Learn about responsible (off-grid) living and growing a food and flower forest in Mafra, Portugal

Infos

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  Description

  We are actually doing it! We went from talking about it, to making it happen. In 2023, we swapped city life for life closer to nature! 🌿 These days, we live in our off-grid wooden house (made by us!) under a forest of oak trees.
  
  Before we found our two hectares of natural goodness (imagine: a native oak forest, wild fruit trees, abandoned ruins, a small waterfall, stone-lined cultivation terraces…), we lived on regenerative farms, studied permaculture, biomimicry, and ethnobotany. We’re so excited we are finally putting all our knowledge into practice (and learning loads more along the way!).
  
  Building a road, a home and growing a forest — we learned a few things!
  When we bought this land the only access was via a 10-minute forest trail (it’s still the most romantic way to arrive here!). While we figured out how to get the car access road rebuild, we started camping here (first in our little yellow tent, and then we upgraded to a bell tent). We cleared overgrown areas from invasive species. We enjoyed an abundance of plums, figs, and lemons. We turned one of the old ruins into a shed. We created a temporary outdoor kitchen and bathroom (to be able to host our first volunteers). At the same time, after countless sketches, we began building our wooden home. We set up our solar system to run the house, the project, and all power tools for building. We harvest fresh water from our spring with our self-made ram-pump. We ate from our green roof and now seeded our 70sqm fruit and veggie orchard.
  
  Next, we’ll be expanding the garden, beginning the bigger forest project and clearing the ruins
  This spring and summer we are working on a mix of projects such as:
  * Creating more garden structures; more raised bed, fencing, compost expansion, and vertical gardening structures
  * Improving our water harvesting systems, expanding our irrigation structures (drip irrigation, swales)
  * Rebuilding the outdoor kitchen and bathroom
  * Building a little green house
  * Cataloging native species (from photographing to drying)
  * Clearing more overgrown land + planning & preparing the expansion of the food and flower forest
  * Understanding our ruins better and co-creating what will be there
  * Experimenting with Japanese techniques, from yakisugi (wood preservation) for the cladding of the main house, building two small forest huts and breathing new life into broken objects
  
  The volunteer experience in the valley
  * If you’re keen to join us, we’re asking you to help out for 4-5 hours a day. The remaining time you can enjoy the valley (lots of nice paths for walks or cycling), go surfing (we’re 10 minutes driving from the beaches of Ericeira), head out for day trips to the magical Sintra or to Lisbon. You can also spend time working remotely from nature while not working the land/building. There’s great signal in the valley.
  * We have morning check-ins on agreed working days, which tend to be early-ish between 8-2.
  * Accommodation is currently in tents, your own or ours, depending on availability. Basic foods are provided.
  
  We are a Dutch Chilean family with two gorgeous little humans born in Portugal
  We are curious about everything… We ask lots of questions. Some that we are slowly finding the answers to are:
  * How do we live (more) responsibly?
  * How do we live with nature? Not only in it. How do we reconnect with it? Why is barefoot time with the soil so good for us?
  * How can we build a (design-y) and affordable family home with mostly natural (wood, cork, mud) and second hand/repurposed materials?
  * What does it take to feed a family / and beyond?
  * How do we take care of this land today — and leave it better for future generations?
  * How can we inspire others to take time to reflect on how they live?
  * Which decisions of today have the biggest impact on a (better) future?
  
  A few notes…
  * During 2024, we only had local volunteers sharing their time and skills. No one stayed overnight during this year as we were busy building our cabin.
  * We’re excited to host workawayers again as of spring 2025 and are looking forward to welcoming people with some building or gardening (agroforestry or permaculture) experience — and/or curious humans with desire to learn and take action.
  * In your message, tell us a little bit about yourself, your experience, what you’re hoping to learn and how long you’re looking to contribute.
  * We are not a commercial project. You won’t be helping with any commercial activities.
  
  This project is about symbiotism between nature and humans. It’s about the balance between slowing down (being present) and speeding up (making positive impact happen). It’s about the past (and leveraging old wisdom) and being future-ready (learning self sufficiency).

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Projets artistiques

  Pratique d’une langue

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Enseignement

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  Aide dans une ferme

  Baby-sitting et jeux créatifs

  Entretien général
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  Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre

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  Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  Anyone joining can learn about permaculture, food (syntropic) forests, regenerative flower gardening, and (natural) building. Besides that, between us, we speak 5 languages fluently and can share. We can also share about the conservation, social innovation and creative work we do. There's great surf nearby (Ericeira) and lots of paths to explore by bike or foot here in the valley. Lisbon and Sintra are just 30 minutes away.

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  Projets impliquant des enfants

  Ce projet peut impliquer des enfants. Pour en savoir plus, consultez nos directives et conseils ici.

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  Aide

  There's different projects to contribute to:
  🌿 Help clear weeds, brambles and other species that are suffocating the (native) forest; with the purpose of creating space for the future-proof food and flower forest
  👣 Create pathways so we can explore the beauty of this piece of valley; from carving out paths through the forest and building wooden walkways
  🔨 Various building projects; from creating decks (to enjoy nature/for tents), to re-building the shared kitchen and dining space, to fencing parts of the property, and garden, building a little greenhouse, clearing ruins and more
  🐛🚽 Building vermi-compost toilet systems and wetlands
  🚗 Help maintain the access road(s)
  🌸🥬🌴 Maintain the veggie and flower gardens + growing the food forest

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant
  Espagnol: Courant
  Français: Courant
  Hollandais: Courant
  Portugais: Courant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  Cet hôte a indiqué qu’il souhaitait faire partager sa propre langue ou en apprendre une nouvelle.
  Contactez-le pour en savoir plus.
  
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  Hébergement

  Currently you can pitch your tent (or stay in one of ours!) in this lush green valley. Once we've build additional structures other forms of accommodation will become available.

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  Autres infos...

  Hiking, surfing, cycling, simply enjoying the silence and the nature around you... We love life in nature and we are looking forward to sharing some time with you and creating memories.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  You can work remotely from the valley when not working on the land. There's great signal down here.

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Only small 4x4 campervans can make their way down (and back up again).

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  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  We've got an old lady dog and are happy to host other dogs here.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

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