the cute-but-too-small abode, which we first came upon on our walk yesterday, exploring the hidden glens up behind our Portuguese rental

Hola, dear Homesteading Enthusiasts and Beloved Hive Friends!

the land below the cute small house

I’m sitting by the fire this evening, feeling wholly tired, after a long long day walking and then cooking, driving and picking up bread in the village. The walk was rather epic: we started out behind the house here – the rented home we have up a dirt track up a glen (the last one on this rough road, before it roughens even more, then circles up through some woods to Pinheiro De Coja).

one of a group of three or four buildings, in a cluster by a beautiful series of short falls in the wee burn (brook)

We didn’t walk as far as the next village this time; this time we veered off to the right, to follow the burn (a small river/ brook), into unknown territory. A kind of wildernessy mess of planted forestry, funny wee plots between piles of broadleaf corners, ruined buildings with trees growing out of them…

As we step off the main path, the new smaller track is just beautiful: my favourite kind of track, with a green stripe up and down the middle, which snakes along the small waterway; it’s an abandoned-enough path that even some small bushes have grown up within it – so it’s clear that this is not used regularly.

not the favourite track, but this is the kind of path I'd like to walk and drive up to, in my dream home: being off-the-main-road also makes everything 100% easier in terms of stepping out of the system/ out from under abusive and corrupt 'authorities'

The path curves around a bracken-brambled hill, then dips suddenly into the burn! There’s a bend up by a less-ridden track, to avoid walking up the waterway, which then drops back down after the watery stretch. This gives the quirky wee property that we come upon, the appearance of having a defensive moat, like a castle of Ye Olden Tymes, hehe!

along the way, we find looooaaaads of funghi of all kinds - many of these Earth Balls, and a lot of other ones, known and unknown; this is a good sign for us of a rich biodiversity in the landscape - healthy soil!

This first wee house is incredibly cute. It seems to have been set up (to live in) partially, but then left as an unfinished project. It’s kind of a formatted design, similar to the one we’re renting, with a big grassy meadow below it, terraces up towards and above the house, planted fairly specifically with useful and ornamental plants, and the bubbling brook running around the sides of the property.

another house which we found just as we entered Pinheirinho: instead of the usual slate construction it seemed to be made of a kind of half-melted/ melded sandstone - a lovely red-orange colour and beautiful ruined sculptural form

The wee abode faces south, and has a second valley stretching off to the west of it. It looks perfectly put together, and conjures up a vision of our dream – to work the land, create a place of perfect harmony with the elements, chopping wood and carrying water, foraging, cooking, writing, sewing, painting and permaculturing the heck out of the landscape. However, we're not going to jump into buying a place like this which needs is so far up a distant track, and which is ultimately too small for our needs/ dreams.

a beauuutiful well and spring at the centre of the village of Pinheirinho - a good sign that the collective has a healthier relationship with natural water: this is a majorly important point for us, in deciding where we want to live and work long-term

we sat for a moment, watching newts and wee fish swim about this well pool - and compete over a large earthworm which had fallen into the water; yikes - a newt was attempting to swallow it whole as we left!

healthy fern and moss/ lichen life around watery places is also a very good sign of vibrant biodiversity in a town - a sign that folks have either protected such things, or have simply not intervened with them: either way, an attractive quality in an area to live in!

This landscape is thick with trees and connected wee valleys, steep steep hillocks and thickets of overgrowth. It has enormous potential for being self-sustained, autonomous, sovereign. There are houses like the wee stone one we saw, punctuating the waterway up the valley – most of them not at all habitable, and requiring essentially to be taken apart stone by stone, and reconstructed. But we have a sense of the magic of the land, the water, the more mature trees, the grassy paths – and the distance between these properties and the next village.

actually this is the corner of the house we went to view last week, the one with the huge orange tree in the middle of the gardens - too close to other houses though, for us

That last point is something we’re circling in close to harmony on;
how far do we want to be from ‘civilisation’, with the way things are heading for humanity? Close enough to be able to make a trip to a shop for groceries once a week, far enough away to not have passing traffic (or nosey neighbours!) - near enough to find connections and socialising occasionally, but far enough away that folks will not take a notion to pop in unexpectedly on us.

this is more like it! up this track is the kind of large property we'd love: a very simple square house, with a BIG piece of land, mix of broadleaf trees around it, waaaay down a nice grassy track... with a muddy 'moat' to protect it from too many visitors, haha!

We both have a strong aversion to interruptions when we’re deep in reverie (and at all other times!); we have a very keen sense of the importance of privacy in our lives, work and fun. We comprehend lucidly, how vital quiet, solitude and focus are to mental health, spiritual harmony, and creativity. We are beginning to have in-depth conversations around what we dream of in terms of a shared home, and these kinds of walks out and around and about inform us that there is no shortage of homes and land for sale: we simply have to tune into where precisely we want to settle on. This is a very exciting process; melding our visions and hopes, and taking practical steps

Today’s walk was enlightening in this respect; at one point, once we’d trekked as far alongside the wee river as we could, then climbed up another forestry track to the village of Pinheirinho, I felt sufficiently in right rhythm and focus, to hone in on a particular hill that I felt drawn to.

I left Vincent for a few minutes (he, trying to find any kind of a cafe to grab a cuppa or lunch from, which unfortunately didn't exist!), and wandered past the miniature church and out of this small town (where we’d viewed a house in the centre, a couple of days ago) on another grassy/ dirt track – winding down to another valley floor towards another south-facing hillside, with some very interesting trees and uninhabited houses upon it.

many good, edible mushrooms on just this one walk!

I had a feeling, since we visited this village on Sunday, about this side of the housing cluster: a vision which is lucid and felt, and which is aligned with all my hopes and dreams, as well as with Vincent’s. I visualised a small neat house in a large plot of land, with mature fruit and nut trees, grassy rolling slopes, and a small waterway gurgling down the side of us. It is married with a strong, firm idea of a small sewing school.

another clathrus ruber, which seem to be common in this area, though I have seen them very rarely in my (mycology-immersed) life

Walking back up this steep path flanked by a high stone reinforcement wall on one side, and open meadows with olives, apples, and broadleaf trees, I felt the power of stepping into one’s destiny; the importance of walking as a meditation, and as a means of grounding a vision. The supreme magic of stepping into a dream, with real steps, not just with the imagination.

us collecting lovely dry firewood from the eucalyptus forest, on the way back

We had quite a walk home, as tired as we were from the hills, and the kilometres that we’d already trekked. By the time we stepped up to the elevated road above Pinheirinho, we felt a good deal more earthed, calm, and clear on our vision. Reaching a familiar road that we’ve walked several times together already, we discussed our specifics some more, and again it seems that every one of our hopes is matched. It is super-fun drawing our dream down to reality!

We spoke some more about our ideas, and our shared vision, when we finally returned home – pooped and a little soggy-footed, with having walked through some high wet grass at points. Deeply relaxed but very hungry and tired, the rest of the day is spent on practical things, at a slow pace, and filling our bellies with wonderful, happy-making food again, as is our norm these days. Life is sweet! We’re looking so forward to the next phase of our manifesting!

With Love to you all in your dreaming and homesteading!

www.claregaiasophia.com