Burra Maluca

There is a fascinating ecovillage quite close to where I live, which I had the opportunity to visit, albeit very briefly, recently and I thought you'd like to know about it.

Their website is https://spiralaecovillage.com/ and the following information is taken directly from their site...

Spirala Ecovillage

Spirala is a project dedicated to soil regeneration, human connection, and co-creation.

It began in 2019, initiated by a group of friends with the dream of co-creating an ecovillage.

In 2024, the project was reborn with a new focus — to become a hands-on hub for land care, ecological infrastructure, and a uniquely rooted campsite and gathering space.

We are still a young project, and sometimes we call Spirala an experiment because we are learning by doing, building in real time, and inviting new ways of working and living to emerge with honesty and care.

At our core, we are making a sincere effort to offer an alternative to fast, hyper-individual, and disconnected lifestyles. We aim to reconnect to ourselves, to each other, and to nature — not as something outside of us, but as something we are part of.

Our Vision

Spirala EcoVillage is a camping site & experimental hub located in Castelo Branco District, Portugal,. Initiated by a group of friends, dreaming of a grounded, conscious venue, Spirala is envisioned as a multicultural space that strengthens connections between ourselves, each other, and to nature. Inspired by the slower pace of countryside life in inland Portugal, we aim to offer guests a space to slow down, reconnect, and explore life at a more thoughtful, deliberate rhythm.

Our vision is to create an international community that fosters deep connections and provides a space for personal and collective recovery  and engagement with nature. Spirala offers individuals and groups the opportunity to experience peace, reflect on relationships, and enjoy philosophical questions.

Our Mission

Spirala is a young community, dealing daily with questions such as how to live ecologically, what does community mean, and how to act with fairness & kindness toward people and nature and how to interact and be part of the local (portuguese) society. We are a non-profit-driven organisation; instead, a large part of Spirala’s revenue is reinvested into the land, preserving and regenerating the surrounding environment and its biodiversity.

Our 10.4 hectares of land feature eco-friendly facilities that we built, including dry toilets, outdoor showers, and a communal kitchen, all designed to support a low-impact, sustainable lifestyle. While operating relatively off-grid, we provide some modern conveniences, such as electricity, drinking water, and Wi-Fi, ensuring a balanced experience of nature and comfort. Our land is home to a natural swimming pond, which serves as a habitat for a diverse range of wildlife, including snakes, turtles, frogs, and fish. Spirala offers from time to time different bodily and movement practices like Qi-Gong  Ecstatic Dance and Yoga, providing guests with opportunities for deeper physical and emotional engagement with the space.

Since 2024, Spirala has hosted events like a music MUD festival, a natural-building seminar, and a Syntropic Agroforestry workshop. These activities align with our belief in the importance of living in harmony with nature, and with the content that we ourselves want to be inspired by and learn.

Spirala’s community consists of 15 households, from which 5 are permanent residents of the land and 10 others that take part and support the project from abroad. We invite people to stay with us on land and enjoy a never-boring, inspiring journey. We are open and excited about people coming to stay long term, and definitely looking to expand our community with several more inspiring, earthy and lovely people & families..





I had to smile listening to that video as I kept getting distracted by hearing that fig-napping golden oriole bird announcing to the world that the figs are nearly ready...

Audio track available in either Spanish or English.

The creator, Eugenio Monesma, says that...

The knives from Taramundi (Asturias) are among the most famous in Spain. In 2000, I had the opportunity to discover, with two young artisans, how they crafted these knives step by step, complete with hand-carved handles and inlays.

Nancy Reading wrote:I wonder whether a sawdust container could be built into the steps?

Well it's a possibility, though at the moment the steps are just a couple of breeze blocks and offcuts of wood left over from renovation jobs. Also, dare I say it, the shed is a bit of a dumping ground for stuff that doesn't have a proper home so fancy storage steps might be a bit of overkill. The wood shavings are currently just in a big bag.

Rosa seems to have moved in there and is waiting patiently for her friend Nigredo to come out of the barrel but he doesn't seem inclined to. I suspect he may be some time...

It's 3:00 AM. A blizzard hits and the power goes out. Outside, it's minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Within three hours, your bedroom drops to 30 degrees. You're buried under three layers of blankets. You paid $300 for that memory foam mattress and another $200 for a weighted comforter. Yet you're shivering. Your expensive mattress feels like a block of ice against your back. You're sweating and freezing at the same time.

Now imagine a medieval peasant in 1315. No electricity. No central heating. Outside temperature? Same minus 40. His bedroom, if you can call it that, is a drafty stone hall with gaps in the walls. Yet he's sleeping soundly under a pile of straw and wool. He'll wake up warm. You'll wake up hypothermic.

What did a medieval farmer with literal garbage know that your $500 bedding system doesn't?

We finally installed the willow feeder!

This is it, after hauling the old lovable loo outside and just before taking the new throne inside. Roxa and Austin both look very pleased with their handiwork...




Those concrete blocks are going to be pressed into service as makeshift steps. We want to test them out to make sure we have the size and design absolutely right before committing to anything long-term and thought they'd do until we're absolutely sure how we want them.

Even Newton came out to see what it was all about. I think he's trying to catch his tail in an attempt to explain something about closing nutrient loops. He can't quite reach it though. I think he might need a bit of help...



And we haven't quite figured out what that naughty raven is up to.



I'm sure the dragons will put it all into a suitable story before long though.

Now, I wonder how long it will take us to fill the first barrel...

I found this link about a saddler's clamp or stitching pony which had this image of a

saddlers stitching ‘horse’. As the name suggests, it's a four legged wooden stool which is straddled for comfort during long stitching sessions with straps and belts etc.

Kathleen Sanderson wrote:A big advantage of having some kind of chute system is that it prevents a lot of stress on the animals (and on the animal handlers). Quietly running them through a properly-designed system (see Temple Grandin's work on livestock handling facilities) is much better than having to chase and catch and wrestle with each animal..

I found this video of Temple's work designing animal handling systems.

What you need is a rubber duck, or equivalent.

Instead of calling in a supervisor, call in a rubber duck (OK, I admit it, I'd use a plushy dragon...) and explain the problem to them until they fully understand it. By which time they will telepathically transmit the solution to you. Or maybe, just maybe, shifting mental gears into explaining mode rather than solving-it mode will allow the answer to form in your own mind.

Either way, it's a recognised technique, and cheaper than a supervisor!

When I had the donkey I would pick up bags of free bark-chips from the timber yard and pour them in a heap at the back of her stable.

She would have a lovely time pulling them down onto the floor, pounding them to dust with her dear little hooves, and pooping on the dust and pounding that in too. It made the most awesome mulch!