Calling all wild-at-heart permaculturists in search of land

Dear friends

We live in a beautiful and wild part of inland central Portugal, near the Spanish border. Our local village is the (in Portugal, famous) village of Monsanto (I know!)

Our quinta (farm) is 2 hectares with 40 olives, 100 vines, figs, pear, apple, peach, persimmon, orange, and mulberry trees. For us this is a veritable paradise. There is lots of water (especially if you practice sound water-harvesting and storage techniques) and the weather is very mild.
Summer is baking hot (we love it!) and christmas is usually sunny and warm.

The remaining local Portuguese people are over-whelmingly friendly and welcoming. We are often almost moved to tears by their open heartedness, I kid you not! The problem is that most of them are elderly (albeit very actively still farming) and the land around us is slowly being abandoned as the population steadily declines.
This is where you come in!

If you are looking for a simple life in a raw and wild landscape where food grows in abundance and you can live in peace and quiet, then please come and visit our area. We are in desperate need of people who are committed to land restoration practices and who interested in finally walking their talk.

I realised the other day that to be happy here you have to enoy, no, even more, LOVE the physical labour that subsistence farming actually is. For us, this is a constant source of satisfaction, contentment and a meaningful life. We love it here and so do the other lucky souls who have found themselves living around this majestic mountain of Monsanto.

Because of its remoteness, and its wildness, there are not many people living here and that means that land is still affordable. You can still buy land with fruit trees, water, and a ruin for a very affordable price. 20k euros will get you a long way towards buying a piece of land that will support all your needs. As more and more foreigners move to our area (even here it is slowly happening) the local people realise that people actually want to come and live here (as opposed to all leaving to go to the cities) and some of them come forward with land for sale. Their prices are realistic and I think this is a unique window of opportunity for those of us who don't have untold amounts of money, to buy land and start a new life right here in Europe.

If you are already thinking of coming to Portugal to look for a piece of land then please take a few days to come and visit our area. I can put you in touch with people who are helping locals sell their land.
We need more permaculturists. Is that you?!!

Obrigado pelo sua atencao.
love pina
FB: the singing quinta

Interesting..

is there a market for the farm products?  is there taxes on the land? ( how would you anticipate me making a living being able to support myself there?

Is there well water?

how easily can a foreigner buy land and live there?

Is Spanish-speaking ability necessary?

thank you for the kind offer and information

Blaze Gorski wrote:
Is Spanish-speaking ability necessary?

Speaking Spanish is one of the few ways you'll upset the locals.  

Try Portuguese!

I can recommend Duolingo to get you started, even though they teach Brazilian Portuguese.

Hi Blaze.

Yes there are markets where you can buy produce.
I don't know how you would make a living, only you can answer that.
Some pieces of land have wells and others don't.
It is easy to buy land as an EU citizen.
I am not sure why you are asking about Spanish, do you mean Portuguese?

thanks
pina

Hi guys, we are in the process of moving to Portugal. We already have friends near Pombal so will be staying near there to start. What is the internet like where you are? Could you run an online business from there?

Hi Jason

In our experience, the internet connection is great. We have a 2 year unlimited download contract with a company called NOS for 25 euros a month. The connection is reliable and fast enough for us. Yes, you could run an online business here.

Stay in touch and let us know if you're in the area.

Best regards
pina

Hello Pina

That sounds interesting, I am French originally, living in Scotland (I've been in the UK for 20 years). I am thinking to move back on the continent to set up a small permaculture project to live as self-sufficiently as possible. Initially, I had thought to return to France  but open to other destination, and wherever I go, I am looking to share a land or live near like minded people where we could help each other because I would be moving on my own. I have a PDC and am doing another one online with Geoff Lawton to get a good grasp of permaculture. Here in Edinburgh, I have been taking part in urban growing...I'm not an expert though and would benefit from exchanging ideas with others. Also, yes, good question that someone enquired about internet access because I am thinking to use the internet to make some business. I am also in the process of gaining a qualification in Bi-aura therapy (or bio-energy healing) if this can help locally. I have a question about your location in Portugal: what is the is the situation with fire risk in your area?

Thanks for posting.

Christele

 I love your post!!  Is there an update, please?  I am very interested.  Thank You!

Hi Fae. Lovely to hear from you. Well, we are still here and life has evolved in interesting ways. Our water harvesting system has evolved tremendously since I wrote that post. Our olive trees and vines have increased dramatically in productiveness and we have planted a lot of fruit trees and other trees. Where are you and what are your plans ?

Hi Pina, this sounds great! I would at least like to visit someday. I do love the idea of buying some land with fruit trees and a ruin ;) and I love Portugese horses! Sorraia and all.