1 YEAR ALONE & OFF GRID - All I Built in our|Green Utility

My name is Eugenia Díaz I am a designer and artist and I am going to tell you the story of my trip to my garden I made the most important decision of my life in 2019 I left my life in the city and moved into a campervan to spend more time ear the sea At the end of 2020 I finally moved to the landscape to a small neighborhood with fewer than 30 residents the mountains of Portugal And so the journey began Once we arrived at the site with our camper van we started working on it The site is divided into two parts The upper area It is about 350 square meters the one we chose to keep while working on the larger part over the next few years The first thing he needed to do was clean up all the forests and flowers that had accumulated over the years Once he finished the next pass We began our vegetable garden With the idea of living a more authentic life growing our own food seemed to be the priority In that journey We created four food fields and since the land we found was nutrient- depleted we added food soil above the steel land We cover as much land as possible When we arrived we didn 't have running water or electricity so maximizing water use in the garden was key We started the entire garden with organic seeds and followed a polycultural approach that tries to imitate nature The goal was to create Many layers in the forest without uniformity in distances between the plants and many different varieties that exist together in one place We also added ice harvesters for the first time We took a forest and filled it with dry ice that we cut from the ground that same week This helped us in many ways especially by keeping more water when we filled the buckets The first months were very challenging We arrived on the land in September in a very hot and dry climate that suddenly turned In a very cold and rainy winter which was great for the garden because I hardly had to water it but it also meant living Inside a wet and cold bed So the coming months we saw the garden growing while we continued working on building our future of a big house Around the new year we had a lot of cold weather and many plants suffered but the garden remained productive and abundant This was also the perfect time for the onions and garlic to grow what we would cultivate in the coming months and were able to preserve for the rest of the year Once spring arrived we continued working on expanding the garden and agriculture in the outdoor area We made a plant corridor They would not need much water to survive and attract the Polynesians for the spring garden So we planted the mixture Mexican skin grease lavender and happy blues Then we continued by expanding the garden with four more plants Only this time the soil was a bit more moist to work with It was still very hard because some areas were more compact than others But with patience and time the gardens were almost ready for the spring garden We found a mixture from a local pharmacy and added it to all the gardens just before transplanting all the seeds For the spring garden In the area near the phenomenon we planted some flowers next to the corn onions and blue ones a combination called The three sisters The blue ones created a train so the onions could climb The onions fixed nitrogen in the soil which kept it healthy Healthy blue plants And the onions contributed by adding water to the soil with their leaves Preventing seeds from growing and keeping water in the soil The sunflowers planted around the edge of the garden created a natural phenomenon protecting other plants from the wind and attracting Pollinators In the rest of the garden we have many varieties of vegetables tomatoes potatoes leaves onions and vegetables to name a few I made sure to always have herbs and flowers near the plants to help attract pollinators and maintain a good balance Beneficial insects All of this was experimental We mixed local seeds from our neighbors along with many new organic plants For the fruits we planted four melons Melons and fennel all from seeds Fennel is a perennial plant that will give us fruits year after year You don't have to plant a new one It has been very productive and I love its bright and tasty vegetables which make great breakfasts When we walk through the garden The goal we had in this part of the terrain was to experience design and create a very productive vegetable garde Integrated into the design to enjoy it all year long Working with colors lines layers and textures we aim to add depth to the design We will then replicate it on a much larger scale on the other side of our land Looking ahead into the future and working gradually to be more balanced with the Earth and to be sufficient service for 99% of the people In terms of food went ahead and planted more than 15 trees In this small part of the land we now have four olive trees a lemon an orange a palm an apple a pomegranate a banana an avocado and some native species along with black rice long grain rice and white rice But the journey to this point has not been easy This past winter three trees died Heavy rains mixed with very heavy clay soil broke their roots This of course has been a lesson We have learned the hard way But thanks to that we have already studied alternatives to plant more than 200 trees on the rest of the land over the next few years In general I would say that last year we have successively moved towards a different way of living in harmony with the Earth Now we are growing most of our food producing 100% of our electricity with renewable energy We have maximized the use of water We have been able to restore the land and create new life Now we are making our own compost with our organic soil and have built our own house for free All of this in just one year And I think the reaso It's because were running our own race and were focused on it In what we could do on a daily basis Week after week living a life from the perspective of our own truth So today I hope I have been able to shed some light on your day And be inspired to live a life that feels true to yourself Because there is no one else in creation like you and what you have come to do What you have to offer is like no one else