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Grow With Us
Alo Land Strategy Summary
Alo Land is a regenerative initiative by us – Petru and Inês. We are former tech professionals who moved to Portugal with our two children. We currently manage a 1-hectare plot with a food forest and own an additional 2.5-hectare undeveloped plot nearby.
Vision and Goals
- Land restoration using regenerative practices
- Supporting holistic well-being (physical, emotional, spiritual)
- Cultivating eight forms of capital (financial, material, living, social, intellectual, experiential, spiritual, cultural)
- Building community resilience
Current Challenges
- Overwhelming workload maintaining the food forest
- Potential for more social connections, particularly for the adults
- Gaps in food production despite potential
- Restrictions on travel due to land care responsibilities
Strategic Approach
The family has shifted to an incremental growth strategy that focuses on:
- Leveraging existing resources and activities
- Attracting people to the land (as participants or volunteers)
- Creating a volunteer pipeline
- Thoughtful development of their 2.5-hectare plot
What's with the name?
From Wiktionary: alō (present infinitive alere, perfect active aluī, supine altum or alitum); third conjugation
-
- I foster, I nourish
- I raise (as a child, an animal, etc.)
- I feed, I maintain, I develop
From our visual diary...
Flowering raspberries in the new berry patch.
Flowering raspberries in the new berry patch.All the plants there are thriving so far. The fertile soil and plentiful moisture is making a big difference.
Tiny walnut sprout in the “nutty corner”.
Tiny walnut sprout in the "nutty corner".The walnut was first germinated then sown in this spot.Let's see how it does - the grafted walnuts we planted two years ago don't seem to be thriving.
Mowing in the northeastern area. Some of it has grown incredibly lush.
Mowing in the northeastern area. Some of it has grown incredibly lush.