Chapter two of our story begins with a lunar eclipse. We spent our last night in San Antonio warming in the hot tub next to our cozy yurt in the luscious garden we built, looking up at the sky and watching the earth’s shadow close the book on the first prolific chapter of our lives together. The darkness, ever-telling, was momentary, mysterious and expectant and when the moon began to reappear, our new chapter had been born and blessed. If you believe in signs, if you’re paying any attention, if you’re still human at all…. It’s easy to feel the auspiciousness of it all when the stars literally align.
Mood. And all the stuff we brought. Contents: art supplies, books, musical instruments, records, toys, devices, clothes.
I’ll spare you the drudgery of another airport saga, however I’d like to extend big ups to every TSA employee who worked for a month without pay while the masters of war held them hostage in the name of a wall that would not solve the humanitarian issues that bring people to our southern border. I love you, America, but I’m taking a break.
We came to southern Portugal on the advice of a comrade-in-farms, Sylvain Claviers, from Talking Tree Farm. Sylvain, a young, hard-working Frenchman, studied permaculture in Thailand with a energetic group of internationals. Skeets and I like to imagine them as the sexy, diverse and blissed-out-on-paradise crew of Leonard DiCaprio’s The Beach… without all the post shark attack weirdness, obviously. When the course was completed, they dispersed to begin their respective projects and a group found themselves in the quiet rolling hillside of Portugal’s Alentejo region. Here, they’ve created Azula (https://www.facebook.com/azula.bio/), and here is where we were welcomed into the community that beckoned our hearts forever to Portugal. In short, we found a happy, hard-working, capable, creative and yes…. sexy group of radical internationals working to build, promote and live an alternative to “the system” we know, and quite often resent. It’s home of the free and the brave over here in this tranquil part of the the old world… and that’s exactly what we are looking for.
Obligatory.
View of the “new” part of Aljezur from our house
Aljezur, where we live now, is a small farming village of white washed houses and winding cobblestone streets that straddle a fertile river valley tightly packed beneath the gaze of a tenth century Moorish castle. It’s about an hour and half south of Azula, officially in Portugal’s most sun- soaked region, the famed Algarve. The entire western coast of the Algarve, including the town of Aljezur, is protected seashore as part of the Parque Natural da Costa Vicentina. This has kept the region largely unspoiled and entices folx from all over the world with it’s world-class surfing, endless hiking trails and beaches and relaxed villages. The Algarve certainly has it’s appeal and Aljezur has one thing specifically that drew us away from the peaceful Alentejo…. Story Forest.
It’s about a 10 minute walk from our house to the center of town
Trying to make some new friends
Story Forest is a mostly out-door “magical multilingual outdoor learning centre for children aged 3 - 11”. Part international school, part Urban Farm Camp, part forest school and part mystical wonderland, Story Forest was inspired by The Kin School in Tekos Russia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d94TIzrtQhM) which draws from a series of books called The Ringing Cedars for its pedagogy. The philosophy is nature based and is about harmony and reverence, growing more subsistence communities, practicing life-skills and creating a more happy, democratic and enlightened society. Story Forest uses the English curriculum and all objectives are achieved through hands-on or applied learning be it on the large and expanding onsite farm, the outdoor kitchen where students are involved in meal preparation, building their own amphitheater for performances, etc. Story Forest is made rich by the families who create the school who, much like the Azula crowd, are a funky and creative group of internationals and Portuguese.
Farm “classroom”
Art tent
The families of Azula and the surrounding community have started their own school project as well. We have the opportunity to join them, and perhaps be involved with creating another awesome school project up there. We will be visiting them on Wednesday to catch up and check it out as another option. Skeets and I would more like to be in the Alentejo near the Azula tribe, but Story Forest and the sunny bohemian vibe of the Algarve took hold of us hard. There are things we want to do here in Portugal, but some of them are looking more difficult to achieve here in the Algarve with it’s extremely strict environmental and building regulations and more expensive, highly sought after land. We have some decisions to make in the next few weeks, but it looks like either way, we can’t lose, which is an incredibly fortunate position to be in.
Morning circle
kid-made performance space
Part of the farm
P has been adapting beautifully. He plays all day in the magical forest and after school we go to the beach, to the plaza, to check out properties or just back to our little house on the hill to relax and be together and dream about the vision. Life is simple and slow here right now and I can’t remember ever feeling so….. relaxed.
full glory
can’t go a week without building something
found
The last six years of Chapter One have been a whirlwind of life-affirming highs and dark nights of the soul and it all came together with a blood moon eclipse. In those moments of darkened skies I thought about everything we built in San Antonio and about our tribe of friends and family. How precious in this world to have a place in a such a vibrant community and to have work to be proud of. How precious to be inspired everyday. But what of saying goodbye?
Is there anything quite as magically mundane as leaving it all behind?
Until next month, my loves.
May we feel more often that out there somewhere… the stars are always aligning.
the return of el playero pródigo
just down the road from our place