Place
Place
Monte da Vida is located close to the village of Aldeia das Amoreiras in the district of Odemira, in the Alentejo Baixo region of Portugal.
The Alentejo is known for its gentle hills and open rolling plains and the traditional montado land-use system of cork oak and holm oak trees combined with animal grazing. However, here in this part of the southwest Alentejo, the hills become steeper and the valleys deeper.
Monte da Vida is hilly, with many cork oak trees, some old and some very young. There are also lots of olives, some pines, some eucalyptus, and a range of other trees, including many old fruit trees along the main valley where there was an old abandoned orchard that we have brought back to life and greatly expanded with the planting of many more fruit and nut trees. South-facing dry slopes are dominated by pioneer species such as cistus and broom, as well as lots of wild lavender and other aromatics.
It comprises 3 properties: Pêro Cavaleiro (34 ha), purchased in 2013, and two neighbouring properties comprising 60 hectares that were purchased in 2023. These are now merged into one property.
Ecological context
The climate of the region is typically very dry for a large part of the year, with summer temperatures reaching up to 40 degrees Celsius and mild winters. Most of the yearly rainfall occurs in the late autumn to late spring.
Drought and fire are big challenges in this region which is in a process of desertification caused by climate change and years of landscape degradation due to human impact. During the dictatorship regime of Estado Novo (1933-1974), these steep slopes were planted with annual grains, which exposed soils to the burning summer sun, and the strong winter rains caused erosion.
In later years, subsidies to plant cork oak trees have helped to slowly regenerate some areas, but planting eucalyptus was also encouraged. Eucalyptus offered a quicker return but creates a more arid landscape and greater risk of dangerous wildfires.
Social context
It is an area of low population density, with an ageing local population embedded in rural life.
More recently there has been an increase in the number of foreigners choosing to settle in the area. Many are interested in sustainable ways of living, adding a dynamic energy and new potential for the area. Some younger Portuguese people are also choosing to come to the area and to embrace this rural lifestyle too.
The older generation remembers the dictatorship years when the villages were full, but life was tough. People toiled through the hot summers, tending the land by hand or with animals.
It has always been an area of rural poverty, but a strong local identity and culture still survives, particularly through music. The Canto Alentejano is a style of choral singing; local choral groups are still very active and sing of the rural life both in the past and present. This powerful singing style is deeply moving and a source of pride for Alentejano people. It still brings people together of different generations and is performed regularly at local events, as well as impromptu gatherings in the local bar. Most people know the favourite songs and can join in. It has been recognised since 2014 by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
There is still a culture of neighbourhood co-operation and gifting surplus to others. Regarding the influx of foreigners, it is mostly regarded as positive by the local people, as there is now more life coming back to the area, more children in the village school. It is a delicate balance though, as ‘gentrification’ pushes up prices and will inevitably change local life.
Nature, Peace and connection
The land at Monte da Vida offers stillness, clean air, a clear sky with low-light pollution views of the heavens, silence away from the mechanised, internet-connected world, and an opportunity to connect with nature. Over the years we have been deepening our relationship with the land and co-creating a space that supports meditation and transformation whilst doing our best to act in ways that support its regeneration and invite more diversity of life.
The land at Monte da Vida offers stillness, clean air, a clear sky with low-light pollution views of the heavens, silence away from the mechanised, internet-connected world, and an opportunity to connect with nature. Over the years we have been deepening our relationship with the land and co-creating a space that supports meditation and transformation, whilst doing our best to act in ways that support its regeneration and invite more diversity of life.
We are creating sustainable rural enterprises, that offer more ecological alternatives to the extractive business model of monoculture plantations of eucalyptus or pine.
The land at Monte da Vida is also a place for luxuriating in stillness, breathing clean air, and connecting deeply with the earth. We provide space for contemplation, appreciation, and rest, and for allowing the transformative and regenerative impact when we enter into a deeper relationship with nature and recognise that we are nature too!
Apart from in the older forested areas, the slopes tend to have poor rocky soils. There is much scope for regenerating the land to a new level of resilience and abundance. We have been increasing the biodiversity on the land by introducing many more kinds of native trees and shrubs.
During the early years here and we have began by recovering many of the old fruit trees in the valley and planted some more with the aim of creating a perennial food forest.
Then in 2022 undertook a major project to create several food forest areas. This included major earthworks to transform a dry eucalpytos monoculture, the creation of terraces, ponds and swales and the planting of thousands of fruit and nut trees, and support species.
In the areas around the food forests we planting thousands more dryland species to reforest the rest of the eucalyptus area.
We have been increasing water retention capacity of the land, in order to help in its regeneration, to safeguard against drought and fire, and to create micro-climates for more diverse growing opportunities. We have begun creating a water retention landscape, which now has two lakes, a large storage tank at the top of the hill, and a pumping system. We are now able to capture a large amount of rain during the winter and pump it to the top tank for a gravity fed irrigation and fire hose system. (Read about this here).
We have also made swales and small ponds in s strategic areas, to prevent run-off and allow for more of the winter rains to sink into the ground.
Land regeneration
Our vision for the land here is to gradually return it to a state of abundance, with high biodiversity and healthy soils. This vision will financially thrive, with the abundance of the land being reflected in our own abundance, so that we are able to do our work in a healthy and balanced way. We also wish to make an impact beyond our boundaries, and so in order to encourage other land owners to manage their land in a regenerative way, we need to show that there can also be financial returns, and other benefits from managing the land like this.
Since becoming stewards of the land at Monte da Vida, we have taken a minimal intervention approach. We initially cleared a few areas of heavy brambles using a machine, but subsequently seeded them with a mixture of rich grasses, clovers and wild flowers. Otherwise we have cleared some of the land by hand using brushcutters and scythes, or by letting our neighbour graze his herd of animals (goats, sheep, cows and horses!) in areas where there are no young seedlings they can eat. We have also pruned many of the old fruit trees which were languishing and have now started to produce fruit again.
In 2014 we began working with a group called Eco-Interventions on a plan for ‘Accelerated Natural Regeneration’. At the end of 2014, Tobias Wolfert, the director of Eco-Interventions did a complete biodiversity study of the whole land. This included mapping wildlife corridors, and leaving a infrared camera by the waterhole in the far valley to capture footage of wildlife visiting by night.
Monte da Vida is mainly plantation cork oak forest of different ages. The older more established areas can be enriched and made more resilient by planting more varieties of oak tree (other than the cork oak), and by introducing more medronho, hawthorn and other small trees. The younger cork oak forests will benefit from the introduction of native understory plants which will crowd out the brambles and cistus that currently dominate.
The wildlife camera recorded many species of birds, as well as some interesting larger mammals such as mongoose and genet. The other wild mammal that is very evident in the area is the wild boar. We have one valley on the land that we are leaving as a wildlife conservation area that provides plenty of rich habitat for the animals and birds. Unfortunately the waterhole dries up in the summer, but our plans for a series of lakes will offer year round drinking water.
We are aligned with the Eco-Interventions approach, which is to make the minimal intervention for the maximum effect, by working with nature. For example, by focusing on the easiest areas first (the areas with the most water in the ground, where young trees are most likely to survive), the new vegetation can start to establish itself and gradually expand up the slopes; and by studying the land and seeing how the birds and the wildlife are already helping to spread seeds, we can make sure to preserve wildlife corridors, and to create more corridors connecting areas of denser vegetation.
From the biodiversity study it was possible to work out a plan for which plant species to introduce, and in which locations. Native tree and shrub seeds were collected from nearby areas, and seedlings brought from the Eco-Interventions plant nursery.
Over the course of the winter, work began in selected areas. Firstly the brambles and bracken were hand cleared and mulched. Wildlife refuges were created from pruned tree branches.
The cleared areas were seeded with lupins to help prevent the brambles from regrowing and enrich the soil, and young trees and understory shrubs were planted.
Looking ahead
Our plan for the land includes several different zones, and each of these zones will play a role in a diverse and integrated mix of natural native forest and analog forest.
Conservation zone – comprising Meditteranean mixed oak forest and Riparian Forest
Minimum human presence and intervention.
Possible outputs: selective harvesting of cork, acorns, wild herbs, mushrooms.
Area for meditation/ contemplation, connecting deeply with nature.
Transition zone – Analog forest comprised of plantation oak, medronho, mixed amenity woodland for firewood, construction, coppicing, nuts, mushrooms, cork, wild herbs.
Dry Meditteranean Forest Zone Area of poor acidic soils, south facing.
Carob / Almond /Olive / Fig mixed with wild lavender and other wild herbs.
Food forest
In the main valley – with chestnuts, walnuts, fruits, forest garden perennials
Areas in early stages of Regeneration
Cistus, Wild herbs, Broom, Heather, Brambles
We are currently working with Eco-Interventions on the details for this plan, whilst concurrently assessing various innovative options for forest-product businesses in alignment with a regenerative economy.
Our priority for the coming year is to raise funds for the creation of two lakes, and a water storage tank at the top of the property so we can massively increase our water security, and have abundant water for irrigating young trees. You can read more about the plans for the lakes here.
In the meantime we plan to focus our efforts in the coming winter on planting more fruit and nut trees in the main valley that is the dampest area of the land, and will require little or no irrigation.
We will also experiment with planting more carob and almond trees on the drier slopes, and will procure some Groasis Waterboxxes or Cocoon’s we can plant a number of trees in dry areas without needing to water them.
Water
One of our earliest plans for the land was a lake. It took a few years to get the permission and funds together, and to choose a good team to make it, but in summer of 2017 our first dam was built. Now as I write in 2019 we have this lake built, plus a second smaller one in the adjacent valley that we made last summer.
As you can see from the image below, this lake is located in the centre of property, a heart-shaped body of water introduced into the heart of the land that nourishes the land and nurtures its inhabitants.
The dam collects water from two water lines and a large area of hillside. This hillside is very eroded with very poor soil and sparse vegetation. By retaining the water in this area it prevents it all running off further down the valley. Over time, this will help create a more moist environment in this area and will accelerate the regeneration of these slopes and allow for planting of more trees.
The lake and its benefits
The design for the lake includes a circulation system with a solar pump. When the sun shines, water will be pumped to a pond higher up the slope, from where it can run back down the slope to the lake as a small stream, oxygenating the water and helping to keep it clean. Even though the lake has still not filled to the top, we have started planting native water-loving plants around the lake edges which will also help clean the water with their root systems.
Since making this lake, we not longer have to cope with our annual water crisis. We can use it for irrigation in the summer, enabling us to increase our production of fruit and vegetables. During dry years we will not need to fear if the wells run dry, as we can also purify the water from the lake for our domestic use.
It will also provide a habitat for aquatic plants and animals, and provide a source of drinking water for birds and animals, increasing the biodiversity of the area.
The increase in humidity created by the lake and the vegetation planted around it, will take the edge of the heat and dryness of the long summers, and so reduce the risk of fire. The lake also provides a supply of water for combating fire.
Last but not least, the dam provides us with a place for swimming and recreation in the hot summers, and and will increase the beauty of the land for our sensory enjoyment.
Our water story
Dry summer
It has been a very dry summer. Our drinking water well was very low, and we have been on a very low water usage policy since the end of July. There were several fires in the area over the summer. Water security has become our number one priority.
We have been unable to go ahead and build the dam this year due to the planning approval taking a really long time, and lack of funds. So our priority for the coming year is to raise funds for a complete water retention project that we can build in Autumn 2016.
We now plan to build two dams, the one in the picture above, and another one below it on the main water line, which has a much bigger catchment area. We will also build a large water storage tank at the top of the property. We will use solar pumps to pump water from the bottom lake to the upper lake and then up to the water tank. With this system we will be able to capture much more of the winter rains, and will have an abundance of water for all our needs over the summer.
From the top water tank we will be able to irrigate anywhere on the land, allowing for a much higher survival rate for planted saplings, and so accelerating our forest regeneration plans. We will also implement a network of fire hoses and sprinklers to offer potentially life-saving protection in the event of a fire.
Blog post about lack of water
Clare wrote a blog about our lack of water…..
Permissions to build a lake
We have now been granted permission to build the first lake and work has already started preparing the area by moving olive trees to a new location. Work on the dam excavation will begin soon…..
We are also building a 25,000 litres ferrocement tank on the hilltop and work has already started to prepare the site. The tank will be completed in early March and will be connected to the fire protection and emergency water system.
We are happy that this summer we will already be in a much better situation with water than the previous two summers.
The dam is complete!
Delays from the construction team meant that the job was postponed until August, and then it took about 4 weeks to carry out the work. Although the dust and noise was sometimes a challenge, they did a great job, and now we have a very large hole waiting to be filled by the rain (which is yet to arrive).
We still have some final pieces to complete such as the overflow channel, and landscaping around the perimeter. We also kept some piles of good clay for building, and topsoil which will be used in tree-planting holes around the edge of the lake, and for creating terraces in the area between the lake and the main house which will become an aromatic and medicinal healing garden.