Spring Update - 9 Months Living Off-Grid In Portugal Tiny House - Life Reimagined

[@prashanthkamath6105]

Great work! For well you can create a recharge pit, located at least 30 feet away from the well. The water would get filtered through the soil. Here is how you create a recharge well/pit. Dig a large pit, build a masonry wall around it. Fill the pit with spals and gravel. Collected surface run can be directed into the pit after sedimentation or filtration.

[@jamessang5027]

Well designed terraces!

[@carmenmariacortesmarin2664]

A suggestion because of wildfires around your area. Plant a barrier of cork oak tree and/or Mediterranean Cypress. Both are fire resistant trees. Maybe in a few years you will have the barrier, and the county hall may reconsider you building the cottages for tourism. If you can get a tractor, consider making a ditch of a couple of feet deep for around 5 feet wide all around the property, with the exception of accessible roads to your place. It will help with water coming down hill to spread around without going into your well, and garden, also in case of fires. The fire resistant trees, plant them 12-15 feet beyond the ditch. Consult with people in google, websites, for people that can help you and more knowledgeable in this matter. Your place is beautiful.

[@Life.Reimagined]

Hey carmen. Presented a whole host of suggestions but the rules were created by a computer algorithm and if computer says no then no logical debate can even happen it seems.

[@russianthistleweed4045]

Tbe 1,000'th Thumbs up. I can't believe how the land reacted to your re-shaping down the grade.

[@devdeuce93]

My favorite part was watching your dog stalk the chickens for a split sec

[@cathythomas2692]

Beautiful changes! I hope you are encouraged.

[@serramcs]

Enjoy Spring.😊.🌼🌻🌺🥀👍

[@rajithr9065]

Very good video(nice editing, video shots) ....makes me feel good after seeing ur video.....ur a earth healer..🥰🥰🥰

[@veronicabalfourpaul2288]

The winter we have just had was not really a very wet one. We could actually do with more rain! But it did get a bit nippy near the end. Brrr. A woodburner would keep you cosy. I am glad the pond has filled a bit and the lupins, etc are blooming. Good luck with your project.

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thank you very much Veronica!

[@luisv8431]

You can add wind system to produce electricity, at least at night or during the winter you could have electricity. There are plants that can purify the water without using filters do you know other couples already living in Portugal like Eco and Beyond, Simone Cannova, Finding a better way to live, its always nice to share experiences and knowledge

[@solestrela7057]

HI. how is will can be more chip! by sollar or by wind system? Thanks ser. i am portuguese

[@solestrela7057]

oh1 thas, nice. ( about electric and filtros)You did say good things for them to helpe them. That,s great and at heart. Maybe they will can feel gratitude and thanks you. Your information is or, Was very useful for them

[@luisv8431]

@@solestrela7057 Pode perguntar em português

[@robertlemoine3500]

Thankyou 😊

[@JenShea]

Tough winter, but look at Spring bloom! The Lupins look wonderful, and that lake! You did it! Thank you so much for the update! We will continue to cheer you on and hope everything works out for you guys and the building permits. Take care!

[@Life.Reimagined]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@eviekleinwhittingham9237]

What a beautiful transformation of the land with contouring for water capture. It is amazing to see what legumes and nitrogen fixing plants can do to restore your ecology. Here in Canada we would call your 'lake' a pond--with no insult intended. A pond forms from snowmelt and rainwater and doesn't have an outlet. Lakes here are stream fed and part of contuing watersheds--often developed by beavers damning creeks! But how lovely your pond is:) And as more plants establish themselves rainwater will divert less of the soil, sediments will settle, and the water will become clearer. I hope the regenerative changes in the land will keep you energized in your work. Recording this process is encouraging for your viewers and evidence to support your commitment to regenerative agriculture. Thanks. It was fun to watch!

[@JenShea]

@@eviekleinwhittingham9237 I agree. Fellow Canadian here. We had two lovely ponds on our property in Kemptville (Ottawa)... both originally Man-made as well, made by my father-in-law back in 1979. Evie is exactly right about the lakes here at home. (We grew up spending summers at our cottage in West Quebec). It’s always wonderful to be near water and your property is coming along nicely. It’s going to be amazing in the coming years!

[@hansmueller8986]

The land looks amazing now in spring..so green. Good job with the terraces

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thank you so much and thanks for watching!

[@Jim_in_AR]

Great video! Please pause the drone aerial shots and scenery shots longer, so we can admire the beautiful scenery more. Persevere! You'll make it!

[@galdessa1]

Don't you have a pause button?

[@netby]

@@galdessa1 Lol.....

[@VCOOGAN]

Beautiful!!! Congratulations!

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thankyou!

[@jul7291]

Hi there, I hope things are going okay for you two. Don't feel pressured to post content or explain anything, I think people will come back when you are ready to post again. KZbin shouldn't run your lives! I hope the veg patch is coming along well. It's great to see how the contouring has transformed the water harvesting on the land. Looking forward to hearing news, but no rush.

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thanks annie for your kind words. I hope you see our latest video today but i just wanted to come back and say i really appreciated reading your comment. Its good to know that, even though we never started this to 'have an audience' but now that we kind of do you are all so lovely and understanding. We will keep pushing on...and working as a way of distraction :) Finders crossed i can come up with a way to make more edits without loosing my evenings and if not maybe once a month but making really good videos might be the way we choose to go. Anyway..hope you are well and enjoy the latest clip. Thanks for watching us and our little project. Jack x

[@hans-udowolter7091]

Wunderbare Videos von Euch. Ihr habt euch ein Paradies geschaffen

[@Life.Reimagined]

Danke!

[@raymondkyruana118]

What an incredible transformation!!!!

[@Life.Reimagined]

Cheers ray!

[@AlexAlex-gj4jd]

Yay! The video is up and working! Hello from Seattle at 2:28am! 🌻

[@Life.Reimagined]

Morning! We love seattle. Not sure if you saw my previous message on the video before i deleted but fun fact...i proposed to hannah at the dave chihuly gardens :)

[@AlexAlex-gj4jd]

@@Life.Reimagined No, I didn't! That's amazing!

[@andybones6044]

The space is looking great 👍 can't wait to be back in Ferragudo next week with my girls after seeing the video

[@pedrovitor4947]

Look’s beautiful! Glad to see the progress you guys are making. Greetings from Brazil.

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thank you for watching Pedro! Hope all is well over in Brazil :)

[@solestrela7057]

I am from Portugal. Thank you you too FOR BRASIL

[@ciaran3601]

Living the dream

[@Firode9856]

I presume the lupins are a legume , will you plough them in or use them for compost, what variety are they ? They do look fantastic though. The pond may lose a lot of water by evaporation in our long, long, summer. I’ve a large tank that is completely covered with algae which deals with birds that used kamikaze to my horror , but now I’ve had a cat & what I think was a pine marten corpses to be fished out, horrible ! The algae seems to prevent the evaporation , it also takes care of the mosquitos . I live near Tomar, we’ve got girls with trays of bread & we’re tripping overTemplars .Have subscribed.

[@Life.Reimagined]

Yes Lupines are a legume so they are very good at putting nitrogen into the soil and are great for building soil. We have cut them down in the summer and are just leaving them copped down on the terraces. This is called chop and drop and it’s a method to build soil. They will decompose and break down into organic matter. And from the seeds that they made we can grow more next year and repeats the cycle until we have lots of really good soil on the terraces ☺️

[@Life.Reimagined]

Sorry upload kept failing yesterday so I've left it to render and upload tonight. Hopefully all works ok in the morning! Enjoy

[@JenShea]

Looking forward to catching the new episode!

[@spencera.8453]

One idea, an eco-friendly aesthetic solution!? kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpWni6l4hc-XjM0

[@Mowikan]

Nice to see Portimao and Ferragudo:) i hope to be there very soon. I really mis the Algarve! And your land is doing great!

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thank you! 😃

[@JoaoBasso10]

Your solar panel angle is too horizontal for the winter sun position on the sky. Make it more vertical (aprox 60deg with horizontal) and you will have more eficiency.

[@Life.Reimagined]

This is very true. Shed roof isn't strong enough and we get strong short gusts of wind. We were worried about damage so accepted loss of efficiency here. Given latitude it's not so much loss when you run the calcs. But thanks for commenting. Good for others to know the rationale!

[@juliewilson7963]

I,m so pleased for you both , your land looks amazing . Wow , I feel more positive as you do . The lakes are amazing and your veg garden too. the wild flowers and grasses make it all look so fertile .

[@gary22223]

The deck looks great

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thanks Gary!

[@Nitka022]

Love the terraces! So green and healthy looking....Mother Nature is generous if you give a helping hand..:-)

[@glencornelius7543]

Thank you for sharing an update! It seems like you have a peaceful location,

[@Life.Reimagined]

It is Glen. Im sat on the deck now and all i can here are be's and frogs croaking...all the best!

[@annemarsden2323]

Everything is looking great 👍🏻

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thank you!

[@williammcduff6531]

Glad to see your project moving along in a positive way. Regards from Canada.

[@Life.Reimagined]

Where abouts in Canada? We loved our time on the west coast and still have family in Squamish

[@williammcduff6531]

@@Life.Reimagined , I live in Montreal so zone 5B and looking forward to the coming gardening season!

[@lilivicente7731]

Best of luck with your case!

[@strauchdieb7628]

Well done, looks really beautiful. Good luck for the future.

[@Hdio99]

very nice, bit by bit there is a journey. Keep the videos comming...nice to follow you!!

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thank you! Will do!

[@josedacosta9847]

have you ever thought about buying a wind turbine to produce energy instead of a generator? Do you want to build with bricks and mortar? I and my family (mother and sisters have a small property in Alentejo) we have a small agricultural buildings that my grand parents adapted for rental purposes many years ago, they were adapted without a licence, but they became dilapidated since and we've been told is impossible to renovate them, instead we can demolish and build them with wood because they arent "permanent" so they don't need license! But maybe is another set of laws made by our local câmara Odemira and our farm is on a no fire risk zone. I can't really tell I am just giving you so more info. God luck you are doing a great job.

[@Life.Reimagined]

Hello Jose, thank you for your comment. When it comes to building, there is so much conflicting info out there, it's really hard to know what is true. And then it can also depend a lot from Câmara to Câmara. Every town has a PDM, which is their plan for building and development and outlines their priorities, what is possible etc. This usually is the best place to check first to see what is possible on your lans. In our case, any structure (doesn't matter if wood, tents, or brick and mortar) needs a building permit unless it is less than 16 square meters. So even if we would put safari tents, we would need a permit to be able to legally rent them out, get the AL license, insure them etc. We know people who are doing this type of thing without permits, but we don't want to build a business on something that isn't insured or could be taken away from you any day. Unfortunately, it seems to do it the proper way is rather difficult here in Portugal 🤪. But we are not giving up just yet!!

[@nickcarter3874]

Keep going!

[@markstokes2809]

keep up the project - enjoy

[@Life.Reimagined]

thanks for the nudge ;)

[@livinglifelight1761]

Such a wonderful transformation of the land! Amazing work! Greetings from Cheshire

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thank you very much!

[@SonnyGreenwichJr]

Hi! Loving what I'm seeing so far! My wife and I are thinking about doing something similar once we save enough money! Considering either Spain & Portugal on the southern coast. Thanks! I've smashed all the smashers! Salutations from mostly cloudy, warm-ish & still mostly locked down Ireland! ☘️☮️🤘🏽🤠👍🏽☮️☘️

[@gardenglam3451]

Beautiful countryside! The deck will be an oasis for you. I almost stopped looking for you since there have been very few uploads. If you can post more consistently I’m sure that will be better for your channel. 😊

[@Life.Reimagined]

Oh thank you!

[@builtwithsustainability6221]

Would be cool to see you turn the lake into an organic pool for fish. Cheers!

[@lamebubblesflysohigh]

They would run out of oxygen fast... there is no other source of water and thus oxygen than occasional rain. Maybe a solar powered pump and artificial waterfall could do it but first they would have to figure out how to stop the lake from muddying up so much because mud would destroy that pump rather fast.

[@TheBartamon]

The flowers look beautiful! Me and my wife are actually planning on doing the same thing you guys did (buying a mobile home so we can already live on our land while our house is getting built), so thanks for the inspiration! I was wondering what you guys used as floor for your shed? I’ve been looking into putting one up for housing our solar equipment.

[@Life.Reimagined]

You can do it! Simple answer...None! We Had concrete patio tiles around the perimeter..idea was to hang a woodchip floor off the inner walls but we never got around to it and to be honest havent needed it...but we did just discover a mouse since having chicken food inside so may need to make sure they dont go near the wires

[@mariasarinha]

Love what you are doing , it looks great and has been a real source of inspiration. Could you tell us more about your composting toilet and where to buy one ?

[@Life.Reimagined]

Yes I can. Its a Simploo. We built a french drain down from the caravan so all of our water waste goes back into the garden. The solids have a small draw compartment, with a large square bucket below. We use 2 biodegradable bags in the bucket to make cleaning a snap. When we first change the bucket we add in some dried pellets for animals (like kitty litter) and then after each use we add some saw dust. This helps keep nitrogen/carbon at 50% which is perfect for compost and it also helps dry everything up and stops any odours. The toilet has a fan (12v so on the solar system) that pulls the air away too knocking the smells to zero. This negative pressure effect also helps further dry anything up. The fan runs to a pipe which goes under and up the back of the house so no issues there. Only small thing is a slight hum in the tiny home from the fan but its just like having an extractor on all the time.

[@Life.Reimagined]

P.s. compost is only used after several years breaking down and even then will only be used on trees to ensure that there is zero risk to us. I know someone was going to comment to it ;).

[@mariasarinha]

@@Life.Reimagined Thanks for the answer.

[@mariasarinha]

@@Life.Reimagined Thanks again.

[@InForTheFood]

Thanks for the update, the green trenches look amazing. And I love the sofa you have on the deck? Is it something vintage? I would like to recommend you to raise the volume of your videos, because when the adds come in, they sound much stronger, and it is a bit annoying. :D

[@Life.Reimagined]

Yes it is! And thanks for the tip. Ive been trying to get better at the audio after a few complaints but seems i went to far the other way this time.

[@Life.Reimagined]

Oh and yes. We found the chair on FB marketplace and Hannah's mum sewed the lovely covers.

[@InForTheFood]

@@Life.Reimagined I struggle with the audio on my videos too 😬 But it’s a learning curve that we have to go through. The important thing is that you guys give us great content, audio will come in time.

[@JoaoVianaRocha]

Boa sorte para o vosso excelente projecto.

[@Life.Reimagined]

Obrigado!

[@sirnakerb209]

These are some great video's! How many acres is the property?

[@shaikhrashid287]

Alhamdulliallah hello from India

[@gm2407]

Have you planted anything in the lake to air the water and maintain the banks?

[@Life.Reimagined]

No not yet but soon! We've been fighting for planning permission and this uncertainty was paralising us really in terms of how much and where to invest. But recently we made the decision to keep the land even if we don't win our legal case and so now we are pressing forwards

[@gm2407]

@@Life.Reimagined Thank you for answering. Good luck for your plans. Remember Sep Holtzer and his battles with permission. "Oh look a puddle is there, I am just expanding an existing feature." He just put pigs in a spot to cause disturbance.

[@pedromiguel9202]

Better cover the well to prevent any kind of accidentq

[@manuelmagalhaes5215]

Wich camera you use for the video channel?

[@alexandrap8803]

where did you get the seeds? and are the lupines annuals?

[@Life.Reimagined]

Yes...and monchique farmers coope

[@OvertheWheels]

Nice video as always! What is the size of the solar system you guys have out there?

[@Life.Reimagined]

800w / 12v / 600ah FLA batteries. Should have got 12000 or 1600w with 640 lithium for full sizes fridge and two i7 laptops going all day.

[@Life.Reimagined]

Thanks for watching!

[@OvertheWheels]

@@Life.Reimagined Thanks for the answer. Good to have an ideia before buying my own system.

[@flod3332]

To which camara your permit is depending ?

[@Life.Reimagined]

Portimao

[@ersenvural4126]

Have you have worked out a solution for permit.

[@MetalGearMk3]

I wonder if a wind turbine make sense in your area? It seems semi windy.

[@gringopapi6985]

its consistently windy

[@lukejones1244]

9 months is the legal limit on land without a home, right?

[@Life.Reimagined]

12

[@stephen7968]

You should move the chickens daily

[@Life.Reimagined]

That was the idea. The reality is predators so the electric fence prevents it.

[@101life9]

A lake? A pond.

[@Life.Reimagined]

300,000l ..so call it what you will. The point is our keyline terraces helped capture a lot of water this year so we are super happy :D

[@strawberries1411]

@@Life.Reimagined it's huge, have to look back for the measurements...we are thinking of putting a pond on our land too with some edible fishes..at least that's what some adviced us to do.. I want a small swimmingpool..maybe both in good time lol

[@sylve3456]

Why not place non permanent structures ?

[@Life.Reimagined]

Not legal if connected or not moved after 13 months. We want to start a legit tourism business and pay our fair share rather than have to worry about cash and lack of insurance for guests.

[@sylve3456]

@@Life.Reimagined Great !

[@gongasssss3964]

Ohhhhhh you survived winter in Algarve 🤣

[@Life.Reimagined]

Living completely off grid can be no joke 😂 when the well flooded it was touch and go!

[@gongasssss3964]

@@Life.Reimagined 😁 I was just kidding, I don't even remember what it's like to go camping for a week lol, let alone be 9 months off-grid.. Happy that you guys are succeeding, keep it up and enjoy Algarve, it's a very good place to be. Cheers!

[@gringopapi6985]

@@gongasssss3964 I remember living in the area 2008 and everyone said it was the coldest winter in 50 years.

[@solestrela7057]

Oh!.. YOU WAS A GOOD IDEA ABOTH THe E PEE,S. SO VERY GOOD idea.. YOU ARE MARVELOUSE FAMILY...