A lot has happened in the world since our last blog in early January. Rob has stopped following the news altogether. I still follow the news, but I notice that it affects me deeply and that I am sucked into a spiral of ‘doom scrolling’. Even here on a mountain in paradise-like Northern Spain, reality occasionally hits hard. But we prefer not to get stuck in it. Better to act Rotterdam style: Niet lullen, maar Poetsen. Time for positive action!

Instead of the news, we watch an episode of ‘Rail Away’ every night – after ‘Happy Painting with Bob Ross’, this must be the most relaxing TV show of all time…
And we look outside. It is already spring here: there are beautiful orchids popping up in the woods, and the grass is starting to grow. The birdsong is almost deafening in the morning.

Since we got our puppy, I spent much more time in the woods behind our house, and as a result, all the small changes in nature are immediately noticeable. Fresh wolf tracks on the path, tadpoles in a water trough, large birds of prey on a rock. This is the moment just before everything starts to sprout again. In fact, nature is now at its most bare, so to speak. It is now easy to see how the terrain runs, where old walls stand, and where old paths are.

The forest behind our house is part of Las Ubinas – La Mesa nature park. There are paths through the mountains here that were built by the Romans. The area is rich in ores and minerals, and mining was the largest source of income until the end of the 1960s. Almost all of our neighbors of a certain age have worked in the mines. They are now in their eighties, but very strong and busy with their animals, fruit trees and vegetable gardens every day. They know better than anyone how to work the soil here, and we regularly ask for advice.

It is precisely the older people here in the valley though who speak Spanish with a heavy dialect, and that makes it very difficult for us to talk to them. But we do our best. Especially since we have decided to fully commit to Agroforestry and Permaculture.

We want to make a big step towards self-sufficient living and are therefore working on a plan for our finca. We want to have a clear idea of ​​what we can grow and cultivate for ourselves, and how far we can get when it comes to self-sufficient living. We also want to collaborate and exchange with other people in the valley who have a specialization such as sheep herding(wool) or keeping chickens (eggs, meat). A self-sufficient valley, that would be the best! Especially in these uncertain times.

To draw up our plan, we use books such as Bill Mollison ‘Introduction to Permaculture’ (the classic), ‘Practical Self-Sufficiency’ by Dick & James Strawbridge, various books by the Belgian organization Velt (including ‘Handboek Ecologisch Tuinieren’), and of course information from all the experts on the internet.

Some things are easier said than done. For example, people we know want to start growing spelt next year. This used to be grown a lot in the valley, and there was also a mill here for grinding the grain. But talking to neighbours, it turns out that it is very difficult to protect your field with spelt from birds and mice. That is why the people from the valley no longer grow grain. So we are not going to grow spelt next year, but we may be able to grow beans or lentils, for example.

It is all still a big experiment for us, but last year we have already grown potatoes, onions, courgettes, tomatoes and cucumbers with great success, and we also have apples, pears, plums, figs and kiwis from our own garden. We collect sweet chestnuts, hazelnuts and mushrooms in the forest.

There are certain things we cannot grow ourselves, and we will have to go to a shop for them: tea, milk (there are no dairy cows here in the valley), coffee, chocolate, flour, rice, oriental herbs & spices, and basic ingredients for cleaning products and shampoo. Although we do have more than enough apple cider vinegar; in a shed there are still a few hundred old bottles of apple cider that have (probably) become vinegar. That vinegar is good to use for cleaning and such.

We will start the planning this month, and will keep you posted on our progress!