Our big vision for our small farm
24 January 2025
Towards the end of last year, we attended a ‘community Christmas dinner’, an event with about 50 people where everyone brought a dish of their choice to share and a gift for the swap table. Knowing that we knew very few of the people attending (possibly none!), we didn’t know what to expect but, armed with enough roast potatoes to feed the thousands, we turned up and got chatting to a beautiful range of people. It was amazing to see people, from such a range of countries, all brought together in a big farmhouse in the Portuguese countryside to enjoy a festive meal together. Turns out we had met three couples before, briefly, and we enjoyed talking to and getting to know others, widening the small circle of people we know here in Portugal.
We subsequently attended another dinner event with a smaller group, who we have now gotten to know a little bit better. It’s so lovely to meet with people you can relate to and who have a similar outlook to what we do. A couple of weeks ago, we visited our new friends’ farm after hearing about the menagerie of animals they keep there as pets. We were very interested in seeing their setup and to meet the animals.
Not too far from the local town, we approached their house tucked away down a cobbled road. Their farm is clearly well enclosed with large electric gates letting our car through. We were greeted by their four big Serra da Estrela dogs and invited in for coffee and homemade cakes in their gorgeous farmhouse kitchen. Their house featured many floor to ceiling windows and was timber clad on the outside, something we haven’t seen very much in this area. The cladding of course appealed to Will, with his love for all things woodwork. After warming up inside, we put our farm boots on and headed out to meet the animals. We spotted a turkey peering in through the window before even leaving the kitchen! As we walked towards the stable, we were approached by two large donkeys, followed by four pampered looking goats, and then the two kune kune pigs, all wanting a bit of attention and a scratch behind the ear. We watched the donkeys play, while the runner ducks waddled about, followed by the geese – this place truly felt magical! We were chatting with our friends about rarely wanting to leave the farm, and after seeing this, it was clear why. Seeing the animals mingle and play, it is so hard not to smile. The animals all live together, sheltering in the same stable, sleeping here or wherever they decide in the summer months. The exception are the chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, geese and turkeys, who have a secure bird house for nighttime. They have free reign of all the land, meaning they have forest and silvopasture, hills or a more open field to explore depending on what they feel like. This farm is really such a happy place and you can tell the animals just love it. Not only do the animals have an amazing life, they also do a wonderful job of managing the land and keeping the weeds down. The variety of animals mean the majority of foliage is taken care of, and the land is kept fertile with all that natural compost. The animals are easily kept away from veggie gardens and fruit trees, by cordoning of these areas with electric net fencing. Seeing all the animals living like this in harmony was so inspirational, and one day we would love to have something similar on our farm, which is of a similar size.
So here is our vision… We want to turn our farm into our own little paradise on the mountain. We are already blessed with beautiful views and are lucky to own the amount of land that we do. We want to get rid of all the nasty broom, gorse and brambles and restore the forested part of our land. We plan to get some animals to help us with that. We want to grow as much of our own food as possible, something we have already made a decent start on last summer. Our house will be fully renovated and we will have a big outdoor kitchen area to enjoy. Eventually our whole property will be fenced in, and it will be filled with a lovely family of farm animals, alongside a grand variety of fruit and nut trees. The large oaks will be free to stretch out in our forest and we hope to remain host to the wonderful variety of wildlife that we already have. It won’t happen overnight, but the journey is part of the fun!
As you may already know, we do not have one single fence on our land, so our 16 acres open on to public land, meaning anyone or anything can easily wander through. It is therefore not the safest place for keeping any of the livestock that we desire too. Taking note of the type and height of perimeter fencing installed by our friends at their place, we started planning what we would need for ours. Surprise – it’s a lot! And given that in many areas, the boundary to our land is still very much overgrown, we are in no position to start installing a full perimeter fence. However, we have planned to make a start that we are confident with. We went to the store and bought 400m of fencing and are determined to turn our beautiful farm vision into a reality! We have started 2025, with more enthusiasm than you can imagine and are spending every day working to turn this land into the place that we have dreamed of.
