oLiVe HaRvEsT iS fiNaLLy dOnE...

Finally we finished the olive harvest this year...we took 910 Kg to the press, which gave us 120L of Olive oil...Praise God !!! And a big thanks to the Jones' family, Marcia, Marinho, Maureen, Isaac, Alana, Sieglinde and Sebastian, who helped in the process in different stages...
You can check here for more interesting videos about the process (I'm still uploading more)...and I have a suggestion to all of you who would like to support the Mount of Oaks...

As you know, or not, this place lives mainly from donations of many different people and also from the participation of those who pass by...
But we do need lots of investment in this pioneering stage, to fix the roof of our kitchen, the bath and shower house, to build our houses, guest houses, a common meeting place, installing the irrigation system and a tank, and of course, lots of plants and trees...We obviously also need to cover the daily expenses we already have in order for us, those who offer our labour, to sustain ourselves here...

We could sell part of our olive oil for those who would like to support us...
I was thinking it would be fair to price 10e for each liter, plus the transportation...
As you know, all the process counted with lots of hand work, and it took more than 4 weeks to pick all the olives, as most people don´t have much experience and we don´t use machines...besides the fact that it is 100% organic and delicious...

If you have any ideas on how to transport it to your country (if you know someone is driving down here for instance), and you'd like to make the distribution there, it would help with the cost as well...

People can always give more than 10e, but that's up to each one...

We'll also have lots of preserved olives to eat...but those will only be ready around April or May...

Anyway, I leave the suggestion... Get in touch if it interests you...
Thanks!!!

oLiVeS, oLivEs & mOrE oLivEs...

The olive harvest is not over yet...hopefully next week I'll be done with it and take them to the press to make olive oil... it is a long and hard process... but so pleasant... I love it...

At the moment it's only me, Sieglinde and Sebastian...Sebastian is a french guy who was here last year with other rainbow people... he's looking for a piece of land around here to set up a yurt or something like that and go travel...he's a nice guy...

Sieglinde, Miri´s mum,  was here already 3 or 4 times...she loves Portugal...she loves the sun and speaking portuguese (as she's brazilian but has lived in Germany for many years)...She has been a great help as I don't need to worry about cooking and cleaning... she also loves plants and all nature and has a lot to teach...a proper mum... or as Elena would say, "we are "las abuelitas" ( the grannies)"...Sieglinde has now a caravan here which Uli and Stephy brought in August...she's delighted to have her own space and not stay in a tent anymore...it's nice ... I know how important that is... I'm also glad I'm in the big bus now until I build a house for myself one day...




Elena was also a great person to meet, she was here for a couple of weeks and left a few days ago...such a lovely and gentle spirit...she is from Russia and it's a lovely granny too... her daughter, son in law and granddaughter live in Andorra...I met Elena in Taize, 4 years ago...she just came to me in the camp area and we exchanged e.mails... it's funny how God connects people...I asked her why she came to me and she just said she liked the way I look (go figure)...

Recently she got in touch and asked if she could visit... I had no idea what she was expecting...but as the days went by she was sharing how this kind of place is exactly what she has been looking for for so long...who would have thought 4 years ago what this connection would mean...?

She wants to come back to live here, but we need a miracle for her to get a Visa that will allow her to stay more than 6 months...remember that in your prayers...

There was much more help to pick the olives during these last weeks...
The Jones family who are now at my sister's in Algarve, also came again (second time this year), after their tour through north europe ... They stayed a bit longer than a week and that was great for the first "round" of the harvest when we picked lots of olives to eat later next year...you can see their impression here ...


Marcia, Marinho, Maureen, Alana and Isaac also came one weekend and it was great fun...we even celebrated my 35th birthday with cake and all...Maureen brought a zucchini cake (very tasty) which was wonderful, and the Winters also joined in... It was a lovely day...with lots of people I love !!!

Ok., now, some pictures with subtitles just to share... I've been rubbish with pictures to be honest...actually, even to blog...I still want to post about Uli and Juran's wedding...but it's just more exciting to be outside working than typing on a computer...sorry about that...

the Jones up on the trees...

T.J. among the Olives...

Some olives were really hard to get...well, also an excuse to have fun...Donald giving a try with the "trampolin" 

The "Parasol" Mushrooms just came out a few days ago... I made sure they were the edible ones...I didn't want to see pink elephants

Oh yes, they were delicious...me and Sieglinde delighted ourselves 

Enjoy this sound (sorry about the poor quality) my neighbour picking olives and singing traditional song… I had to come down my tree, stop everything and get closer to listen the soul of the elders of this valley…

O.K, I´m going now to the "Magusto" in Povoa de Atalaia... this is a party of Chestnuts and "Jerupiga", a nice sweet wine made with moonshine, the new wine and some sugar...
I hope to write again soon...

P.S.- Just a little transparency on finances from my part...I just wanted to share that we still need some more donations for the expenses on the land...I've been tight for the last months...we got one donation for building material so far which I'm so grateful for, but I keep having the normal expenses with dog food, internet, the car (which I still haven't paid the total amount and I had some extra expenses recently, 400e, because when I was away in Germany someone stole my neighbour's wallet where he kept our van's key), food and other little things for the land (I also need to pay the tax for the land soon and I just got some mail from the city Hall in Lisbon of a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a license we- White Stone-didn't even use...this was still when "Rivertribe" came to play in Lisbon and we asked for a "noise license" but we didn't use...please pray that I can solve this in peace...the bill is of 1600e...simply ridiculous)...
As you know (or maybe not), I don't have any sort of income (for the last 12 years actually) as I'm giving all my time to work in the land (the last 3 years)... so, I just wanted to remind you of this, and maybe some could send some help...

I'm thinking about ways for the land to fund itself, like giving workshops on permaculture and natural buildings and buy building material with the money...it would not be for much profit because I don't want to charge a lot as these things are usually super expensive and not accessible to everyone, but it can give me enough to cover the costs... 

the thing is that we need some more conditions to host these workshops...simple things like compost toilets and showers would make a big difference... but again, it needs some investment for that to happen...
Thanks a lot anyway for supporting in whatever way... I'm really thankful for all I have, but to be honest, I would like to have some extra money to do some more needed things around here, and not counting the "coins" all the time I see something we need to buy... If it was only for me, I wouldn't need anything at all really...I probably don't even spend 50e a month on myself, but I would really like to see this place better than it is today...
Thanks for understanding...thanks!!!
I'm not complaining, I´m simply sharing a need... sometimes we don't receive because we don't ask... well, at least, I've asked...

BE PEACEFUL