I'm from California, though I have lived and worked in Portugal (as a musician) for 30 years. I have always loved plants and gardens.
Five years ago, my husband Jon and I bought a hectare of land near Colares, which had derelict greenhouses on it which we cleared, and have been working on a number of projects.
Jon did a course on Strawbale construction in England (at DCRS), and I have had permaculture courses with Sepp Holtzer in Tamara, and João Jorge at the Quinta do 7 Nomes Cooperative.
We began with a large natural swimming pool/irrigation water storage, then built a small strawbale house by ourselves, we have an organic vegetable garden and the beginnings of a 'food forest'. We would like to build another structure of rammed earth. We have energy from 4 photovoltaic panels, and hope to get more.
Local schools have been interested in our projects, and we have enjoyed showing student groups around, and introducing them to permaculture ideas. We hope to be able to do a lot more of this in the future.