Visitas- Visitors

Thanks everyone for wishing to visit the newly forming eco village. The ONLY way to do this is by contacting us email quintacabecadomato@gmail.com at least two weeks before you planto come, and wait for confirmation.
Obrigado a todos por desejam a visitar a eco-aldeia recém-formando. A única maneira de fazer isso é entrando em contato conosco ,e-mail quintacabecadomato@gmail.com pelo menos duas semanas antes de vir, e aguarde a confirmação.

Os Melros em conjunto com mais duas quintas / famílias (Quinta das Alpacas Portugal/ de Lisa e Martin e a Quinta da Bárbara e Miguel), decidiram fazer a experiência dos "Domingos Comunitários". Todos os domingos, a começar em outubro até dezembro de 2011, as famílias juntaram-se para trabalhar em conjunto uma vez em cada quinta, partilharam refeições, as crianças estabeleceram laços de amizade, convívio... Começamos em 2012 novamente, passando para os "Sábados Comunitários", devido à experiência ter sido tão enriquecedora e positiva, contribuindo para os projectos avançarem...OBRIGADA a todos :D The Melros together with over two farms / families (The farm of Lisa and Martin / Quinta Alpacas Portugal and the farm of Barbara and Michael), decided to make the experience of "Community Sundays". Every Sunday, starting in October through December 2011, the families came together to work together once each farm, shared meals, the children established friendships, socializing ... We started back in 2012, moving to the "Community Saturdays" because the experience was so enriching and positive, contributing to the projects move forward ... THANK YOU to everyone: D

Finally! After a lot of trial and even more error over the last 2 years, it looks like we have the hydro generator we need for this site. As I write, it’s contributing power to the batteries, something that none of the previous generators have managed to achieve. Not a lot, because of the present meagre flow of water – for the second winter in succession there has so far been very little rain – but the wheel IS contributing for the first time.

Not only that, but it’s a supremely funky addition to our power generation capacity and is also, like the water wheel, proudly made in Benfeita! (Benfeita means ‘well made’.)

The axial flux alternator on the back of João’s quad bike in its green and orange paintwork

Following our experiences, sometimes disastrous, with 3 other permanent magnet alternators/generators we were already thinking along the lines of making one since it was clear off-the-shelf solutions weren’t appropriate for the marginal nature of this site. I was consequently more than excited to hear another local friend was going to be experimenting with making Hugh Piggot design axial flux alternators.

João completed the first one before Christmas and after a coat of epoxy paint, it came here for testing today. This is a high voltage version (many configurations are possible) of the 1kW nominal power rating specification. It has very low cut-in speeds which is exactly what we’re wanting when flow rates here are low. Coupled with an MPPT charge controller which can convert excess voltage into amps, the alternator is able to produce a useful input when most others would fail.

João and his alternator

Different sprockets for gearing which Wayne created mounting plates for over the weekend … and Wayne’s breakfast roll

Siting the alternator

In position before drilling out bolt holes on the mounting framework

Mounted, braced, connected and with chain fitted ready to go

Water turned back on

Alternator running

At the moment we have it on a 3:1 gear ratio which slows the wheel down quite a lot under load. The resistance creates some splash-back which equates to power loss. There’ll be a lot more fiddling with different sprockets and the charge controller tomorrow to find the ideal ratio and settings, but what we could really do with is RAIN. The current weather forecast though is predicting temperatures in the low 20s by the end of the week and no rain before next Wednesday …

Update

January 8th

3:1 proved the optimum gear ratio of those we had available to test. We figure the splash-back is going to be pretty inevitable when we only have 1 litre per second of flow to drive the wheel. These are summer flow levels, when it was never envisaged making use of the wheel anyway since we have more than enough solar capacity for our needs once the sun reappears from behind the hill to the south.

At these flow rates, the wheel is making around 21W after the charge controller has transformed the voltage – 0.5kWH in 24 hours. Around 20% of the power we could expect from ‘normal’ winter flow levels. This may sound paltry, and it is, but to me it’s vindication of the decision to stick doggedly by the wheel against the advice of hydropower experts on various internet forums who, pretty much without exception, all advised the installation of a turbine. Why? Because having run our data through the online calculator for the output of one of the more efficient turbines available, we would be making no more electricity with a turbine. The wheel is as efficient. It just needed the right alternator.

But our present flow rates highlight a different problem to address.

This is the second year in succession the winter rains have failed to materialise, so I am now considering how best to optimise what we can produce from the water even at these low levels. We can make 1.3kWH from the 1 hour 50 minutes of sun the solar panels get at winter solstice (if the sun is shining). If I can double that from the hydro component even at 1 litre per second, then we can limit the use of our propane generator to cloudy days only, which are not that common without rain as well. To do this, the only option open to us is to increase the head, so the next project is to re-site the wheel another 6-7m lower in the barroco and lay 150mm plastic guttering into the stream bed. This will channel the entire flow at these low volumes into the wheel chute with the minimum of friction, but still leave the system open to cope easily with the torrents of water, mud, debris and rocks which fly down this channel after a heavy downpour.

Reducing friction losses and re-siting the wheel will allow us to effectively double our head. Double the head equals double the power. Plus a little bit extra for the fact that the alternator will be operating at greater efficiency once we can increase its rpm to comfortably within its operating range rather than right on the edge as it is now.

Nas constelações trata-se de um trabalho de integração, de distinção e de aceitação.

Nós somos ligados uns aos outros na base consciente, comunicamos, trocamos informações, temos os nossos comportamentos individuais etc. Apesar disso somos ligados uns aos outros nos grupos dos quais fazemos parte num nível não consciente, sendo o mais importante a família. As constelações dão para percepcionar essa força que nos liga uns aos outros, ver-nos nas relações com os outros.

CONVITE para participar, num grupo aberto com excercicios neste tema, no dia 7 Janeiro das 10.30 às 13.00 na Casa ecologica, Quinta Cabeça do Mato.
Continuamos à tarde entre as 14.00 e as 17.00 com possibilidade de fazer uma constelaçao pessoal.
Custos –donativos entre 10-20 € da parte de cada participante.
Investimento numa Constelação -40€
Agradecia a sua resposta até dia 5 Janeiro, pois é essencial para a nossa organização.
O método das constelações familiares foi desenvolvida pelo psicoterapeuta alemão Bert Hellinger e tem registado um crescimento generalizado e maior desenvolvimento nos últimos anos. Constelações familiares permitem forças, que atuam em níveis muito profundos no seio das famílias, a surgir e isso podelevar a um entendimento que pode ajudar a ampliar a perspectiva sobre o passado, presente e possibilidades futuras.

See Ourselves and Find Ourselves, with therapist Angelika Wolf (speaks german, Portuguese and English)

In the constellations we work with integration and acceptance of distinction.

We are connected to each other on a conscious basis, communicating, exchanging information; we have our individual behaviors and so on. Yet we are bound together in groups which are part of a non-conscious level, the most important being our family. The constellations show how to perceive the force that binds us to each other, and the relationships we are in with others.
Invitation to participate, in an open group with exercises on this theme, 7th January 10.30-13.00
Eco house , Quinta Cabeça do Mato
Continuing into the afternoon 14.00-17.00 with the possibility to work on your own constelation.
Costs- donations between 10-20€
Investments in constellations 40€
Please reply before 5th January, as it is essential for our organization
The method of family constellations was developed by the German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger and has undergone widespread growth and further development in recent years. Family constellations enable forces, that act at very deep levels within families, to emerge and this may lead to an understanding which can help to broaden the perspective on past, present and future possibilities.

Open meetings every friday night at 8.30 pm until 10.00 pm, eco casa , Quinta Cabeça do Mato. please arrive on time. based on "A Different Drum" by scott Peck.

Reuniões abertas todas as sexta-feira noites, às 20:30 até 22:00, eco casa, Quinta Cabeça do Mato. por favor, chegar a tempo. com base em "Drum A Different", de Scott Peck.

In a coincidental but fitting end to 2011, we’ve been finishing up several jobs that were almost but not quite complete. Both upper rooms in the larger building now have new floors and finally we have finished the roof!

Since completing the external stairways at the end of September, the southwest corner of the roof has been sitting waiting for suitable schist slabs to complete its covering. The last load of stone (from the community stone mine about 1.5km away further up the mountain, dug out and brought down by man-of-many-machines Senhor Angelo from the village directly above) contained some huge slabs of good-quality roofing stone that were ideal.

The schist is enormously variable. Even across the space of a few metres, it can vary dramatically in colour and density. The stone of the small building the other side of the quinta is quite different to the larger building, even though the mines for each – directly behind and above each building – are less than 150m apart. So it’s easy to tell the new stone from the original roof stone by its colour. In time though, lichens and mosses will grow on it and even it out somewhat.

The curve of the building and its eccentric proportions – accommodated to the shape and curve of the slope it’s built on rather than vice versa – is clear from these images and illustrates nicely why random schist slabs work so well as a roof covering for these dry-stone schist buildings. Imagine trying to cover this roof with uniformly-sized roof tiles!

In this last image, you can also see the foundations for the toilet that have been put in behind the building. The walls for this will be constructed in cob and there’ll be a turf roof extending from the back of the building to the slope behind it. This is a crucial part of keeping the building dry: at the moment, rainwater runoff soaks through the thin soil and comes straight down the rock face and into the back of the building. A substantial gully cut into the rock itself and lined with a stiff mix of concrete to prevent water soaking down through and along the bedding planes (which run mainly vertically and perpendicular to the line of the back wall) should be enough to divert runoff away from the back of the house and, with the roof, keep the building dry without resorting to the use of artificial synthetic waterproof barriers.

Yes, it’s using Portland cement, but as I’ve written elsewhere, there are times when its strength and impermeability make it an ideal material for the job. Yes it would have been possible to construct without it if we were enormously skillful, but when the skills required are in short supply and beyond budget, both financially and temporally, compromises become unavoidable. This is a compromise I’ve been prepared to make; mostly, though not exclusively, in structurally critical instances. The cement we use is dug and fired 40km away (around 60km by road) using energy more than 50% of which is generated from renewable sources. As the main contributor of embodied energy to the project, it could be a lot worse.

Many times I’ve gone over what we’ve done, especially following discussions with those of a more rigorously natural perspective, thinking could I have done it differently, and come to the conclusion that for this project in this context, it’s appropriate. A new natural build on a level site has different challenges to renovating an existing natural building perched on a narrow terrace half way up a mountain. Damp and water ingress is a feature of much of the Portuguese rural housing stock and something people appear to simply live with, traditionally providing ways for water to pass through buildings rather than trying to keep it out (though latterly trying to keep it out with large amounts of cement render which has produced a whole raft of problems). Here we are changing the use of the building and having water running through the ground floor rooms is not really compatible with the use we want to put them to.

There goes another principle … but I can live with it.

Permaculture, yes, but this is only the beginning. The first baby steps. To truly work with nature, not against it, we need to listen to our elder brothers …

Alan Ereira’s documentary film about the Kogi people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia and the message to the world from their Mamas, or spiritual leaders, was produced in 1992. Twenty years ago.

When the Kogi talk about the heart of the world dying, what’s frightened them is the death of this area, the Páramo, because when this dies everything below it that depends on it will have to die. That’s what they mean when they said that they know that unless we do something, the world is coming to an end.

“It is the mountains which make the waters, the rivers and the clouds. If their trees are felled they will not produce any more water.”

The Sierra is a model of the world. Global warming does not stop here. We are changing the air and the sky and the balance of life.

“They have taken the clouds from the Páramo. They have sold the clouds. We know what is happening and we’re all in agreement. The world does not have to end. If we act well the world can go on.”

Has anything improved since this film? Unfortunately, no. The opposite.

Further message from the Kogi in 2009
Similar message from the Yanomamai peoples in 2009

For a sneak peak of our soon-to-be-launched Etsy shop, have a look at

http://www.etsy.com/people/technopeasants

For now, we’ve just got a listing for the Cat / Superhero Hats and are looking forward to doing a proper crafty photo shoot in the sunshine later this week!