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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
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- I foster, I nourish
- I raise (as a child, an animal, etc.)
- I feed, I maintain, I develop
From our visual diary...
Digging clay up onto the hugel-dam in construction between the east swale proper and its pond-like north side.
Digging clay up onto the hugel-dam in construction between the east swale proper and its pond-like north side.
Varnishing ongoing. Used some leftover to add a new coat to the first house, which was starting to show some weathering.
Varnishing ongoing. Used some leftover to add a new coat to the first house, which was starting to show some weathering.
A ladybug chilling on a small Holm oak (azinheira).
A ladybug chilling on a small Holm oak (azinheira).Hoping that more of them will show up - there's loads of aphids around for them to eat.