Eleisia Balaguer

I see a lot of people asking questions about this topic so wanted to make a post. As everyone asks questions I will be sure to include resources and links. Now I'm trying to go through old posts in different forums to see what is already in the community so if there is repetition, pardon.

I'm originally american. I moved to spain almost 12 years ago when I married a Spaniard in the Castellon province. I grew up with gardening, learning permaculture, companion planting, things of that nature. My grandparents had a cow farm and so visiting them I learned about farming and living in rural areas. Over the years I just keep wanting to know more and more about natural building, water conservation, building microclimates, natural pest control, foraging and such.

I've been practicing restorative gardening in a shit garden for the past 8 years or so. It's been an excellent testing ground of ideas and its been wonderful to see the soil come back to life.

I'm starting to build a child playhouse with found, local materials with natural building techniques. Drainage and lime plaster are everything! Then moving on to restoring our 100-150 year old building to sell so that I can in turn continue to purchase, restore and sell old houses. I also plan to expand upon this as a business to both locals and foreigners. Helping restore properties using as many natural materials as possible, restoring antiques to use as decor or found tiles to create mosaics. I can also build out gardens.

While I'm doing this I'm looking in Northern Spain for a ruin, farmhouse or group of masias I can restore. I would like to relocate my family there and continue restorative practices.

I have done a lot of research but also I have lived here and explored Spain for quite some time. There are a lot of initiatives to get people to move to rural regions and not just in Spain. Regulations that are unfamiliar to you are not as daunting as one would think. A genuine interest in learning the local language and integrating in the community go a long way.

So please, ask me anything. The dream of having your bit of land to nurture is an important one and I hope we can all achieve that very dream.

I want to do this as well next summer. I checked Help Exchange for some EcoVillage options and now are on Permies to see if there are EcoVillages that welcome visitors or volunteers. Next I will try a Ecosia or map search. Did you happen to find anything?

Hello all! This is an interesting post because it opens the dialogue about people that are serious about the work needed to live in accordance with the land rather then figuring out how to survive while focusing on ideals. Ideals I think is what brings us to want to nurture the earth and create community around that. Finding communities to join as an individual can be challenging. There are a lot of initiatives that are trying to bring people to rural areas to repopulate them, care for aging populations and ensure that both food production is supported and wild forest are tended to. Not a lot of money is needed but some and a willingness to put roots into an area and become involved in the community there. I think that might be the sweet spot for individuals because rural communities depend on each other and share, even if they don't use restoration practices. Being able to make money, even a small amount while you are living off the land will help greatly and at least in Asturias I have seen initiatives to train people in trades. In the example of Asturias, furniture making. A useful skill that you could use at home as well.

Hello! I'm from Greensboro, NC and currently living in Castellon. We are planning on moving north and I'm looking now into buying land to continue the gardening dreams. I would love to connect and talk more. Also great resources guys, looking forward to checking those out.

regards,
Eleisia

I admired the iris growing along canals when I recently lived in the netherlands and was aware of them long before that. I think they will be a good idea along with several herbs I already had in mind. That's interesting about them being island builders, I like that fact.

Jack: I will have to look into if those american species can thrive in this climate but as I love willow, that's a great idea. I thought of them even it's just that I want to make this space as productive as possible so was thinking of herbs and/or plants that attract bees. Worms, of course! We found a gigantic earthworm while digging the trough so they are certainly eating and being drawn to the area. It helps we have a compost pile very close by. I appreciate your suggestions.

Dan: I had an iris planted there but it was too wet for it. I'm going to replant it now that the water is more dispersed and add other species. There is a reed species that grows rampant around here but any juncus is going to overwhelm the other plants. I found that adding small stones was a great idea and since there are rocks everywhere here, it was easy to source. That's a great suggestion, they are actually doing some work like that next to a river here so I will go and see what I can collect. I didn't even think to google those! Great references, thank you. I will look into the author and links you have sent me. There are wetlands very close to here, I drove through them the other day even. Thank you for your help.

Hey permies.

We've been working on a grey water catchment and I need to find some plants for filtration. Water from the kitchen sink and outdoor sink were just running from a tube into the ground, making an unused wet spot. So we dug a channel to spread out the water usage and its been working beautifully. I'm making terra cotta banks for it and a thin layer of rock in the midddle. Both are to keep and move the water. I've planted two different mints near the spout in the most wet area but I need something that can handle the food, dish soap and grease to plant amongst the rocks to help filter the grey water so its not so gross as it moves down our little creek in the making. Suggestions? I'm in spain, sea coast, mountain valley, resaonable amount of shade in the spot it will be planted.

Eleisia

Hi Brooke! I'm setting up my property to grow organic herbs for teas and medicinal tinctures. Want to discuss working together? We can see if we can meet each others needs or not. I am in Spain so it could work well.

Bryan:

Yeah of course! Everyone's projects are going to be very micro climate specific so sharing that is a really important detail. To elaborate on the project we plan on developing a food forest that will supply food not only for us but for our future Cerveseria. Serve as an example to teach others about soil and water conservation/restoration. I surely post in other forums as we continue to work on/develop projects. See you there. ;)