A quinta da lage: off-grid regenerative farm

Water pond by the Mandala garden, A quinta da Lage

My experience started with a dream, as it often happens. In the dream, I have a conversation with a friendtor ( friend+mentor) Phyllida who tells me I should go to Portugal as there's a group of people I should meet.

I didn't think much about the dream and started to plan another trip to Korea, I was very interested in YATOO-I   an international organisation based in a small city, a few hours away from Seoul, immersed in nature offering artist residencies to those who use only natural material to create art, deep in the countryside of South Korea. I also looked into staying in a couple of monasteries in France, another regenerative farm in Italy, and Tamera , an education and peace centre, deep in nature in Portugal. Tamera seems to be extremely interesting however I didn't like the volunteering requirements and the restrictions.

Then I remembered the dream I had a few weeks earlier so I kept on searching in Portugal and I found A quinta de Lage, I felt real care and warmth in the way Janin, the admin staff responded, the website also felt very natural and authentic, above all, I loved the idea of staying with a herd of sheep in a small community and understand what regenerative farming is about.

I couldn't sleep very well at first, the frogs, the coqs and the birds were so loud in the morning. The night sky felt so alive and magical, the stars seemed to be so much closer as there are no lights at all. The sounds of the animals follow the natural rhythms that mark the passage of the day, you don't really need a clock. The morning starts with the sound of the birds along with the rooster and lasts about 45 mins or so, on warmer days, I could already hear the crickets. During the day, all I could hear are bees, insects, birds, crickets and sometimes the sheep if they are moved to a fresh pasture. On windy days, I'd hear the gentle rustling of the leaves, it was especially meditative and soothing dancing, sitting, doing yoga outdoors surrounded by tall bamboos swaying and dancing. Even going to the compost toilet was so insightful and holistic, on rainy days, I could see and hear the rain falling on the surrounding bamboos and from the toilet, I could see the vegetable garden and the fruit trees. From the toilet, the whole cycle of energy synthesis was unfolding before my eyes : the sun shining down onto the vegetables and fruits, the rich soil full of bacteria, insects, the intervention of the gardener Daniel watering the soil, then the food prepared and cooked for our body energy and then released into the soil, ready to go back into the cycle to nourish the soil.

In the evening, the frog get extremely loud especially by the pond. At night time, I could hear the owls hooting in the background

I spent a few mornings with Ferry, the owner of the land, who told me that it was his dream to plant trees, regenerate land and live outdoors. He didn't plan to have a herd of sheep. There are several ways to regenerate lands with animals like sheep, pigs, cows, donkeys to accelerate the process with their manure and trodding. When managed carefully, hooves break the soil crusts, exchange bacteria between the land and the living beings.  The first way to regenerate the land is to have a herd of animals, it can be sheep but also pigs, donkeys etc…Manure is very rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium so it helps with microbial activity.

The second way to regenerate the land is with trees however he said that it’s important to disturb the soil at some point to create a movement and the soil to react. The soil has to be regularly disturbed in order to create change and dynamic exchange of nutrients.

Ferry added he is very inspired by the story of refugees in Sudan who had to flee their country and ended in Chad, a very desertic area. The refugees started to plant trees and now can grow their own food and started to create a green belt along the desertic land.

One morning I followed Ferry moving his herd from one area of pasture to a fresh new one where the grass is tall and fresh with the morning dew. The sheep were so excited and were loud as they knew they were going to go to a fresh area. Once they were moved, they were silent, busy munching away and competing with each other as to who eats the fastest. The grass was very tall but it takes them only a few hours to eat more than half of the grass. In a natural environment, sheep would stay in a new, fresh area only a few hours, eating intensively for a short period of time so he tries to mimic the natural rhythm of the sheep.

We also went to the natural lakes the land has created. Water management is one of the key elements in regenerating the land. He said the water is a bit brown because it’s contaminated with soil as the soil isn’t able to be hermetic at the moment. The soil has to be glued together in order to keep the water and only biodiversity of the plants around and with the help of the herd of animals, it can create a natural soil barrier to keep the water clear and avoid the leakage of soil. His land has about 7 lakes to collect rain water as summer in south of Portugal can sometimes be extremely dry and in some years so hot that they didn't have enough water. It's paramount that the land stays moist and humid and acts like a sponge in order to create and maintain biodiversity but also bring the temperature down with humidity.

I never thought I'd ever consider co-living or community living but my perspective has changed after this experience. I observed the relationships between the people living there, it's a mixture of staff, people living permanently, ones living semi-permanently, temporary visitors like myself or people staying for a short while as part of the different courses they attend . Ferry's primary intention and passion is to regenerate the land but obviously, he can't manage 130 acres of land alone so a small group of people working and living together was organically formed , it's more a co-living style which is more independant than a community, people are completely free to participate, get involved or not. While there's a lot of improvement to be made, especially about how, when to communicate compassionately and openly to resolve tensions and strong disagreements, when there were problems, all the people were ready to help each other.

It made me really reflect on how my messy and traumatic background made me very independent and extremely resilient to the point I always try to do everything by myself most of the times. But there is so much beauty and depth of experience when we have to sometimes rely/ lean on other people.

morning greeting by one of the residents

Regenerative farming isn’t just about healing soil, Ferry is trying to create and manage biodiversity of plants and animals, insects, microbes etc.. creating a micro-climate in order to bring the temperature down, mimicking the natural movement of animal grazing ( in a natural environment, sheep eat intensively for a short period of time and then move to a new area) It’s also about healing ourselves through relationships first with the land, the animals, the trees, the water, the sun, the people we live with. This experience with a dream at its beginning allowed me to gracefully integrate the philosophical idea of Hong ik in gan the sacred triune at the core of korean philosophy, the intimate and inseparable relationship between Gods, Nature and Humans

It also made me reflect on the human-centric, self-referential, ungrounded practices and retreats sprouting everywhere focusing only on inner-state and human relationships without ever considering the ecosystem and the natural world.

We are relational beings. Real and complete living and healing includes the Earth, not as a beautiful backdrop but as a conscious participant at all stages of our transformation.

Sushi, 21 year-old resident at A quinta de Lage with Korean radish kimchi we made

Beautiful water space by the mandala garden where all kinds of herbs and flowers, most of them are edible.

relation sheep

I was reminded that living in harmony with nature, be aware of the energy usage, not having access to whatever, whenever I wanted was very healing and I get to appreciate so much more very simple things like a hot shower or even a toaster. In every action, I could observe how the energy, water was used and where it would go. For example, the washing machine is used only on sunny days between 10 and 4pm so that it doesn't drain the battery and uses solar energy. Same goes for hoovers and equipments that require a lot of energy.

Beautiful commonhall space made of stone and natural soil, red and whittish clay, picture taken from A Quinta da Lage website

Many people in Portugal buy a piece of land like Ferry to live immersed in nature, in harmony with the natural rhythms of life and grow their own food void of pesticides and chemicals. It's very inspiring and I'd love to live this way but it also has many challenges especially building a healthy community rooted in mutual respect, sense of responsibility, open communication and common vision to create, nurture and sustain a living relational ecosystem.