s'more photos of this beautiful place

a suspended slug!
a visit to galway bay!
moooony!
stream and dancing field!

social dreaming poem

we had a social dreaming session the other morning with Gwen and her friend Ashling.. followed by a drawing/writing session.

here is a poem that arose:

may be
today will
continue on
forever
cognition
pre-loaded
forget me knots
sky opening up
noise within me
stillness about me
chaos unwinds me
me. this. that. here. now.
someday soon i will remember
all of this, and smile
that is how you know,
you are alive
(how?!)
managing
your mind!

( to the blue gloves on the hands in my brain:)
you may be here
in my brain
but so am eye
and eye am free
free as i'll ever be...

(for now!).

visual captures of the epic journey

(click them to see them bigger)

claudette, pup from quinta do sol

a kitten we befriended at the river!

making lunch every day for the hosts

olive groves on the walk to Ben Fieta!

inside hearth, at clio & adrians'

salad by the river!

get'N crafty in the caravan

caravan fashion tour 2012

rockin out in Ben Feita

skewer time with clio <3

leek gone to seed!

the slope we climbed daily to hack away the brambles!

levada! (the source for watering the garden)

our dear friend, Dash

the red spec is our caravan!

in Lisboa

amazing street art in Lisboa

Back to Ireland!

our new friend Freida!

and her brother, Brendan<3

the medieval herb garden!

digging up space for new beds!

garlic-chive gone to seed!

the pond here, at Faha

playing with frieds in the willows

beds chelsey is painting

digging and weaving willows, creating a living fence!

faHA! livin'

haven't written a blog in quite a while. tons of craic here at gwen and mattu's! its been a lot of unwinding and calming after the whirlwind that was portugal and specifically the last bit. still constantly have "obrigad" stuck in my head as "thank you" and feel the need to conserve toilet  paper and water. all for the best i suppose. its nice to have a computer to blog on, props to mimi for keeping it going over the phone, but those buttons are just too tiny for me to write anything of substance.
ireland has been lovely- the weather, the people, the tea, the animals, the plants, the green, the artistic opportunities flourishing again! were going to be painting a piece on their house here hopefully sometime soon, which would be great! becoming quite the mural artists on this trip! right now we're working on the herb garden and its looking better everyday. mimis been digging out the last grassy section, and weaving the willow branches into arches above the walkways-super beautiful hidden talent! ive been painting the beds containing the herbs white in preparation for some sweet designs soon to be painted and doing some clearing  out of the weeds. we pretty much do what we want, when we want to and we still get tons of great things done! people can be relaxed and harmonious and still get work done after all!
there isnt too much to be reported specifically from today. it was nice on and off weather and we took the dogs for a long walk to the post office, which was also a small shop with treats and soda. we painted the window frames upstairs and listened to some of mattus cds which was nice. oh and we both picked pretty dreadful tarot cards today- both upside down, i got the tower and mimi the devil. luckily nothing bad happened and by the early evening frieda knocked both of them down so it must have been canceled out. now im just drinking some really lovely tea that gwen picked out and getting ready to hit the hay shortly.
i feel like i might be able to process some of these wild experiences at this magical place and learn some really beautiful things about myself and this great big earth as well. for that i am very grateful!
love to all
&updates soon!
keep it realllllll
chelsey

ahh the sweet coziness of ireland!

im very much enjoying the beautiful blanket of rolling hills and green growth back here in Ireland. Gwen and Mattu are both incredibly sweet. today we got to sleep until nine! i did some yoga in the room overlooking the garden and then we came downstairs to gwen making is poridge! delicious oats and bread with delicious jam! marshmallow and plaintain tea! then we went into the polytunnel and pulled out some of the spreading Calendula to put it in a pot ,so as to make room to plant some spuds. we also took out the side shoots from the tomato plants which were spreading like mad. we jad a wonderful lunch of pasta and salad and then took a tour of the land! we went galloping over the stream andthrough the forrest climbing over bushes and under branches! such a magical place this is!
there are two really sweet pups, luna and rex and two adoreble kitties, freida and brendan!

there is also a field of wild plaintain growing! which we learned in portugal is quite the natural first aid plant, chew it up and spit it onto and bite or cut and  the ointment heals it pretty much instantly.

also i have to list the trees we were able to get to know and recognize while in portugal.... the Euctalyptus which grows like a cash crop to supply all of Europe with toilet papr and sucks all the moisture out of the earth. pine also grows wild.  olive trees, orange trees, mimosa, willow! (which makes greAT fencing, skewers and tongue scrapers! and the wonderful and magical, elderflower trees! which we used the berries to make wine and cordial with, and you can also use the flowers to make the most delicious bubbly with!

fond recalls for the cozy days in ireland. gonna go see some traditional music tonight with Mattu in a tiny pub up the road.

gonna be a lovely time here!
peace!
allways,
mimi

on again on again, jiggity jiG!

my oh my, i cannot believe we are heading back to Ireland today!! Portugal has been so very amazing, and has brought has many lessons about ourselves and people and the world and its wonderful plant species.  I am currently sitting in our hostel in Lisboa, which is a really cool city. It feels sort of like San Fransisco, with really steep hills, accept there is all cobble stone here and white buildings and really OLD vibes.  We went on a cute little walking tour that was free, last night, after dinner, with some people from the hostel.  It was really neat to explore and hear about this amazing old city.  We even got to hear some live Fado music, with a wonderful older Portuguese woman singing her ass off!  We also went to a couple really nice view points  and saw this legendary old street filled with some amazing street art!

We showered when we got here yesterday, first shower in 3 weeks!  Jumping in a river daily, does wash you up, but the hot shower really gets the lingering grime off.  We even have used toilets! and toilet paper!  Clio and Adrian's quinta was really very beautiful, and a paradise indeed...but that hard work and clearing brambles on a, say, 45 degree incline of a slope, really tired us out!  We actually developed quite the nice bond with both of them by the time we left, and we will remember our experience there quite fondly.  Definitely learned a lot of patience and strength of will and mind, and also body!  The vally that they lived in was filled with different types of people, mostly estrangeros, which is like X`pats...and really formed a nice community that we got to hang out with a few times, at the square, and at different markets and gatherings they all went to.  The vally has a river that runs through it, and that was our swimming pool and drinking water, and also some of the properties have levadas, which are stone channels, dug up which have existed there for WHO knows how long!  This is how they water the garden, and hopefully some day soon, operate the olive press!  [which is on Clio and Adrian's land and used to run abot 60 years ago, and probably was running way before that as well...but the whole structure which Adrian is uncovering and bringing back, is really quite astonishing.]

fond  fond times in portugal.  our feet are dirt stained and our tan skin goes as deep as our grateful souls.
back to Ireland we go!  Flying into dublin at about 1 today, and then taking a 3 hour bus ride to Galway where Gwen will pick us up!

looking forward to our next experience, and even for those green green hills, and speaking the language of the common folk will be nice for a minute or two. (ha!)

love to all,
and presence to now.
namaste!
-mimi

boot camp for the nude hippy

well well! this time on this quinta has been some experience. learning lots of patiance and strength of mind. we pretty much work nonstop durring the week starting at 730 having a two hour siesta from 1-3 and watering and cooking dinner not eating til about 9 every night. since the other two wwoofers left, clio has been a tad less controlling, but for the most part she works with us on everything except watering( very  peaceful time) and there is quite the peculiar and specific way to do everything -and no pausing is allowed at all, really she is a workaholic and expects us to be the same but since we are Volunteering, we try to remind her that were doing our best and that oughta to be OK. her partner is very chill and different from her until he snaps and hollers at us all for not emptying out the shit bucket in time. luckily we put in an order for vinho(wine) when they went to the market on thrusday and they got a 5 liter bottle of homemade wine for 3 euro. word! it has been a trip and we have really learned  a lot from hopping in and out of peoples lives for the past 2 and a half months. what we have learned: people that live on farms are weird and wild! people in general, all over the world are on their own trips and  Are doing the best with the tools they have. also, they treat wwoofers according to how they accustomed they are to sharing their space with volunteers who want to help and learn.
we are going to do our best this following week to be present to the  moment and be grateful for the beauty surrounding us. next tuesday we will take a bus to lisbon and stay the night in a hostel, so we can relax a night, flush a toilet and shower for the first time in 3weeks, prior to flying back to Ireland on wednesday the 23rd.  luckily we think we will find gwen and matthew to be great company for the remainder of this extraordinary journey. the power of now has been reminding us of how to quiet to noise in our minds and bring ourselves back to the present moment holding all we could ever need. staying light and sending the lightwaves out to those we love daily!
all ways,
-mimi

beautiful and sacred

how absolutely amazing this place is. we poo in a bucket which gets dumped onto a compost heap. we drink by putting our bowls, bottles, and hands in the river / waterfall behind their 1-2 thousand year old ruin of a house that they have renewed. we water the plants in the spiral garden. by shifting rocks and mulch to direct the flowing water from the levada in different to chanels to reach all the beautiful plants. we Are going to leadn so much here. we eat extremely well and clio and adrien are brilliant and very sweet. we break midday and can jump in the river /waterfall where we drink from... it is especially nice to walk i.n the. little pool at the base of the waterfall in the early morning before we eat homemade muesli in the sun. really gets the blood flowing. dancing to dry off. i am really in heaven. no electricity, and only fresh water. it is SO AMAZING. extremy grateful to be here.! love to all.
-mimi

disillusion and idealism

well well!
laughter yoga quinta, has brought us many lessons.
about ourselves and people and child rearing.
learning how to say no is such a vital thing in this world.
also, meeting ourselves Where we Are At, in the moment, is very key to feeling Wholely, OK.
being direct with people in our connection, can provide for a healthy relationship,
starts with being clear on our intentions and then using our best way we know, to convey.
Balance is such a brilliant aspect of our time here on, Earth, It may just be the entire essence of our practice, however the leveling out of forces, will always be in Action.
The full moon is shining, her face through the sky tonight, and i give thanks for our time here.
Ana banana, gave us off tomorrow for our last day, how nice, so we  can rest up before we travel on Friday, when we head to lomba do poisio, to stay with Clio and Adrien and some other Wwoofers to, clear their forest, and hopefuly learn lots! 
We did some clearing here, today, i sawed down some invasive trees that were sucking the water from the Olive trees, and we have also gotten the watering of the garden every eve down to a science.  We cleared out the junk-dome, and brought it to different garbage bins through the villages, we cleared a giant bramble pile and lined the property with it to make a fence, we even planted some baby tomato plants and cucumbers and celery and melon!  (pardon the mispellings, this spell check is in português) We have gone to a river almost everyday and made probably about 30 salads total. 
Oh how this place has been a triP!

It is realllllly wild to think that our next place will be our last stop in Portugal, before we trek back to lisbon, probably stay at a hostel and then, catch our flight back to Ireland on the 23rd.  We will be taking a bus from Dublin airport to Galway, where our friend, Gwen will pick us up, and take us to her quinta, or may it be farm, Again. 

Luckily on Friday we only have to get a short bus ride from Coimbra, to the village where Clio will pick us up.

A very special thing did happen today!  We went to a small village called, Lousa, and there were these artisan shops.  Three different rooms where people made their craft, including  basket weaving, carpet making (fibers!) and Pottery!!  Chelsey got to get her hands in clay and use a really wild looking wheel! This Português guy, who had been doing pottery for many years, was giving her a hand and showing her his way of doing it, while this other lovely man who was conversing about life and energy with me, translated.  It was really mesmerizing watching the clay on the wheel and getting to watch chelsey´s elated face.

Really the icing on the cake to this time here, at Quinta do Sol.

peace to all of you
and though we may not be able to write much at the next farm, we will be sure to have  a blast and learn a lot and share when we can!

love, all, ways!
-mimi