“Buçaco forest demands a whole vocabulary which, once spoken, tells us that there’s still everything left to say. You don’t describe Buçaco forest. The best thing is to lose yourself in it.”– José Saramago Bussaco (Buçaco) Forest, first settled in the 6th century by friars from the nearby Benedictine monastery in Vacariça, evokes the exact […]
“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” – Gandhi The rains arrived, as predicted on the 29th of October. After a couple of days taking care of some chores on the land, I was grateful to slow down, huddle up inside, and catching up with friends. By the Sunday the sharka (pond or […]
“We’ve all been given a gift, the gift of life. What we do with our lives is our gift back.” – Edo When Matthias contacted me nearly two weeks ago to check if I’m up for a day of harvesting table olives on a local organic farm, I jumped at the opportunity. Not only did […]
Because we decided that we won’t do any big projects during Michael’s last visit, there was no need to book Tim with his tractor and digger, as that usually indicates a project involving multiple days of work. We always like to plan and book him well in advance, so we were quite relieved when he […]
“. . . belonging is not a once-and-for-all condition, a static identity tattooed on our skin; it is a constant self-examination and dynamic revision of where we are, who we are, and where we want to be.” – Elif Shafak I don’t like roller coasters, and I don’t like cliches, yet I can find no […]
“Happiness is that glorious feeling when everything seems right. When all of life’s twists and turns and jagged edges seem to fit together perfectly. In those often all-too-brief flickers of genuine happiness, every thought in your head is agreeable, and you wouldn’t mind if time stood still and the present moment extended forever.” – Mo […]
“Petrichor, the wonderful, soul-lifting smell you get after rain on earth, is thanks in large part to the metabolites of soil life. To geosmin. We’ve evolved around living earth, and our ability to sense geosmin could well explain why it feels so invigorating being in a garden, or so life-affirming to visit an ancient forest, […]
“In a very basic sense, terroir is the expression of a physical place through the flavors and quality of a wine . . . including the climate of the vineyard where the grapes were grown, the soil, the geography, as well as the characteristics of the grape variety itself.” – Becca Yeamans-Irwin Vines are cultivated […]
“It turns out that the common soil bacterium M. vaccae acts like an antidepressant, boosting the levels of happy hormones, serotonin and norepinephrine, in humans and other mammals . . . and because M. vaccae is everywhere in most healthy soil, every time you eat a piece of lettuce from your garden, you’re probably getting […]
“Saudade is a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present.” – Aubrey Bell from his book In Portugal According to Wikipedia saudade “is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for something or someone that one cares for and/or loves. […]
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