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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...
Today we have a better photo of our water kefir: Apple and cinnamon flavored.
Today we have a better photo of our water kefir: Apple and cinnamon flavored.
Mixed another batch of compost: coffee grounds, manure, and bedding from the duck coops.
Mixed another batch of compost: coffee grounds, manure, and bedding from the duck coops.It might not have enough volume for quick composting, so we'll likely add some grass clippings or similar biomass.
Bummer. This photo is awful. But this is water kefir with pear and it was super tasty and healthy. It feels good to have homemade kefir back on our menu, with improvised flavours.
Bummer. This photo is awful. But this is water kefir with pear and it was super tasty and healthy. It feels good to have homemade kefir back on our menu, with improvised flavours.