Bevindo a Quinta do Barbeito

========================= Key Concepts =====================
Forest gardening - Working with nature - Multi-functional solutions - Underutilised species - Synergy - Composting - Diversified habitat - Fungus culture - Pest predation - Waste not - Polycultures - No-dig - Soil building - Swales, berms & gabions - Vermiculture
________________________________________________________________

What we´re doing
==============
Our long-term goal is to become self sufficient in food production, using perennial crops, without synthetic chemicals, by creating an informal garden of beauty that requires minimal maintenance and is based on sound ecological principles.

We are father and son renting an abandoned vineyard, one half of which we have spent 5 years turning into a forest garden, and the other half into an ornamental food garden, applying many of the design principles of Permaculture. With the main structure mostly complete, we have made a good start.

The upper terraces of the vineyard are for the forest garden which includes a wide assortment of perennial food producing plants with supporting plant communities and fauna that increase ecological robustness thus reducing pests and diseases. The lower terraces nearer the house are restricted to scented or edible plants only, arranged with aesthetics in mind for visual beauty and olfactory delight throughout the seasons.

In designing the farm's conversion, we have tried to read and follow the natural succession that was already taking place and incorporate habitats of similar ecological character into our design, but reformulated and replanted in a way that is more useful to us - and more manageable.

We are on a low budget so we grow trees from seed or buy one plant and propagate it. The vision we have for the Quinta is slowly beginning to materialise. Some of the trees and bamboo that we’ve grown from seed are now taller than we are :-) but many are still only knee height :-|

What you can learn from us
=====================
We have an extensive knowledge of plants. I am a retired head gardener and my son is the initiator of a botanic garden project that is currently being developed in the region. As well as having read many books within the Permaculture movement, my son was taught by Geoff Lawton and Bill Mollison. We try to apply Permaculture principles to everything we do. You are also welcome to read the books we have on plants and Permaculture .

Who we are looking for
==================
We welcome applications from adults from 20 to 70 years old, who are also eager to learn and to share their knowledge, to contribute, and to pull their weight with both the fun and the un-fun tasks. If you have useful skills like carpentry, we would be delighted to see you put them to good use.

You are prepared to work 6 hours a day, 6 days a week. You really can't experience the reality of farm life with any less. (Our working day can be as much as 12 hours). Work times will vary a lot, depending on the sun, rain and nature of tasks. Flexibility. Normally we´ll ask you to do about 3 hours before lunch and 3 hours after. Most WWOOFers have gladly done much more, which is WONDERFUL for us, but we respect you keeping track of your day and choosing to stop after 6 hours.

We suggest an 8 day trial to see how we get along. If things work well between us then we could agree on a stay of 1 month. This could later be extended. Short stays require too much induction time, so no less than 8 days, please. Longer stays lead to more interesting tasks.

We prefer to receive people who come because they are interested in what we are doing and plan longer stays rather than travellers who feel like a short visit before moving on.

In peak season we receive about one request per day from WWOOFers who are trying to plan their time. So, early and exact dates are very helpful for all of us to make the best use of WWOOFing opportunities.
- - - - - - - - -
We don’t accept dogs, cigarettes or recreational drugs, indoors or out. Sorry. Alcohol in moderation is fine in the evening.

In your initial contact
================
Please include
• a photo of yourself (easiest to post it in your profile)
• what skills and knowledge you have to offer
• why Quinta do Barbeito appeals to you
• what you would most enjoy doing
• the contact details of farms you have volunteered or WWOOFed at before
• dates you would be available

'Blanket' enquiries from WWOOFers with no profile, sent to umpteen hosts, leave us cold. We like communicative people who are interested in the things we're doing.

Any skills or experience you may bring with you are a welcome bonus, certainly not an expectation. We only ask about skills in order that we might plan possible task delegations, and about previously WWOOFed farms for a character reference. So if you have skills that we don't, then we can discuss ways you might enjoy applying them so that we can learn from you.

We have had many visits from friends and family, most of whom are completely unskilled in a farm context and yet have successfully contributed in a way that we greatly appreciate.

Living Conditions
===============
There is no heating so the temperature in this thick-walled granite house depends on the weather over the last few days. This is unpredictable in late Autumn through to Spring. The indoor temperature drops slowly from 20 degrees in late October down to about 14 in mid-December. Don't come in January unless you're an old-fashioned Viking; It's too cold indoors. From February indoor temperatures rise again slowly back up to 20 in April.

The wash spot is outdoors (see Gallery). On sunny days hot water, up to 72 Centigrade in Summer and 30 in Winter, comes from a black tube on the garage roof. No sun ==> no hot water ==> a trip to the local bath house for a shower every few days.

The lavatory (indoors) is flushed with a bucket of water. Drinking water is collected from our spring.

There are two single rooms and one double room for guests/WWOOFers.

Normally we’ll eat together, and try to adapt food content to your dietary constraints.

We are delightfully liberated from television. Please use headphones if you play music.

Tasks
======
Here are most of the tasks that we may ask you do WITH us or FOR us depending on your aptitudes. These are all tasks that we normally do ourselves but never seem to have enough time for.

OUTDOOR routine tasks
• Weeding
• Wood chipping
• Coppicing
• Scything
• Planting
• Harvesting
• Mulching
• Watering
• Looking after the geese and ducks and training them to eat specific weeds
• Propagation of a wide range of plants
• Hailing and purchasing from vendor vans
• Occasional errands in town

INDOOR routine tasks
• Cooking
• Housework
• Looking up information on the Internet and in our books

If there are any of these tasks you would not accept doing or learning, then please state this in your initial contact with us.

Project tasks
==========
* Extending the irrigation pipes (80% done)
* Lining swales with erosion control (done)
* Filling gabions with rocks (done)
* Laying logs to delimit paths (done)
* Painting
* Re-glassing veranda windows (done)
* Building a ceramic heater (pending delivery of iron parts)
* Constructing a hugelkultur bed or two (done, 8 of them)
* Build a composting loo house in super-adobe
* Bio-gas digester for a methane stove
* Extend solar coil with thermal syphon and cistern (done)
* Laying stone paths
* Link terraces with tire steps (1 of 3 done)
* Compost tea brewer (done)
* Build 5 top-bar bee hives
* Make 5 worm towers

Bring with you
===========
We advise you to bring work clothes and footwear suitable for combat with the less friendly of our weeds, as well as
* Sun hat
* Sun screen
* If you don't want to transport wellies (rubber boots), you can buy cheap ones at the local market but only up to size 45. We might have some that fit you, left by visitors.
* tough gardening gloves
* tough rain coat and warm clothes (Nov-March)
* lap-top computer if you want to use the Internet (unfortunately no Internet in house at the moment. Only in town)

One Formality
===========
Upon arrival, we ask all WWOOFers to sign the WWOOF agreement as formulated by WWOOF Portugal.
www.wwoof.pt/fileadmin/images/portugal/WWOOFerAgreement.pdf

99% Ecological
============
Though we'd like to be 100%, we have yet to arrive at sufficiently efficient alternatives to some non-organic solutions. So we still protect some seedlings with slug pellets, those that we know from experience snails gormandize, but only ever in the nursery. We also use synthetic rooting hormone, though Salix will soon be replacing this.

Location
=======
The Quinta is an old vineyard and lies 300 meters above sea level facing South on the North side of the Lima Valley. The land is terraced with granite pillared pergolas along the terrace walls, characteristic of this region.

The nearest town, Arcos de Valdevez, is 4 km away and 250 meters below us, which makes it an easy walk down, but a demanding walk back. During term time there is a school bus which accepts paying passengers.

The local shop went bankrupt because people here prefer to shop at big Supermarkets. We don’t. We buy from the locals what we can. There are vendor vans several times a week selling bread, milk, fish, and vegetables. We are still far from being self-sufficient. But one day …

Commitment
===========
Our experience last year was that less than 30% of those who contacted us actually committed to a date; and that about 50% of those who committed to a date ended up cancelling shortly before that date; and that about 5% of those who committed to a date simply didn't show up and didn't tell us.

Apart from all our unrewarded effort to answer enquiries fully and promtly, no-show WWOOFers waste opportunities because as soon as a date is agreed with one WWOOFer we have to say no to other interested WWOOFers, due to our limited space. With about one enquiry per day in Summer, this means a lot of WWOOFers we turned away, could have come after all.

So, please, don't commit unless you genuinely ARE committed.

WWOOFers who have stayed with us (reverse chronology)
=============================
Bruno Fedi
Thijs Grolle
Ana Soromenho 1 week, booked to return for another 1 week.
Hugo Gressard 2 weeks
Sergio Veiga 2 weeks
Chris & Des Grey 2 weeks
Thomas Gremmen 1 month
Dennis McNamara 2 months and 2 weeks
Raj Sewdith 2 weeks
Kim Martel 9 days
Janko Teckemeier 2 weeks
Julia Eichler 10 days
Alexis Kunzak 10 days
Christopher Bradburn 3 weeks
Helder Pereira 3 weeks