Our Soil

Year 1

July 2022

This is our “soil”. I write with “" because it is so dry, rocky and dusty that it is even hard to call it soil. There is barely any dirt and life in it. We haven’t seen one worm since we moved in last May. This soil is where we will start our “horta”, ie our veggie garden. It is in front of the house, on the east side. Following permaculture guidelines, it is better for at least two reasons : this is the side where we spend the most of our time, and it is a bit more protected from the strong burning summer sun.

Saying we have quite some work ahead of us in an understatement. Turning this soil into black gold is a huge challenge. And I love it!

The first step was to till the ground once, in order to decompact everything. Our neighbour Fernando came with his tractor to do that for us. Obrigado Fernando! Now that this is done, we plan to enrich the soil and never till again. The second step is now to take the biggest rocks out. Taking all rocks out would be mission impossible, as our soil is mainly rocks for at least the first 60 cm. The first day we worked on that, my wife said “Hey, how do you want me to take the rocks out? There is only rocks!”.

After that, we want to make the whole area flat, building a stone wall where the slope is too strong, and start giving our soil some good food! Mulch, manure, compost, everything will help!