dOcUmEnTaRy oN tHe LaNd…

As I said in my last post, we had Tiago here to visit us for 5 days to make a documentary about the community, or the vision for it…

 
It was really nice to get to know him and it was pretty relaxing the way he filmed during the days…I usually don’t like those things, but he made us all feel comfortable from the beginning…

He wanted to get an idea of what this community was all about and how a normal day would be…
Of course that was hard… What is a “normal” day? we don’t really have a strict structure of the day and they can all be very different… I guess he got that…
He also helped us with the works on the land…especially digging the water pipe under the ground and cutting the hay we have everywhere…
I believe he had fun with us as well, and we all liked him… a very special and sensitive person…

Everyday we would have really interesting conversations at the table… actually, lately we’ve been having really cool subjects to speak about… I like that…
We’re now all curious to see the result of these 5 days in his documentary… This is going to be only for him and for the producer of this Portuguese film… The movie seems to be a big production and it’s about 2 surfers, brother and sister, and somehow one of them goes out of the “surfing culture” and competition, to join a community where he’s somehow transformed…

That’s why they came here, because they heard about us through the Uhlers who are surfers in Lisbon… 

I hope Tiago got what he was looking for and this documentary will somehow help the production to know more about communities, and why some people still choose this way of living… 

Even if we are in such an early germination stage, I can already see so many lives have been transformed in so many different levels just from living close to nature…

Some found out new things about themselves, some met themselves and God for the first time, some met God in a deeper way, others got refreshed and rested…I believe we’ve all been transformed in some way…

“So, does this community serve God?”, it was one of Tiago’s questions…
“-yes.”, I didn’t hesitate in my reply …
I guess he understood the main reason why we chose this lifestyle

mOrE cOoL vIsItS & fRiEnDs…

I´ve been having many different visits lately, and that's also why I haven't been having so much time to post anything here...

I have a lot of things to do online...and usually I feel overwhelmed just thinking about it and then I'm always leaving it for tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow... 

today,is tomorrow.

does it sound familiar to any of you, or is it just me ?

 I only have around 3 hours of battery in the land, so I had to come to the village and I'm now in a cafe to charge it...

Let´s get back to the visits...
Soon after Miri, Willi and Angela had left, me and Danika didn't stay by ourselves for so long.
Anne came from Dresden to spend some months and help us here...

She also came to take some time to be alone with God and get refreshed ...

It's been a real pleasure to get to know her...I only met her once, early this year, in a "Connect Europe" gathering... she’s a painter and just finished her art studies… she also wanted to experience living in a community, and I believe she's having nice experiences already...it's so nice just to share life with others and grow together...

Danika has been here already for a while, but soon she will have to go... we've been having so much fun... we´ve had some very good laughs... I'm also so glad to get to know her...she's amazing!!! We've been having really cool conversations as well, not only laughing, but really nice life subjects and really nice prayer times... I love to hear her singing to God …

Two of Danika's friends, from her work in Duisburg (social work), came to spend some days with us as well...Anke on the left corner, Sonja next to Danika on the right... it was really cool to meet them as well...We also had really nice chats about different subjects...

While they were still with us we got more visits… “Brother Tom” , the “urban monk” from Scotland… the pilgrim on The Way… in this picture he is next to a pack full of books we got as an offering by mail…

and here we all went to take him to the train station when he left…
Tabea also came with Tom, but only stayed 2 days because she had to keep going on her inter-rail trip…but I don’t have any picture of her to upload...

In these last days we had a visit from Tiago (on the left in the picture, with the Sheesha), a very nice guy who is working with a Portuguese film production, and came to make a documentary about the community in the land… but I’ll write more about that in a separate post… we all enjoyed his time here…

We also met 2 new friends who live nearby, Pedro and Marco (mentioned in the previous post), 2 amazing musicians of Irish music… the girls went to Castelo Novo that day to visit and on the way back they hitchhiked because they were too tired… then these guys stopped, and they came to the land for dinner… in the end they delighted us with their amazing music around the fireplace…

eXpLoRinG tHe sUrRoUnDinGs...rUrAl pOrTuGaL...

We've been having the opportunity to take some days out of the land and enjoy the beautiful places we have around us... it is really worth exploring and getting to know more from the people as well...

This is indeed a beautiful part of this country, filled with history and presence of many different peoples : celts, lusitanos, arabs, romans... villages with castles, beautiful dams and rivers, amazing rocks and mountains ...

When Willi was here we had the chance to go with his van, but we've been invited often by Nuno, our neighbor friend who is now used to come for the weekends... he loves nature and he's so glad to show us the places he grew up in...we also met some other guys from Fundao, Pedro and Marco...they play really good Irish music and also enjoy nature, specially fishing...
Enjoy the pictures :-)

getting ready for the trip up the mountains of Serra da Estrela... the water is so nice here, and we can find springs everywhere...

going to the top of Serra da Estrela, almost 2000 meters high to spend the night after watching a nice concert with Terrakota , some of my friends from Lisbon...

nice sleep... in front of the beautiful lake... 

Having a nice breakfast with a wonderful view and landscape...

Monsanto, the most typical portuguese village it´s said...

On the shore of another nice dam where we went to swim and fish with Pedro and Marco...in Idanha-a-Nova...


Tom was having a hard time getting this fish...

Then we found out why... it came together with a tree... do fish grow on trees now ?!

And how good they tasted later, on the coals at our fireplace in the land ...

This was last night in ALPEDRINHA, one of the villages nearby...it was amazing to participate in the local party, with many street artists and lots of food and local traditional music...




So much richness in this little country ...
but still, young people just complain that "there's nothing going on"... I wish we could do something about it ...

MiScHu'S KitTiEs...

Look at them ! sooooo beautiful ! I have to give thanks to a special friend, my little sister Heather who named 2 of the kitties...
So the white one will be called "PULA" ,which is the name given to white people in Angola ...
The stripped one will be "SAMBU" which is the name the Maasai call anything stripped which has no specific name...
And the black one will be "DUMA" because Heather likes the name and means Cheetah in Swahili... perfect!
I was a bit worried some weeks ago, because Mischu took the kittens out in the first place...but Danika found th new place which was cool as well...it was the "tipi" Juran built to smoke his goat skins... The first place was getting too many visitors, so I understood her.

Yesterday, as I was coming back to my house in the woods to sleep (past midnight), I heard this little kitten crying behind my bed... It was one Duma... what about the others?!! What about Mischu ?!!! The kitten didn´t stop crying... hungry I supposed... and I started to be worried as Mischu was not answering my call... so after a while I decided to get some milk from the kitchen and check for the other kittens... They were at the tipi... But Mischu was still gone... 

I started to be concerned  and as I tried , not so successfully, to feed the kittens who were screaming in my ears and desperately trying to suck any milk from my hands, and no MIshu to be found... finally I gave up waiting and tried to put the kittens to sleep in my sheep skins...I guess they gave up as well... around 4 or 5am I woke up again with their desperate cries and I could do nothing more than praying...so I just asked God "please, you know where Mischu is now...tell her to come here..."
...and it didn't take 5 minutes, Mischu came running... I was soooo happy and relieved !!! Mischu ate some food and fed her children...and they all ended up sleeping next to my head on my bed

gOod-ByEs :-/

Miri left yesterday, after around 9 months here at the land... And also Willi and Angela who were here last month...
I'm often used to people coming and going, but this time was a bit more sad...










here's Willi, he took one kitty from the neighbour's cat, he was so excited with it...

It's a sad and difficult part of this yet itinerant community, because we really get close to some people and it gets hard to say good bye!

I'm here with Danika now and Anne from Dresden will come tomorrow... Emma will also come around August, hopefully with a van full of nice friends.. but I'll leave that for next time ...my battery will die soon ...
Bye !!!

Mischu had kitties !!!

They were born on the 7.7.7...Look at them !!! sooo beautiful...one totally white, one totally black and a striped one...
I am so proud of Mischu... she came to me while I was around the fireplace to show me she was not pregnant anymore... then I asked where she delivered them and she started to walk as if she was saying "Come and look!" I was so excited !!!




she chose such a cool place to have her kittens, a very undercover little cave...

A nice, cozy, highly protected cave behind this rock... she even covered it with straw to be more unnoticed... I loved it !!!

I gave a name to the white one, Pula , that's what Angolans call white people...
The others I will ask a special friend to name them, my little sister Heather Borden who is now living in Tanzania with her parents.
I'd like you to ask Heather to name the black one, and I'd like to know the Maassai word for "Tiger", as maybe that would be a nice name for the striped one... 

jam&wedding

I'm in Lisbon now, just came for the soooo expected wedding of Maya and Miguel...
For those who know them, they know what I mean... they dated for 4 and a half years till they finally stepped into this beautiful commitment...
It was so nice to be with them and lots of other people I haven't seen for so long...
It was a nice and relaxing wedding, with some cool surfer's traditions as they are both from that "tribe"
The picture is not that great...

I took them some nice peach and plum jam that Danica made the day before... they're delicious I have to say !!!