mAkiNg oLiVe Oil iS aN aRt...

We had an amazing experience yesterday and I'd like to give you my full report about how Olive Oil is produced...
Unfortunately there are not many places, called "lagares", where we can take our olives, as it needs big and I guess expensive machines...so, it's not actually something we can make by our own...we got to see how it was made in the old days... but it would be still impossible for us to do it... and I still didn't research enough to know how would they do it even before any big machine... just for fun... I saw it's a complex process and lots of work...
so, let me guide you on a tour, as they did with me on the "Lagar" in "Sobral do Campo"...

the day actually started very early when the sun was not even up...after my short night taking care of Mischu, I woke up at 6am to leave around 7...it was freezing...literally...

it's only the second time this year that froze... I even had to clean the front window of the car to be able to drive...
So we went to pick up Tia Adelina (our neighbour ) who lives in the village...she knew the way, and we were carrying our olives together in the tractor of Mr.Antonio... I very nice guy who gave me the tour in the "lagar"... for him it's all same old same old...but for me was an exciting adventure and learning a lot about olive oil ...
So, here's Mr. Antonio emptying the tractor to a huge funnel where all the process starts...this is just next the first picture on this blog, where you can see all the big piles of olives...so beautiful !!! 

so, from the funnel they come through this thing...where they get washed and cleaned from leaves and other stuff...

then they fall on this big container that takes them into another machine...

here they are warmed and crushed... ready to go to the next machine... 

This one here throws the wast waters out...actually, all these waters go to a huge tank called "hell"...I thought that was funny...

And from the same machine, on the front side... the olive oil comes out... beautiful... all this with a process of hot water... and pretty complex systems inside those machines... this tools you see in front of the picture are the measures to take the olive oil out of the big container where it's dropped ...

And here are the huge (everything is huge, eh, eh) containers of the "lagar", where then they serve the clients who want to buy... but this is for the ones who sell their olives to the "Lagar", because others, like us, brought the olive oil from our own olives... :-)

This is the "waist" from the crushed olives...which is not actually a waist at all... nothing is a waist here... even in "hell", they still go there and take some olive oil out after another process...

so, this "waist" here is still crushed again and some week oil is still extracted, good for frying... and still after that...

...the dried "waist" is used for fire...on this stove that warms the water that is gonna be used for the machines that make the olive oil ...Wow... this is recycling :-)...

Here is the older Machine, with 2 huge stones called "Mó"... it's still working...they run it for us to see...

Here they would  be put in layers and that machine would smashed them...

But anyway...lets look at our own olives now :-)

being crushed...
Coming out in the last machine...
And here it is !!!! beautiful... and tasty !!!
Here they were filling up the containers for us to take...
This is all the olive we took... not ours, this is Tia Adelina's and some other people from Povoa de Atalaia that Mr. Antonio brought...

with our 200 Kl of Olives we took 30 liters of olive oil... 2 weeks work of me and Jared... and I still payed 25 Euros for the "Lagar"... I could have give them 6 liters of our olive oil, but it was not so much, so I thought it would be better to take all...

Tia Adelina payed Mr. antonio for the transport, and she wouldn't let me pay my share as I took the car she said... bless her !!!

And I still got a present from the owner of the "Lagar"... a bin to make our water heater...Hmmm... warm showers soon !!!
This was really cool too...actually, all the people there were very friendly... it was like a big family...
May God allow this work to continue for many years and many generations...they started 40 years ago this one...and many are closing because they cannot keep up with the demandings of the EU...
There is very good olive oil in Portugal, but we just cannot compete with the prices...
I guess we need more fair trade here as well...

MiScHu'S sUrGeRy wEnT FinE...

just to let you know that Mischu's surgery went fine...I took her early on tuesday to Castelo Branco after spending all monday fasting...she thought it was just a bad idea that I locked her in the kitchen all day... poor one, she wouldn't even guess what was awaiting for her... and I was so sorry for her...after a traumatising surgery (not because it went wrong), she had to spend one more day fasting, cuz she couldn't eat for the next 12 hours after the surgery...here in this picture it's her first time out of the kitchen to get some sun and do some pee... she couldn't get cold as well, so I wrapped her in lots of layers of blankets and let the fire on...

But I couldn't just leave her alone on that situation and she could need something in the middle of the night...

so I moved in the kitchen with her and she slept with me under my sleeping bag :-)

she did need me in the middle of the night...she was starving...so I had to feed her at 3 am... and she kept trying to walk around  even though she barely could stand on her feet...poor Mischu... I'm so sorry for her, but I still feel it needed to be done, otherwise she would spend all her life pregnant... and I also think 70 Euros is a bit too much for it... it should be for free ... Oh well, I hope she'll get totally fine and recovered...and I hope I'm doing the best for her...

another thing I don't particularly like is that I need to give her shots everyday :-(

, and I never did it before...it was scary!!! I hope not to do anything wrong...
In January I need to take Sambo, Duma and Pula too :-(

tHeRe'S mOrE fAmiLy iN dA NeIghBoRHOoD...

me and Jared just had an amazing Sunday ....it was also our "holiday" from the olive picking work...finally we finished all the work and we'll be taking the olives tomorrow morning...
But on Sunday we got to go on a trip to "Moses" to meet a family, the Winter 's...
They got my contact through Mike Love, a friend of Emma, who heard from her about the Mount of Oaks...I also met him in Palestine last year, and he's also one of the 2 guys who lent us part of the money to pay for the land on time... So when he heard the Winter's wanted to go on a tour in Europe with a van, he told them about me and that we should connect...
So, the Winter's left London some months ago, starting an adventure that would eventually lead them here...they just didn't know it then :-)...well, they actually had no idea of where to go, as they only picked a map one hour before leaving London after having everything packed... they only knew they wanted to find a piece of land where they could move in and live in a self sustainable community with other people, preparing a resting place with many gardens for people to enjoy, contemplate, meditate, etc... as Vonetta is a yoga teacher, they would also like to set a yoga retreat place, as their idea was to be together with other couples and singles who also teach Yoga... they thought they would find some land in Italy, but once they got there they didn't feel that was the place...so they thought about Portugal...
eventually they got stolen in Bilbao and they lost my contact, but some weeks ago I found their blog again and wondering where they could be I went to check it out... for my amazement and surprise I found out they have already found their land, and amazing story of "coincidences" that you can read in their Blog ... I got amazed not because they found a place, but because they were just on the other side of the mountain, a bit more than 1 hour by car from us :-)... isn't that funny and amazing !!!
So, I was even more curious to get to meet them...and I felt all those "coincidences" were no coincidence at all :-)
we had an amazing time... they are Andrew, Vonetta, with 2 beautiful children, Joshua and Eloise, and Michell, another yoga teacher... They went to show us their land , "Moses" (which in Portugal has nothing to do with a name of a man...it is simply the name for more than one "Mó", which is a huge stone that grains cereal)... but that's also the name of their amazing dog...who kinda led them all there...he must be a prophet dog :-)...before they departed they knew Moses would lead them to the "promised land"...and that's why their blog is called "poop in europe"...I found that name great !!! but the whole story is in their Blog if you want to read, so I don't write too much here...
the place is simply beautiful in itself, but they have amazing ideas to make it even more beautiful...Vonetta is a gardener too, so she can't wait to start making beautiful places everywhere in the land... it's huge, 3 hectares with plenty of water, and bordered by too streams of rivers... simply amazing...it's in a valley with lots of trees as well... it has few stone ruined houses that they will restore, and Michell has another house too...there is another couple who bought the field next to it also with some ruined houses, so they have a bunch of places :-)... They want to restore that for themselves and then work out a way to build mud huts for people to come for the yoga retreats or other things... there will be a place, that will be a kitchen where everyone will eat together... the place where fellowship will happen, where conversations will flow between people from different backgrounds, cultures and belief systems...that's Andrew's dream...
These are all dreams so far... and I totally believe they're God's, coz that's what He's been putting in the hearts of so many of His children throughout the world...
I'm excited about all this... coz I know what God starts He also finishes...and He's definitely starting something there as well... as He already started here... so near :-) so interesting !!!
after seeing all the lands we were starving so we went to a cafe and snacked something before we could go to the restaurant and have dinner... on the cafe we met all their new friends, 3 young couples from Oleiros, the nearest village... very nice people who have been helping them since they came... very nice fellowship time... it was like we new already for long time... we shared a lots of stuff, we drank, we eat, we laughed together, we drank , we eat... and so the night went on... it was nice to hear more about Yoga and Christianity, and how many times they are so misunderstood and rejected by other Christians who are so afraid of things they know nothing about... I found it great and very exciting, and I believe many christians can learn so much out of things they feared for so long... after dinner in the restaurant, we went back to the same cafe, their friends were back there too...so we kept talking, eating, drinking , some were playing cards, laughing, eating, drinking ... we're being family :-) ...till it was time to go back home...
it took us about 1 and a half hour...wow, we'll definitely see each other often...
we actually might go back on friday coz they're giving a party for their friends there and would love us to come...they will be leaving to London next week, and take care of their things there...selling house, etc... and wish to come back around March...
I came home tired...but totally satisfied and my heart was filled with thanksgiving for this wonderful new friends ...

a DaY WiTh pApErwOrK...

I spent the whole day in Fundao (a city nearby) to take care of the paperwork that was still missing to finally finish all the process of the land and have it in our (White Stone) name... and also to pay the tax for the car and to pass it from Paulo to my name...
so, I went back and forth... from department to department...getting stamps here and there, paying i(n my opinion a lot of money) for a piece of paper... and being sent again and again, back and forth from one place to the other... Fiiiu...
still, in the end there was one more thing missing to finish it all...
oh well...I'm just glad I don't need to do this sort of things every day...I rather spend the day working hard on the land than dealing with papers and people that think I should know all about what I am doing... but I cannot complain about people actually... they were all very nice...
And speaking about nice people...I just met a wonderful family this sunday who are also moving to an amazing piece of land just on the other side of the mountain that surround us...but I'll try to write more tomorrow, as I need to spend another full day in the city... I go to Castelo Branco, because I"m taking Mishu to be sterilised :-( ... well, she just can't have kittens all the time... in January I'll also sterilise Duma, Sambo and Pula... it's a lot of money, but I guess I need to do it, even though I don't realy like the idea :-( ... but otherwise we'd be overpopulated with cats...

LeO tOLsToi ...

I 'm reading this book which I'm finding amazing...for few different reasons...
first it was from my grandma, as you see in the picture, it has her signature and a date, 1949...wow, that's amazing by itself....to read something my grandma read so long ago...she's dead by the way...
another amazing thing is that it is a romance, which is not at all my kind of reading...but because it is Tolstoi I thought it must have something better than simply romance...and it's true...he has an amazing way to describe people in a social kind of view that i like... I'm still on the beginning though and it's captivating...
and last, what amazed me was his own introduction, more than 100 years ago, with this quote from Coleridge
" He who begins by loving Christianity better than Truth will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity and end in loving himself better than all"
wow... provoking isn't it ?!!!
Maybe some who will read this will call him heretic like the religious people of his time...
actually his introduction is mainly a defence from many letters he received by the same religious who accused him of many things such as "old devil" ..." you will end up like a dog in eternal torment" (well, I wonder where this guy got this about dogs)...etc...it's not worth it to mention more...but I'll just leave you few more things Tolstoi wrote afterwards defending some of the accusations...
" I renounced the Church that calls itself Orthodox. That's absolutely right.
But I didn't renounce the church because I rebel against The Lord. I renounced it, on the other hand, because I wanted with all the strength of my soul, to serve God."
Interesting isn't it !!! This guy was far ahead then, than are many people of today... who seem to think less than in those days... maybe that's why !!!
But anyway, I can also say I don't agree with everything he said, and I feel he didn't really experienced the supernatural side of God...
so , just to finish my observation, here goes the end of his introduction (all this being a rough translation...sorry ) :
"I started by loving the Orthodox church more than myself: then I loved Christianity more than the Orthodox church; today I love the Truth more than anything else in the world. But, so far, the Truth and Christianity confuse themselves. I declare myself as christian; and it's through the efforts I make to conciliate my actions with my beliefs , that I live in peace and joy, and it is in peace and joy that I walk towards death" (1901)

a lot to think about maybe!!!! this guy has some things to say... even today...

oLiVeS hArVeSt aLmOsT dOnE...

Man...I've been trying to finish this post for 3 days...uploading pictures can take so long sometimes...
we're almost done with the olives... besides the ones who came for my birthday, it was mainly me and Jared who picked all the olives which took us almost 2 weeks, and now we're just separating some to make conserves...
due to the flies who made some damage not many are perfect for conserves, but most of them are good for olive oil :-)...

we had much fun picking the olives from the trees... and so much work as well, but I particularly like it a lot !!!
even the kittens would join us :-)
they must have think we wanted to play "cats" or something :-) ...
Jared would climb on the trees and I would go with the ladder to the most difficult ones to reach...
now Jared knows why he trained so much when he was a kid :-) and he can tell his grandmother who would often freak out about it that there was a reason for him to climb trees :-)

This was on my Birth day, all guests helped to sort some good olives for conserves :-)



That's our harvest...all these basins... and the fridge in the back is full as well :-)...we have 2 qualities of olives, the black ones and the big green ones...

This is what we're doing now... separating some good ones for conserving... this day was soo cold that we made it next to the bonfire :-) eh, eh...
we're also listening the podcast book of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain...it's very cool !!!
And our Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (the dogs) also joined us to listen :-)
latter on our neighbour Adelina who was also picking olives, brought us some nice sardines for our lunch... perfect !!!
little delights of the country side... :-)

...mOrE oN cReAtiOn...

I posted last time about the groaning of creation... which actually developed a loooong chat... I actually spoke about things to come...things I hope and long for ... and God not only shows us the groans of creation, but He also presents us glimpses of the redemption that is to come...what we all long and hope for...what creation itself also longs for...
...I'll just post the pictures and add some comments to it... well, I guess words were not even needed..
this first one is Violeta with Sambo...aren't they sweet !!!

"The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox."
Isaiah 11:6,7
Isn't that a beautiful picture !!! That's what awaits us !!!
O.K, a cat and a dog is not exactly the same as a lion and a calf... but still ... :-)

Sambo, Pula and Duma...they love washing each other...so funny !!!

these are olives in one of the trees we picked these days...more on that on next post...

this is an amazing leaf I found...aren't those colours amazing ?!!

And these are our flowers blooming in splendour on the verge of winter time !!! Go figure !!!
despite all the wrong things we see around...God is still the Creator... Marvellous and Splendorous!!! the One who makes things that are not as if they were already...And He can still surprise us every single day ... in big things... or in small details... look around you !!!

I leave you with a thought to meditate on... a sign I saw in Castelo Branco... a quote by Gandhi...

“You can tell the greatness of a nation by how they treat their animals."
Interesting !!!

pUnK rOcK iN CaStElO bRaNcO...

I couldn't help but thinking that Miri and Edi should have been there :-)...
me and Jared went yesterday to Castelo Branco to watch a 4 band punk rock concert...Gang Band Cowboys , Hepatite P and 2 others I don't know the names...all local bands...
Lopes, one of our friends who live nearby invited us to come along ...it was fun!!!
I couldn't understand any of the words (which most of people seemed to know), and the sound was not the best, but hey, it was a punk show, eh, eh...it was up to the name...eh, eh :-)
but I just enjoyed seeing that group of young people who seemed not conformed to the world that has been presented to them...some might just have been following one more fashion wave...but some seemed very honest in their contest...not only by the way they were dressed, by their piercings or hair style, but I could feel an honest shout raising up from the depths of their souls :

"WE ARE SICK OF IT ALL...Fuck the system...I don't want to be part of it"... sorry for the word I used, but I purposely didn't want to use the "F" with 3 dots... coz I don't like when we avoid saying it when we actually mean it...and I guess it's hypocritical to use replacement words... and that's something this kinda youth is not... they are often frontal and honest... and that makes them being lots of times misunderstood...
they're looking for something different...like Bono would sing " I still haven't found what I'm looking for..."...
unfortunately they don't find any alternatives nor role models, so they discard their frustration by getting drunk, taking drugs, having sex, or simply shouting for all those who want to hear : "Fuck the world" !!! with that they also might end up fucking their own lives too, as well as others sometimes...
But among all that I could see something even cooler...they seemed to be a family... maybe a reflection of the longing of their hearts as they might not find that in their own homes...yes, let us not be naive... their homes are also part or victims of the system as well...


And suddenly something got my attention...among young people shouting, moshing, drinking, dancing, banging their heads back and forth, I saw 3 others, 2 boys and a girl, a bit older but not that much, with the same kinda vests... it was written in portuguese " Generation +...with you in the night "... what was that all about I figure?... one of them had big long hair and seemed to know some others who were there...they would offer him drinks but he would just nod his head like saying "I can't, I'm on service"... I was intrigued...they didn't seem like cops or anything...they were actually enjoying the music and chatting with the young people...so I waited for the band to stop playing so I could have the chance to speak with the girl without having to shout in her ear...
So, they are part of a group of an Organization
of social workers and psychologists who support young people... they just started this "night intervention" in september, they go to concerts , bars and discos and they are there available to those who need their help... they have a van outside to support them, where they offer alcoholic tests, condoms, pregnancy tests, HIV information, flyers about drugs and its effects...and if those young people are interested they have daily care of counselling and psychological support if they needed... she was telling there are a lot of young girls who want pregnancy tests and councelling about sexual relationships... last week, she said, they met a young guy who took some "bad trip" and they had to stay with him at least 2 hours till the guy was more conscience to realize what was going on...
Well, I was amazed with all that... and it made me remember the time I went with Juran to sell things in a "Technival" , where we end up taking care of the ones who were too high on drugs, making coffee to those who needed, offering a place to lay down and sleep, making lots of friends , etc...
I also had the chance to speak about us here in The Mount of Oaks and some kind of similar work that some Jesus Freaks do... she was interested to know more as well... and I do hope I see them again...somehow I felt this meeting was not a "coincidence"... I felt to support them somehow if we can... of course we don't have the professional skills they require...even though most of the Jesus freaks who come here are social workers anyway :-)... but we can already pray for them at least... as me and Jared already did on the way home in the car... I felt God was really pleased with what this guys are doing and wants to bless it and support it ... and I really felt God wants us to get involved... how, I don't know...maybe is just for us to pray...
Lets see what comes out of it !!!
I feel excited !!!
And I finish this post continuing to quote Bono's song...
"I still haven't found what I'm looking for...
I believe in the Kingdom Come
When all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well, yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds
And you loosened the chains
Carried the cross
Of all my shame
all my shame
You know I believe it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for..."


In the book "Bono for Bono" he said that this song is actually about Jesus and the kingdom He came to bring to us...available to all...he questions why he can't find God's Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven...that's what he haven't found yet...this world as it is presented to us seems to be so far from it !!!
Funny, didn't Bono started as a young rebel punk, influenced by Sid Vicious and others?!!! Look what he's doing now... fighting world poverty...speaking in behalf of the poor before presidents, going to Africa often to hear the people's pleads to know how to act ... influencing thousands of young people to become better persons in this world...actually fighting to see what he has been looking for...God's Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven...

So we need to fight for a better world... not only say "Fuck the world" but actually do something to change it !!! starting in our own lives...
Not only criticizing those who say "Fuck the world", but actually hearing their shouts and encourage them in what they are right...
I wonder if this is also what these kids are looking for ... I hope so :-)
I hope they find the right cause worth fighting for !!!

fEeL sPeCiaL & LoVed...

I was filled with thanksgiving as this thought was passing my mind... I am special, and loved !!!
Don't you feel that?!!! Well, if you don't I have to tell you that YOU ARE SPECIAL AND LOVED ...
yesterday I was celebrating my birthday, I'm 33 now... Wow, nice age !!!
Many people made me feel special and loved this day... many calls, messages, e.mails and also visits...
Marcia, her brother Junior, the Hurst family,(Denny
, Maureen, Alana and Isaac) and the Farmer kids, Noah and Eden, came from Lisbon... Juran and Nico came from Porto...
Thank you all...you made my day special...

Paula and Spencer Farmer were also on their way when their car failled them 20 Km from the land and wouldn't start...in the end, they were towed back to LIsbon and I picked up the kids on the high-way stop...bummer !!! After being a hero
, this car ended up failing... soooorry Farmers...

I got a call that touched me very much...my (natural) mom who is in Angola...well, moms always touch us in a special way, don't they?!!!she was saying how I was born 33 years ago in the countryside of Angola, in the middle of the war, in an hospital where everyone was too busy taking care of wounded people... it was me and my mom, no one else to assist...I was all dirty my mom said... oh well, what could we expect :-) eh, eh...
But I said trying to hold my tears...well, but I'm here now, and well...and then my mom said what most touched me... "yes, God really wanted you to be born"... Wow, yes, that is the truth... God thought of me even before I was conceived... He created me the way I am...
He protected me even when I was just for few months in my mom's womb and my parents went to some place to abort me coz they thought they couldn't have another child, specially when the situation in the country was not so safe for a child... But God didn't thought it would be a problem...He somehow manage to "disapear" with the woman who would eventually take my life...eh, eh, I like that part...and I'm thankful to my parents that on that moment decided to give up on the idea of aborting me....Finally God did provide a place for me to be born in peace, even in the midst of war... and after for all of us to escape to Portugal well and safe :-)...
I EXIST BECAUSE GOD WANTED SO...
And if you don't know about yourself I tell you : YOU EXIST BECAUSE GOD WANTED SO :-)...
(so, yes, I can't agree with abortion, no matter what the circumstances are...but I'll not extend this issue here anyway...)

I just want to thank God for my life, for the way He created me, for the family I have, for the friends I have, for the Spiritual family I have all over the world...people who are dear and special for me, and who make me feel special and loved so often...


I will just leave here now with a piece of God's Words for all of us:
a part of Psalm 139... THANK YOU GOD ...
" Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day. "


Heather and Colin also sent me this picture all the way from Tanzania :-) Sweet !!!
I love you all ...