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Rede Convergir – South Quinta da Fornalha in Castro Marim is a holistic project that has belonged to the same family for several generations. The current owner, 33-year-old Rosa Dias, took up this project in 2008 as she felt “a certain urgency about preserving the culture and heritage of our ancestral memories.” She adds that the project “is based on the idea of taking a traditional farm, which would be antiquated in terms of the traditional paradigm, and turning it into an economically viable project.” And that is what is happening at present with the Quinta da Fornalha. Apart from …

In a spirit of cooperation and in an integrated and inclusive manner, this association works for sustainability and personal and community development. Its philosophy can be summarised in three simple ideas based on the ethics of permaculture: 1) CARING FOR NATURE Total respect for, and the conservation of, all living things enable holistic cycles to be generated. These sustain the biodiversity that is necessary for the earth to remain balanced and capable of generating the biocapacity that allows for life on earth; 2) CARING FOR PEOPLE It is not possible to care well for people (starting with ourselves) without caring for …

This project is located in the Alto Minho region of this country and is based on the concept of Slow Food. It is trying to counter the trend towards the phenomenon of mass, rapid and standardized production of fast food. Slow food means eating better, and sitting at a table to appreciate a real meal, in peace, in the company of friends; it means making the act of eating into a gratifying experience that gives you pleasure; it is about discovering flavours, appreciating the shapes and colours of fresh foods, and understanding the relationship between what we eat and the …

Ecolã is a micro-business that has been owned by the Clara family in Manteigas for three generations. In “burel” – a Portuguese artisan fabric of local origin made wholly from wool – they found the basis for their success. For years, it was used for shepherd’s coats, for the costumes of the confraternities and religious orders. Despite retaining its original rustic character, this fabric is used today to make new, contemporary items. And over the last 20 years, there has been increasing demand for it abroad. What’s more, it is made using an entirely artisan and ecological process, using no …

The vision of www.redeconvergir.net is to have a platform that maps sustainable and inspiring projects so that the network members can cooperate, enhance synergies, and contribute to a balanced society and a human life in harmony with the surroundings. The aim is to link projects in their activities and to promote reflection and awareness on the role of every human being in stimulating a critical, constructive, active and emancipated society. The idea of starting Rede CONVERGIR emerged in 2011 when a group of people gathered at the “Ecovillage and Sustainable Living” conference in Portugal. The group realized that there were …

It is quiet and quite fast. And let’s be clear from the outset: it does 160 km/h. I swung myself inside and simply drove off, but not before listening to a long list of worries from the anxious patentee. The vehicle only had third party and no comprehensive insurance. I should be sure to drive carefully. It was a disguised prototype and in Monchique the farmers with their tractors were … and so on and so forth. I pulled down my scissor door and it fell into the lock with a solid clunk. Turned the key. Humming quietly, the spaceship …

Fernando Pessoa wrote about it, the Salt Museum revitalises it Until just a few years ago, Portugal was one of the countries with the largest artisan salt production sectors and inclusively ensuring the history of the Atlantic coastline of the Iberian Peninsula featured in the most famous dish of the Roman Empire, Iberian Garum, made from the marine salt extracted at salt works along the extent of what would become the Portuguese coastline. As from the mid-1970s, there began a decline in Portuguese salt production that would go into freefall as from the 1990s and certainly interlinked with the country’s …

 A short travel diary in three acts, many trains and with hundreds of strawberry tree fruits My journey is to take me from the island of Vilm on the German Baltic coast through the whole of Western Europe to the most southerly part of Portugal, in 48 hours. How can that work out well? My ferry ticket and my seven railway tickets speak a simple language; they say: you will board the ferry on misty Vilm, and then change four times, sleep for quite a long time, then change twice, sleep again, change, and … get off in the sunny …

‘A Rocha’, an organisation that is present in 20 countries (including the UK and the USA) came into being in the Algarve in 1985. It represents the fulfilment of the dream of Peter Harris, an Anglican priest and ornithologist, who decided to include nature conservation as a missionary objective in the church’s social agenda at a time when the environment and its defence were concepts that were little discussed in Portugal. And ‘A Rocha’ continues in the name because its founder and now honorary president speaks of the major contribution made by Portugal to the ‘Latinism’ of the project. ECO123 …

Just a few minutes from Faro is ‘Lura’, an educational farm set up with the motto of ‘learning naturally’, where environmental education is taught together with scientific knowledge. ECO123 talked to its founder and mentor, Sara Vítor. ECO123: What is the ‘Lura’ project? Sara Vítor: It began as a kind of way out for a teacher who didn’t get a teaching post. It’s a way of continuing teaching and working with children, linking this to my own personal evolution but returning to my origins. That’s why I returned to ‘Lura’, which is my family’s ‘burrow’. In this space in the …