It all started with a simple challenge when a family bought an abandoned land and challenged themselves to transform it into a paradise.
The abandoned land was arid and no one would think to live there, but this family saw the potential to revive its beating heart.
This idea is years in the making. As a family, they always wanted to live closer to nature, and buying the land was the perfect opportunity to turn their idea into reality.
Their goal in this challenge was simple, to create an abundant sanctuary that sustains the local wildlife, their family, and the land.
However, the real challenge is starting the dream. The land is three hectares wide and is located in the hills of central Portugal which has hot and long summers, and short and mild winters.
Even though this area is known for being dry, they found an old hand-dug well. This is exactly the foundation they need to turn the place back into a thriving oasis.
They created a design for their vision and armed with its blueprint, they rolled up their sleeves to turn their vision into reality. They laid out all the puzzle pieces and fit them together to see the bigger picture take shape.
The first piece of the puzzle is accessibility. They created new roads by turning dirt into driveways. Paradise might be a great idea but it’s not so much fun if you can’t get there after deciding on the best place.
Eventually, they decided to build their home in the area. But they lacked a bit of flat space for the house. With bare hands, it took them a lot of sweat and digging to remove stubborn shrubs and flatten the soil.
Building a house would not be complete without additional facilities. Thus, they also built a vegetable garden, an outdoor fire pit, and a place where they could hang out.
If they want to settle in the land, there should also be a water source to sustain life. Water is scarce in the land and there is only a fair share of water from rain but it’s not spread out evenly. Thus, they created a system to catch and store water during rainy seasons.
After securing water systems, the next thing is solving the source of their organic food. They started their next project – a food forest. Armed with a shovel and a big axe, they created a food forest along the newly built roads.
To make the food forest even better, they also built a dam and a spillway to sustain the forest. To make it look like a forest with lush greenery, they dug several dozens of holes to plant trees.
They also created a protection shade and biomass to improve the soil over time. For them, it’s beautiful how the act of planting trees can feel like they’re investing in the future. They can imagine these trees flourishing into a lush canopy, offering shade, shelter, food, and habitat for birds and wildlife while improving the aesthetics and ecological balance of the land.
Next was to capture and slow down rainfall and let the water sit gradually into the soil. To solve this, they created swales. The swales not only recharge the groundwater but also ensure that precious moisture is conserved and channeled to where it’s needed most.
With their installed water systems, they rolled out the pipes and connected them to the heart of their system – the well. They placed a pump in the well, installed an algae filter, and connected it to a pressure tank. They also strategically positioned water taps, and installed drip irrigation on the trees, and the foundation of the systems quickly became the arteries of this project.
They’ve been working hard to implement their design in their first year of construction. However, as they reach the summer season, the heat makes it impossible for them to work. Despite the heat, they still wanted to pull off one final project – adding new friends in the area. They introduced ducks to their new pond and built a safe sanctuary for them.
Ducks do not only add life to the family’s new home, but they’re also great partners in pest management, and weed control, and they provide a lot of eggs. They remind them that intentional coexistence is where the magic really happens.
Later on, they also added chickens in the area. For their family, chickens are amazing additions to any homestead, providing a steady supply of fresh eggs and occasional meat perfect for their self-sufficiency goals.
As the heat of summer made it impossible for them to continue implementing their design, they were forced to spend large parts of their construction days close to nearby lakes and rivers.
Although they anticipated it to happen, they admitted that they were not completely prepared because their goal has always been to bring back a raw piece of abandoned land rather than starting with a property where the main infrastructure of a homestead had already been installed.
For this family, every choice they make is driven by a desire to create a space where abundance and beauty coexist in symbiotic harmony. From the swales that capture rainwater to the food forest that mimics nature’s generosity and from the vegetable gardens that provide nourishment to the animals that have become part of the family.
Today, they reap the rewards of their labor – the abundant homegrown foods that fill their place with satisfaction and nourishment. They know that the story of this once-abandoned land is far from over, just as nature evolves and adapts, so too will their landscape continue to transform in the upcoming years.
