New Kitchen Garden, Road and River Pools

As promised here are a couple of update videos showing the progress of the new kitchen garden makeover (take a peak at what it used to look like here for comparison), meet Fanny and Felipe, and take a first glimpse of the new road leading to the river pools at the bottom of the valley.

Enjoy.  Memphis.

New kitchen terrace garden makeover



Introducing Felipe and Fanny



New road down to the rivers




Natural river swimming pools

Good Bye Mac Dada, by River

It is the end of spring and the fires have been packed away for the year.   The air is thick with warmth and moisture; the moisture will remain for a few more short weeks before the ravages of summer arrive.  The day is unusually clouded.  The clouds, friendly and plump in character confirm the muted enclosure of the landscape.  On days like these everything is quiet, even the little translucent moths are less hurried than usual.  The dreamy charm of the landscape is enhanced, by the beginning of the roses unfurling.  The old roses have begun to tumble over the mossed stone walls, their thin thorny stems heavy with bloom.  This short and spectacular display I have waited for all year will be over soon but for now we are enclosed in a world of petals shocking pink, or bright garish lipstick red, or purest snow, white.  The new roses of apricot and cream planted to surround the kitchen garden are just swelling in bud and I will see them for the first time this year.   The smell of roses drifts through every window, lifted as it were from the opening petals by the humidity and heat.  I find myself doing any job that allows me to see them and smell them.  It is almost impossible to step away from their frivolous decadent generosity so delicate in this, timeworn part of the world. 

The day is almost tropical in quality and recalls a garden I grew up in.  A garden of mango trees that towered over my head the fruit tantalizingly out of reach, and banana groves, of bougainvillea falling over walls all the colours of the rainbow echoed in their soft tissue like bracts.  In my imagination I can see a man walking and watering and weeding and preening and primping over his plants.  I can almost smell him warm and salted from the tropical heat.  I can see his face creased with concentration determined to grow fine roses in spite of the inappropriate climate.  Sitting here it is amusing to think he tried to grow roses in his bountiful garden when bougainvillea grew like a weed.  Here I am thinking of how to grow a little bougainvillea in this temperate climate when roses grow like weeds.  It is always the same with us gardeners, the desire to grow the impossible because a plant reminds us of someone or a scene or a memory, or is just so beautiful that our desire is ignited and we just have to have it. 

I remember him waking and stretching in the morning, before donning his filthy old work clothes, sharpening his knife on an old belt head bowed and face in deep concentration not even his breadth could be heard.  He never went out before greeting his pack of dogs, gathering his tools and stepping out into his landscape to fulfill his ever growing desire for heaven on earth.  He demanded that I read my dictionary and anytime he came into a room I found myself sitting bolt upright, immediately wanting to look, well, occupied.  Laziness was not to be tolerated, and yet, he never moved quickly, he never spoke quickly, he didn’t even blink quickly.  He was powerful and a little scary, but I can find no memory of him raising his voice to me.  When or rather if the day’s work was completed successfully and his light shone on you, you wanted to stay in it forever.  To me he was a typical gardener where his every mood was so linked to the successful growth of his plants.  This man was my Grandfather, who I liked to call Mac Dada.  He was one of my first gardening teachers and yet he never said a word to me of plants, other than, “Go eat the cherries or go pick some mangos” always words to encourage a taste filled relationship so to speak.  I watched him, working tirelessly on his land, sweating profusely with the effort to assist nature and to see emerging from the soil some seed that had first formed in his imagination.  To my eyes, it seemed that some great symphony occurred between him and the soil, his subtle refined breathing, music to the plant matter that eagerly rose from the ground just to please him.  What he did with that landscape over his lifetime could only be said to be miraculous, and yet not many people will ever see his garden or what his human hands made of that place.  Perhaps this is the way that the greatest gardeners are, hidden and secret.

My grandfather died today.  I am very far away from that garden and sad that I never got to see him for one last time or talk with him about my growing obsession with plants.  As I sit here at the computer with my dogs curled at my feet and the fine old roses falling over the walls I know that I owe a great deal of my life to the time that I lived with him in the West Indies.  Goodbye Dada, you were a wonderful gardener, I watched you turn a barren hard piece of land into a virtual paradise through tireless effort.  I hope to be as dedicated a gardener as you were.  Today each petal of the roses that hits the ground will be a prayer for you, I hope that wherever you are now there is a garden without weeds or little things that bite, where all is crystal clear and growing on a wish and a breadth.

Today also another garden is being left behind.  Andy’s Mum and Dad will be leaving their beautiful London garden, a paradise of dedication of nearly half a century.  It was in this Dulwich garden that I first bowed down and gazed up into the cheeky face of my very first daffodil.  It is so very hard to leave one’s garden behind, but then all life moves on to new gardens and new planting opportunities.

“And all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.  When the tongues of flame are in-folded.  Into the crowned knot of fire. And the fire and the rose are one.”   T.S. Eliot

Boa Viagem

River

"The Joy of Yoga"

A big thanks to Emma who writes the Joy of Yoga blog, for posting up her interview with Vonnie yesterday.

Vale de Moses: Yoga, Massage, and Acupuncture in the Portuguese Mountains

One of the best things about the racket I run here are the folks I "meet" from all over the world. This week I received emails from Germany (Hallo, Bettina!), Guatemala, (Hola, Annie!), and-- as you may guess from the title of this post-- Portugal.

Ola, gorgeous Vonetta. Vonetta is the Senhoria of Vale de Moses, a retreat center in the Portuguese mountains. She read some of my posts from the past years about yoga and gardening (the season of which is upon us! Hurrah!) and emailed me about some upcoming yoga and gardening in Paradise (I mean, Portugal) retreats she has coming up. After some email correspondence, I decided I didn't want to keep her all to myself, so (without further ado, or further parenthesis), I introduce something very exciting....

The Gardens of Abrantes Castle

After many months we finally got to meet up again with our good friends Francisco and Raquel (and baby Manuel) from the lovely old Portuguese city of Abrantes. It's about an hour or so from our place, but always worth the drive to see them. This time Raquel showed us, including new puppy Saphira, around the castle and gardens. Divine.

It was particularly inspiring to see many of the trees we have planted at Moses, and how they will look in 30 to 40 years time. We walked through the gardens catching up with Raquel and imagining the ladies that would have paraded around in long dresses and parasols next to the swans in the days when the castle was the centre of life in Abrantes.

And those flowers. And cacti. And prickly pears. Simply dripping. Thanks for the tour guys. Let's do another one somewhere else later in the summer eh?

Fishing season opened once more in Portugal on Monday. With license in hand (3 euros for the year!), I flew down to the River Zêzere a couple of times with our neighbours this week. Caught a few local tips of how to improve my fishing, although no joy in catching anything to eat, but what a blessing it is to sit and ponder on such beauty. I'm hooked. Will let you know when the fish are too.

This morning we said goodbye to two delightful French Wwoofer sisters, Laure and Emma from Bordeaux. They have diligently weeded and dug and planted and mulched beds for more tomatoes and cauliflowers. Merci! We now have a week alone until Bridget and Alison arrive at the end of the month. And not so long now before we head off to Glastonbury.

The Wwoofers have been fantastically helpful this year. Very much appreciated. And will be again for Olive and Wine harvests later in the year. But we sense that the time has now come for us to open up Moses for a retreat space. I've updated the Booking section on this blog with more details of the gardening, yoga, massage and acupuncture available here from September. If you're interested let us know. It should be a lot of fun and rewardingly hard work. Which is the reason we love gardening so much.

That's it for now. I'll leave with a quick tour of one of my favourite places in the parish of Amieira. The Olive Press. "Today on Playschool, we go through the round window..."

Peace and love as always

Memphis

Yoga Retreats at Moses, Amieira, Portugal

Our website for Yoga Retreats in Portugal 2014 is open for online bookings www.valedemoses.com 
or you can follow us on Facebook. Below is our first ever post about retreats back in 2009.

retreat «ri tréet»

a movement away from danger or a confrontation, back along the original route; a withdrawal from a position or point of view to one intended to lessen conflict; a quiet secluded place where people go for rest and privacy; a period away from normal activities, devoted to prayer and meditation.

Retreat away. Retreat into. You are invited to explore the possibility of retreating to Moses, a small valley nestled in the foothills of the Serra de Estrela mountain range of Central Portugal.

On any Saturday from 3rd September til 17th December 2010, make your way to the local town of Oleiros by coach from Lisbon or Porto, from where you will be picked up and driven to the village of Amieira and below into the valley of Moses, to a renovated 3 bedroom Xisto stone cottage that carries the same name as the valley.

After cereal, fruit and yogurt breakfasts in the cottage, mornings are spent learning about various aspects of self sufficient gardening. Learning by doing. Learning by playing. Learning by seeing. Gardening activities and workshops will be determined by the season, the weather and the moon. And at olive and wine harvest time, you can join us in helping our elderly neighbours collect their harvest in too if you would like.

Afternoons are a time for meditation by walking. Walking into the wilderness of the surrounding forests and interconnected network of once cultivated river side terraces. Into a life once lived. A life of Romans and Moors and Portuguese small holding farmers, who all carved out a living from the stones and waters and soil of the mountainside. 

Afternoons are also an opportunity to receive a massage and/or acupuncture treatment in the Farmhouse.

Before dinner, yoga classes are given on the wooden eternity deck by the Farmhouse. Vonetta teaches yoga according to the Dynamic Yoga Method as taught by Godfrey Devereux which is suitable for any level of experience including absolute beginners. 

Lunch and Dinner are served in the Farmhouse and are lovingly and freshly prepared by Vonetta’s mum, Arlene Drakes from Barbados. Arlene uses her own special blend of magic to turn the food grown in the gardens into scrumptious meals, mainly vegetarian, with meat available for those who require it.  At some point in the week, Eloise will make a cake or two.

Massage and Acupuncture Treatments

Vonetta Winter is a fully qualified and experienced therapist (Body Harmonics, Cheltenham 2005) who uses a blend of Oriental therapies in her treatments.

Tui Na is the ancient healing art of Traditional Chinese Medicine where hands press and massage key acupressure points stimulating the body’s own natural healing process. Tension is released increasing the flow of blood, nutrients and energy (Qi) around the body.

Thai, the 2500 year old massage technique for relaxing the body and mind, is applied through clothes on a futon mat, using rhythmic pressing and stretching through a series of gentle yoga based postures. 

Indonesian is a deep pressure, essential oil based massage, involving strong pushing techniques to invigorate the soft tissues, making it a highly effective treatment for sports injuries.

Acupuncture is the needle based therapy component of Traditional Chinese Medicine, excellent for treating a wide range of physical and emotional ailments.

Price:             Massage & Acupuncture €75 per 90mins        

Booking

To find out if we have space on the dates you want to come, visit the online calendar on www.valedemoses.com or give us a ring at the Farmhouse on 00351 272 634 006 or email us at info @ yogaatmoses.com with any questions. If we are not around, leave a message and we promise to get back to you as soon as we get back in from the gardens!

Namaste.

Vonetta & Andrew