Blog
A visual diary...
The season is starting… the pine caterpillars are coming, and I hope they don’t come too close. It´s all part of an ecosystem and all that, but we can still have our favorites, and this is not one of them.
The season is starting... the pine caterpillars are coming, and I hope they don't come too close. It´s all part of an ecosystem and all that, but we can still have our favorites, and this is not one of them.
Clipping some flight feathers to keep the ducks safe. This is a job our next line of farms can take on – so proud!
Clipping some flight feathers to keep the ducks safe. This is a job our next line of farms can take on - so proud!🔥
Breaking news: we’ve been goosed! Four tiny goslings have waddled into our hearts and made themselves right at home. 🪿✨ These little fluffballs are already causing a delightful ruckus, and honestly? We’re totally smitten. Here’s to more chaos, more joy, and definitely more adorable moments!
Breaking news: we've been goosed! Four tiny goslings have waddled into our hearts and made themselves right at home. 🪿✨ These little fluffballs are already causing a delightful ruckus, and honestly? We're totally smitten. Here's to more chaos, more joy, and definitely...
Written for you...
Burnout
Living at Alo Land follows a 15 years stint as a software engineer – most of it in SRE, for those in the know – at a tech company. In hindsight it was a great change, but at the time it felt miserable. I had burned out.I first noticed something was off in the autumn...
Wildfire protection strategy
Wildfires are unfortunately a common occurrence in Portugal. They have caused massive damage to life and property, and the underlying causes are as interesting as they are upsetting. When we moved here the risk seemed too small to worry about given that: We’re...
Happy anniversary – 1 year in Portugal
It has been a year since we moved here, which is very confusing. Because it was so intense, it feels like we just moved here, and we are just starting to get a sense of our whereabouts. At the same time, because so much has happened, it seems like many years have...
One year at home in Portugal
The moving guys left with their truck, having spent a couple days packing and loading everything. We loaded basic necessities and the children in the car, locked the house behind us, and left around 16:00. Inês and I took turns driving and sleeping in the car,...
QGIS and permaculture
When we began working on our permaculture design, I started looking around for suitable software to use. The ideal solution would: significantly help with the work to be done already be in use within the permaculture community, indicating that it’s working well...
A fast-moving mess
It is happening. Hundreds of trees coming, needing immediate attention, a place to be planted on, water, amendments, mulch, light, care. We had been waiting for this moment for a long time and for the past few days we, the family and 5 men full time, have been...
Bem-vindas a casa, plantas
O grande momento chegou e começámos a plantar algumas árvores. É muito emocionante pôr as mãos na terra, cheirar as plantas, e sentir que estamos a remendar algo que está rasgado no nosso mundo. A criação de um projeto Permacultura na Alo Land nasceu de uma semente...
Earthworks completed
As of last Wednesday the earthworks are done. It took 8 working days for one person driving the excavator, with a bit of help from his team and us. After chopping and smashing all of the eucalyptus, the excavator switched to a normal digging bucket for the rest of the...
Kick-off reforestation
Today it was the kick-off of the reforestation. Or should I say deforestation? Oddly enough, the first step of making this a fertile land is to remove most of the trees, which are eucalyptus. They are a fire hazard, drinking all the water and preventing other trees...
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