Burra Maluca

Lovely pair of plums...

This made me laugh more than I expected...

sean lofland wrote:I've had a profile twice on this site. I'm not going to do a third time. The first time I had a little bit of detail. I was inundated. By scammers, and by a lot of women.

That were not only turned out to be hateful in conversation. How dare you eat meat. What do you mean you don't do this. How dare you think of raising enough crops to sell. Also some of the women that contacted me were scammers in their own right. Hey can I borrow insert here.

The second time around. I added values and what was important to me. Like church, that I wanted to have more kids, that I'm a veteran. Mentioning I was a veteran that lit a fuse on dynamite. Talk about the hate and vitriol.

This breaks my heart to read. I've retired as a moderator, but I'd like to share a few tips on avoiding problems in the future and helping to keep the site as free as possible from scammers and nastiness.

First, check someone's post history. If the only posts they've ever made are in the singles forum, it's not a good sign that they are 'real'.

Second, don't hand out your email address too soon. If anyone breaks the 'not nice' rule in a purple moosage, report it. Staff can check it and decide on appropriate action. If a member is trying to harass or scam you, they might be trying it with other members too and steps can be taken to nip the behaviour in the bud. Once you've taken the discussion to email there's not much permies.com can do.

Third, make a few posts yourself on the main boards, with projects, hopes, dreams, advice, questions etc. That way potential partners can check you out quietly and see if you are likely to be a match. Plus you get the fun of sharing stuff and having questions answered and helping other people.

Like Roble says, some people are shy or arrive here first via the singles forum and we don't want to get rid of it. But it's far from problem free and acts as a scammer magnet and a way for people to attempt to push their own beliefs onto you. Please protect yourself, and the forum as a whole, as best you can.

I think this belongs here...

Someone in the next village had upgraded their attic insulation and was offering the old 2cm thick blue sheets to anyone who wanted them!

My son wants to use 4cm of insulation in his walls so I think these are going to be doubled up. Any leftovers can go up into our attic to improve the insulation up there.

Rock for scale, as usual...

Have you tried growing them without treating to see if any of them survive?

If any do, you could save seed from them and develop a resistant strain. Or maybe there are already resistant strains available?

You might find this thread to be of interest - "Finnish Fireplaces" book by Heikki Hyytainen and Albie Barden - available for download

Clues found in tree rings have led to the idea that a series of volcanoes altered the climate enough to make crops fail in Europe, which led to importing grain, and the bubonic plague. Which created a perfect storm of famine and disease.

Clues contained in tree rings have identified mid-14th-century volcanic activity as the first domino to fall in a sequence that led to the devastation of the Black Death in Europe.

link to article

And yet it moves...

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...