Thinking in Buying or renting long term for an offgrid experience in Portugal ? let´s talk

PORTUGAL , PORTUGAL, PORTUGAL !
DO YOU KNOW ALENTEJO ? Maybe it is time.

Hi ya'll,

3 years ago I embarked in a breathtaking adventure. A lady in the woods with zero experience but plenty of willingness to make it out in the OFFGRID world.

I am still excited about it, but I have learned a number of valuable lessons.... among the many lessons learned is that even though some people do make it out alone OK, I personally am a social bee that despite really enjoying long time in my own company I still need the occasional warmth of social surroundings with my friends.

I have another post encouraging a few couples to join me in my adventure so this is still on the cards but having contacted a few other off grid people, this might not bring me the expected result and hence here I throw my plan B.

I have 1 hectare of land (around 2.5 acres), 10250 m, which i fenced, cleared and refurbished. it had a fallen ruin and a dirty well.... Now it has a beautiful tiny home, with in-house dry toilet (with pee diverter, no smells i promise), kitchen- living room (can be turned into spare double bed), plenty of storage, mezzanine where i sleep, solar system with OPSZ batteries (stationary, the best in the market) water tanks, young fruit trees, mature olive trees and more.  I have a wood stove which can cook in the winter and makes delicious pizzas. If I had a hubby and a child that would be paradise.

hot water and summer cooking i use gas
Also has a storage room/garage with plenty of tools including a tiler.

Ok... here i go.... couples willing to rent min. 1 year this is your place. let´s talk.
Or

If you want to move to Portugal and like the place..... i am willing to sell, for the right price. I would show you the value put on paper in the legalization process. This was not me but the actual "legal people that estimate the value". Still i would be willing to be a tiny wee flexible.

I am finishing the process of legalizing the house so all legal (not like many properties in Portugal)
The property is based a stone through from Alqueva dam. Look it up. a true paradise and region growing in Popularity (Alentejo). A couple of hours from Lisbon and Algarve AND close to the border for shopping, fuel, etc.

WARNING:  iF you are and AGENCY and don´t want to be brutally abused over the phone or email, please do us both a Favour and don´t waste your and my time. I have little tolerance to pests.

If you read this much, Thank you !! if you want to know more please email laneta.laneta.100@protonmail.com

Much love & best wishes to all, excl agencies of course.

It looks nice, any before shots available please? To see you progress.

i do but i prefer to send via pm if you like

Happy 2024! just revamping in case there was interest

Just in case you were wondering....
I have not moved any agencies yet.... permis and portugal holodays.com have the honour for now😋

We are enjoying a warm, beautiful spring time here in Portugal. The chirping of the birds, the crickets, some wild bores, deer, hares and other small creatures... nothing poisonous, nothing deadly.... just bliss. Come visit. I love the place but its too much for me but will suit couples. all ready to go

I put it on the singles section and also here just in case

Phew!! glad summer is almost over.... Fall and spring are awesome here and whilst the north and the center of Portugal are on fire, my secluded, water filled area in SE, is safe and sound.
a month or so ago the region went through an Earth quake it seems (5.4 according to news) but again.... that was west and here we felt almost nothing.... same goes for floodings, nothing! i am starting to believe i am meant to be here🤔

A lovely couple are visiting over for several weeks on their camper van, I have had a number of people interested.... shame they had not put their finances to the test of reality.

Revamping this.... see what happens.

Peace

I sure can relate to your experiences. My wife and I bought 2.5 ha in the Dominican Republic some years ago. It seemed wonderful, but it sure was a mountain of work! Then again, once we had it sort of fixed up and functional, we sort of got bored and restless. Anyway, not up for another major farming adventure at my age (64), BUT we are bound for Spain in March 2025 to scout out the north coast for a modest base from which to spend our sunset years train traveling around Europe.

Anyway, I mainly wrote about your toilet! We tried pretty hard to operate a waterless toilet - urine in front and poop into a dry "moldering pit" in the back. Were you able to source a pre-made divided toilet there? I had to make my own and it was never quite satisfactory. After a couple of years, we abandoned the experiment and since we'd discovered by then that we had ample water, switching to water-flush was not a problem. But I always thought the idea of a dry toilet was great and wonder how it worked out for you. One never knows when such information may become useful.

Hi Cade,
thanks for your message.
Actually I understand if you have plenty of water it might seem like a good idea to have a regular toilet, BUT.....................what do you do with the "contents"??  you then need a sceptic tank, which requires maintenance and someone to come and take care of your sh*t (literally)
I wanted none of that, i have an indoor home made odourless dry toilet that has worked me beautifully these past few years.
I use a diesel square funnel for the liquids (you rinse with water and vinegar) and a bucket for the solids which i put saw dust in.... once a month i empty it in a contained pile (protected by pallets so my dog doesnt go partying in it like the first time I had him, you can imagine the drama having to wash my own "contents" off my dog's back, he loved it.... luckily the saw dust renders it dry and smell free)
there are videos online how to do a proper dry toilet with a pee diverter..... some people use and out house but i wake up in the middle of the night to pee and didnt fancy getting out of the house....
If you buy a pee diverter it might look a little prettier than the diesel funnel but ultimately does the same job and when you finish you always put the lid down to contain any tiny smell so you dont even see it other than when you use it...

Good luck in Spain.
E

I've been living in mountainous areas, here in Puerto Rico and before that in the Dominican Repermies. In both places, where I had a septic tank, the design was unlike anything I'd been taught in engineering school. So maybe worth mentioning here.

Instead of a septic tank with a drain field, the drain was a vertical well below the tank. Obviously this has a smaller area for percolation into the water table, but in a mountainous area, it seems to be adequate. I think a septic tank that does not receive non-biodegradable solids does not routinely need to be emptied; the organic matter breaks down and drains into the soil - my current house has a septic tank that has seen continuous use since the late 70s without a pump-out.

But when I tried the moldering toilet and urine capture my idea was not to avoid a septic tanks, per se, but rather to not "waste" the waste; and somehow use it for fertilizer. The amount of solid waste from the moldering pit, for a family of two, proved to be so little volume I never could bring myself to put it to good use - just dug a small hole and buried a wheelbarrow load once a year. The urine, I collected in a drum and fermented it 30 days or so, then applied by hose to tree-crops which benefited from the nitrogen undoubtedly. It was smelly work. Anyway, I would do it again for a serious farming effort, and I appreciate the diesel funnel idea; that could really eliminate the problems of a partitioned toilet design.

some really good ideas, thank you.
I choose to let the liquids go rather than collecting them but your idea is definately more resourceful and put to better use..... i am just an amateur trying to do my best😋 no engineer either (BA business, useless). Only Doing my best with the limited knowledge and assistance i have.

as for the solids.... its been going to almost 5 years now and my poo pile is pretty tiny..... i have 2 spaces and when one is full..... (in 5 or 6 years) i will start the other pile so the 1st pile can turn into rich tree compost. I knew little about septic tanks but i heard some crazy stories and i wanted a drama free life.
the water here is almost at the surface (my water well is 5 m deep, plentiful) so it would be tricky to not pollute and water here is gold, specially during summer times. Flush toilets seem so wasteful to me.... i guess i am very used to dry toilets these days.

Either way I wish you every success. If you and your wife drive past Alqueva, drop me a line and I will  gladly show you around😊

Happy holiday season
E.