What’s been going on?

On By livlundmarkIn Food, Gardening, Permaculture, PortugalLeave a comment

Can’t believe how fast time is going! It’s already May and the summersun in shining on us again. Spring came so late this year and we were worried the rain was never going to come after last summer, the ground was so dry and up until March we almost didn’t have any grass growing on our land so it was a struggle having to water the gardens and make sure the animals got food. But finally in March it started raining and it kept on raining all through March and April. And now we are in May and the sun is shining and the weather is getting hot and we are back to watering the gardens and preparing all the summer crops.
In february we finished a second smaller polytunnel that is now the nursery for seedlings, trays and pots, and the big tunnel has gotten more boxes. Other than that the garden is slowly getting bigger and bigger with more gardens beds and a new area for melons and pumpkins,  we are planting alot and things are growing and flowing and we are eating amazing food from our gardens everyday.
Since last time we have also been fencing alot around our land to make sure the sheeps have spaces to graze and lots of pasture to move around on, and the chickens have a new house and a big outside area to freerange on.
Now we are working on a ferrocement water tank, a pergola for some shade in the summer and just getting prepared for our little one to arrive soon.

relax in the shade
finally the strawberries are back, amazingness!
painting the house
selling some veggies
selling some veggies
citrus citrus citrus
someones expecting
getting bigger
rainbow
preparing a new garden bed, biggie used it as a pool during the rainy days
using all the dead wood and branches we cleaned up from the land in the gardens
big cauliflowers
baby bunnies
new nursery tunnel
purple broccoli and parsley
onions
carrots
experimenting with planting potatoes in the tunnel
harvesting cauliflower

love & light /grow&flow

December update

On By livlundmarkIn Food, Gardening, Permaculture, Portugal1 Comment

Can’t believe its already December! We had a long warm and dry summer here in Portugal and still we haven’t really had any real rain, but the winter reached our little farm for real now in December and we have had frosty mornings and chilly nights which means the wood stove has been going strong and we have been cozying it up by the fire. So what has happened since summer, well it’s been alot of watering the gardens and we have started selling our organic vegetables to some local customers. End of summer and autumn the gardens produced an abundance of awesome veg and it felt so good to start selling and sharing the surplus. We have also had some new animals move onto the farm and we now have 1 sheep, 2 lambs and 2 goats sharing the land with us, and of course still our chickens, rabbits and our puppy. The sheep Greta was pregnant when we got her and she gave birth to the little lamb Luna earlier this year. So we have spent time fencing and creating pasture for the animals and we are at the moment building a new big chicken coop so we can get some more birds and make sure they have a nice open space. Other than that we have been picking olives since November up until now, its been alot of olives this year and so far we have managed to pick 860kgs of olives that we took to the olive press last week to press into olive oil. We got 130 liters of olive oil back and it is amazing quality so other than using a lot for ourselves we will have a lot over to sell and share aswell.

Our little wood house/bungalow has been great for us and we have now been living here since June. It has been cold since the winter really hit but the wood stove heats it up real nice so during the evenings and cold mornings we just have to start a fire to make sure we stay warm.

Rosita
Greta and the new lamb Luna
Lola & Greta
Selling our veg at a local market
preparing veg boxes to sell
selling veg at local market
butternut phone
last summer crops harvested
pickled chillies
olive picking days
860kgs of olives preparing to go to the press
frosty mornings

 

may all beings be happy,

LOVE /grow&flow

beets for christmas

On By livlundmarkIn Food, Gardening, Permaculture, PortugalLeave a comment

The nights and mornings are getting chilly so alot of time is spent next to the fire at night, but the sun has been out everyday these last weeks so we have been enjoying our christmas lunches in the sun.

harvesting beets
more beets
beet harvest
christmas balls

How do you get the party started?
– With a fat beet!

What is the most untrustworthy veggie?
-The beet around the bush.

love /grow&flow

december days

On By livlundmarkIn Food, Permaculture, PortugalLeave a comment

The sun keeps shining on us here in Portugal and christmas is already here.
We haven’t really put that much time into the olive picking this year since we have other things to do, but we were hoping to atleast get about 40-50 kg that would go to the press to make into oil, so when the neighbor decided a date we would go to the press we did a push and managed to pick 103 kg of olives!
Our neighbor picked about 600kg himself. So we took it to the press and now 2 weeks later we have the finished olive oil back.

cleaning out the old stone ruin
olive harvest
dropping off the olives so we can get some olive oil
visiting friends in monsanto
visiting friends in monsanto
preparing for the christmas bonfire in penamacor
lunchin in the sun
the boys

love /grow&flow

 

it’s in our nature

On By livlundmarkIn Building, Gardening, Permaculture, PortugalLeave a comment

“He who lives according to nature will never be poor, and he who lives according to opinion will never be rich..”

We finally got some rain and the land is turning green again!
green grass coming through
raaor
stomping down the ground
gardens looking lush
gardens looking lush
picked up a pine tree from the neighbor
pinetree cleanup
the views
tree chopping
❤
new garden bed
getting it all home

LOVE
/grow&flow

quince and pomegranate

On By livlundmarkIn Food, Gardening, Permaculture, PortugalLeave a comment

quince trees are everywhere around here and the ones on our land are full of fruits at the moment, so we are trying to use as much as possible by cooking it, making jams, chutneys, pickles and giving the rest to the animals. we also harvested pomegranate from our neighbors trees the other day and they are just amazing. pomegranate juice for breakfast tomorrow. what else do you need?

pomegranate and quince harvest!
pomegranate heaven
harvesting at the neighbors
yuummm
quince abundance
cooking quince
quince
beets
saving sunflower seeds

LOVE
/grow&flow

misty october mornings in central portugal

On By livlundmarkIn Food, Gardening, Permaculture, PortugalLeave a comment

mornings are getting chilly and its time to prepare for winter, we need alot of firewood to keep us warm so we gotta keep sawing and chopping.
The gardens are looking awesome and we keep harvesting amazing veggies.
We also got the new chicken tractor done so now the chickens are helping us fertilize the earth.

gathering wood
firewood for winter
more wood
time to start sawing it up
the chicken tractor
built a chicken tractor
visitors ❤
the ladies
the chicks
aubergine 2.0
beans
chard
harvesting

LOVE
/grow&flow

time for a bath

On By livlundmarkIn Building, Gardening, Permaculture, PortugalLeave a comment

summer is ending and fall is already here. we are harvesting amazing food from the gardens, collecting and chopping wood to make sure we have firewood for winter, preparing the foundation for the poly tunnel so that we can get it up before it gets to cold and just enjoying this change of season.

butternut squash
harvest
new stairs made from recycled pallets
more figs
building the foundation for the polytunnel/greenhouse
made a stone staircase!
lifting some stones
garden
garden
preparing for winter
wild ones
recycled stone tub
shower/bath area
the tub
shower/bath
bath time

love and light
/grow&flow

another day at the farm

On By livlundmarkIn PortugalLeave a comment

So whats up?

we are preparing and starting the build of the polytunnel/greenhouse, and it will be about 3x10meter big.

Other than that we are harvesting fruit and veg, preparing the gardens, collecting wood and materials, cooking, sweating and just enjoying the summer.

preparing the ground for the greenhouse/polytunnel
morning workouts
preparing the ground for the greenhouse/polytunnel
preparing the ground for the greenhouse/polytunnel
new bed for the tipi
drying figs
more figs
homemade grape cider

LOVE /grow&flow

Summer vibes

On By livlundmarkIn PortugalLeave a comment

August..

..visitors, cooking, building, harvesting, watering, eating, working, relaxing and finally getting the door to our stone ruin open for the first time. Plan is to fix the ruin up and make it livable so that we can make it our little home in the near future.

Breaking in to our stone ruin for the first time
Breaking in to our stone ruin for the first time
Breaking in to our stone ruin for the first time
salad from the garden
homemade gazpacho everyday
lake vibes
harvesting wild blackberries and storing as much as possible

LOVE /grow&flow

Growing your own food

On By livlundmarkIn Food, Gardening, Permaculture, PortugalLeave a comment

This year we started planting really late in the year as we had alot to think about and get sorted before getting started with the gardens. And since the summer is soo hot here it can be hard to get things to grow when starting out so late when its already warm and no rain coming down. But we have tried our best and some things have made it through the heat and are soon ready for harvest. Up until now we have harvested onions, strawberries, radishes, cabbage, herbs and cucumber. And soon we will be harvesting some zucchini, pumpkin, more cucumbers, potatoes, lettuce, turnips, more herbs, melon and more.

Before winter starts we will be putting up a poly tunnel (greenhouse) on the land making it possible to grow in warmer climate all winter long.

compost ready to use
hiding by the cucumbers
guarding the precious compost, although I think he would prefer to eat it all
cucumbers
cucumbers
cucumbers
zucchini
pumpkin
pumpkin
small little melon
watermelon
breakfast time
morning hangout

LOVE /Grow&Flow

Water Water Water

On By livlundmarkIn Gardening, Permaculture, Portugal4 Comments

Finally we have water running on the land!
We got a borehole done about 3 weeks ago and the pump we already had was not the proper pump for a borehole and we realized we had to buy a new pump and have it installed and lowered done the hole. The same guy who installed our solar system also works with pumps and he assured us he could do the job so it worked out really well. We now have the pump connected to two water deposit tanks on the land and hosepipes for watering the gardens etc. So no more carrying buckets full of water for hours around the land every day from now on 🙂

Installing the pump
Installing the pump
Running water
Digging the hosepipes down
helping out with the digging
helping out with the digging
Digging the hosepipes down
Digging the hosepipes down

LOVE /Grow&Flow

No Such Thing As Waste

On By livlundmarkIn Building, Gardening, Permaculture, Portugal1 Comment

 

There is no such thing as waste.. only stuff in the wrong place

milk packets as pots
workbench made from recycled pallets
cardboard for mulch
hot compost piles, we keep turning them every other day for a month and then its ready to use in the garden
hot compost piles, we keep turning them every other day for a month and then its ready to use in the garden
hot compost piles, we keep turning them every other day for a month and then its ready to use in the garden
small plant nursery made from pallets
small nursery made from pallets
recycled materials
gift from the neighbor, a bicycle
2nd hand
recycled
chicken coop made from recycled pallets

LOVE
/Grow&Flow

birthdays

On By livlundmarkIn PortugalLeave a comment
Birthdayboy
morning walk
morning walk
morning walks
morning walks
happy family
only 5min to our neighbor restaurant with outside pool
only 5min to our neighbor restaurant with outside pool
rolling a barrel of water
harvesting cucumbers at out neighbors
harvesting potatoes at our neighbor
birthday boy
evening walk
evening walk

LOVE /Grow&Flow

Waterhole

On By livlundmarkIn Portugal2 Comments

We have 3 wells on the land but since summer started the water in the wells have been going down quickly and the neighbors warned us that the water would probably run out during summer. We have been using drinking water from the local fountain in the village and the water from our wells for watering and cleaning. In July we noticed there was only about 1 meter water left in the wells so it was time to sort out that problem.
Since we know we want to expand our gardens and keep growing as much as possible we need to be sure we have water available.
So just as we started discussing how to solve this a neighbor showed up who just happens to have a good friend who does bore holes for a cheap price in the area. So 1 week later they showed up, walked around with their stick they use to find where to drill for water, found a good spot and then came back a week later to drill the hole.
We were lucky and they found alot of water so we are very happy! Now we just need to get the new proper pump installed which will probably take a couple of weeks, and then we will hopefully finally have running water.

One of our 3 wells
One of our 3 wells
One of our 3 wells
Second well
Making the borehole
Drilling the borehole
Drilling the borehole
Hole full of water

LOVE
/Grow&Flow

Good Neighbors

On By livlundmarkIn Portugal6 Comments

We go to our neighbor to pick up sheep manure when we need it and he always sends us home with lots of fresh veggies, herbs and eggs from his quinta. So thankful for the nice people around us.

Gifts from yesterdays visit; salad, zucchinis, cucumbers, tomatoes, figs, eggs, seeds, spinach.

LOVE&LIGHT
/growandflow

The puppy

On By livlundmarkIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Our new family member is here, Biggie Smalls.

Our baby has moved in and he is the funniest cutest pup ever. He is going to grow huge and will have it so good here at the farm where he can run free while protecting and guarding us and helping out with the animals. We got him on the 1st of May when he was only just over 1 month old.

He is a mix between Labrador and Serra de estrella.

LOVE & LIGHT

/Liv, Anton & Biggie