We arrived in Portugal to the sound of the chug chug chug of our 40 year old recycled van. In front of the van in this picture you can see the a very old ram pump my uncle Antonio has very kindly offered us. It is a piece of old technology built in cast iron that we hope to use at our quinta once we restore it to it's former glory. It will hopefully pump water from the stream using only the power of a fall, and not producing any C02 or using any fossil fuels. Pete at Mizarela has one working which I hope I can see soon to have a better idea, since I only understand it from the books.

 We have started our life at the quinta camping in the old house and fixing the tanks that will hold water from our spring during the dry months, this year will be an experience since we don't know how long our spring will produce water. The tanks were fixed using very little hydraulic lime/sand mix. We are going to start preparing our lime putty for the house repairs, for holding water quick lime is no good. Since we don't want to use cement we have to compromise a little and use this hydraulic lime. 

There isn't a road getting to our quinta and house, any materials so far have been taken there by hand... Hard work... Need a donkey. 

For now me and Michael who came to help us for two weeks are the donkeys. We carried all the wood to replace the old rotting wood of one of the two floors. Since we are changing nothing at all, it took me two days to replace the old pine floor with new wood. It was fun, here are some pictures:

The old floor had holes as you can see above, Django and me often put a foot through it. Clare kept covering the holes with old boards. Notice the lighting in the evening solar powered only 3 watts!!!

The pile of wood we carried up the terraces, most of all my shoulders hurt the most. 8 beams + all the floor boards.

Here we had taken the old floor and Michael was cleaning 100s of years of much trapped between the wall and floor. I loved the simplicity of it, beams on stone walls with floor boards nailed on. All very straight forward.

The new floor back on and Django has a straight surface to play on.

It feels good it smells good, all it needs now is a little waxing. I love rolling on it. 

The water situation is good for now, all we have above our spring is forest so we are drinking the water.

get in the hole in the wall:

 Hold the bottles under the running water for a few minutes:

And that's it, no water bill from mother nature. I do miss closing the tap.

ONE HAPPY FAMILY. The solar panel charges some deep cycle batteries which are enough for our simple life. We take hot showers (sometimes too hot) from our simple solar water heater until we have better.

Clothes dishes and pans are washed with natural soap. This water we plan to eventually pass through the beds in the green house that we plan to build against the house on the south facing wall.

Clare spent a day clearing rubble and we got a big surprise to add to the stone wall. Massive floor slates to add to the thermal mass capacity. 

This is the wood stove we plan to use, my mum had it in a wooden box in pieces for years, I finally persuaded her to donate it to us. She knew I was the only person who could piece it together, it looks beautiful and at some point it had a water heater which I want to get going again for showers in the winter months. We intend to plant our forest and reach a sustainable biomass situation.

 We are starting several compost piles but this one is dedicated to human waste, toilet and food scraps. It will serve us well until we build a proper compost loo. Michael built this and the bucket seat next which he placed in a beautiful hidden place by an oak a cork tree and some pine shade.

 There is even a beautiful toilet roll holder made out of scrap wood. Thank you Michael.

 Django loving the cherries and the fresh air

Joao Django and Michael in the afternoon

Good Morning!!! Another great day at the terraces.

No pictures of our Organic garden yet but Clare has started it and it is getting big, there are beautiful foods  growing there from water melons to piri-piri. The garden is watered with a gravity fed hose from the top tank, and we plan to have a timer if there is enough water. We are very grateful to our neighbour Lucinda who has a beautiful herd of goats, for showing us how to use the enchada tool properly, Clare says she now rates it over the spade :) 

Interesting sign at Coja, nearby town, very detailed and beautiful bike. Apart from the fact that this is in a spot where I don't think anyone would ride a bicycle, I love it and hate it... Can't wait to start riding everywhere.

And to close this report on our first 4 weeks of life at our new place, here's Clare down at the falls.

xxxx

Benfeita Terraces 5 - the next episode

Benfeita Terraces 3 - page 3 - We camp at our terraces for the first time in the warm Portuguese Autumn

Benfeita Terraces 2 - page 2 - We own it and our baby is here!

Benfeita Terraces 1  - page 1 - before we bought the land. It was all just a dream-

A Picture A Day - Joao's Photography page

Wind Turbine Workshop  - Page about Joao's wind turbine at Evelyn community gardens in London