Homestead
Join our monthly meet-ups!
From our blog...
Winter drought
Long term, the hope is that the food forest will establish and grow such that additional water inputs will be minimal or not needed. Capture and infiltrate as much water as possible during the rainy season, then minimize hot season evaporation by covering and shading...
The joy of crafting imperfect things: chess set
I like doing things well. Planning, measuring, following instructions, iterating until they're as good as I can do them. I also like making progress quickly – continuously, if time allows.Starting to dabble with woodworking has introduced me to a different world....
Winter Chop And Drop: Seeking a balance between cover crop growth and protecting young trees
After we planted roughly 1000 trees in the fall, and seeded plenty of cover crop everywhere, we are now faced with this incredible growth. It is winter, and we are going through the coldest month of the year. We had some frost, and the north wind leaves no doubts...
Getting started with mushrooms
Sometimes you discover a topic, get interested, and dive right in. You pick a project, gather supplies, and quickly do an impressive job for what is the first attempt in an unknown field.This post is not about one of those occasions.During the last two years, both of...
Observation: Looking for succulents for fire protection
As part of our fire protection strategy, we have plenty of succulents in our site. While they don't prevent a fire and should not be used as an insurance against fire, we use it as an additional tool in a vast toolkit to minimize the fire hazard. Looking for what...
Plantar árvores — um guia
No início do nosso projeto de Permacultura, plantámos cerca de mil árvores e arbustos.Para quem esteja a pensar fazer algo semelhante, mesmo que seja apenas uma mão-cheia de árvores, partilhamos o procedimento que seguimos:MateriaisSerão necessários os seguintes...
The Power of Observation: an example during early Winter
The Importance of ObservationIn Permaculture, few things seem to take as high a priority has observation. In fact, it is the first of the twelve Permaculture principles: “Observe and Interact”.The idea is that Nature is our teacher, and by carefully looking at how it...
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 less than...
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,...
Portuguese 
English