Casalinho

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Góis Bike Festival

    August is full of festas locally, ranging from tiny village affairs to the massive. Yesterday we headed out to Góis for the annual bike festival organised by Góis Moto Club. It’s one of the biggest bike events in Portugal.

  • In the Kitchen: Fruit Scrap Vinegar

    Here at Casalinho nothing is wasted, and I really mean nothing. But if I can squeeze in an extra step between kitchen, animal shed and compost, you can bet I will! Fruit scrap vinegar is a fabulous way of doing exactly that. Make a secondary, tasty product from something which many households would simply throw away. more »

  • Our Week in Pictures: 11th August 2014

  • A Visitor’s Perspective: Joe

    I normally use this section to give our visitors a voice. We’ve received such a lovely reference from Joe, who offered us invaluable help as a WWOOFer during July’s Permaculture Design Course, that I thought I’d share it here. ”I hugely enjoyed my time at Casalinho! As a slightly nervous wwoofer (being the unskilled city more »

  • The Mystery of the Disappearing Guinea Pig

    Last night there should have been 5 baby guinea pigs in the hutch when I went to lock up. But there were only 4. After emptying the hutch completely then meticulously sifting through the deep litter on the floor by hand, I eventually concluded that it had fallen out and been nabbed by a hungry more »

  • Welcoming Bambi

    I’ve been searching for the perfect Billy goat to join our little goat herd for some months now. My requirements were that he should be horned, and that he be large. Let me introduce you to Bambi, on the right. OK, maybe he’s not very large yet, but he’s only three months old at the more »

  • Thankyou Silvia & PDC crew

    That’s the sixth full Permaculture Design Course at Casalinho now complete, and another group of participants have dispersed back to their ordinary lives with a lot of new knowledge and ideas to incorporate. Huge thanks have to go to Silvia Floresta who provided a fantastic course, along with her partner Orlando. Thanks too go to more »

  • Dam It (again)!

    Following my previous post, where I showed the creation of our summer bathing pool, it was pointed out that I didn’t show the competed project. Ooops! What do you think? Anyone fancy a paddle?    

  • Dam It!

    With just under three weeks remaining until our latest Permaculture Design Course kicks off, it’s all systems go here at Casalinho as we prepare. The job we’ve been looking forward to the most has got to have been installing the dam which we put into the stream each year to create a wonderful, natural bathing more »

  • In the Kitchen: Carqueja Cordial

    Carqueja (Genista tridentata) is currently colouring all our hillsides a glorious yellow. It’s a relative of the spinier gorse which those from northern Europe are probably more familiar with.   As well as making great goat fodder, the flowers can be collected and dried to make a fabulous tea. My neighbours have told me it’s more »

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