How is the Mount of Oaks today ...

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Dear Friends of the “Mount of Oaks”,

This letter is from me, Barbara, for those of you who were somehow connected to this place from the early beginnings and for those who are interested in knowing how things are developing so far. We are thankful for your part in the history of this place.

…if you want to go back in time, take a look at these many pictures first... then, find a moment when you have nothing else to do, and read my loooooong letter :-) … enjoy and rejoice !!!

 It´s been 9 years already, and much has been going on here, as we believe much has been going on in all of your lives. Marriages, babies being born, loved ones dying, good things, happy things and I´m sure hard things too… Thankfully we are all organicaly changing, and moving, and growing, and evolving :-) 

 

So it is with the “Mount of Oaks”. Many Seasons have passed, and we feel like a new one has begun one more time…

ABOUT US WHO LIVE HERE …

We are now 4 nurturing this land full time: myself (Barbara) and Emma, Eric and Marcia.

Emma moved in, after our lovely Wedding 4 years ago, which some of you were part of (thank You), and a year after that, Eric and Marcia proposed to come and commit to live here. They still spent a year in Germany for Marcia to learn the language and get to know Eric´s family better. Then they came for 9 months and went back to Germany again to prepare and get married J . They returned and, a few months after, me and Emma went on our big journey for 6 months. (December last year )

The first time after 8 years that I was able to go and disconnect from ALL responsibilities. It was indeed a blessing !!!

Thank you very much Eric and Marcia!

They were amazing and took very good care of the land, the animals and the many visits and volunteers we always have. I´m very very thankful for them and for this time for myself and Emma. I was at my limits and most likely with a breakdown (a minor depression, says Emma) . It was good to be with my family in Namibia and Angola and travel overland on the stunning and modest Central and South of Africa…Above all it was good to step back, process and dream of future steps…

We volunteered in a few “communities” (nice places, yet, with no committed people living on them) and a few things I noticed as reasons for them not to thrive. A major one was finance, which made me think about our own, and how are we going to sustain the 4 of us. Leaving communities to go work somewhere far, where jobs are better paid, seems to be a common reason why people give up, or end up with not much availability to actually live in those communities (specially in more “remote” kind of places). That might work in some places, but I would really prefer if we wouldn´t have to leave the land for that purpose.

Each community is different, of course, and each reality is different, especially if we consider the difference between pioneering years or well-established communities.

Thinking of the “land”, I felt that after all these years we cannot continue being in a pioneering stage all the time… we need to move forward, and we would really like if the land could be sustainable for itself, for us and eventually for others…

I took this picture at the last inspiring community in Cape Town. Hudson, one of the starting pioneers, confirmed what I was already feeling… In “Oude Molen” they would not go out to look for jobs. The condition to be part of this community and have a building inside is actually to create jobs J. Brilliant!!

We came back all excited and with many small business ideas that could provide financially for the 4 of us, meeting our needs, for maintaining and improving the land with different structures, for all our animals, all the plants, all the trees of this place and to able us to welcome others more generously as well…

I feel I have to apologize for my lack of communication over the last years. I remember “back in the day”, when I used to go on the train to Castelo Branco. I would do the shopping and spend most of the time in the library plugged in, writing e.mails, and making a weekly post on my blog… Then I had the “power house” from our neighbour, which required many many trips back and forth… Now we do have a solar panel to charge our computers and we do have a mobile internet modem that we all share in turns… but I can´t find / make the time for that anymore (you should have seen Eric´s face when he came in the kitchen and I was typing this letter on the computer during the day, eh, eh, eh)…

I´m not going to promise I will do it more often from now on because most probably I will not… you just have to excuse me for my lack of desire to be on the computer writing e.mails, blogs or now with Facebook feeds - I would rather exchange post addresses for those who want to be in touch that way :-)

I´m really busy with planning, designing and building all the structures we would like to make…The work is most of the time physically tiring and when I rest I don´t really have the energy to be on the computer. I much prefer being with Emma, or Marcia and Eric, or visiting a neighbour for a cuppa, or go for a walk on the mountain, or watch a movie, or being with myself and God…

There is time for everything… that´s how I see it… so, forgive me for that.

One of the many beauties of living in Community is sharing responsibilities :-) and our communication aspect passed on to Emma and now also Marcia. They are great on that !!!

All other areas on the Mount of Oaks´ life are also well taken care of as we find our different roles:

Eric on the general maintenance and nurturing our increasing population of animals :-).

Marcia on our paperwork and the Association aspect which is finally getting organized. She´s also working with some local friends on our “under construction” web site and all the “marketing” for our future plans… Together with Emma they sort all communication with helpers and visitors, blogs and newsletters (which let me tell you, it is a looooooot of work and requires a lot of their time)…

 They also take care of all that involves hospitality, preparing accommodation, taking sheets to wash, etc…

Emma is also in charge of the planing aspect of our vegetable garden, which is getting more and more productive and beautiful.

 Eric and Marcia also help a lot there… Fruits, herbs and spices are also nicely dried, or turned into something else, stored for our consumption, to exchange or to sell… Eric and Marcia are also really good on the soap making, and it´s getting hard to have some for ourselves as they sell them so quickly :-).

Anyway, this is just for you to have a glimpse of the many things that we are all involved here on a daily basis… together with the usual cooking, washing dishes and keeping the spaces clean and comfortable, shopping, etc … not to mention the many relationships with new and old neighbours, and our own families.

The international community is growing around us like mushrooms and some times is really hard to keep up with all these relationships (even 2 Godsons), and give it the quality time it deserves …

 The Mount of Oaks has been cared for, and is nurtured, and exists, and is here, for those who want to come and enjoy its beauties, teachings, peace and rest … All this has been possible so far because of the generosity of many people (you included) in many forms over all these years, whether that was money, gifts or talents, skills, time or prayers…   

Thank YOU !!!

 The "Mount of Oaks community" is bigger than us, yes, we keep saying this. But today, this place still exists, and it´s available to all who come, because these 4 people : Marcia, Eric, Emma and myself are commited to live here, to give of our time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to give of our finances, of our hearts and of our minds to make the dream of many come true, to be an inspiration to many, to try to model a simple and modest way of living and sharing.

Oops, that was quite a long introduction, I hope you are still interested to keep on reading… I just tried to give an idea of how things have changed and evolved for those of you who haven´t been here for a while.

Definitely how much busier we are, and how hard is sometimes to keep up with everything and everyone.

That is the main reason for this letter, to keep you on track with all the updates and new ways of living / being at the Mount of Oaks.

ABOUT FINANCES …

Among aaaaaall these things and activities, our main focus at the moment as a community work, are the many BUILDINGs and Structures !!!

 After me, and Emma arrived from our 6 month sabbatical journey, we had an intensive 2 week meeting with Eric and Marcia. It was time to look back and process, to give thanks for many things, to think about ways to change the things that take energy from us, to look at our many individual talents and gifts, also our individual needs, to brain-storm and dream of many ways we could possibly go forward… Eric and Marcia were also on the same page, and that brought us some confirmation of the route we would like to track together…

We would all like if the land could provide financially for all of us.

We will be creating “jobs” for ourselves here at the land, offering educational opportunities, and at the same time providing people with what they need, as well as promoting the beauties of this part of the world :-).

We are giving a lot of ourselves, to work for something that will provide our  needs in the future, something that will really be sustainable … we can no longer live from our few savings, or random donations, and not having some stability to keep living here … We would rather stay, living  and nurturing this place, instead of leaving it in order to go work somewhere else.

And that is the direction we are taking now… We´re developing ideas that hopefully will provide for the land financially.

An example, among the many possible “pockets”/streams, is to develop an educational eco-tourism to bring income to the land and support ourselves… in a way, like a friend commented, that is what we´ve been doing for many years… we just realized that our work and time should be better valued :-)

We do have more expenses than the weekly money spent on food…we do have the need to go out on day trips every now and then, we do like to travel, we do like to go out for dinner sometimes, we might get hurt/sick and need to go to the hospital, we do need the dentist that is bloody expensive here, and we are sometimes wrecking our bodies with heavy lifting and plastering, chopping wood, working in the garden, etc… we do need holidays too :-) …

Among the many areas that need development for that to be possible, these are the priorities we highlighted for this next season :  

• Buildings (renewing the existing and build new structures);  

• Organizing our Association “White Stone”

( all the beurocracy stuff that needs to be organized, including new membership) ;   

• Marketing and Communication. (a new web site which will include a comercial aspect, and improvement in our general communication) and  

• Fund raising ( whether in exchange for our produce and services, or donations. We do need some big investments to get things going faster at this stage)

ABOUT THE BUILDINGS …

After those weeks seating, chatting, listening and eating very well :-), we went for it, “no faf around” :-) … leaving the “dream space” and putting our hands to hard work !!!

 We started with the recreational area near the pond, now with steps to go all the way down to the water.

Our nice “Njango”, a round clay building with our first “flat” floor (a small revolution), provides shade and space for meetings, yoga and exercise, a place to chill out and hide from the hot summer sun… next to it there is a nice barbecue place.

a small pool for kids…

 and not just kids :-)

We built this cute compost toilet serving the same area, nicely built with “canas”, cob and a broom thatched roof…

All of these improvements made the summer much more pleasant for us and all the friends, family and volunteers we hosted…

Then, we needed to make our Winter a bit more pleasant too :-). The rains were coming and our “Common Space” roof had to be replaced…

 I looked at it and it was not worth fixing… it all came down !!

 This is indeed a new season, “the old has gone, the new has come” … we had money from a donation, so we thought “lets make it nice”… really nice !!

 … a proper building, with proper foundations and drainage, with a proper good roof, good insulated walls, light, and still a warmth and natural feeling with an open view of our valley…

Two and a half months so far… it´s going very well !!
 

Excuse me a little note to say that, in between all the construction, Emma and Eric by themselves, picked 620 Kg of Olives and got our precious Olive oil for the whole year. Plus about 200Kg that Marcia picked for preserving…  It´s amazing the amount of things we get done when we´re focused !!!

We are now finishing the clay plaster outside and hope to put the lime plaster before the rain starts again. We have been very blessed with the weather that has permitted us to keep going for it… Thank you God !

 

All of these was possible with some donations that summed 4000€. That´s over and we´re now putting from our own limited resources, but we know is totally worth it . This is a season for building proper buildings that will last longer and require less maintenance and constant fixing…

We are building things well and cute, and yes, we are spending more money in better tools and building materials, but I believe that the longer a building lasts, the cheaper it becomes :-).

Anyway, I could go on and on about our dreams and plans… but let me finish with a list of the next buildings we would like to have :

•       Improving the bathhouse and warm water system;

•     Finishing another compost toilet to serve the camping area; 

•   Improving Eric and Marcia´s space/caravan : Insulated walls, a roof with a front patio. A compost toilet and pipped water.

• An Outdoor kitchen near the “Common Space” which will become our main “Camping / Visitors area”, with the toilets, bathroom and fire pit.

• Two huts to rent as guest rooms

 It is clearly time to build, the foundations are established… building not only structures, but also our small but intimate community…

ABOUT THE RHYTHMS OF THE LAND …

Along the years, the 4 of us have been developing our own rhythms throughout the Seasons, based on the hours of sunlight :-), our own needs, and on the land´s needs…

We´ve been aware that some people get surprised by the fact that we are now “closed” for Winter, or that we would like to be informed and asked in advance when we have visitors.

We obviously still welcome everyone, and some can be really nice surprises, but it could also happen that we might be “hibernating” and desiring to be in our own spaces for most of the day. We may be with family around to whom we give the most attention. It might be cold and raining all the time and some people might get bored of that after a while… it might coincide with our retreat week when we meet for processing and planning, every 6 months. Or maybe we´re running a workshop and we can´t really host more people…

or simply and being honest, we might not have the energy to welcome the way we like to… We do get tired after a whole season of people coming in and out, and we hope people understand that… It´s nothing personal , it is about us, and us communicating our human limitations and needs…

A friend of Eric was here this summer and gave us a funny, but probably in some way, truthful observation. He said we all have “tendencies to self-exploitation”… With that he meant how we give of ourselves to others sometimes too much, how we are driven by other people´s needs and expectations, sometimes putting our own aside… And it is true… Some people have no idea how much time we spend thinking about  them, or thinking of ways to meet their needs… It is part of us, part of our gifts. It is a blessing, but we also need to watch and care for ourselves and for eachother …

  

When we also have time for ourselves, to be alone with God and get refreshed and energized, yes, we can be amazing hosts… but what sometimes happens is that we say “yes” so many times that we neglect this time …

We then start running in our own strength, and we end up having no energy to give (or we give poorly)… Speaking for myself, I know I start being grumpy, without patience, without sensitivity to other people´s needs, because I myself am in need… I´m driven by selfishness, which is not always so nice… my issue is not with anyone else but me, because I neglect, sometimes for too long, my own personal rest and time alone… unconsciously I might even blame others, for being tired, for working too much, for many times sacrificing my own rest, for having too many expectations on me, etc… but actually I am the one to blame, for saying yes when I should have said “no”, or for not communicating my own limitations clearly… We are all learning on this subject, and let me tell you, its not easy…

We are all different, and we all have different needs and ways to be connected to the Source that gives us Life… All we need is clear communication of our own needs and expectations. Knowing that only God can actually meet that, and no one else !!! :-)

We are two new happily married couples :-) and that in itself requires some adjustments in terms of space and time, and obviously requires that we take time for each other as couples… even within the couple we also need time alone individually … This becomes much harder if we have visitors all the time.

We are also working a lot in the land, hopefully to allow us more rest in the coming years (that´s the plan), so we do need schedules and structures, including Rest …

We do find our ways to be alone and get energized, like having the Winter without hosting people, or resting at the weekends (which may include leaving the land), or trying to have a week break between visitors (which is not really happening yet)…

It was interesting to explain to Eric the other evening how things were in the early stages (the first 2 years at least)… we could be between 5 to 20 people at the same time, people would generally just show up, or say they were on the way, and it was ok… we would all wake up at whatever time we wished, we would help here and there to prepare meals and wash dishes, some would have their own personal projects, and some would work on the few improvements for common use… We had looooots of time to chat and solve most of the issues in the world , to pray, to meditate, to play guitar and sing, to go out in the night and stay up late, etc… there were no contributions asked, whoever could afford would put into the “magic can” and it was always enough (for food mainly and general daily expenses)… Good times, different times, definitely a different season…

That was a time to dream, to pray, to lay foundations, to observe the land and listen from it, a time to be still and know that God was doing the work :-) .But that was not meant to last forever. There is a time when God says “now get off your knees and put your hands to work too” . I´m joking of course, but I felt something like that…  Ironically, after everyone had gone in different directions (2009) and I was the one left, that´s when the designs for building began ( I so wished to have the handy work now J )… I organized another permaculture course and with the money made I bought a chainsaw and wood boards to build a nice compost toilet…

I improved the irrigation, put pipes and taps in more places, built a new water tank to have more pressure, improved our bath-house and made a shower, a solar water heater, replaced old broken tarps for metal roofs, built a common area to run the courses, installed our new solar panel and all the wiring involved, etc… all with little donations I would receive here and there, permaculture courses and then Emma´s savings when she moved in…

Yes, some people return here and speak about how nice the fire bath with no roof was, or how nice the view of our "shit-pit" was, how amazing was to make candles with coals, etc... it almost sounds romantic :-), but being here 9 years, all seasons, I do appreciate some of the comforts we created so far...

And I still find it romantic :-)

This place needed some improvements, which everyone appreciates now, and for that we do need to work hard, we do need schedules, we do need money, we do need planning and designing, we do need some time to research and learn different subjects, and we do need time to rest our bodies and our minds so we don´t get over exhausted …

This is one of the reasons we try not to have visitors or helpers during the Winter. First, because Nature teaches us that, when trees rest, animals rest, cold and rain come and we naturally want to be more in our private spaces and not so much socializing. We struggle to stay awake until 9pm these days, that is how reality is here during Winter season. This is also a time for us as a community, to be with each other, to process the year that has passed and plan the year ahead. That in itself should be our main “communal work” during this season, but we´re not there yet :-/.

I say all this, to stress our needs and not to be fundamentalist about it.

I also want to say that we are open to exceptions, as long as there is a clear communication before hand. And as long as people allow us to say “no” when we really can´t host.

We are in a way building new structures in order to allow us to have people over the Winter, specifically people who want to be on their own or in retreat, and not “depend” on us.

At the moment, we don´t have those conditions yet.

It is a new season…  like a river, its waters never runs twice on the same place …

But some things remain the same… This place has always been a place of welcoming, and we hope it stays that way.

ABOUT THOSE WE WELCOME …

We noticed that people who visit have different needs and expectations about the time they want to spend here, and we would like to have that very clear before anyone comes, so the land can be a satisfying experience to all.

This is not just a piece of land, this is our home, we live here all year around and have many responsibilities. This is a working farm, this is the home of a donkey, 2 dogs, 5 cats, many chickens and thousands of worms :-) …

This is at the moment a place “under construction”, with bags of lime, and piles of sand and clay, with noisy machines at times and busy workers (us) trying to get things done. I hope you get a funny image in your mind , eh,eh… but that is the reality at the moment…

“Shantii shantii” has been replaced for “No faf around” - ask Emma for literal translation , ah, ah :-). (but don´t worry… To those who come to rest, we still say “shantii shantii” :-) )

 

We obviously welcome our friends and family who want to come and visit us. This is sometimes the most “tricky”, because we do want to be with them and chat and “faf around”, but we do have things to get done and sometimes at the end of the day we are too tired to hang around. We´re really sorry if some people might have experienced that and that´s why we want to be honest and say that this is our reality at the moment.

We´re happy if people come and see us, but we might not meet all the expectations in terms of socializing at the moment (I speak for myself as I´m usually the one who has the less energy for that… but I speak for others too who push their limits and who ought to take a week off to rest themselves ).

We actually might not meet all the needs of those who come. For example, a couple with children might not be easy to accommodate as we don´t have a family tent, and our guest room is not big enough.

  

We obviously welcome volunteers for helping on the daily tasks and projects.

There are short term volunteers (who come between a minimum of 2 weeks to a month), and we are realizing now that long term volunteers would be ideal for us (who come from 3 to 9 months). We are registered on a web site called “helpex” and we receive many people throughout the open season who come only to help.  We are now quite specific about the types of volunteers we want for each Season depending on our needs and projects.

For example at the moment, we  need people who have the experience and the skills to help on the buildings. In Spring we will need some extra hands in the garden.

If you, or people you may share with, are interested to come as volunteers, please get in touch through our contact form in our blog or helpex page, and Marcia or Emma will send all the requirements and expectations.

If people don´t want to be working volunteers  (This might be the case for people with children for instance.), it´s ok as well.

We want to welcome those who want to simply Rest, Retreat or include us in their Holiday trips. We are fine with that as long as we have the conditions needed by those who come. This will include a more substantial financial contribution, as this will be part of our income generation. You can make it as cheaply as “come by your own transport, bring your own accommodation and cook your own food”, or we can provide all that with extra costs for our services, our time and our facilities.

  

We will even offer different programs people can enjoy in this area, from nice Mountain Hikes, Donkey rides, visiting interesting villages and sites, occasional local “festas”, trips to a local lake, etc…

There are also some people who like to be in-between… With this I mean that they don´t really want to be a volunteer who works 6 hours a day, 5 days a week , but they would like to be with us, participate on the daily rhythm and help on the daily tasks. That is a great help (sometimes the best help people can give to be honest, so we can be free to work on our different projects), and we want to welcome people with this expectations too. It´s all a matter of communicating before hand with us so we can all agree on the terms and financial contribution.

A NOTE TO ALL WHO CONSIDER VISITING AT THIS STAGE…

We are working hard on a full schedule, but we know this is the season for that.

This also means that we don´t really have much time for people besides meals and a bit in the evening. The rhythms change with the seasons of course, but we generally wake up with the sunrise and stop working with the sunset. During the summer we have long siestas after lunch, but Autumn and Spring we might have only an hour break as days are shorter.

Working together is a nice way to hang out with us too, as long as it doesn´t slow down our pace much. :-/

Some people are more independent than others. Some do require “attention” whether during our work time or sometimes when we need to rest and disconnect. That´s often, not so easy to deal with…

One of the things we try to encourage and we find helpful for us is when people don´t come on their own. If people come at least in pairs,  they can do things together, chat together, entertain themselves together, stay up late together if they want, and we don´t need to feel bad if we go rest or if we retreat into our own spaces …

We wanted to communicate all these because we don´t want people to feel like they are not welcome (specially those of you who have been here before), or that we are becoming too organized and demanding. We are taking care of ourselves and our future here, otherwise there will be no more “land” to go to.

We need rest. We already neglect it too often in my opinion. Even facilitating working volunteers requires energy , or having to care for visitors on our resting days, or even having to think about  what people can do to help, or sometimes having to think about what people can do to entertain themselves at the weekends… whether we want or not, we end up often feeling responsible whenever we have people over, and that is the reality of welcoming people and living in an open space. (or having “tendencies towards self-exploitation” J )

It´s not easy all the time, and we do get exhausted with that , plus all the new projects and all the maintenance that has to happen whether we have visitors or not.

Like all creation, we also have seasons. We do need the winter season to rest from welcoming people and recharge ourselves so we can welcome the way people should be welcomed. Welcoming people for us, is not just about providing a place to sleep and food to eat. …

Our bodies, minds and spirits are craving for the winter, like a tree losing its leaves, showing a sign that all attention is going to the roots at this stage. And if we don´t care for our roots, we will soon stop bearing fruits.

I´ve written a lot already. Well done for getting this far :-)

SIMPLE WAYS TO SUPPORT US

•     Become an Associate of White Stone ( Marcia is still working out the practicalities of that, but let us know if you are interested and we´ll keep you posted on that )

•      Donate now towards our buildings and get an offer on your stay(s) here when they are finished:-)

•      Come on holidays and support our Educational Eco-Turism (our entrepreneurial business scheme)
  
  

•     Come and participate in our future Workshops and Retreats

Thank you. A Good Christmas and

 a Blessed 2016 to us all.

Any thoughts on all that I shared are appreciated.

We are living and learning… every moment a bit more :-)

All the best.

PEACE.

Barbara