Update Fall 2025
| Life has been very full with renovating the abandoned farm I bought in Portugal in Feb 2024, but I am very excited to say: WE ARE FINALLY FINISHED! At least with phase 1….here is what we did: -Rebuilt/repaired/remodeled pretty much every inch of the inside of the house from top to bottom, as it had been abandoned for decades and was a gross moldy leaking mess. (We had some help with this for sure, but ended up doing a lot of it ourselves, meaning me and the husfriend learned a ton of stuff, made a ton of mistakes, and generally went to bed exhausted every night). -Repaired/repointed/repainted the entire outside of the house as well, including the 100-year-old granite walls, which was super fun and interesting. -Added 50 more fruit trees to the orchard, bringing the grand total to 80 trees!!! -Also added 25 blueberries, 60 raspberries, kiwi and passionfruit vines, and many culinary and medicinal herbs to complete the food forest design. -Removed about 40 tons of garbage (no exaggeration–that’s literally howmuch was hauled away) from various spots on the 1-acre parcel. -completely dropped off social media and similar because WOW this was an all-consuming project. I really do not understand how those youtube channels post updates as they go. Between my ADHD and the sheer volume of work, it just wasn’t possible to create content this past year and a half. I do plan to start creating fresh content again, I just hope y’all haven’t drifted away in the meantime… All of that being said, here are a few before and after pics of the house, followed by some FAQ about the project. |
| Front patio before and after. The olive tree had completely torn up the foundation and water had been leaking into the downstairs of the house for many years. Unfortunately we had to remove the old olive tree but, after considerable effort, we were able to repair all of the leaks and water damage and reclaim the house before it completely crumbled and collapsed. (We sort of got here just in time!) |
| Back patio before and after. The entire back of the house and most of the land was completely encased in morning glory. It’s still everywhere, but we have gotten it under control enough to grow veggies all around the house. You can’t quite see in this photo but there is a special microclimate under the balcony where we grew about a zillion peppers this year. Awesome! |
| Side patio before and after. So yeah, we have a lot of patios haha! This shows just a tiny sample of the garbage that was piled everywhere. It was pretty intense. And all of the surfaces, inside and out, were completely rotten so we had to re-pave, re-tile, re-finish everything. But now, viola! ….that’s it for now, but next time I will post a few pics of the inside of the house, and also of the gardens, and I promise to make some lengthy videos and blog posts soon with a lot more details, ok? |
| FAQs about this project I’ve had a lot of folks ask the same questions, so I will go through those below: Why did you move to Portugal? I left USA for many reasons, back in 2016, and went to Spain. But I was unable to find a path to legal residency in Spain, because of my limited finances and unconventional employment situation. Portugal had some residency options that worked, and I found this house that I could (mostly) afford, so that was that. How much did you pay for the house and how big is it? The house is about 1500 square feet, and it was 85 thousand euros, in trashed, unliveable condition. We had to redo everything except the roof and the windows, basically–electrical, plumbing, foundation, walls, floors, doors….and that added up to about 75 thousand more euros. So, all told, we now have a renovated, 1-acre farmhouse and food forest, in a beautiful lush valley with panoramic views, all for less than 200k American dollars. (Still, at my income level this has cleaned me out! And in USA I had zero chance of owning a place like this, like, ever…) Do you offer advice for other people who want to leave USA and/or relocate to Portugal? Ok so, on one hand, I get it that not everybody can just up and leave! But on the other hand, if you feel this is something you want to do, I want to help as much as I can. That being said, everybody has a different situation, and I can only offer advice from my own experience. So yeah, if you have questions, hit reply and I will do my best to answer them and/or connect you with other people who can help. Portugal is gorgeous, safe, and affordable, especially if you choose rural areas in the center-north. And yes, there is some fire risk, for sure, but it can be mostly avoided if you are diligent about your specific location. Are you hosting guests/interns/volunteers? Yes and no…we do have a small guest room that is best suited for one person at a time. Or, if you have a caravan that you’re traveling in, we have a small but gorgeous spot where you could park up for a few days and visit. However, we don’t have the capacity to host anyone for more than a few days, and we aren’t able to offer any formal internships at this time. I am considering creating a women’s writing retreat program for next year, but that’s still just an idea right now. |
| That’s my Lola! She’s about 12 now, I picked her up on the side of the freeway in California in 2014 and we have been together since. I’ve been making crochet sweaters for her. She says hi! |
| And now, a special request: If you have enjoyed my free permaculture courses or any of the other content I have offered over these past decades, then please…consider making a monetary donation, as I could really use a bit of a boost right now. Thank you so much. |
