Projects

Planting trees

We are starting a tree nursery to propagate the native fire and draught resistant trees and scrubs for ourselves and our neighbouring lands.

 We have now started with propagating 150 cork trees which are for sale and can be planted by us to offset the buyer’s CO2 impact.

Conservation

We will reserve at least ⅔ of our land to make a wildlife corridor which connects the western bushland to the river. Our land is home to a variety of animals who often cross it to drink in the river. 

Education

By having volunteers and guests we hope to inspire people and try to give some tips & tricks people can use in their own lifes or homes. 

We will also organise events focussing on different aspects, which can be foraging food, building with natural resources or low impact living.

Food

We want to produce most of our food ourselves. We want to build a greenhouse, plant a fruit forest. Have a large veggie garden, chickens, ducks and pigs. Our goal is to source the other products preferably from neighbouring farms which also implement sustainable farming practises.

Water

Portugal is a very dry country of which a big part is desertifying. Without water plants can not grow and animals can not live, which means for us there wouldn’t be a reason to stick around either. 

We are lucky to have our own water source on the land. A natural spring in which perfectly clear water flows out of the hill. This water we use for our own facilities. 

To increase the water available on our land we want to increase the water retention of the land. When it rains most of the water just flows down the hill, eroding the topsoil and causing floods. This is a waste of precious sweet water, so we want to make small swales, ponds, terraces and other measures that will slow water down and will increase infiltration. This way we store the water in the land and are able to grow a more diverse and resilient ecosystem.

Increasing Biodiversity

The south facing slopes are currently covered in rock rose. This plant will dominate the ecosystem and therefore no other plants will grow unless you intervene. To avoid risk of erosion we will work in 1 meter strips and pull out the rock rose. 

We will use the still standing plants to place the rock rose against and by this forming natural terraces. This will stabilize the slope, increase soil build up and water infiltration. The new terraces will be seeded with nitrogen fixating plants and later on trees resilient to dry conditions. 

Once the terraces are made and soil has built up we will restore the native forest by planting a wide variety of trees and scrubs.