sPeAkiNg oF DiVeRsItY...

Look at our diverse group, ready to go to the village party ...
I assure you we were not dressing up (the other day some of us enter on a shop and the guy thought we were dressed for carnaval), but we are naturally like this ... punks, freaks (I don't like the word hippies, in Portugal we use the word "freaks" ) and a gentleman , all in one family living in the same place...

We went to the village because the Mayor Sr. Rodrigues invited a band who plays the  Accordion ("Acordião" in portuguese) to come and bring some joy along the streets, and he invited us to come along too...of course we wouldn't miss it ...


we had great fun, and even Lyna took her "poi's"  and danced along with the musicians...they would go walking in the streets and stop at every cafe for a break and a drink...
Unfortunately Chimerre and Violeta fought again and Violeta was seriously wounded...

she's fine now but I had to go to the vet with her... Pula also got sterilized this week, but it was no problem...the next day he was fine...I guess his worst nightmare was to stay 2 days without food...

Anyway, Lyna went back home with Chimerre, and we kept on watching the musicians...

Maren started to dance with one of the old ladies ...

and then the old people from the village couldn't hold themselves ... more people started to dance...

here is Sr. Rodrigues, on the right, who called these musicians and also joined the party... he is a nice man...

sEe yOu sOoN WiLli, Jo aNd dAvId...

I'm a bit late with my news, because I haven't been having the time to blog or reply to my huge list of e.mails...

After Cathy and Emmanuel, Emma and Juran also left...and the last ones to leave were Willi, Jo and David... They will come back though, because they are already part of the flow of the land ...

Here's Jo and Lukas with the rotavator... Jo and Willi explained all the stuff to Lukas and now he's in charge of the rotavator and the chain saw...I have to say that he's doing an excellent job... he's very responsible, dedicated and always excited with his tasks... I'm glad he's here with us... he's like our little brother as he's the youngest...

In the meantime, Ton came and he has been a blessing as well...
he's now well established in his "magic mountain" as he calls it, and he has been a good help in envisioning the trees in the most harmonious places possible, so they go along with the natural landscape that is already presented... he's our oldest and wise brother... Actually it's really funny to see Ton and Lukas hanging out together... it's good to see how different generations, cultures and subcultures interact together in this place ... just like the diversity of trees we're planting ...

mOrE PiCtUrEs fRoM nEw yEaR...bY eMmA cOwAn...

I Haven't been on it when it comes to take pictures...so here are the ones Emma sent from her time here...

The kettle is ready, coffee is on the way !!! this kettle was given to me by the Borden's...


Isaac Hurst and his self made bow...

Ben and Martyna also came from Lisbon with the Hursts...

Maureen Hurst and Marcia...

Emmanuel chopping wood...

Willi, always busy with something...

Cathy preparing her bath with eucalyptus leaves...

Gloria and Marieluise...

Me and Emma... I love this friend...

Marcia and Lyna...

Lyna and Emma...

Lukas getting his hair ready for the new year party... I love him !!!

Our new year barbecue !

Maren's refuge place... 

Marcia bringing grass from the oak forest...

Emmanuel and Juran making the "sweat lodge" (sauna)

Juran cleaning his sheep skin...

That's Cathy...always ready to serve and work ... great picture!

Maren with her stylish look with Juran´s hat ...

Juran and Cathy...beautiful smiles!



When the big bus finally arrived... we were in awe !!! so cool !!!

Juran being funny in the supermarket !!!

I went with Juran, Emma and Marcia to see the trees we'll buy for the land...
We met this amazing man, Sr.Fernandes, who has been working in this place for 26 years taking care of these amazing trees...

The place (from the Government) is going to be shut down to give place to some business people who will turn it into a "Medronho" plantation (strawberry trees that make an amazing schnapps)... unfortunately the local people who work here will lose their jobs, and this amazing trees will be destroyed ... so now , they are trying to sell as much as possible, at a very cheap price ...
It was amazing the way this man was telling the story of each tree, and the amazing care and love he has for all of them...
"progress" they say... 
Capitalist mentality I would say...

If we keep destroying our ecosystems to make business with monocultures or plant eucalyptus for the paper industry (which was the European Union plan for us), soon we'll have a desert country, because monocultures of trees are not forests and our Government doesn´t seem to care at all for our future generations ... where will this lead us to?

I hope our Government stops being selfish and greedy and realizes what they are doing before it's too late... This is a big problem with the "democracy" model we adopted, because most decisions are made by a 4 year government and for good land management we will need plans of 50 years at least...

We want to plant as many trees as possible, as well as encouraging others to do the same... Locals are also not encouraged to care for the land, small and organic agriculture is not encouraged nor supported, keeping native trees neither, they prefer to plant Eucalyptus to receive the Government support for it and to get some money for themselves every few years... They are also not aware that if we keep doing this, the next generations will not have good soil to plant, and the Eucalyptus will end up taking over and drying out entire regions...

I want to see hope, and I'm glad many others are aware of this and are fighting for these lands not to become barren...
Lets share this as much as we can

mOrNiNg MeDiTaTiOn...

After the day of Saint Sebastian at the village,
I was running through my thoughts and feelings about what I saw, wondering what all that meant to me...
So I started to write it down...
I apologize for the length of the text, for my poor english and possible mistakes...

This is not a critic about the people of faith that follow these traditions, but a reflection about my own understanding of my own way to follow God. Here´s what I wrote :

Many people go to God
to see miracles and receive blessings...
few are really interested
in following God´s teachings...

When some religious people
came once to Jesus and asked Him for a miracle (Mat.16:1-4)
trying to test Him,
he said that the only miracle they would be given would be Jonah's ...

Jonah had spent 3 days inside the big fish stomach,
and he came out alive
to fulfill what he was called to do in the first place...

He was going against his will because he didn't want God to save some people that in his opinion were not good. Basically he didn't want God to be merciful, especially because these people were Israel´s enemies.

Here Jesus is comparing his own time on the cross, and his predicted resurrection after 3 days... Unlike Jonah, Jesus wants all nations to be saved, saved from the evil ways that human empires create. Jesus preferred to die, than to use violence to defeat a violent Empire, and in the end, he defeated so much more than one empire.

As Jonah inside the whale faced total darkness, Jesus too, faced darkness and death for 3 days...
He faced for the first time the separation from His Father in Heaven
and went to the darkest place to take back from satan
the power he had to destroy human lives...
it is us humans who give evil the power and authority to act evil,
and it required another human, Jesus, to take that power back...

Jesus defeated the devil and death,

and destroyed all condemnation,
once and for all,
victory over evil was wan...
There is no greater miracle
than what was accomplished by Jesus on the cross...

Of course you may ask

"What about all the evil now?",

and you are right...

Evil was defeated then, but cosmic time is not linear,

so we still see evil all around,

but that too will end... this is my faith.

All other miracles are just a result 

and reflection of this one... maybe to remind us...

Many people seem to ignore,
or take it for granted
or forget about it...
they chase little miracles
to satisfy their needs,
like multiplying bread and fish,
healing their sickness,
casting out of demons,
or even resurrection of the dead...

Aren't all these just shadows
of what is awaiting us in the heavenly realm?

Aren't these just the natural reflections
of what Jesus accomplished on the cross for all creation?

When religious people confronted Jesus,
they had no idea of what was about to take place on the cross...

Today, more than 2000 Years after
the greatest of miracles men could have witnessed,
we're still asking God for miracles and blessings for our own benefit,
we're still with our eyes focused in our earthly comforts and needs,
we're still running to "holy places", "holy objects" or "holy people",
in order to receive a blessing from God...

We're still blind to understand that the miracle of the cross
was to give us the way to become a "holy people",
a "holy object", a "holy place" where the glorious presence of God wants to dwell...
How much longer will we walk blind ?
How much longer will we be blind to seek heavenly things
and get lost seeking all the earthly things that will soon pass away?

How long will we keep vain traditions that blind people's faith?
When willl we start seeking God for new revelations

and the miracles God wants to perform today ?

Our intention should not be for us to go after the miracles,
nor to worship the ones used by God to perform them...
Our intention should be to seek God and discern what God wants,
and be aware of God´s power and glory which can be at work in all of us today...

It´s becoming normal that the "love" of parents for their children
is expressed by the material things they can offer
and the financial sacrifices they make to give to their children what they desire...
Is this Love?
Correcting a child for doing something wrong is condemned now,
and I'm not approving any violent way of correction...

Parents are seen as "bad" if they correct their children,

yet, it is written by our ancestors :
"Endure hardship as discipline;
God is treating you as His children...
Our parents disciplined us for a little while
as they thought best;
but God disciplines us for our good,
that we may share in His Holiness." (Hebrews 12:7-10)

Discipline is different from punishment or violence,

discipline requires endurance, meditation, patience, acceptance...

Many desire the blessings of God, but they are not willing to be disciplined,
corrected or transformed...
They want to be the way they are, live their lives the way they want,
and when in need, they almost demand God to come and rescue them...
If we're going through a little suffering
we're not willing to handle it,
we're not willing to mature and we can even become bitter...

What miracle do we want God to perform?
To heal our physical sickness or to heal our wounds and souls
and transform our character?
Do we want God to multiply fish and bread
or do we want to see Love and Justice reign in this world
trusting that our basic needs will be met ?

Do we want God to give us what we want when we ask,
or do we want God to build up our faith and teach us to trust,
waiting patiently for God to give us what we really need at the right time?

We ask for patience and endurance,
but we're not willing to wait,
we ask for faith,
but we want to see first in order to believe,
we ask for provision,
but we're not willing to share,
we ask for deliverance,
but we're not willing to surrender and let go,
we ask for life,
but we're not willing to die,
we ask to receive,
but we're not willing to give,
we ask ,
and ask...
but we're not willing to listen...
we want to see God,
not as God is,
but as we want God to be...

I could go on and on with this,
but my question remains:

Are we seeking God for miracles and blessings,
or are we really willing to accept discipline, obey the teachings and do our work ?

Are we willing to be transformed by The Spirit 

and become "the miracle" and "the blessing"
which will give glory to God in this world ?

nEw yEaR...

It's been a while since I last wrote... I've been quite busy hosting people who came over, and that's a good reason to be offline...

I'm in Porto again at the moment. I came to bring Juran with Amelie (his dog), to get a tent that was offered to us and also to take care of some papers from the car... I can't wait to come back already, there's so much stuff to do now at the land... we're buying some trees to plant from a place that is going to shut down and they're selling all the trees really cheap... it's also time to prune some other trees and prepare the fields for the Spring... Finally the rain came and that's perfect for the trees we'll plant soon...

I have a lot of good  news to share... This 9 meter bus you see on the picture was one of the Christmas presents for the land....

"it came from Heaven" Willi says... he just doesn't want me to say that he was the one who brought it all the way from Germany... He got it fixed a while ago and wanted to give it to a friend, but she said it was too big for her to move around, then he offered it to the Jesus Freak Community in Cologne, but they also said the same thing... "so I offered it to Jesus" , Willi said, "I'm going to take it to the land in Portugal"... This is Willi... an amazing guy with an amazing heart... 

When he was 120 Km from the land, the big bus broke down , in Spain... Willi knew Jo was also on his way from Cologne, Germany, and asked him to bring the piece that he needed to fix the bus and drive it to the land... It didn't arrive on Christmas as he planned, but he was determined... 

Willi never gives up, and for him, a broken car is in itself a present...he loves fixing things, and he's simply a genious... have you heard about "Macgiver", the Tv series? He was just like Mcgiver to us ... 

There´s a sad part of his story, but he is able to turn it into a blessing in his life...

After working 30 years for "Mercedes Benz", he got fired for over working, can you believe that? They took him to court and made him go to a doctor who said he is not able to tie his own shoes anymore...  That didn´t bother him, as now he gets a good pension both from Mercedes and the State, and he can have all the time to fix his friend´s vans and travel... Everytime we thanked him for fixing something he replied in a joking way ,"That was nothing, I can´t even tie my shoes you know?"

Going back to the big bus story, it only took him 2 days to get it fixed and he drove happily to the land to deliver the "gift from Heaven"... now we have a "land hotel"... 

God is very generous and uses very generous people...

There was another amazing present, of sorts, which actually came inside of the big bus... I say of sorts because it is a very old machine that takes a lot of strength and patience to get it to work, and I´m not really sure we will need it that much... but I was very grateful of course... Local farmers use this kind of rotavator a lot (newer versions of course), and some even have them attached to a trailer and use it as their main transport...

we'll be able to make a bigger vegetable garden this year...

I also got a volunteer to take care and work with it, Lukas (in the picture lighting a cigarette)...
Lukas is another amazing guy that came to the land... He's a young punk rocker kid, maybe 17 years old, nephew of Jonathan and Anne... they asked me a month ago if he could come to the land as he was expelled from school, and this was the way they presented to the school as his "punishment"... interesting isn't it? Of course I loved the idea and said he could obviously come...I also got excited about it... 

Jonathan wrote to his school and presented the project of  "Mount of Oaks" community asking them if Lukas could finish his year here, as a volunteer in this social project... they accepted !!!

It has been so nice to have Lukas around... the school disapproves of him as a good student, but the truth is that he's so willing to learn so many things... he's enjoying so much to be on the land... he's always with Willi and wants to learn all about mechanics...  he loved the rotavator too, that's why I asked him to be responsible for it...I thought he needed a specific responsibility of his own...and I'm glad he's excited about it...

It's interesting to see how our society labels people and simply discards them as they please, according to their standards and requirements...
Willi is considered as mentally invalid, but in reality he´s a genius...
Lukas is considered a bad student, a loser and not approved to fit in the system, but he has such an amazing heart, he really wants to learn things and he's good at what he does... for me he has all to be a winner, not a loser...

How many people in this world live thinking they are losers, or end up becoming criminals, addicts or homeless, just because our society doesn't know how to affirm them in their real identity... society is so limited in the options of life it presents... if we don't fit, if we are a bit different, if we just don't understand it, don't agree with it or don't believe in it, we are stamped as losers, crazy, lunatics, dangerous ,etc...what an illusion !

In the same picture, on the other side of the table is Ton, a Dutch man who was living for 10 years in Delhi, India (here is his new home on the land).
He founded and ran the Sewa Ashram, a community of the poor and destitute... But now he has come back to Europe and he needs some time and space to get adapted to our occidental culture again, to process all that he learnt in India, to write down his thoughts (and he has good ones), and to rest... He needs to simply BE and I guess he found a place for that on the land...he loved Portugal and our people as soon as he came... I'm glad about that...I've been hearing about him and his work for almost three years, and now he's here...so cool !!!

Many others came together with 2 buses from Germany: Lyna and David who are about to have their child and they wanted to be here, Maren and Edy who were already here last year...Jo also came after the new year and will go back with Willi this coming week...

We also had a guy coming from Sweden, Emmanuel, who heard about the land from different Jesus Freaks and from Emma in the UK... It was really nice to get to know him as well, and I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures he took here...
There was also 2 german girls, Gloria and Marielouise, who are travelling and volunteering in different organic farms through the wwoof program...

Emma also came, of course, and she brought an old friend of hers, Cathy, a really nice person as well...
For the New Year I also got special friends coming from Lisbon, Denny, Maureen,
Alana and Isaac Hurst, Ben and his girlfriend Martyna, Ruben and Marcia...
Marcia is a special one as well... We've been friends for some years already and the last few years we've been getting to know more of each other... I love Marcia, and I love her desire to get closer to God...she just decided to quit her job, sell her house and give her time to be with God...well, it was not "just like that", she wisely took the steps she needed to take...some were surprised, some thought she was crazy, but some also encouraged her... I'm really happy that she wants to stay in the land for a while, and I hope to get even closer to her... I'm sure God will do great things in her life, because that´s what happens when we "give up our lives" to be at service...

Here are some pictures of the New Year party...

David, Lyna and Chimerre (Lyna's dog)...Emmanuel taking a picture...

Nuno, our friend from Alcaria, a village after Fundão...

Isaac, Maureen, Martyna, Marcia, Ruben and Alana...

Martyna, Ben (hiding), Maureen (running away), Marcia (with her beautiful smile), Ruben and Alana...
 Edy celebrated the coming of the New Year with his party trick...opening a beer bottle with a chainsaw... everyone got surprised and amazed of course...the highlight of the night for sure !!!

Nobody could believe it... even Willi came to take a closer look !!!

Gloria, Marielouise, Emma, Nuno, Jared, Wili, Lyna, Cathy and Lukas... what a mix of different people... I love that...

We also got a new look in our Kitchen...we changed the hang out space and the kitchen space,,, we got a firewood oven from my aunt in Castelo Branco... it's much more comfortable now

This is our "swet lodge", or sauna if you prefer, that Juran and Lukas so carefully built... unfortunately it was always too rainy to try it out...but soon we'll prepare it... It´s right next to the big pond, so we can just jump in the water after coming out from the hot steam... a luxury I would say...