Catching Up

So let's see. When did I last post to the blog?

It was just over six years ago, in June 2009. We'd been living in Portugal for four and a half years at the time; and in our renovated house for three years. We were still doing quite a lot of work on the house – and to be honest we are still! But since then we've got most of the major things finished. We've been using the wonderful slate bath since the winter of 2009 – so it's been working almost flawlessly for six winter seasons. The large terrace is complete and makes a lovely relaxing spot for some food or drinks on warm summer evenings. There's a new and much more efficient wood stove to keep us comfortable through the colder months. So all in all, lots of improvements.

Outside, there's been plenty of change too. We've got a mostly finished garage. A large roofed area with an outside kitchen under construction. And a lot of smaller garden projects either completed or under way. Overall, our land now has many features of permaculture – such as a grey water recycling system (into a lovely pond), a humanure cycle, and minimal digging or disturbance of the soil. We've gradually become better gardeners, too… we manage to provide quite a large part of our food from this small piece of land.

Meanwhile, I've been quite deeply involved in various community activities. One of the bigger things is a local alternative currency, called Estrela Community Exchange, which took up quite a lot of time (and still does). I was one of the founding group and I also got the whole online accounting/banking system set up. I'll be writing more about this in future blog posts.

We've really settled in here. Our village feels like home. The people around us are real neighbours now. Life is full. Let's see if I find time over the coming months to write about it!