Our family
My name is Lili and I’m 40 years old. I live with my husband and our 8-year old explorer . Five years ago, after a period spent living in Ireland, we decided to up sticks and move from our native Belgium to Portugal. We decided to make this blog to share a little about our lifestyle and our experiences in eco building, woodworking, permaculture and making natural products.
My husband, a former chef with a background in fishing and woodworking, has a diploma in permaculture design. He’s always been good with his hands and motivated to learn, teaching himself to turn wood and make wooden mushrooms, boxes, cups and bowls. In fact, the moment the roof of our kitchen/workshop was on, he set himself up in a corner and began carving a variety of woods he’d never used before. From olive and cork oak to orange and almond, Peppy transforms much all of the wood we prune and clear from our land into spoons, spatulas and jewellery. He’s recently been introduced to leatherwork by a German craftsman named Johannes.
As for me, over the last 20 years my lifestyle has changed a lot. I started out working as a secretary and waitress, however I then decided to follow in my grandfathers footsteps by studying herbalism and beekeeping. Over the past two decades, I’ve taken part in a number of practical workshops and have learned how to produce natural cosmetic, natural maintenance and cleaning products, essential oils, natural dyes and wild cuisine. The cleaning products I make are kind on the environment and suitable for our off-grid lifestyle. Many of these products are made using our homemade olive oil and from other natural ingredients and medicinal plants sourced from the local area. Since I was first initiated into the world of natural soaps (thank you Sandrine!) I have developed a number of my own special recipes designed to suit a variety of skin types.
As well as making natural products, we also like to use local ingredients to make delicious dishes. Using the fruits, vegetables and berries that grow in abundance in this fertile corner of Portugal, we experiment with a wide variety of flavours and cooking styles. This experimentation has led us to produce a variety of flavoured salts, chutneys, jams, syrups, vinegars and oils, all inspired by the local area.
And finally our playful little boy is full of life and full of questions. He’s interested in everything from dinosaurs and animals to walking, tree houses and the natural world. An orange belt in karate, he’s incredibly inventive and surprises us more and more every day.
Our Pets
From the oldest to the newest
Our dog Fofie is half border and collie half fox terrier. Thirteen years ago we rescued her from a farm after she’d been poison by an anti-rat product. Luckily, following a blood transfusion she survived and has been a faithful companion on our adventures ever since.
When we arrived at the casa-yurt, we found a little kitten in one of our boxes. We called him Tom. After a short adjustment period, Fofie and Tom became friends and now he dedicates his time to getting rid of the mice that find their way into our home.
We bought a hen (Sun) and a rooster (Nini) in April 2017 in order to fertilise the garden and provide us with good quality eggs. We gave some eggs to a friend who put them in an incubator. As we had no room for more chickens, he gave the chicks to friends and we can still see the offspring of our very first couple. You’ll read in the article on the fire that, by a miracle, all of these chickens survived the fire. Unfortunately, some have since been attacked by foxes and mongooses.
We recently received two more chickens and a rooster from a friend. We call them team Madagascar! The hens are very friend and would be happy to be carried around all day. Luckily they are not afraid of the dogs or the cat!
That’s right, I wrote dogS. Late last year, we adopted a puppy that had been abandoned during the last big fire in October 2017. His name is Bull and Peppy has decided he’s a pure bred ‘Mexican Basset’. Incredibly energetic and very friendly, he loves everyone, including Tom, although it took Tom a little while to love him back!
