Our Story
A wild land with massive potential
Arambha started in 2017 with 2 ha of agriculture land that was taken over by an invasive forrest with mostly Acacia and Eukalypt trees. The soil wasn’t touched for years after being one of the first biological registered farms of the island.
The vision
Creating an abundant place while exploring the boundaries of plantation. Welcoming the largest possible amount of eatable plants in combination with a sustainable way on how to manage a land on Madeira
The wild land
Throughout the years the land had different owners and from every owner there were plants left that managed to handle the invasion of the forrest. A good start for permaculture, see which plants claimed which spaces.
Re-Discovery
Big parts of the land were not accessible, so the first step was to see what was already there. As trees we found lemon, mandarin, orange, tamarillos, chestnut, walnut, plum, apples. As herbs we found lots of nasturtium, wild fennel, wild oregano, ribwort. Other eatables were blackberries, pimpinellas and pumpkins.
Infrastructure wise a concrete access path, a toolshed and an old watertank digged into stone was given.
First workshop
The first workshop was about superadobe dome structures. We had people from the island and also foreigners from different countries joining. The challenges were: Bringing a multilingual team together in a productive way while being new on Madeira island. A lot of research about construction materials, logistics, environment, availability and contacts needed to be done aswell.
The fires
During the building workshop a fire burned parts of the land. The structures were not affected but we lost some fruittrees. We focused on the positive aspect that we were able to dig and put the electricity installation below the ground now. The steepness of the upper part and the total lenght of the installation was challenging. Finally we were happy to have elctrocables installed properly and with time some of the burnt trees regrew.
Expanding
As our neighbour wanted to quit farming, the opportunity arose to get more land. The new land brought in Jack, some chickens and a lot of fruit trees. From now on plenty of plums, apples, lemons and tomarillos would serve as fresh food. Beside the increase in quantity we got new fruit trees like figes, avocados, aracais, kakis and anonas aswell. From now on we would also have a central, covered place to meet and have lunch together.
Whats next?
Many projects have not been completed yet. Maybe it was unexperience in projectmanagement, maybe it was how things had to come. Beside unpredictible events like fires or problems with water in the journey of a project manager there come opportunities and comes new knowledge, experience and requires flexibility.
Finishing the greenhouses will help to increase the production in quality and quantity.
Installing the watersilos will open new possibilities in terms of foodgrowing and mushroom production.
Finishing the 4th Dome because it’s been so long now
Recovering the existing stone ruins to create more space for humans & animals
2nd extension
Another neighbour stopped with his activity on the land and we took the chance to expand the size of our land again. With the land came the greenhouses, 2 lemon plantations and a couple of diferent fruit trees. We started building raised beds and inoculated logs to start the mushroom project.
The outdoor kitchen
Many projects have not been completed yet. Maybe it was unexperience in projectmanagement, maybe it was how things had to come. Beside unpredictible events like fires or problems with water in the journey of a project manager there come opportunities and comes new knowledge, experience and requires flexibility.
Finishing the greenhouses will help to increase the production in quality and quantity.
Installing the watersilos will open new possibilities in terms of foodgrowing and mushroom production.
Finishing the 4th Dome because it’s been so long now
Recovering the existing stone ruins to create more space for humans & animals
Pete and the first container
Pimpin’ an old container is an affordable way to create living space to host volunteers. In this project Pete & Elijah had to cut the west side of the container to install panorama windows. The main metal structure was treated with rust converter. New flooring, new insulation, new roof, a custom mod with glasbricks and a metal plate for the chimney. The farm style wos added at the end with a nice old fashioned wooden veranda at the entrance. Beside a lot of work, they also had a good time and achieved a nice result.
Raised beds
Raised beds make gardening easier because you can work standing instead of kneeing. The raised beds are set up in layers where we get the following composition bottom to top: Big logs of rotten wood from the forrest, medium sized logs, branches, soil enriched with bokashi and goose poop, some organic matter and a mulch of pressed sugarkane residues. The idea is to host plants and mushrooms together. We spread the mycelium of different types of oyster mushrooms and planted cherry tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, broccoli, ora pro nobis, sage and some blueberries.
Toilet container mission
Another neighbour stopped with his activity on the land and we took the chance to expand the size of our land again. With the land came the greenhouses, 2 lemon plantations and a couple of diferent fruit trees. We started building raised beds and inoculated logs to start the mushroom project.
Rocketstove Workshop
Many projects have not been completed yet. Maybe it was unexperience in projectmanagement, maybe it was how things had to come. Beside unpredictible events like fires or problems with water in the journey of a project manager there come opportunities and comes new knowledge, experience and requires flexibility.
Finishing the greenhouses will help to increase the production in quality and quantity.
Installing the watersilos will open new possibilities in terms of foodgrowing and mushroom production.
Finishing the 4th Dome because it’s been so long now
Recovering the existing stone ruins to create more space for humans & animals
Bathroom Dome 3
Another neighbour stopped with his activity on the land and we took the chance to expand the size of our land again. With the land came the greenhouses, 2 lemon plantations and a couple of diferent fruit trees. We started building raised beds and inoculated logs to start the mushroom project.
Di and the mushrooms
Many projects have not been completed yet. Maybe it was unexperience in projectmanagement, maybe it was how things had to come. Beside unpredictible events like fires or problems with water in the journey of a project manager there come opportunities and comes new knowledge, experience and requires flexibility.
Finishing the greenhouses will help to increase the production in quality and quantity.
Installing the watersilos will open new possibilities in terms of foodgrowing and mushroom production.
Finishing the 4th Dome because it’s been so long now
Recovering the existing stone ruins to create more space for humans & animals