Big storms in December brought us much needed water

Here in the Alentejo, after the big storms in December that brought us much needed water, temperatures are falling.

It's been a very cold week here. Each night, the mercury plunged to 2º centigrade making it cold enough to have white frosty fields in the mornings.

We are fixing up the house and restoring the field. We have plenty to do on both counts.  

In 2021 I retired and I set out with the goal of making a full time income from my 25 ha farm using permaculture techniques and tourism. And that is not easy because purchasing power comes from output, not money, and we are not working on a centralized, large scale cost efficient factory farm.

Anyway there was plenty to distract this learning farmer as we have managed to seed the land and implement the new aromatic field. Finally we planted 2700 trees and shrubs in what we hope to be a food forest in the next 3 or 4 years.  

You might be asking why I'm doing this at 68 years of age? In a nutshell, and particularly following the pandemic, I realized I needed to secure a localized healthy food source and build a family bolt hole. Most people who know me would say I was the least likely person to be a full time farmer, since for my entire adult life I have been a broker with no background in agriculture.

But actually my job description has not changed that much, because I have to spend more time dealing with people and problems than farming.

Life is a mystery and nature keeps her secrets meaning bad stuff happens but I do not know much about farming so I do not have to worry about the uncertainty principle. The biggest problem is, time and capital are limited, and it cannot be wasted.

It's going to be a complicated journey, but when the work is done we will have a working farm resort, with agricultural practices that are soil friendly in harmony with Nature, less susceptible to energy related events or health related or even regulatory related.

For now we have woolly Mangalitsa pigs, along with their cousins the Iberico pigs, ploughing the land as well as the indigenous Merino sheep and chickens fertilizing it. The idea is to produce a very limited quantity of high quality products. We are thinking about selling our products by subscription even if we don't have a reputation as organic farmers and you still do not know us yet. For now Vinagra Village is a learning experience and we are still figuring things out.