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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...
We got some rose hips, Rosa mosqueta, rosa canina, prunnings. We prepared them into cuttings and set them on the ground. Given it’s almost August and they were loaded with fruit, it’s unlikely any will root but we never know. We also spread the fruit around, maybe they’ll feed other animals, or release any seeds.
We got some rose hips, Rosa mosqueta, rosa canina, prunnings. We prepared them into cuttings and set them on the ground. Given it's almost August and they were loaded with fruit, it's unlikely any will root but we never know. We also spread the fruit around, maybe...
Nectarines
NectarinesSmall and tasty, from our food forest.
Setting up an electric valve to automate filling the duck pond.
Setting up an electric valve to automate filling the duck pond.