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The Land is ours
On the 22 Feb 07 we signed officially for our land. This was a BIG day for us.
It means that it now passes into the hands of the people who are sharing the land.
We are not owners individually but together. This helps us relate more to the land
as caretakers, less as a thing we possess, and also we are better able to help
each other and work together.
We are learning from and working with the nature and our neighbours,
the people who work the land in more traditional ways and are here for many
generations. The natural resources we have from the land include the
materials for building, food and plants for medicine, spring water, fire and
"burro power", help from our animals!
The Association is registered in Portugal and offers us the following:
Our land is protected for the future. It cannot be sold individually into
smaller plots just as long as there is some one who wants the eco-village
to continue,
People can buy in or sell their share and move on,
Everyone who joins us and lives here shares in the decision making.
-We hope it can be a good example.
==>If you want to know more about our example of sharing
land we can provide a legal model of our Association and are happy to help you.
Inipi Purification Sweat Lodge Ceremony - Spring Equinox
On the same day that Jennie and I signed for the land, 22nd February,
Mike, Jose and I participated in a traditional Lakota INIPI Sweat Lodge Ceremony.
That was a day to remember.
On 25 March we made a Sweat Lodge here on our land.
Coincidently there were 11 men and 11 women participating in this Lakota
purification, more transformational event. Jo and Ali, Jennie and I, as neighbours
and many of our friends joined us. Remo, who led the ceremony, lived with Archie
Fire Lame Deer of the Lakota people as his teacher. We made a traditional 8-star
wheel Lodge with the children and all the adults together.
This marked a new beginning for us, just after the Spring Equinox, that can help
us really connect to the earth and to each other. For me the Lakota deeply
understood that "we cannot own the land or the sky... what we do to the web
of life we do to ourselves". For this event to take place, it was also a miracle,
as many people brought the things we needed at the last minute. For other
miracle is being so privileged to be on land we know we cannot own but can learn
how to take care of it together.
==>If you are interested and would like to join us there
will be a 4 day INIPI Sweat Lodge Ceremony in February 2008. Send us an email
and we will put you on our mailing list.
Home Sweat Home!
After two years building, often with the help of neighbours and friends,
Jennie and I spent our first night in our new home - moving in over the Equinox.
This is a big event for us, marked with resounding applause it seemed to us, by
thunder and lightning over head which had the street light switching on and off
and the phone ringing intermitently for several hours! We celebrated the event
with our friends Lee and Sarah, sharing a fine dinner of earth-oven barbecued sardinhas.
We are very happy, not least because the cost of the rebuild, for the restored
half of our house so far, is less than €3,000 - proof that the recycling, low-cost,
do-it-yourself approach can achieve wonders!!
We spent €1,500 on labour with local traditional skilled help,
Two windows and a door cost the most at €1,000, from a carpenter who has made
them in the Alentejo way.
We‘ve 4 new floors, of which the slates and bricks came free from field and an old foudry.
The rest we spent on essential material costs and of course the big saving was made by our own labour.
We have a beautiful traditionally restored home with timber from our forest,
cane in the ceiling sourced locally, as with most all the materials. The Yurt was a
practical starting space but the house is a turning point for us and Jennie is
"muito content".
Neighbourly exchanges
In a good neighbourhood what do you have? Being aware of others needs
and helping out and being helped in return. After a while this creates community,
a common bond, even identity. When we have this, problems become solutions and
we can go forward together. If we only have ourselves to think about or if we‘re
waiting for someone else to "sort it out", nothing changes.
Does goodwill and neighbourly cooperation get the job done? Yes it does but the
limiting factors of how much time one has, and availability of material resources
and money, can impact progress. Quite often one simply has to rely just on oneself
to get the job done, but sharing tasks can make the work and life go easier.
Jo and Ali arrived almost a year ago in a large blue truck. It got stuck but with some
encouragement then got sited semi-permanently nice and level in the gateway right
by their house. Naturally it took us a while to find our levels too as this was the first
time we were really sharing the land together. "Norming and storming" got us into
"group forming" and now there‘s an understanding and trust that goes deeper than
most neighbours get.
Back in March, Jennie and Jonathan got started rebuilding a new roof and with Jo and
Ali recycling countless "Tilhos", old curvy clay tiles, plus skilled help from Joao Rosa,
a local specialist in traditional building, good advice from Joao Cabral and his wife
Eugenia who often donated buckets of oranges or veg, the roof got done
"um telhado novo em cima de nossa vida"
"a new roof over our lives", an old local saying goes.
When Ali and Jo installed their water supply, our donkey loaned them a hoof by
ploughing a ditch to lay pipe between two hills from water tower to water tank. Then
they turned on the power for their electricity supply for lights and ‘wi-fi‘ internet,
Jonathan was able to buy in the solar kit at trade cost and get their 400 Watts of
panels wired into a bank of 400 AmpHour batteries that Ali had brought over from the UK.
Jo + Ali: "We have been living at Arco-Iris for 8 months now. Shortly after we arrived
we became involved with re-roofing of one of the houses here. Watching and working
alongside a traditional Portuguese craftsman was a valuable and enjoyable experience
we look forward to repeating on our own house.
"We decided to build a Community Shower block based on the framework of a
temporary building originally built for the "Vida Verde" Green Gathering in 2005. We decided
amongst ourselves to modify the framework and rebuild it in "wattle + daub"
finished in a simple lime plaster. This method is fairly labour intensive but uses
materials we have readily available on site. We assembled a team of neighbours,
woofers and visitors for the bulk of this job. Despite being hard work it was lots of
fun and a great way of meeting new people interested in living a more sustainable life.
It has been a real bonus to discover that the things that are important to us are so
much a part of Alentejo life. Alentejo is a beautiful, dramatic, uncrowded county
largely untouched by commercialism and urban sprawl. It is steeped in the traditions of a
world not yet lost."
. . . even so we observe the times of change rolling in. As the traditional world is
threatened everywhere by the modern commercial onslaught we see locally the same
dramatic signs of pressure and conflict.
An old goat-herder‘s looks out from his house by the main road to see massive drainage
pipes being installed up to his front door. Apparently he built his family‘s home
some 50 years ago but, like many Alentejo houses, it was never registered and
worse, he doesn‘t own the land but rents it from the bar-owner across
the road. So on the official map, his house doesn‘t exist. Photos went to a Lisbon
journalist and perhaps the local powers have seen sense – the pipes are now
appearing to be diverted around the walls of his house.
Along with European road expansion we see are seeing new lots going up, speculative
development for possible house building, and fine old beautiful traditional houses
being demolished. Fancifully, one such lot is called "Estrada da Nora" or "Road of the
donkey well", except the well, a large fine construction, has been concreted in.
Visitors, Friends and Family
Silvestre and Patricia are a young Portuguese couple who contacted us from their
hostel on a West Irish island. They were running the hostel for a year as
European Service Volunteers. Silvestre was completing a
Permaculture diploma and helped set up a
sustainable food project for the Islanders. After attending a Eco-Village
Design course at Findhorn, he came to live at Arco-Iris for a couple of
months before setting up house in our nearby town of Odemira.
Silvestre knows practical lo-cost building, got us started on the Wattle+daub shower
rebuild by tossing loads of mud in a tarp. One idea that‘s really effective for building
partition walls out of pallets, infilled with an insulation, and simply plastered in lime.
Woofers Luke+Stacy from Scotland and East coast America, Claire from London,
Paul from Canada and Tasha part-Yugoslave American joined us for several
weeks on the Shower rebuild marathon. Lots of energy goes into woofing activities.
Residents are challenged to drop other tasks and play host. Woofers are an amazing
mix of adventurous spirits often on a world quest, truly a great way to discover
what‘s "out there", get to meet "interesting people" and get some useful experience.
If you‘re reading this you guys, a Big thanks for all your help!
Living on land as we do with an endless round of seasonal tasks, woofers can be
like the cavalry arriving to get the things done. But they need feeding and sometimes
they don‘t work or don‘t have experience, and so there‘s time involved in training
and guiding. We realised too that, as neighbours, accepting woofers is by our
own choices and we have to look after them and budget individually.
Emma and Stuart are an English couple touring for a year with their two
delighful children, Chasby 4 and Billy Blue, just 1. They live in twin-yurts and a fine camper.
They spent a month here and proved to be the most self-reliant
well-sorted family we‘ve met so far. Lots of practical help given in exchange for a variety of
Alentejo‘s best from donkey riding, Atlantic and river trips, local
festies, earth-oven pizza and rocket fired hot tubs under the stars!
"Thanks for being very excellent hosts... you have a good spirit and a fantastic
place", is what they said about us.
==>You can read of the Goodwin‘s Adventures on their blog:
http://web.mac.com/goodwinsworld/Web/Site/Blog/Blog.html
Emma and Stuart‘s adventures are about family creating a new life.
When my daughters and son stayed for August we enjoyed an intensive series
of magic moments. They probably wont forget the high-speed dash down the
river on an inflatable banana boat with the driver doing everything he could to tip
them in. Or learning about bees with our bee-keeping neighbour and that a bee
sting aint so bad but the honey is so good! Or taking out the donkey and cart by
themselves, and camping together by the river. Or jumping of a 9-metre rock into
a fresh water lake in front of Portuguese onlookers!
Growing up can be good and, as I often say, "we‘ll get there together".
Woofer Crew |
Goodwin family |
Kids eco-travel |
Economics & Eco-Villages
The "economy of the group" creates the means for meeting the people‘s needs. What‘s
special in an eco-community is that we can more easily create our own possibilities,
energy and resources, and if we need it, our own means of exchange, a currency
or credit, or just plain helping each other out.
This is possible only when we have first found our way individually and can stand on
our own two feet, being in a new land probably relying on savings to start with, and
making contacts and connections for work to develop.
This last year I‘ve found it a hard slog, working on land designed for 3+ families,
splitting time between house rebuild and land tasks and earning enough to live on
for two. Our savings have bottomed out but we are doing okay, my solar work is
reliably bringing in the money for the basic essentials of food and materials. So we‘re
independent, we‘ve crossed the bridge. Our house rebuild is just about ready for us
to move in, mind you that is half the total project, more to come next year. We‘ve
deliberately set ourselves the task of doing this the local + traditional way, occasionally
with paid help when skills are needed. Using our own timber for the roof, earth in the
walls and recycling local sources of tile and brick has saved us a fortune and the
results are, we think, a delight. To be honest, if we had loads of money we‘d loose
out, cos‘ "the journey is the fun part of getting there", just going out to buy it and you‘d
never know what‘s under the surface of it all, or what it takes if neighbours and young
ones want to go the same way.
Jo+Ali started fresh, and got things going quickly. Ali is a metal-smith and can turn out
fancy fire-places to Viking shields, even big-scale installations for exhibitions. A Block
making press was sold and he‘s in demand for turned-around bike-ploughs – a local
speciality. Things take time and go their own pace. We‘d say it takes at least a couple
of years to get financial stability in a totally new land. Right now, they are back in Blighty
earning a good wage, "so I can spend all that lovely money back in Portugal".
Other Eco-Aldeias (eco-villages) in Portugal have shown us another way of practical
economics. For example, two native friends of our, Jose and Andre who helped rebuild
our roof last year, lived and worked for a while at Quinta da Cabeça in the north of
Portugal, where they operate an exchange economy; hours of work in exchange for
accommodation, food, or when extra hours permit, credits that can be exchanged as
currency or as Euros. Arco-Iris has adopted a similar exchange method. At Cabeça they
use "Raizes" or "Roots". Here we are using "Arcos". But as with woofers, we can only
handle this when we are in credit ourselves and can budget for it. It‘s down to the neighbours
personally. For us who live here, we simply tend to help each other out without keeping a
credits account, but responding as best we can when help is needed.
==>Read more on Arco-Economy at ... and
about Quinta da Cabeça at: http://quintacabecadomato.blogspot.com
Exchange Trading as help between local friends, giving days of practical labour in
exchange, and between eco-village groups has worked well. Ali and I installed a solar
power supply with a sun-tracker and 800 AmpHours of batteries, for Nelson at
Terramada eco-aldeias, who has designed our new web-site – all labour cost-free!
Hopefully you are reading this newsletter from our new web site in
progress - mastered by Andre!
News from
Terramada ("the loved earth") eco-village project, near the SE
Portuguese border with Spain, however was not good: Up for Sale! After many years turning a desert environment into a beautiful
oasis of green fruiting trees, the French couple Gee and Genevieve have
put the Quinta on the market.
Nelson Avelar, who has moved Permaculture on in leaps and bounds in Portugal, has
lived there for around 1 year, involving schools and doing great work. Sadly, despite
all their efforts, no one has, as far as we know, accepted their offer to join them.
Nelson‘s fine example has been an isolated one. It seems there are so few people ready to make the commitment to
live the life that dreams are made of. Is this a question of finance, when so few who would make the
choice have any? Or is it self-determined belief, when so many want
someone else to do all the work for them. Is it the location, an isolated
corner of Portugal with difficult access? Or is it the way the Association is set up for shared ownership?
As far as we know the local Council‘s attitude has not helped at
all - providing legal obstacles against the existing and needed
small-scale use of water damn landscaping which is otherwise a total
inspiration and of primary importance in a country facing desertification!
Burro-power + Bee-people
Our donkey, we affectionately call "Senor Romão" is a working animal. He finds his
place, as we do together, in cooperation. He doesn‘t do so much work mind, fetching
water from the Spring, ploughing or clearing ground once a year if its really necessary,
more likely taking folks to meet friends or go to the cafe in the cart. We even go shopping
sometimes to the LIDL supermarket.
Learning from and being accepted by our neighbours is one of our unsung joys. Many
people in Alentejo are still leading traditional lives founded on skills and knowledge handed
down through generations. Accept they may be the last, as the young ones prefer the modern consumer option.
The donkey is a social connector for us to the traditional life. When our neighbours
accept us they begin to share what they know, and believe you me, if we knew just some
of what they know instinctively, we would be in good stead for our lives. To imagine that
we can forget 100s of years of practical wisdom just by relying on machine technology
for a much shorter time-span is a folly of our ignorance. The way of the donkey is already
9/10ths a sustainable lifestyle. But the way of machines has taken us to the limits of
ecological destruction.
Harvesting our honey, spending time with Bees, working with a local old bee-keeper and
becoming friends is like putting gold on the plate, except you cant eat gold! Something
I‘ve wanted to do but needed a home first, a good bit of land and the right opportunity.
Soon we will have 20 bee families, mostly in the traditional cork hive, nestling nearby
the forest on our land (more on this next time).
Now there are a group of friends, who are keeping bees for the first time, and
not suprisingly also like donkeys. We have formed an unofficial Association called "Amigos dos Burros",
friends of the donkeys, at our friends Wilfreid + Martina‘s Quinta da
Vistosa. Under the slogan "Amigos, Burros and Community" we
have a new
web site and a blog
spot where you can find out more.
With a little help from our donkey, or "burro-power" (BP, or "beyond
petroleum"!) we are finding a middle-way, a balance between practical
wisdom of traditional ways and modern techniques like PermaCulture, no-dig
gardening, use of renewable energy, adobe and lime building, irrigation
and recycling.
==>Enjoy a week travelling and working with donkeys, experiencing Alentejo
culture, traditional home-stay and a way of sustainable living? To find out more about Amigos dos Burros, Bee-people, and our
holiday workshops - check out:
www.rainbowcommunities.org Click on "Sustainable
Life Skills Workshops"
and also visit:
www.rainbowcommunities.org/AmigosdosBurros/Index.htm
Are you ready for eco-living?
JOIN
AN ECO-NEIGHBOURHOOD in the making - Looking for a sustainable way of
life?
"Quinta
Arco-Iris residents warmly encourage enquiries regarding opportunities to
become a community member. Are you self reliant + wanting to live
sustainably? Land purchase share of 4 hectares (10 acres) available with
planning permission for construction of permanent dwelling(s) using natural
materials such as straw bale, rammed
earth, or ‘earth-ship‘.
A full-share is valued at €45,000
approx. £31,000 and can be a single or shared purchase. Long-term
visitors also welcomed.
There
is a natural spring, bore hole, surrounding woodlands of pine, fig, olive
and almond trees, a beautiful vista, with supportive neighbours and
potential abundance. Residents with diverse skills happy to support. The
way you wish you could live is here and now."
==>Email
‘ecolife@rainbowcommunities.org‘ or phone (00351) 961 252 349.
Founding principles
When Jennie and Jonathan first moved to this land inspired by the ideas of an
eco- neighbourhood we asked some deep personal questions. What does it take for
people to share resources and live peacefully and creatively together? What can
identify our common ground? In short there are some common principles we seek
to live by and uphold, these being:
- Open community so open communication,
- Trust, sharing a common aim to live more sustainably,
- Self-reliant but cooperative minded.
None of us are wizards at this. We can work most every-thing out together when
we speak truly and openly, checking we understand each other so there‘s no
assumptions or blame. It‘s like investing in a common bond or bank of goodwill;
our dividend is a greater trust and motivation. We get to look out for one another and
we see in each other a shared sense of happiness, that this is the right place to be,
and dreams can be made that are bigger than "just my own".
Core inspirations
What
inspires is personal for each of us, and can be like the roots for our
individual journeys, just needs a little water and good soil to grow. We shared our
thoughts using the "eco-village questionnaire",
and together these are like branches of the same Tree - an eco-neighbourhood!
Having
been brought up in a small village farming community gives me the
advantage of knowing what works and what doesn‘t. "When the going
gets tough the tough get going." (Jennie)
I believe people can be co-creative, when people are free in themselves,
from societies dependency culture, and we are learning how to do this, how
to respond to real needs. We
are moving out of isolated awareness of ourselves into a more
‘group-minded‘ sense of who we are. We have the potential to more consciously create together a better
way of living when we let go of self-seeking agendas and identify with the
larger life that lives through one and all.
* * * Check out TheElders.org - a
turning point + a great inspiration ! (Jonathan)
Needs & Offers . . .
-
Would you like to help with Portuguese administration of Aro-Iris Association
and teach us "como falar o português"? Exchange for visiting and living at
our quinta or small renumeration possible.
-
Gardening and Building - Working Holiday Woofers or long-term Visitors are
welcome. Please enquire to confirm opportunities and arrange dates.
CINVA RAM Adobe
Block Press - for Sale
We
have an Adobe Block Press for making large adobe blocks. If you need a cheap
way to make blocks from compressed earth for
wall building this machine can easily make 50 blocks or more a day. You need an earth
mix of caly and sand. We add up to 10% lime to make hard durable blocks that are
very pleasing aesthetically.
Price:
Euros 900.
"Save
your back" Garden Bike-Ploughs, Gates, Fireplaces and all metal work:
Contact: Ali Burgess <watertiger@hotmail.co.uk>
See also Rainbow
Traders web page.
Solar Energy
Systems
+ Kits for Electricity, Water Heating, Underfloor Heating, Pool Heating
supplied and installed. Products and environmental services, including
Bio-composting Toilets. Contact
Jonathan Evelight, 967 337 994. See also Rainbow
Traders web page.
Internet Hosting from a green environmental service provider,
Greenisp.net or
Email service@greenwebhost.net
Pure woollen hand spun garments made to order: Contact Jennie
961 252 349. See also Rainbow
Traders web page.
CINVA RAM Adobe Block Press |
Solar Tracker at Terramada |
Jennie‘s Jumpers |
Future Living
IS
Creative Living
IS
Living Sustainably Now
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Neighbours bear fruit
Residents - Ali, Jo + Jennie
22/02/07 - Official signing!
Working with donkey
Shower rebuild - before ...
... and after
Prickly pear sealant
Aisha‘s Water Art
Banana boat chase!
Mains water drains threaten traditional house
Preparing cane for a traditional roof interior
Traditional ceiling ...
Traditional ceiling
Recipricol roof - idea for out community centre?
Planting spuddies
a fair crop
Bike Plough!
Walking with donkeys
Donkey trecking
Working with Bees
Honey making coop‘
Woofer work
Rammed earth demo
Terramada‘s Tree nursery + Nelson Avelar
The traditional art of ...
Setting tiles
"Mais tilhos!"
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