Moving to Portugal

Hi everyone,
I am moving to Figueira da Foz, Portugal in May (2016) and going to trial a homesteading lifestyle there. I am interested in connecting with others who are doing the same in Portugal.

Thank you,
M

Michael, welcome!
Whenever you want to come to the region of Castelo Branco you are welcome!

What are your concrete plans in Figueira da Foz?

Hello Andre,

Thank you for the kind invite. I have never been to Castelo Branco.

My parents have a little house with about 1000 sq metres of land at the back. It's near to Figueira da Foz. My plan is to grow fruit and veg and raise chickens for eggs. I did think of getting some goats for milk but not sure. I think I will stick to chickens! I also want to be 100% organic. Another thing will be preserving food, lacto-fermentation, yoghurt, butter and even cheese at some point. Homemaking. A friend is giving me knitting classes starting Thursday. I hope to gain as many skills as possible for myself and to hand on and share.

And you? What do you do in Castelo Branco?

M

Hi Michael, your plan is a great plan.

i bought a 3.3 ha farm near Castelo Branco and will try to make a agro-forest farm

If you ever get around here, stay in touch!

I will Andre,
It would be nice to meet you one day.
Good luck with your plans 😊

Wow, Micheal.
Good luck with this.
Portugal is somewhere I've been considering, but I've got some learning to do before I get out there.
I'd love to know how you get on with this and how you find it in Portugal.
Though you might be too busy for forums.

The best of fortune tho.

Thank you Anna,

I will do my best to keep you updated on how I get on.

I wish you all the best too!

M

Hi Andre,


We are looking to leave London and move to Castelo Branco. We found a piece of land with an agricultural building which we want to buy and relocate. I visited the land and the area in Castelo Branco and loved it!
But we have no experience in anything, building, gardening, etc.. most of what my fiancee and I have learned is through the internet. My fiancee did a cob building course last year though but we will surely need some professional help from people before we get it 100% right.

My main worry is money. What do you do to make money where you live? When we buy the land we won't have much left at all, so it will be very hard for us to do all the fancy stuff such as solar panels and all that, in the beginning.
I have many different ideas but I am not sure which one will work because we do not know the area properly. We don't know what kind of things work or do not work. Perhaps you can help us and give us some ideas?

We are also happy to hear from people who want to live with us, because we want to do a nice permaculture project, including aquaponics, and some chickens too.

If anyone can give us tips we will be very grateful.

Michael Velosa wrote:Thank you Anna,

I will do my best to keep you updated on how I get on.

I wish you all the best too!

M

Thanks Micheal.
Appreciate that.
Feel free to PM.
And I'll maybe see you out there one day

Hi all

Two weeks ago I bought a farm near Castelo Branco, near Mata actually.

I won't move there immediately but continue to work for another 3 years here in Switzerland to make more money. In the meantime I will spend every vacation plus probably some unpaid extra vacation days on the farm. Well this is my plan to get the money for everything.

I would also like to have contact with people in the area.

Thank you
Monika

Hey Monika,

That's nice to know that we will have some neighbours in the area.

I found Castelo Branco a most charming place, and still very much traditional. It would be great to see all these rural areas being worked for the benefit of the Portuguese economy.
Most people work all their lives to be able to retire in a place like this. I believe that working the land while you can, allows you to have a life, before retiring.

Good luck with your project. Hopefully we will all meet up in Portugal soon.

Regards

Hey

Well Portugal is the place to be it would seem for permaculture ... there are loads of people signed up to
www.permacultureglobal.com

We visited plenty of permaculture farms when we where there... we have a few blog posts about them and a few about nice places in Portugal..
On: www.theecoquest.com

The nicest one was chrisses place down in Aljazur. here is his blog you should check out his place
http://www.varzeavivapermaculture.com/

Good luck with the move and the project !

There are a lot of foreigners buying farms around Castelo Branco, it has a lot of sun, water and friendly people
Me and my girlfriend are based in Alcains so come and visit !

Hey Ayalah

I'm afraid I'm one of those that waited till retirement, though it will be early retirement so I hope to have a lot of great years left still. But actually a large part of my work life was also interesting, I worked in several different countries and on a lot of interesting projects. Lately it has become a bit of a drag though and I am really looking forward to moving to Portugal and tending the farm there.

Good for you for doing this earlier in life. Also it is great that this is even possible nowadays, people from all over Europe moving to Portugal and other places and bringing new life to abandoned farms and young families to regions with a mostly old population.

Good luck to you too and I hope it all works out with the land you're planning to buy. Let us know when you get it

Cheers
Monika

Hi Michael,

Welcome to Portugal!

We need more liked minded people and a diversity of cultures to help to shift the paradigm on this land

I have a couple of close friends living in Figueira da Foz, I will notice them your contact through your post here.

Meanwhile, you are very welcome to come and visit the project that I collaborate in Águeda near the city of Aveiro.
We are co-creating a woodland with native species, in areas of valleys and a stream. We have a volunteer event this Saturday and next one a guided tour.
You are very welcome to join, in case of any questions, I will try to help.

This is our blogue
https://ecosanto.wordpress.com/

Thank you
All the best

Take care
Jorge

not castelo branco but still in portugal !
look at this :
http://www.stefannovellinoportugal.cybersite.nu/

Hello everyone,

It has been a while since I have posted on here. My intended move to Portugal in May didn't take place for a number of reasons. However, if all goes to plan this time, I am going to Figueira da Foz in January. My first job will be to clear the ground and to improve it. It's basically sand so needs a lot of work. Raised beds to be built too.

I am going organic from day one.

I have also bought some Heirloom seeds. I'm excited and am looking forward to getting out there!

Just thought I'd update you all.

Hope everyone is well 😊

Michael

Greetings, we are submitting an offer this week on a place close to Mata!
And hopefully moving the troop (3 kids) out before Sept!
Exciting Times!

Hi Micheal and T Olive, and everyone else in Portugal

We (+ my partner Martin) are going to Castelo Branco in March to look at land around that area.
We'll be camping and visiting some other permies around there.

Hopefully we can find a good few acres of ag land and woodland so we can try forest garden, hugelkultur, and have space for a few chickens and a goat.
We'd like to be installed before winter. Does anyone thinks that's unrealistic in terms of how long all the bureaucracy takes? Since we'll have to pay for a campsite and renting a car to get around we don't intend to take ages searching.  

Good luck with your offer T Olive and I hope you finally get to move Micheal.

Maybe see you guys there? Plus any useful info you might have is gratefully received, we have mainly internet research knowledge.

Hi Anna,

welcome to the area

We are in Alcains, so if you need anything, get in touch.

If in March you come and find your dream land i would say that you would be well in at the entrance of the Summer.
Since you're camping, try to visit some villages cafes and ask around for farms.

Thanks Andre

Are you new to the area?

Hi friends,i am from India and my family doing farming since 1840.i would like to move Portugal for farming.my main interest in guavas.can any one suggest me .
Thanks
Regards
+919311474074 what's up number

I caught this post late it seems. Still in Portugal?
i have a land share of 2,5 acres with water well and curious to find out how you are finding out your offgrid experience here in Portugal
laneta.laneta.100@protonmail.com

Hello from another late to the show interested expat :)

We’re in Spain now because the north of Europe wasn’t really it. Things are too dry here (Mediterranean sea), plus way to expensive in the area we’d like to be in so after 2 years we’re starting to look towards Portugal to buy a house and decent (3000m+) plot of land. We’ll be working jobs so our project may be more small scale compared to that of some others I’ve seen on here, but anything is better than nothing (and a well, that we will definitely want).

So if anyone on here is interested in having us (partner, baby and me) over for a cup of tea somewhere towards May,
or has any general experiences they’d like to share on being an expat in Portugal with a dream of tending a food forest, we’re all ears!