Casalinho

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • New Summer Courses

    After the terrific feedback we received following June’s Permaculture Design Course with New School Permaculture, we’re excited to invite Helder Valente back next month for a couple of brand new courses. One of the areas of Casalinho that we need to put more work into is our forest garden. I’m sure we’re not alone in more »

  • A Visitor’s Perspective: Rosie on Travel

    This is part of a series of posts where we ask one of our volunteers or visitors to say a few words. Rosie joined us for a Permaculture Design Course and stayed on as one of the testers for our new Practical Self-Reliance Experience. Here, Rosie describes her journey to Casalinho and provides lots of more »

  • A Visitor’s Perspective: Serge’s Diary (part 6)

    This is part of a series of posts where we ask one of our volunteers or visitors to say a few words. Serge has been volunteering with us for some time, and this is the final part of his diary. This instalment covers Serge’s last days as a volunteer, and his participation in the recent Permaculture Design more »

  • Too Close for Comfort

    Our volunteers wrote a lovely tutorial on hot composting for me to post here, but anything hot doesn’t seem appropriate after yesterday afternoon! We had our first forest fire of the year, the closest to Casalinho we’ve experienced. One of our visitors raised the alarm, and whilst another phoned the emergency services I drove down more »

  • In the Kitchen: Dolmades

    Finally, despite some pretty rotten weather earlier in the year, our vines are looking lush and green. Of course the goats adore them, but I see no reason why they should get all the fun, particularly as they get so many at harvest time. It’s quite possible to harvest a reasonable number of leaves from more »

  • How to: Make Compost in Just 18 Days

    One of the practical sessions during our Permaculture Design Courses is often the building a hot compost heap. Pretty much any organic materials left in a pile will compost eventually, but by carefully shaping a heap with the optimal mix of ingredients we can ensure that it creates heat, speeding up the composting process and killing weed more »

  • A Visitor’s Perspective: The Land of (Goat’s) Milk & Honey

    This is part of a series of posts where we ask one of our volunteers or visitors to say a few words. Max was with us for a marvellous six weeks, and wrote this piece the evening before he continued his travels.   A Visitor’s Perspective: The Land of (Goat’s) Milk & Honey   Six weeks more »

  • Doing Battle with Broom

    We’ve obviously had weather conditions perfect for broom this Spring, because the hillsides are entirely yellow at the moment. Although beautiful when all in flower, broom is a plant that proving difficult for us to keep under control. I can fully understand why, in some parts of the world, it’s considered an invasive pest. As more »

  • A Visitor’s Perspective: Serge’s Diary (part 5)

    This is part of a series of posts where we ask one of our volunteers or visitors to say a few words. Serge is one of our longer staying volunteers, and has kindly agreed to share his diary.   A Visitor’s Perspective: Serge’s Diary  A week has passed since my latest trip back to Lisbon more »

  • A Visitor’s Perspective: Musings on Goats

    This is part of a series of posts where we ask one of our volunteers or visitors to say a few words. The spectacularly named  ‘Horatio Lovejoy’ (he’s shy!!) has been volunteering with us for around 6 weeks now, plenty of time to get to know the goats.   A Visitor’s Perspective: Musings on Goats   more »

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