The land project

We need to start planning a course of action for developing our land so that we can get it into a livable state in optimal time. We'll be moving into a pensão close by so that we can go there each day and work on it. The project will be divided into two main threads which we'll be working on in parallel, the plant growing aspect and the house-building aspect.

General planning of the area

We currently have still not marked out the exact area we'll be using from the greater part. We have title to 2.8 hectares (7 acres) within a greater registered are of 6.4 hectares. But there is a clear area of an acre or two which we know will definitely be within our area and that's where we've chosen to put our house and main food-growing area.

Growing

• Prepare the area we'll be growing and mark off the strips we'll be using within it for access
• Plant our cover crop

Building

We'll be building something very simple initially, some options similar to the kind of thing we have in mind are in the natural houses category.

• Plan the angle and layout for entrance, windows, stove, bathroom
• Decide on the foundation type we want and get that done first - e.g. maybe the trenches & stones method, or maybe just go with a concrete platform.
• Next we want solid vertical columns in place that would be useful for putting a temporary roof in place to keep the work area reasonably dry but also serve later as the proper roof and wall support. We need a dry area there because there's no shed or anything to store tools or materials.
• Erect a simple roof area that allows the main work area to stay reasonably dry
• Dig the foundation area and fill with stones (if we end up using that method)
• Prepare dry-bathroom area