Tree Planting Minga - Planted over 700 Trees!
Wow 780 trees planted by 18 people in about 5 hours! Amazing! Well that’s what happened on Saturday when we had our first ´minga´ which is a Latin American term for a communal work party.
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There were 1000 oaks and cork oaks delivered from Mata da Magaraca on Friday…
It was a beautiful day with lots of sun and gorgeous blue sky. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was so much fun in the morning as people arrived, some we expected and others were a delightful surprise.
We were like a well oiled machine, some taking the trees out of the pots, soaking them in water, some bringing the water, others going up and down the hill, digging holes and planting, and some in the kitchen preparing chai and food. Everyone was working hard, the atmosphere was one of complete relaxation and lots of activity. What a joy to have so many people here working together, bringing laughter and light to the quinta while planting a heck of a lot of trees!
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the hillside was pretty steep!
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Armando and Isabella hard at work
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a well deserved chai break
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Isabella and Leen
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Carolien and Pete
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River and Leen using her head!
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Philipa got the dirtiest face award!
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finally time for lunch!
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check out the dirty faces! (Joanna, Chris and River)
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Josh and Veronica
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Clare, Joanna, Caroline, Emma and Philipa
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So THANK YOU everyone who came and helped us. At the end of the day, the three of us sat blissfully around the woodburner reflecting on the day. It was wonderful to have the trees in the ground in what will grow to be a beautiful hillside of deciduous trees AND it was equally as wonderful to have had so many friends here helping us. If you haven’t hosted a minga we highly recommend it. We would never have been able to do this job alone and when many come together in this way it not only turns a huge task into something manageable but it gives all who are present a beautiful experience of being together. If you haven’t been to a minga we highly recommend that also! You will have another chance on November 30th in Choa de Sobral. Joao is hosting a tree planting minga. We´re going and we hope to see everyone there! For more info contact Joao at joaovox@gmail.com.
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Love,
Cynthia, Pete and Jacqueline (the newest member of the Awakened Life Project and an awesome cook and chai maker!)
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PS: And a big thank you to everyone from Nina, Anita and Sammy who were completely exhaused by the end of the day!
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What a Beautiful Place to Call Home!
Wow, I just love our house! Today is the first day that I can actually say this wholeheartedly! It’s taken me a little while to actually land here and I hate to say this but it just hadn’t felt like home until I had actually cleaned it a few times and organized a bit. YES I know that sounds awfully housewifey but that’s just the way it is and I proudly admit it!
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But now that I’ve gone through this process I can say I LOVE THIS HOUSE with my whole being and I’m so happy and grateful to be here with Pete and all our furry family (who by the way are confined to the living room!). There’s nothing better than having the wood burner going with Pete next to me and all the animals curled up snoozing away.
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The other night we had an informal christening of the house and I think also of the project. We decided to have the weekly meditation/conscious conversation group at our house. We expected to be 5 people but we ended up being 10. As we meditated so much love and joy welled up in me to have this happening in our house! Simultaneously I also saw that we needed a lot more space! If you read my post in the About Us section then you will know that one of the reasons I want to create this project is to give people a safe and loving environment to just be. 4 of the 10 people in the group the other night had never been before and they expressed how safe and comfortable they felt just to be themselves. I have to say that I felt magic in the air, as if the Universe was saying, `See its happening just as I planned`.
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So as I sit here looking out the front door to the front and the veranda door to the side, I have no desire to ever be anywhere else. The autumn colours are still bright and beautiful to one side of me and out the front door I see Jacqueline’s house. Eusebio´s men are here working and they are like maniacs as they tear off the roof and throw old timber and stones out the window. It’s a wonderful contrast of still beauty and lots of activity. It won’t be long before I will be looking out my front door and see Jacqueline having a cup of tea on her veranda.
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If you haven’t read Pete’s post yet, go there now as he says a lot of things I would have said! I think he uses the word Love about a gazillion times and I don’t blame him a bit!
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So with no further adieu, here are a few photos!
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Love,
Cynthia
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…Our living room, we have a new couch but no photo yet, stay tuned til next update!
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…Living room looking the other direction.
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Kitchen -we still are looking for natural varnish for the stones.
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Kitchen stairs going up to lounge. Bathroom door in the back.
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The bedroom. Door in back goes to lounge.
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I will take more photos as we get the house more sussed out and post them.
Day of the Donkeys
We are very happy to welcome two new Project members who joined us recently. The skill set they are bringing is a profound ability to munch on just about anything, and yes that includes the ubiquitous brambles! They also assured us that they would provide copious amounts of top quality manure to help enrich the soil. On top of that, these guys are very lovely creatures who have had past experience being ridden for long distances, so when the oil wells run dry we will have the donkeys to take us into town!
So introducing Mingo and Nuno…
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Both boys, Mingo is 14 and Nuno is 7 and they have been together all of Nuno´s life. Trixie, an English woman who is a deep lover of donkeys, contacted us when the previous owners left them with her. With brambles constantly reappearing all over the quinta, and more neighbouring over grown land soon to be ours, getting donkeys seemed like a good idea as they are a bit easier to control than goats, although I would love to have a couple of goats later on for raw milk and cheese. But practical benefits aside I simply love donkeys, and I am already enjoying forging a relationship with them both.
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Getting them down to the valley floor of the quinta was quite an adventure, as they were not too keen on traversing the slate steps down the terraces. With Mingo, the elder, leading the way, we coerced them to come down the steps, and after much stubborn resistance, they final made their way down the first two terraces…
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That was until we got to the steeper steps on the third terrace to which Mingo firmly insisted no way and refused to budge. However, Yohan, Trixie´s partner called for a secret weapon and Cynthia soon brought down a large carrot which Yohan stuck in front of his nose!
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One step at a time he finally came down with Nuno behind, as he lovingly sniffed that carrot that was just beyond his grasp.
Finally we got them down to the valley floor which, surrounded as it is on 3 sides by slate walls, is a perfect area to keep them. Unfortunately Nuno the younger one was a bit stressed by the journey down and gave Ana a hard kick, when she came up behind him. Although it was quite a shock Ana soon recovered with a large deep purple bruise. Our dogs Nina & Sammy have been very curious about the new additions, and I think Sammy (who seems to be putting on a kilo every week) is astonished that there are some four legged folks around whoa re bigger than he is!
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Next as night was falling it was time to introduce them to their new stable, expertly designed and built by Danny (with myself as eco building apprentice) over the previous couple of weeks…
The donkeys need a dry space when it rains so we used some aggregate concrete blocks left over from the construction along with some wooden beams to make a hard floor. The rest was off cuts of pine from the local sawmill and corrugated iron for the roof. Nuno & Mingo were a bit reluctant to come in and check it out at first, but once I put some hay in there, they gradually ventured inside.
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Fast forward a couple of weeks and they have already munched their way through a huge amount of green and deposited a huge amount of manure, which I have been shovelling up as they go about their business, thanking them profusely to their bemusement. They are very sociable chaps and follow me around whenever I am down there, and also come and meet me at the steps as I am coming down. Usually of course they just want some grub, but sometimes they come over to say hello or thanks for the hay, and enjoy being hugged and having their noses rubbed…
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We have ordered some bridles and I am hoping to attempt to ride them soon and also I am looking around for an old plough that I could hook them up to and then I will see if they might help me get the bramble roots out and prepare some soil for green manure planting in the winter…
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Pete
No commentsTREE PLANTING MINGA!! All Hands on Deck Needed!
Mata da Magaraca (the local forest service) is graciously supplying us with trees! We knew they were going to give us some trees but today we found out they are giving us way more than we expected…1000 trees!! A mixture of Chestnut, Oak and Cork Oak, indigenous trees to repopulate the hill above Fraga da Pena and our quinta. They are coordinating with the Junta in Benfeita who is going to deliver them to us on Thurs or Friday.
SO the Universe has supplied us once again with more than we could have imagined and we are hoping that it will go one step further and also supply the people we need to plant them! So far we have about 11 people confirmed, we need more like 20 or 25.
So if you are anywhere close to our quinta and would like to come join us to plant these beautiful trees, we would most grateful for your help! If you would like to come please bring an enxada (Portuguese hoe) if you have one. We will supply soup, bread and salad for lunch. Any other food offerings (cakes!!) will be most welcomed. Also you will have the treat of walking through the waterfalls of Fraga da Pena, one of the most beautiful places in Portugal…
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These trees are small so you don’t have to have a strong back to join us! All are welcome! If you can come please email (pete@portugalproject.com) us or call at 966 333 187 to confirm. We start at 10.30am. Drive to Benfeita via Coja, then follow the sign for Fraga da Pena. When you get there park you car and walk up the trail alongside the waterfalls. When you get to the top trail, turn right and soon you will be at the Quinta.
Hope to see you on Saturday.
Cynthia and Pete
No commentsMeditation/Conscious Conversation Group Winter 2008/2009
We are now holding the Meditation/Conscious Conversation group at our house here at Quinta da Mizarela at 7.30pm Fridays. We have had an influx of new people coming which is fantastic and hope to be able to have enough of us to keep the flame of awakened consciousness burning through the winter.
As we are up in the mountains, quite far away from most places, if people want to stay overnight until Saturday morning, please let us know beforehand.
It is a precious joy to have people coming to our house to experience a depth of consciousness and communion together. It feels like the Awakened Life Project is birthing in our midst in mysterious ways, and all who are interested are very welcome.
Home Sweet Home!
I still can’t quite believe it, I have a home! Not a temporary rented place or dormitory or crash pad but a real home made of stone and wood with a veranda overlooking a breathtaking vista of verdant green. Utter tranquillity and no neighbours in sight, only the elemental embrace of this mountain valley and the neighbouring ruins of the quinta. Wow!
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It is amazing to see the transformation from the original ruin to our present abode:…
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The house feels warm, earthy and intimate. I love the vibrant colours of the slate stone and the presence of the mountain side that forms the back wall of our subterranean kitchen. I love the old gnarled wood beams from the original ruin that grace the ceiling. I love that the walls aren’t square and have curves and bumpy edges. I love the stable doors. I love the funky features like the stones showing on the rendered walls and the slate shelves for candles. Our clay paint colours have turned out beautifully and our big Danish woodstove is going a good job of making the place nice and toasty…
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I love it all really, it has turned out beautifully. Having this house built was a crash course in learning about all the factors that need to be taken into account in doing building ecologically and it is quite a challenging and complex undertaking. There are a few things I would have done different knowing what I do now, but the main thing is that it feels so good to be living in a house of natural materials with all the stones and most of the wood sourced on site.
It still hasn’t quite sunk yet that this is a place I can lay my very well travelled hat forever! And how amazing it is to be apparently “settling down” with no desire to go anywhere else and yet to experience it as a lift off into a whole new chapter of life and adventure.
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There is still some infrastructure to get sorted. We are awaiting our ram pump from the UK so that we can get our water system (and bathroom) hooked up and compost toilet is under construction, we are getting there…
Since Cynthia and Jacqueline returned from IKEA last weekend with our Land Cruiser literally jammed to the hilt with stuff, we have gradually been constructing some furnitureand have some lovely rugs for the stone floors. So now not only have I got the first house I ever had, but the first wardrobe (I guess I will have to get some more clothes to put in it now!).
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A few days after we moved in from the yurt we warmed up the house with a rousing jam session featuring myself, Danny and Donald on guitars. Donald and Kath we celebrating the purchase of their place in the next valley and it is great to have them as neighbours. I bought an amp especially as I could, at long last, plug in my Fender Strat!
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Then yesterday evening we had the most beautiful housewarming I could have wished for when we held the meditation/conscious conversation group here at the quinta for the first time. Instead of the expected 5, there were 10 of us in all, sitting in candlelight (no sun for a few days) along with resident dogs and cats. It was a powerful meditation and inquiry together, so thanks to Dave, River & Emma, Wendy (another neighbour-to-be), Joanna, Yassine, Leen, Filipa for coming and I hope it is the first of many such evolutionary happenings here.
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Love Pete
No commentsA Visit from Neighbours-To-Be…
We still had a little time to go for a brief visit to Quinta da Mizerela where Cynthia and Pete have been living since August, and were clearing the brambles even before they owned it. We happened to find their site as we googled Benfeita terraces, and it just happens that we will be very close neighbours. Their beautiful project is situated in the most magical of places, they have the whole valley above the water falls of Fraga da Pena, and have put so much work into their project, it is a very impressive achievement for such a short space of time. There Nature reigns with its breathtaking views and peace…
On the way passing through the beautiful water falls we spotted a red Squirrel which made us so happy.Once there we sat on a magnificent high wooden platform that holds a beautiful Mongolian yurt overlooking the valley. The place has its own “levadas”: irrigation channels that ooze the peaceful continuous sound of running water. The buildings are being renovated to look as they once did just better, there will be dry compost toilets, renewable energy is employed all around.
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On the way back one of their beautiful small dogs, Nina, escorted us for a while and then sat on the top of the hill with a wise & content look as a goodbye.
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Couldn’t be a more environmentally correct and sustainable project. A real pleasure to meet Pete and Cynthia, hope to go back soon for yoga and maybe learn more about meditation and a raw food diet.
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Until the next time,
Peace
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Joao & Clare & Django
A Heck of Alot Going On At the Quinta
It has been a vortex of manifestation over the last few months since we moved into the yurt on the Quinta in August. Not much time to write blog posts so this is a catch up post detailing some of what has occurred under the late summer sun…
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What a joy it has been to wake up in the morning gazing up at the beautiful mandala of the yurt roof for a brief meditative moment before being lovingly trampled upon by dogs and cats. OK time to get up!
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After a very invigorating morning dip under the waterfall, followed by chi gung and meditation it is time to meet the day…
So here are some snapshots of what has been going on…
Work commenced during the summer on Jacqueline’s house and the yoga/meditation/meeting room down below, and this project will continue later in the year…
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Our friends from the village of Pardierios Elsa & Joao came to work for a day and built us some steps down to the yurt with off cuts left over from the construction of the yurt deck…
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Much work was done on our house including beautiful steps of slate stone lovingly crafted by Eusebio and Juliano. As it turned out what they came up with was completely different from the design we had agreed on together, however they were in luck as it was far better and we were delighted with the curved design they had improvised…
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I wish I had had more time to build the house along with Eusebio and crew, so I was very happy to learn the fine art of stonefacing in slate when I assisted in the building of the shed for the solar batteries. Once again I learned that the secret to precise laying of slate stone was lubrication by ample cups of red wine and much laughter…
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Our funky tile design for the bathroom gradually took shape after much debate…
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And after a very, very long wait the windows and doors finally arrived…YIPPEEE!!
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And the kitchen units and worktop, which look absolutely fantastic…YES!!
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Strange that many of the doors had no outside handles…hmm how are we supposed to get in the bathroom from the outside?? Eusebio tells us this how the Portuguese do it; he assures me that the bathroom door is actually a window. Aha you mean a window that looks like a door??
After much research we finally purchased some clay paint, which Danny & Ana brought back from the UK on their way here. So as soon as it arrived we set about painting the rooms in vanilla, ochre and lemon with Danny, Ana and Jutta who joined us for an afternoon…Hmm and the paint smelled so good! In fact not only is it completely natural it will actually absorb any toxins that are in the air.
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In the midst of all that, the veggies were quietly maturing and despite a limited irrigation system this first year (i.e. carrying lots of water), we have had a good harvest of tomatoes, courgettes, corn, peppers, cucumbers etc…and all the wild greens and berries ripe for picking.
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This autumn/winter I am going to plant green manure crops and use Effective Micro organisms (EMs) to improve the soil for next Spring planting.
The sultry heat of summer has blended into a beautiful sunny, pristine clear autumn. Ringing blue skies by day and a breathtaking spangled canopy of stars at night, how I love the silent embrace of stillness and simplicity. The adventure continues…
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Pete
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Meditation & Conscious Conversation Group Time & Location Change for Autumn
The time and location of the meditation group has changed for October and November. We will now start at 6pm and meet at Dave & Suma´s house in Povoa de Midoes near Tabua.
Please call 235465290 or 918581467 for directions
Ask A Potentially Life-Changing Question: What Do I Want To Create?
Time passes. You listen more carefully.
Nothing happens.
So you say, “It’s not time yet, I guess I’ll get an answer when it is the right time.”
But what exactly were you listening for? That usually depends on your beliefs.
The voice of God?
A message from the “Universe”?
An intuition from the Subconscious?
A clue to be divined from World Events?
In some form or another all of this can be boiled down to I WILL RECEIVE A SIGN!
This is a strange situation, because the question, again, was: WHAT DO I WANT TO CREATE?
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To really answer this question requires a leap into the fullness and limitless horizons of one’s own Self. It challenges us to stop looking outside for confirmation. It challenges us to become truly independent. It challenges us to become clear about what we truly want at the core of our being.
There is a New Age “spiritual” approach that appears to be the same as this. It goes something like: “I can create any reality I want. The Source of my creativity is the UNIVERSE, and I listen for all the messages the UNIVERSE is sending me, so I can know which direction to take and what to create…”
People may find this philosophy more empowering than going to church every Sunday, but it’s still buying the same trip that the religious traditions have fed us. What does that mean? It means people are getting their most important directions “from above.”
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This myth of the omnipresent G-O-D “out there” that holds the keys to the kingdom has got the planet into quite a mess. Priests came along and said, “We’re here to tell you what’s happening ABOVE US. We have the word. We have the message coming from Above, and we’ll tell you what it is, so you’ll know what to do. Meanwhile, give us your loyalty and all your money.”
And now here we are in the 21sh century, and people start claiming they’re free from all this, but most are still inventing, and putting their faith in, some ultimate security blanket and myth of their own that….does what? Gives them messages and intuitions and clues and signs about what they’re supposed to do. People cling to these kinds of woolly beliefs as to lifeboats in a storm.
The Old World is crumbling. It is going down like the Titanic. We are living in Tipping Point Times and the Times need YOU!
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They need to us to throw out the myth that we are somehow separate or other than the great ALL, IT, OR ENTITY “OUT THERE”!
To step off the cliff of the world of known patterns into a new world of crackling possibility we need imagination, passion and the courage to act on our dream for a new humanity and a new earth. Creative action breaks open dormant areas of the self and sets us on a magical journey of discovery and manifestation.
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Then there is a quickening, a life-force, a vital energy that is transmuted through us into action. There is only one of you in all time and space. Your expression is unique and Life is a vast canvas waiting for your contribution to its unfolding.
If not us, then who?
If not now, then when?
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