We plan to reforest 18 hectares of land to offset carbon and attract wildlife. This winter with the help of volunteers, friends, neighbors and donations we have planted a forest in more than one hectare of it. Read on for a full update. more “Autumn 2018 reforestation efforts”
During our Automne 2018 food forest course, we designed and planted a food forest for Chickens. This is a food forest with perennial plants and trees that chickens can fodder for fruit, berries, leaves and insects. However, without plants chickens will quickly destroy through overeating or scratching. Leaving the rest for us to harvest.
more “Food Forest for Chickens – October 2018 Design and Planting”
Check out some of the photos of the students in action during October’s food forest course. The students from this course designed and planted a new food forest for Chickens and Humans to enjoy near our new community building.
As opposed to building soil above ground with a raised bed, a sunken is a bed below ground where it is cooler and wetter. This type of bed appears to work better than a raised bed in Portugal’s hot and dry summers. more “Sunken Beds”
Our compost worms are critical to our organic gardens; they are a must for any organic gardener. They not only reduce waste by eating your leftovers but create a liquid fertiliser for the garden, compost and more worms.
We sell composting worms, they are available for collection from our farm or via post.
Please complete the form on the bottom of the page to order your worms
In March 2018 we held our second month long Food Forest course. The group of eight spent one month learning about trees, soils and food forests whilst researching their own trees and creating designs for a food forest. They then planted a new food forest in an old olive grove in one of our terraces. more “Photos from March Food Forest Course”
A list of nitrogen-fixing cover crops in Portugal and when to plant them in Portugal. Research-based on our land in Central Portugal. more “Nitrogen Fixing Cover Crops and Living Mulch”
During November 2017 we held our first Food Forest course at Keela Yoga Farm. This month long course was designed to give the students the full experience of how to design and set up a food forest on an off-grid farm. Take a look at what we got up to, and read on to learn more about what we planted.
more “Photos from the food forest course”
A week of yoga, natural sustainable living, sunshine, sleep, mountain views, meditation, star gazing, hammocks, learning about permaculture and enjoying organic food straight from the earth… more “Yoga Retreat May 2018”
Keela Yoga Farm is based on an 18.8 hectare (46 acre) plot of land in Mata Da Rainha in central Portugal. Far from any roads or noise, away from light pollution and surrounded by nature. Here are some photos of when we bought the land and before we started anything. more “Photos of the Land in November 2017”
Being creative with salads and using all the edible leaves around, either cultivated or wild ensures we have a delicious varied salad each day and the more types of leaves you use, the more nutrients and minerals you get into you, all of which help your body in different ways. Check out the greens we have availible today for our daily salads.
We have now been living on the land for 8 months and have come a really long way due to the help of volunteers, we have collated a selection of photos from the summer of 2017 for those of you who dont keep up with what we are doing on facebook
Join us at Keela Yoga Farm in March, 2018 or October 2018 for our month-long Food forest courses in Portugal.
Click here for our latest courses
Learn everything you need to know about starting your very own food forest and off grid farm while experiencing community living on a new permaculture project. Enjoy daily yoga and meditation practice amongst the beautiful Portuguese countryside! more “Food Forest Course Portugal March 2018”
We are exited to be hosting an 8 day Intensive NATURAL BUILDING COURSE from 26th August till 2nd September 2017 with experienced Natural Builder and Teacher ‘Barbara Leite from the local established community Mount of Oaks. We will also provide daily yoga and meditation!
A long weekend yoga retreat of natural sustainable living on 29th September till 2nd October 2017, sunshine, rest, mountain views, starry night skies, organic food straight from the earth, movement, breathing, bare feet, community and magic. more “Weekend Yoga Retreat Portugal”
Starting a permaculture yoga farm from scratch has definitely been a challenge within itself. It’s exciting, exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. There is construction, plumbing, solar generated electrics, gardening, tree planting, water issues and much more that is taken into consideration every single day. We have been lucky enough to have a steady stream of solid volunteers that have been working through rain, shine and chilly weather in the earlier months, in order to develop our ‘Zone Zero’ building site into something a bit more homely. However hard labour, heavy lifting and digging gardens all day means that there are at least 10 hungry mouths (including Laurence and I) to feed, 3 times daily. more “Food, Glorious Food!”
With 46 acers of land, multiple fields, daily yoga classes, a community to run and a huge permaculture project, starting a food forest can be very overwhelming. We decided to fence off a smaller area which had three old burnt down pear trees, named it the pear food forest and made it our focus for the first half of 2017. more “Starting a food forest in portugal”
Over the past few months, while working on improving our water, solar, camping spots, food forests and vegetable gardens, we now have three choices for showers: A wonderful compost toilet, a yoga room, a chill out mezzanine and 46 acres of land to hang out in. The upgrades continue every day with the help of our amazingly committed volunteers. more “Facilities at the yoga farm are improving”
Three years ago we planned to give it all up and start a sustainable yoga community in Portugal. We moved onto the land we bought less than two months ago along with 6 pioneer volunteers who offered to come and help us set up, in exchange for food, yoga and meditation.
more “Pioneer Volunteers”
Although we have only just bought the land officially on the 22nd November 2016, my birthday, we have had friends and family volunteering with us for the past two months to help us start our permaculture and yoga project. Please see some of the work we have been up to on this blog. more “Volunteering at Keela Yoga Farm”
Three years ago, my wife and I decided to leave our jobs in the city to start a self sustainable community and yoga retreat centre in Portugal. After two years of research and saving, we quit our full time jobs in Singapore and embarked on our life changing journey to find land in Portugal. This blog summarises our journey to find our plot of land in Portugal. more “Finding land for Keela Yoga Farm in Portugal”
During our volunteering stint in Portugal this year, we have seen many different types of structures and buildings that have been built with natural materials and using various techniques. One technique that has interested me is timber framing. This traditional technique requires skilled builders that use green timber from local fallen trees with no nails, screws or cement.
Ever since reading ‘The Moneyless Man’ that was recommended to me by Kimberly’s brother Darrell, I have wanted to learn more about foraging for food in the forest or roadside. It wasn’t until I was volunteering at the Awakened Life Project in Portugal, where they serve wild greens as the salad at every meal, that I started to learn about it.
After volunteering for the past few months in various parts of Portugal and learning a lot about gardening, community living and most recently meditation, we were looking forward to working with Fiona and Nonu at Yoga Holidays Portugal for a new experience. more “Yoga Yurt Holidays Portugal”
At the beginning of June we started volunteering at the Awakened Life Project in the mountains of central Portugal. An established sustainable spiritual awakening association with an ever expanding local and global community. more “Volunteering at Awakened Life Project Portugal”
In May 2016 we volunteered at Vale Da Sarvinda Permaculture project near Castelo Branco in central Portugal. We were based inside a national park right on the border with Spain. Here we saw how the permaculture principles can be applied on a very large scale. more “Vale Da Sarvinda Large Scale Permaculture Portugal”
In May 2016 we volunteered at ‘A Quinta’ in Alentejo, south west of Portugal and not too far from the coast. A project with 130 hectares of beautiful land that is being restored through permaculture practices and regenerative agriculture. This farm consists of a small community of residents and volunteers, has many examples of the permaculture systems that we hope to use in the future, and was a great learning experience for us both. more “Volunteering at A Quinta in Alentejo”
Before we buy land of our own to start Keela Yoga Farm we are traveling through Portugal and volunteering for other communities, yoga retreats and families that are having a go at the self-sufficient lifestyle. Our first stop was Osho Gardens in Algarve. more “Saving an orchard at Osho Gardens in Portugal”
Whilst staying is Lisbon we visited Terra Alta in Sintra for a weekend course on Food Forests. This is a method of growing food using nature’s way. In nature, forests are made up of hundreds of types of trees, shrubs and plants all growing with and around each other in an ecosystem. The forest is abundant with life without the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides that is needed for conventional farming. more “Food Forestry Course at Terra Alta, Portugal”
Compost Worms
€30.00 – €100.00
Unisex Crewneck T-shirt - Permaculture Ethics
€20.00
Thermal 1-liter water bottle
€15.00