Help regenerate soil and create a productive agroforestry system in Alentejo, Portugal

Infos

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  Description

  We´re a couple with 2 kids (17 and 22 years old) living inside the montado (mediterranean oakland) in Alentejo, Portugal.
  
  We have a permaculture vegetable garden, organic and biodynamic, and we planted, in 2014, a fruit tree orchard in keyline design (7 ha) with several fruit species and varieties: citrus, apples, pears, plums, peaches, apricots, walnuts, almonds, blackberries and blueberries. We make our biodynamic compost, raise and collect some of our seeds. We produce some Portuguese regional vegetable ancient varieties.
  
  Catarina studied agronomy, specialized in organic farming, and worked in soil science for some years, in the ISA university, in Lisbon.
  Since then, she took time to learn and integrate knowledge from very different sources, in books, papers and courses. Currently she works mainly as a consultant in organic regenerative projects in Portugal, including ours.
  
  
  2010 - PDC with Lesley Martin, Portugal.
  2011 - RegenAg - RAW (Regenerative Agriculture Workshop), 3 days, with Darren Doherty (Austrália), in Portugal.
  2014 - Holistic Management, 3 days, with Kirk Gadzia (EUA).in Spain.
  2014 - El ABC de la Agricultura Orgânica + Cromatografia, 4 days, with Jairo Restrepo (Colômbia/Brasil), In Spain.
  2015 - Holistic Management - Holistic Grazing, 3 days, with Owen Hablutzel (EUA) In Spain.
  2017 - Quantum Agriculture - Advanced Course, 5 days, with Hugh Lovel (EUA/ Austrália) in Coolanowle, Ireland.
  2018 - Quantum Agriculture - Biologically Dynamic Soils and Farms, with Hugh Lovel (EUA/Australia), Ireland.
  2019 - Precision Agriculture Plant Nutrition Management - online course from the RegenAg Academy, EUA.
  
  Carlos studied Anthropology and worked as a journalist in local newspapers.
  He has been a organic farmer since 2006, and biodinamic since 2013, producing vegetables and several fruit especies adapted to the meditarreneam climate. He keeps learning on is everyday work with nature, preparing and applying biofertilizers.
  
  2014 - El ABC de la Agricultura Orgânica + Cromatografia, 4 days, with Jairo Restrepo in Spain.
  2018 - Sintropic farming, 4 days with Ernst Götsch, Portugal.
  
  
  First Steps
  We changed from urban to rural, and have been organic farmers since 2006. We sold our products in an organic market in the Lisbon Region (Oeiras) between 2007 and 2009. In 2009 we made our first Permaculture introduction course and since that time we learned a lot, by making experiencies and observation, by reading and attending to courses in regenerative farming (keyline, holistic management, biofertilizers,...)
  
  In 2011 we moved to this property in Alentejo, close to Montemor-o-Novo, to start a new project inside a big farm
  
  , but with total autonomy. We have to main focuses: soil regeneration and to produce good (quality) food).
  
  This region has very fragile soils, wich have been mistreated for several decades. The result is a very poor, erosionated, soil, compacted by deficient animal management and wrong machinery implements. It has very little fertility now, so, very little production of pasture or cereals, and a hard environment for cork and holm oaks.
  
  To achieve our objectives, we started by making a vegetable garden near the house, with raised and sunken permaculture beds. This garden, allowed us to sell vegetables to a group of consumers in Lisbon in a CSA program, every Friday during most of the year, for three years. We’re starting just now a new group of consumers in Lisbon to deliver our fresh fruits and vegetables.
  
  We have planted the orchard in keyline design, a technique developed by P. A. Yeomans in 1950.
  Keyline design (the way we plant trees build roads, locate buildings, etc., on the landscape), along with its implement, the Keyline plow, allows water to infiltrate more and plant roots to develop deeper in the soil. This way, a living soil is created, each year deeper. This design, being unlevelled also allows water to spread and to reach the driest zones on the landscape. It builds soil every year. We are currently planting several trees and bushes, legumes, dynamic accumulators and others for soil building, habitat maintenance and pest management, and for windbreak. We seed legumes and gramineas for soil improvement. We continually applied the required corrective minerals in soil, determined by soil analyses, and rock dusts (lime stone, basalt , phosphorus, and gypsum).
  
  LIBRARY
  We have plenty of permaculture, keyline, Biodinamic, soil microbiology and holistic management books on our library (mostly in english or spanish) that you can read and discuss, and several films about permaculture and regenerative farming.
  
  We have also been working as consultants in regenerative farming systems in Portugal, implementing agroforestry projects, and some other farmers producing fruits and vegetables.
  
  We love to have volunteers that are willing to learn about this subjects, but also welcome people that just want to benefit from working at the peace and calm that we have in this mediterranean oakland. Anyone with good spirit is welcome ;)
  
  ACCOMODATION
  We have a house for volunteers next to ours. The house is equiped with a bunk bed, a double bed, smal kitchen with a stove for volunteers to cook their onw meals, a living room and a bathroom.
  
  We live inside the montado (Oakland), 2 km away from any other house.
  We have limited electricitiy power, only from a few solar panels.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage

  S’occuper des animaux

  Aide dans une ferme

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général

  Aide informatique/internet
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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

  Our volunteers will spend lots of time with us, as a family. We love to spread ou knowledge about permaculture and holistic farming and to discuss and hear about different life experiences...

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  Aide

  Gardening in our vegetable garden. Planting bushes and plants for windbreaks. Mulching in the orchard. Pick fruit. Help with the meals. Repairs at home, electricity... etc. painting the house.
  We like to benefit from our volunteers skils, and we always adapt functions to skils and learning wishes.
  we do not have a web site, but would like to have one.

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant
  Espagnol: Courant
  Français: 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

  ACCOMODATION
  
  We have a house for volunteers next to ours. The house is equiped with a bunk bed,a double bed, a stove for volunteers to cook their onw meals, and a bathroom. We live inside the montado (oakland). We have limited electricitiy power, only from solar panels, located outside the house. There is no refrigerator in the house, but we have one in the farm near us. We have limited internet acess.

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  Autres infos...

  Our project is being built inside a big organic farm in Portugal. We're in an mediterranean oak forest and there is a big artificial lake near by where we can go swiming during summer. We have a small village 4 km away, but big buses go to Montemor-o-Novo, 14 km away.

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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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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Cet hôte a de la place pour les vans.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

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  Nombre d'heures attendues

  6 hours a day 5 days a week

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