tasting, meditation and breath work.
We will then dip into our intuition, our innate knowing to get to know and understand a plant a little deeper.
Each month will be honouring a different herb. Giving the space for us to go a little deeper than usual to really get to know the individual magic of a plant.
Following what we have learnt & explored with the plant we will go into a 75 minute hatha yoga class.
This class will be carefully weaved through the qualities of the specific herb.
Rhythm of the day
9.45 Arrival
10am Circle getting to know the plant
11.45 Hatha Yoga.
1Pm Closing the circle
Remember spaces are limited to 12.
If you would like to know more or you would like to book a spot please feel free to WhatsApp/ Telegram: +447557968867 or email me on daisymayhatton@hotmail.co.uk
Dates: The first Sunday of every Month from the 5th Febuary until the 1st October.
About our guide:
Daisy May is a qualified Hatha/ Vinyasa teacher, Naturopath and training Herbalist.
Creator of “Herbal Yoga”, a concept of weaving two of her passions, the worlds of herbalism and yoga. Living on land in Portugal, practising permaculture and herbalism has lead Daisy into a desire to work deeply with uprooting forgotten knowledge and wisdom of plants as medicine.
“Herbal yoga is a holistic combination of herbalism and yoga. It allows us to see that when we work with our bodies & breath we are receptive and ready to learn from the powers of the plant”.
here we are once again to inform you of our yearly meeting from our Association and legal face, White Stone, which will take place at Mount of Oaks, at 5pm, on the 25th of November.
If you wish to become an Associate or renew your membership, go to our form here .
As it´s been a while since our last “Open day” and there are many new people who have moved to the area, we will have a tour of the land and natural buildings at 3pm, as well as an introduction to the White Stone Association for those who would like to know more.
As I said at 5pm we will have our Association General meeting where we will ellect the board members for the next years, and give a brief report of our year´s activities and future ideas.
After our oficial meeting we will share some food and drinks and continue having a nice celebration around our fire pit
You are more than welcome to come and participate / celebrate , If you want to become an Associate bring your 25e yearly fee and some food and drinks to share. Bring instruments if you feel like to share, and be prepared for our dear friend and neighbour DJ Kimbo from “Keela Yoga Farm” puting some nice tunes for us to dance 🙂
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 🙂
For those who know MoO today, have a look at these pictures from the very early stages and try to recognise where they are 🙂 (They are not great quality I know…)
I´m often impressed and thankful for the abundance that can be created when we play our part in the system 🙂
For those who are just starting in your new lands, I hope it can give you hope as how much it can change and improve when we introduce ourselves in damaged and degraded lands with healthy and sustainable principles…
“Slow and steady” is one of my favourite principles :-), or this one : “start in your back yard, manage it well, and then move forward” 🙂
Enjoy…
Our pond the first year
top terrace next to pond with Gardunha in the back…
yes, overflowing… first pipped water…gravity fed, still no tanks
I think this is the view from our “shit pit”, below what is now the “moon disk”
This is the terrace we are building our house now… This is how most terraces were when I arrived 🙁
Our kitchen, as it was when I first came
Patching the roof with salvaged bits… Jo and Eddy brought the tools and skills… first winter, 2006
Turning the inside into our Kitchen/storage/warmish shelter
The fire place made of salvaged drums… it was ok, but it rarely warmed up the whole space 🙂
the roof that still exists today outside the kitchen
And our first guest room and storage, early 2007… Jo and Sven offered the wood and started it…Edy, here, finished it 🙂
The first water tank and solar water heater about to start, early 2010
Our entry/ bottom terrace…no trees on sight yet
Same entry… rain was quite damaging then :-/ nothing to hold it
Our first “prayer space”… big mushroom in the bottom woods… fell with the snow :-/
Inside the “prayer space”… there was a lot of prayer going on the first years … our foundation 🙂
This was an event (“prayer week” in Povoa de Atalaia) where is now our Parking and “Treasure Island”
Part of “prayer room” in the village school, opened 24h for a week
Same event, 2008, bringing Joy to the village 🙂 Graffiti workshop for the kids…in the futsal field
End of the prayer week with celebration… Folklore group from Soalheira, Rainbow people coming from Boom, and lots of Joy
my first house, first winter…and fire bath 🙂
second house, 7 months on 🙂 saw, hammer and rope was all I had
2010 we were covered in snow…I was glad I just moved out of my bender in the woods 🙂 here is the bus, third house until now 🙂 it moved place, this was the corner of the top terrace
2011 when Emma moved in … a quick “green house” to make her happy 🙂
our first Permaculture Design Course (PDC) “class room” with Lesley Martin, early 2009…where is now our “Common Space”
Class room upgraded…now rain proof 🙂
Third version of our “Class room” / “Common Space”… Luxury 🙂 I could afford to buy boards 🙂
Common space outside
After a few PDCs, I could afford to buy wood and a chainsaw, and started my first building, a compost toilet 🙂
Walls around the fire bath and a broom roof, start of our “Shower House”
Duma and her siblings Sambo and Pula
Top terrace late 2008… no trees yet… Bus was a guest house and next a guest tent
in front of our kitchen… no garden yet… younger orange grove
So much gratitude to all who participated in the Life of MoO until now 🙂 Blessings to all .
Hello dear family and friends of Mount of Oaks and the White Stone Association,
Apologies for the lack of communication / information in the last few years… Apart from our personal encounters with some of you who live closer, we are aware that our virtual communication with those who are far, has suffered drastically. We are sorry as we are always so grateful for all the support we have been receiving from all of you, and we are aware that we just haven’t communicated that to you for a long while. So, THANK YOU for continuing to journey together nonetheless 🙂 . As for means of communicating we are more keen lately to keep it on a closed circle through email or face to face, as we´ve also realised how much energy and time consuming it was for us to use all the social media platforms as we were used to. As a result, our web page, facebook pages, instagram pages, etc, have been neglected for at least 2 years :-/ … We are still not sure if we want to re-activate these platforms, but if we do, it will not be regular, and I hope you understand… Life is much more exciting away from a screen 🙂 especially living on a farm :-). Depending less on high-technology is also part of our message 🙂
I would suggest a nice cup, or glass, of your preferred drink and a relaxed time to read this update that ended up longer than expected 🙂 as it happens when communication is not so regular… sorry about that too :-/… it might require 10 more minutes 🙂
OUR DIRECTION THESE LAST YEARS :With all the changes the world has been facing the last couple of years (in what seems to me as at a very high speed), we felt the need to slow down (as most of you probably), and re-think what really matters to us… Where is the Wind blowing us to? What is that really is calling us? What is giving life to us, and through us to those around us? Our almost immediate response since March 2020 has been these :
Prayer, singing, healing and serviceto our local community, have been very present and important in our lives and in this place.
NEW RESIDENTS : Me and Emma are still the main resident guardians (and we finally started to build a house for us last year… whoop whoop)…Since last summer we have had the pleasure to share this responsibility with Ricardo, who is currently living here in a caravan. We get the pleasure to also have Ricardo´s children for a week every fortnight – Eva, 10 and Amadeu, 3 (nearly 4 he´s very proud to say), and their cat Peachy. This “molecule” has been working well so far (apart from some cat fights with Peachy who is the new kitty cat in the hood) , and it has been helping us to clarify what we really want and realistically can support in this 5 hectare piece of land…We don’t see more than 2, max 3 resident dwellings. Something that became clearer as we were slowing down, was that we (me and Emma) really need a private space that is “safe”… And the same will be for any resident, as the work can be quite intense at times. It´s part of looking after ourselves in order to be able to look after others .We are an open house and it can be exhausting when we don´t have clear boundaries or literally a place to “hide” ( says me, the introvert)… Our own house, away from all common spaces, is definitely in response to that, and also the clarity about the amount of residents we would like to see in this land… We are looking for long term committed residents, willing to share responsibilities, as well as their hearts, willing to contribute with their finances, as well as their working hours, useful skills and willing to serve this land the same way we have been since 2006, with the awareness that we are serving a greater good 🙂 ( Note: We are also volunteers contributing monthly with our own personal finances for the running of this place. We are giving of our time to work here and therefore we cannot take on full time jobs. Emma was offered a job this year, so we are for the first time having a wage at the end of each month which is a novelty, and a blessing at the time we will have big expenses to build our house the way we would like :-)… Divine timing :-)Ricardo is in an initial and transitional stage, and he is giving what he can. So, if you feel like supporting him personally, do get in touch and we can share more about this)
WHAT WE ENVISION AT THE MOMENT AT MOO :After 16 years, and with so many different people/ groups passing by, me and Emma feel it is time to call long-term residents to share responsibilities… We´ve been hosting volunteers to come and stay for short periods of time and some even for longer periods…that has been a great help and most of the time a very pleasant experience, but it has been exhausting too at times… We have gladly been sharing our skills and time with those that have passed by, and now we are looking for either already skilled folk or for those who would like to set roots here and share the lead… Living in community in such an open “house” has not been easy… Sharing our kitchen, our living room, our leisure places has been a privilege, but also a sacrifice at times… So we felt it was time for us (me and Emma) to call what we really want to see in this place, meeting our personal needs and desires instead of often trying to meet the expectations of those who pass by, above our own… What we aim is to have our own private space and leave the common spaces for all those Associates who would like to use them for workshops, events, etc… The residents will take care of general maintenance of land, animals and structures, and develop the general vision. We envision 2 more dwellings max (and maybe one more is enough), of people who will live permanently and share all responsibilities, and all the benefits, of what it means to be a guardian of this land. After 16 years, and with many more tools and personal skills, I can say that it’s quite manageable at this stage, but it’s much lighter when responsibilities are shared, as there is still lots to do just in maintenance for example, never mind developments… We would like to include more animals in our ecosystem, for example, but we would not do that until we have others to share this huge responsibility. Also, I´m looking forward to having more time for other things apart from land management and building 🙂 . Ricardo is at the moment in a one year trial, and he is already taking on some of the responsibilities which we are grateful for. He is in temporary housing and after a year, if we are all in agreement and alignment, he could start to build his own dwelling if he´s ready for that, or wait one more year. After that, we will request a clear decision.This is the process we are adopting… There is a long term commitment which enables us to share more responsibility, but we are all still “testing” for at least 2 years to see if it will really work for everyone in the long term. We will see how life unfolds…
MORE LAND … Last year we added 2 small plots and a long “wildlife corridor” to the existing land… The “cabeço”, which some of us call it “the eagle rock”, or “the alien rock”, or “E.T” , and the little ruin next to it which is being called by our neighbours as “a capela” / “the chapel”, since I mentioned that was the purpose we envision for it :-)… a small open house of prayer 🙂
The “wildlife corridor”, or “boar land”, was purchased last year with many donations that most of you sent, for which we are very grateful… We were not necessarily looking for more land, and we definitely didn’t need more work, but a series of events led us into buying it, and “it just happened”… All these lands and all life in them are very happy they will not be sprayed with chemicals or plowed anymore 🙂 At the same time we were suddenly approached by other friends who expressed the desire to stay close and have their own plot of land in this valley and cooperate with what is already developed while doing their own thing ( which is what we prefer) … it all came as a big wave and it felt at times overwhelming… other times too good to be true 🙂
OTHER VISIONS COMING ALONG…So it started to make even more sense our idea to have our own separate and private space, and live more in a collective where others will have their own separate and private space, and we could share responsibility on taking care, managing and using the common spaces at MoO…This is still maturing and unfolding… next episodes to be developed :-)…
May clarity come to the surface… As I said before, it´s most times too exciting, other times a bit overwhelming … specially when it comes to other people´s expectations, and our tendency to see everyone happy and living up their own calling 🙂 …
EXTENDED COMMUNITY…Beyond our little valley, there are other small collectives emerging between us and Póvoa de Atalaia, or between us and Alpedrinha, which are the villages closest to us for those who don´t know … it´s all very exciting… Actually, not only here, but all over Fundão area and surroundings… very interesting people with very interesting visions and projects.A stronger sense of community and family also comes along which is very encouraging too. Another big news, as I mentioned briefly, is that Emma has a full time job this year… She was not even looking for it, but the offer came to her from the City council of Fundão, who recognised her skills in the area and she’s now a “mediator” between the english speaking foreign local community and the local council … She´s pretty much being paid for what she has been doing for years 🙂 … For those who know Emma, it’s not surprising to say that she’s doing much more than that… She has been helping the other migrant groups that are now coming to Fundão too : Asian and Brazilian workers, Afghan, Syrian and Eritrean refugees and as of this week Ukrainians…Prayers and support will be more than welcome. As much as it is part of her calling and passion, it is also quite exhausting to deal with so many different worlds, needs and realities at the same time. It has been a massive change and adjustment here in the land too, but I think we are managing it well, and we need to trust that this too is part of a bigger picture that surpasses our understanding 🙂
ACHIEVEMENTS AND GOALS AT MOO FOR THIS YEAR… We are in mid March, so we already have a few great achievements to share, and a few more goals for the rest of the season. So, we started the year having our new solar system installed which is working superbly so far… Even after all these cloudy days it´s working totally fine… It was a nearly 2000e expense, but definitely worth it . And I´m glad I took the time last year to build a new roof for the panels, perfectly facing south and without big trees in front of it 🙂 We will be able to run a better fridge and even a washing machine, imagine… much progress ahead, we better watch out… Emma is particularly happy with that last part so she doesn´t have to drive her laundry back and forth to Fundão anymore 🙂 I´m more excited that I don´t need to use our generator every time I need to use a power tool 🙂 We all have our preferences… and I will definitely use the washing machine too… I still have to install it though :-/ …
This last month me and Ricardo have been working on final finishes on our common space… A book shelf inside and lime plaster outside with some 3d earth plaster features… even Eva and Amadeu helped with the 3d clay and lime wash 🙂 … I don´t know how many years that has been on my list, but finally the time has come, and it felt very satisfying…
As I was in the flow and it was just next door I also lime plastered the outside kitchen wall that was still unfinished… very satisfying too 🙂
Me and Ricardo also prepared loads of fire wood for the next year and the Mimosas are quite “under control” already, which is also quite satisfying. We have had a very dry winter which helped as well… But we do hope lots of rain come in spring time 🙂 Apart from a few more Olives, most of the pruning of all our fruit trees is done 🙂
Our GOALS for the rest of the season…–
fix a few things in our compost toilets and shower house – extend electrics to the shower house and camping kitchen – continue the work in our house ( I will run some one or two day workshops in different stages and share it mainly locally as I am resisting getting back to social media for advertisement. If you are interested please send an e.mail in our contact form and I will add you to a mail list). This includes a rocket stove with a cob bench, strawbale wall, cob wall, adobe bricks, wattle and daub walls, earth floor and lime plasters…
– host weekly medicinal singing circles after April
– host Sweat lodge ceremonies – host a healing ceremony
– Plant more fruit trees in Autumn
And I think I must have covered the essential communication from the last couple of years… Pheeeeeew 🙂 Thanks for bearing with me until here. HAPPY DAYS !!!!
P.S. – If you are interested in becoming a “White Stone” Associate with a 25e yearly fee, let us know. Thank you in advance.
Aims of the association: The association has the aim of promoting health and personal, social, spiritual and ecological well-being through contact with nature. The association is both multicultural and multilingual.
Our main goals are: * Creation of collaborative spaces to promote social, economic and spiritual well being, local economy initiatives, community gatherings and educational opportunities. * Model and educate about the advantages of a ‘simple lifestyle’ and raise awareness of current environmental issues. * Promote healthy choices for the consumption and production of local, organic produce. * Encourage rural ‘ecological and educational tourism’ in a sustainable manner, respecting the cultural and local resources. * Offering accommodation in naturally constructed buildings and basic natural camping facilities. * Promote intercultural collaboration What are the benefits of becoming an associate? By paying the annual 25E fee you will be able to have discounts on some of Mount of Oaks products and accommodation. As an Associate, you will be able to use our spaces and structures to host your events, workshops, ideas, at a reduced renting price. And more importantly you join a family of supporters committed to these ways of being, and you will be supporting us, the residents, and encouraging us to keep doing what we have been doing. Basically you are participating in what we do with our lives here. Together we can achieve great things.
