21 January 2008

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

I've been really rubbish when it comes to take pictures...so here goes the ones Emma sent from her time here...

Kettle is ready, coffee on the way !!! this is for Lisa :-), actually this kettle was given by the Borden's :-)


Denny Hurst who came from Lisbon with the family and other friends...

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, my best friend...

Marcia and Lyna...

Lyna and Emma...

Lukas getting is hair ready for the new year party... :-) I love him !!!

Our new year barbecue !!!

Maren's refuge place :-)

Marcia clearing up the oak forest...

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

Juran cleaning his sheep skin...

That's Cathy...always ready to serve and work ... :-)

Maren with her stylish look :-) ...

Juran and Cathy... so beautiful smiles !!!



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

Juran goofing around in the supermarket !!!

I went with Juran, Emma and Marcia to see the trees we'll buy for the land...
And we met this amazing man, Mr.Fernandes, who have been working on this place for 26 years taking care of this amazing trees...

Now the place (from the Government) is going to close to give place to some business people who will turn it into a "Medronho" plantation... the thing is that 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... Tssss !!!
Capitalist and retarded mentality I would say...
If we keep destroying our trees and plant eucalyptus for the paper industry (that's european union plan for us), soon we'll have a desert country, cuz this trees consume all the water around and they don't let other trees survive... our Government seems not to care at all for our future generations ... where will this lead us to?!!!
I hope our Government stops being selfish and greedy and realise what they are doing before it's too late...
As for us, 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 biological 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... They are also not aware that if we keep doing this, the next generations will not have a good land to plant, and the Eucalyptus will end up taking over and dry out all our fields...
Well, I'm not so fatalistic as well, cuz I wanna see hope, and I'm glad many others are aware of this and are fighting for these land not to become barren...
Lets share this as much as we can

2 comments:

Whitney said...

I LOVE the picture of you and Emma!!!

This whole nature situation in Portugal is so sad...the burning of entire forests, planting eucalyptus everywhere and selling land with trees to businesses...It's so stupid!
I'm so glad that you got to buy all those trees!! =)

Hope you are well! Miss you

Anonymous said...

I feel like crying when I see all those beautiful faces that I miss. And I feel like screaming when I think of all those trees and the way people think. You called it capitalist and retarded mentality. You are so funny! And so right.

I have some friends who want to buy carbon credit by planting trees. I will tell them about your land.