Take part in an eco project and learn about permaculture near Bajouca, Portugal

Infos

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  Description

  Hi, my name is Paul Bruno, my father is Italian and my mother is Dutch, and I mostly grew up in the Netherlands, where in 1998 I got my diploma as an art teacher, after which I worked as an independent artist with my own company called arti parti - Multi Medial Happy Happenings, combining all art forms into one harmonic experience for which I then constructed large bamboo structures using Sacred Geometry, until I left for Kenya in 2011 to set up a permacultural project based on the Power Flower Geometry, where after 5 years of trying my very best but repeatedly failing to cooperate with the local population at various locations I finally gave up and moved to Portugal in 2017 to buy my own piece of land (which isn't possible in Kenya for foreigners), but it took me an other 4 years to find a suitable piece of land for my project, which I finally found and bought in the summer of 2021 in Bajouca, near Leiria, in a beautiful moderately populated region of central Portugal at only 20 kilometres from the sea, that is specialised in pottery and forestry and has many nice places to visit nearby like museums, restaurants, pizzerias, and bars, various festivals, natural parks, lakes and ofcourse the beach, one of which (at Nazare) had the Guinness world record highest wave that was ever surfed!
  My piece of land is a true slice of paradise of more than 5 hectares that even exceeded my own expectations; half of it used to be a clay quarry upto around 15 years ago, where clay was collected for many years to be used for ceramics, so now this part looks like a secret valley to me, or like the crater of a volcano because of the clay walls of over 10 meters high all around the large flat-bottomed pit where all that clay was removed. This part is perfectly suitable for the Sacred Geometry based design of my permacultural project, although I couldn't start activities there before February 2022.
  The other half of my land is a wild forest full of large indigenous trees and shrubs with a lovely river alongside it, and it is here where I set up my base camp and where I will now need some help in the construction of my first house, before the 5 other buildings included in my permaculture design can be built.
  Now that we finished the temporary raincover for my house I already moved into it last winter, with my woodstove to keep us warm.
  
  A lot of work preparing the land with a bulldozer is now done so there are now hardened roads, 7 terraced orchards plus a "tropical island", a water harvesting system that makes use of a gravity driven ram-pump, a beautiful circular area cleared and flattened in the middle of the forest where we started building the first house, and an other huge circular area measuring 1 hectare in the former clay quarry that is cleared and flattened in preparation of the Power Flower shaped mandala consisting of aquaponic water channels.
  We already planted around 400 fruit trees and bushes starting 3 years ago, so this spring and summer some of them will already start bearing fruit!
  This spring we continued building the house to finish the second floor, after which we can start building the bamboo frame for a big dome on the second floor that will also serve as the final roof. When that roof is built we will continue raising the strawbale walls, frame the windows and doors, and cover the strawbale walls in cob, which will then be decorated with mosaics using a small mountain of ceramics that was offered by the local pottery artisans.
  After this house is built our next mission is building a greenhouse and finishing up the kitchen garden to move further towards the maximally self-sufficient ecovillage this project is meant to be, so there will always be plenty of work to be done for which volunteers will forever be welcomed, and even more permanent arrangements could be made for people who want to be part of the cooperative we can set up once we produce a marketable surplus of farming products, and when also the 5 additional houses for ecotourists have been built that will generate some extra income, so although my project here is just setting its first baby steps who knows what this invitation might still lead to in the future...

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Projets artistiques

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  Aide dans une ferme

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  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

  Sacred Geometry and permaculture (design) are my two main areas of expertise which I am eager to transfer to all who are willing to learn more about these subjects, but I'm not sure this fully counts as cultural exchange, so in the more classic sense this area offers insights into an aspect of traditional Portuguese culture relating to ceramics and forestry, as nearby the forests are situated which provided the straight pinewood from which the Portuguese ships were built that conquered "the new world" during the colonial era, and the other abundant local resource is clay so there are many nearby places where beautiful ceramics are produced by experienced and skilful hands, one of which offers pottery courses that I follow, where a few volunteers were allowed to join me to their great content.

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  Aide

  I firstly need more help for the construction of my house for which some building experience would help, but is not a necessary requirement, because I have lots of building experience and skills myself, so just some more helping hands is all I really need.
  Furthermore there's a big garden that needs constant attendance and also for this experience is helpful but not a necessity, as I've been farming for the past 15 years.
  Meanwhile occasionally some heavy machines will assist me in setting up the big mandala shaped aquaponics/permaculture design based on Sacred Geometry at the former clay quarry this summer, and once that's up and running there will be lots to do there too.

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant
  Italien: Courant
  Hollandais: Courant
  Allemand: Débutant
  Espagnol: Débutant
  Français: Débutant
  Portugais: Débutant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  I would like to learn how to speak Portuguese more fluently, as I am still only at the beginners level and when Portuguese people speak rapidly among themselves I miss most of the details.
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  Hébergement

  I have two big shipping containers with a double bed in each of them and for now I have only one extra tent that fits two persons and a hammock with a tarp above it, but if necessary I will buy more tents when I know what size would be most appropriate depending on the volunteers being singles, couples or families.
  There's a beautiful big lake for swimming and also a gorgeous river for bathing.
  The food provided will be breakfast, lunch and dinner which we will eat together, I can prepare this myself, as I love to cook, but if one of the volunteers likes to concern themselves with this that could also work well, so I can remain focussed on the many other tasks at hand.
  Vegetarian or vegan is possible, but not necessary, depending on the wishes of the volunteers.

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  Autres infos...

  There's a bus stop at less than 5 minutes walking from my land, which goes to the nearest big city of Leiria, from where one can take public transport to the rest of Portugal.

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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 make use of my mobile unlimited internet connection whenever you like using my phone as a hotspot (tethering), sharing my unlimited data plan, and my big solar system is also working well for keeping our lights on and laptops/ phones fully charged

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  There are many beautiful spaces available where a (camper)van or car can be parked.

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  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  All pets are most welcome, but for now dogs still need to stay on a leash so they won't mess up the areas that aren't bordered off yet.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

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  Mes animaux

Sécurité du site

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