Author: Andrea
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Downsizing: Less is More
I came upon this article on a site written by a friend of mine, and have asked his permission to reproduce it here as he’s expressed my own feelings about this downsizing journey that we’re on so well. Ian and his partner downsized to Asturias on the north coast of Spain 5 years ago. Take a more »
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Straw Bale Building course
We were recently asked why our new communal area / training room is built using conventional building techniques. If I’m honest it’s simply because it was quick and easy, the materials were easily available and will fit in with the existing house. But Jeroen is very excited to be soon attending a Straw Bale Building more »
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Oak Park Hates Veggies
Good morning folks. It’s a bit cooler today, and we’ve been scrabbling around for warmer clothes and moaning about the weather. We moan when it’s too hot, and we moan when it’s too cold. I thought it was just the British who moan about the weather, but it seems that it’s an international failing 😉 more »
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Merci, Les Pionniers de Limal
Yesterday we sadly waved goodbye to our most recent group of Scouts, who made their annual camp here at Casalinho. I seem to be forever making excuses for not updating this blog, but it’s been a busy ten days! So a heartfelt thanks go out to the fourteen members of Les Pionniers de Limal, Belgium more »
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Introducing Oficinas da TerraCrua
Oficinas da TerraCrua (literal translation = Workshops of Raw Earth) is a local organisation offering workshops in a range of sustainable building techniques such as Adobe, cob, cordwood and straw bale. Nuno taught the New Build session on our recent Permaculture Design Course, which everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy. Although workshops are taught in Portuguese, more »
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Terrorists, Feline Style
We’ve been so caught up with other things over the past weeks that I’ve failed to tell you about the newest members of the Casalinho team. They’ve terrified the dogs and the cat is so horrified that she won’t come in the house. They keep us awake half the night playing tag on our bed more »
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Permaculture Designs
Our recent Permaculture Design Course culminated in a design exercise, taking the lower part of the property as the focus and me as the ‘client’. The designs were full of innovative ideas, and it was really interesting to see how closely some of the ideas matched my own. Here they are, group by group. Group more »
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Life post-PDC
It feels like a long time since I’ve sat down and written anything for the blog. My apologies, we’ve been so busy that I’ve been falling asleep every time my bum hits a chair! With the assistance of an absolutely fabulous bunch of volunteers we managed to get our new Volunteer Space / Training Room more »