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Rebuilding the ruins will start with... rebuilding the walls. And as I want to use as much local products as possible I have started to look around. In our October vacation we took home some dirt that we have found. A bit from the mine and a bit from the hills. I have not asked what kind of rock the mine is mining but I expect it to be some sort of lime (chalk). So it should be possible to use it as a mortar and plaster.  So, to have some fun I tested out the lime and the dirt from the hills to see how it would hold in the dutch rain. For this I made a small frame and added the lime first. I only added water to it, nothing fancy. I brought less material than I expected so I only used one frame for now. While letting it dry I pressed it several times to make it compact. When it was done I added some of the red dirt to half of the frame I was using so that I could see the difference.     I then put it outside to stand in the rain for some weeks. At first, I put it in an upr...

The closest village to Barcena that has a restaurant is Lences. So we went there. It is a small town where they have really nice paella in a restaurant with really friendly staff. They did not have a vegetarian option (yet) so we went for the seefish. It was served directly from the pan. We tried to eat as much as we could but still we only managed to get to about halfway. The waiter had expected this; he had a doggy back ready. So we ended up with enough rice for the rest of the vacation. I forgot to take a picture so we will need to do that next time. We did take some pictures of the town though, as an inspiration for our project. Some houses are really simple, just the rocks and mortar in between. Some are nicely plastered. And Some have a combination of both, which is logical as the plaster is fragile so on the second floor with an overhanging roof to protect it from the rain works best. Have a look at it for yourself.

While we were waiting for the last negotiations we planned a new visit. We wanted to check the streams, the ground and the area.  But first we planned to give a visit to the local attorney as we were expecting that we would need one for buying the houses and the land. This was in Briviesca. Maaike spoke to them in Spanish which was difficult but she did a great job. Luckily because the lawyers, while being young and educated, could not speak a word of English. They were really relaxed and did not think it was a difficult situation. We should view it as a simple house and land buying but just many times over. After the meeting we took some time to discuss the result while the little ladies were absorbed in their books. The next day we went to Barcena for a hike. Of course we started with a lunch. Funny enough there were other people and it seemed that almost every time we were there, other people were there as well, walking around the ghost village. This time there were elderly peop...

My first successful food forest project: eerste-bomen-voor-voedselbos-in-nieuwe-spoortuin-de-enk   I started this project 3 years ago in the context of a personal development program, that my employer ProRail facilitated. To be able to join this program I had to pitch a project. Since sustainability and of course food forests have been important topics in my life and since ProRail owns a lot of unused land I decided to pitch this: building a food forest on the land of ProRail. It took some time, but know the first trees are planted and a group of enthusiastic volunteers is going to build and maintain the forest.