Home Immigration FRUIT FARMING IN CENTRAL PORTUGAL – FUNDAO CHERRY BLOSSOM – LIVING ON A PORTUGUESE HOMESTEAD

FRUIT FARMING IN CENTRAL PORTUGAL – FUNDAO CHERRY BLOSSOM – LIVING ON A PORTUGUESE HOMESTEAD

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FRUIT FARMING IN CENTRAL PORTUGAL – FUNDAO CHERRY BLOSSOM – LIVING ON A PORTUGUESE HOMESTEAD

Hi there! I am Joseph.
I have been an immigrant, or expat, living in central Portugal along with my beautiful girlfriend Mariana for six years now.

Together Mariana, my father Clinton, my mother Julie and myself, would like to show you a bit of the daily goings on around our Portuguese farm / homestead / smallholding and all of the work we are doing whilst renovating, starting building projects, working with our livestock, DIY and trying to grow our little families own food!

In this episode we welcome you to join us in the very beginning of Spring time, one of my favourite seasons where we can see life really is amazing and all the plants and insects start to return from their winter slumber.

I start by introducing myself in the blossom filled orchards that surround my farm as I walk around with my little dog Lilly. We look at all the honeybees buzzing from flower to flower and see the hundreds of hectares of uniformed cherry trees that Fundao is famous for.

Whilst walking around I explain a little about the cherry season, what to expect in the coming weeks and a bit about the blossom itself also. My neighbour allows me to walk through his orchards with my dog and I love to take him up on that opportunity to see the great quantity of white trees that cover the mountainside, it looks almost snow covered.

As I turn round and make my way back to my own farm I see a large lizard sat, basking in the sun rays on a pile of granite boulders, I tried to snap a picture of him but of course he was well aware I was there and ran at lightning speed into the crevices. I see a section of the orchard which has been recently grafted and I explain a little about what grafting is exactly, why farmers might want to do this and how it would benefit them.

Once Lilly and I open the gate and walk back onto our own farm I enter the poultry pasture, there we see all the chickens and of course our gorgeous gaggle of geese. I enter the pen and show you all what the geese have been up to this week. They have started their laying season. Geese lay eggs only during the spring time, once the sun starts warming up and the daylight hours increase. The first goose egg is laid in an uncovered corner of the coop, not the best place for a goose nest but I will perhaps try to move this to the inside of the coop if they will let me.

After the poultry pasture we head up to the vineyard, where I show you that the sheep have now been removed from their winter pasture here, now they are on their summer pasture, a two hectare field at the very top of our farm. This is due to the vines now coming out of their dormant stage as the buds start to burst open and reveal the makings of tiny leaves and shoots. Should the sheep be left in here these would be stripped in an instant, so of course they need to be removed.

I make my way up to the very tip top of the farm, up the terraces, trying to hunt the sheep out from their hiding place. I finally find them, typically as far away as they could be. Call and whistle to them and they all come running to me. I tell you some of their names and show you how the little lambs are doing. It will sadden me this week as some of the lovely lambs have to go to new homes, of course I will miss them but I know they are going to lovely people and they will have fantastic lives.

Thank you so much for watching, have a marvellous week everyone!

See our journey to self sufficiency / permaculture / organic farming living in Portugal, trying to produce as much of our own food planting vegetables, growing fruit trees as well as looking after all our animals, such as our chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, quail, rabbits and sheep – Shortly pigs too!

– Growing vegetables, raising meat and foraging on our cherry farm in Portugal’s Beira baixa.

Follow us on Instagram @farmerforfun

IF YOU ARE PORTUGUESE OR TRYING TO LEARN PORTUGUESE PERHAPS CONSIDER TURNING ON SUBTITLES FOR THIS VIDEO, MARIANA & I HAVE CREATED SUBTITLES IN PORTUGUESE, MAYBE THEY MIGHT COME IN HANDY WITH LEARNING A WORD OR TWO! CLICK THE ‘CLOSED CAPTIONS’ BUTTON ON THE VIDEO AND THE SUBTITLE OPTIONS WILL APPEAR.

PLEASE HELP US TO CONTINUE CREATING THIS CONTENT BY CONTRIBUTING TO US ON PATREON

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50 COMMENTS

  17. Good day! What abeautiful day you have shared with us! Iam very glad to see that the rain didn't hurt the blossoms on the cherry trees. Amazing amount of trees, work and fun. Lovely gates going into your orchards too. I always thought it would be wonderful to have if I were to purchase a property there and those beautiful rock walls! Happy life for sure for the geese, chickens and sheep. It was fun to see the sheep come running when you called them! Well don't work too hard all by yourself! Until next time time…enjoy

  18. Hello Joseph, I love your channel. I just found you after the Mitchell's mentioned you on their channel, "Mitchell's Journey." For those of us who dream and plan to move to Portugal, we get to walk with you, get to know your lovely family , land and animals. It's a pleasure to be here! God bless you richly.

  22. Thank you for another great video Joseph . I look forward to your content every week ,it always relaxes me and I enjoy following the story of you and your wonderful family and beautiful farm as the seasons change. Long life and happiness to you all .

  33. Joseph, we just collapsed across the breakfast table watching your glorious video. I am 99.945% certain that Danny teared up as you spoke of ladders in the trees, voices singing as cherries are being picked. We are ready to be there, ready to be on those ladders, filling boxes (and my own cherry loving self) with those legendary cherries. We will see you soon.🌸🙏🏾💜🙏🏾🌸
    (As an aside, Godfrey looks like he is a man of action and momentum. 😆And geese are another love of mine💜 I have some "goosey" tales to tell🤣)

  38. Well worth waiting for this video Joseph. You must have known I was hoping to see your fantastic views and livestock. Made my day. Obrigarda. Congratulations to Lucy and Lloyd. 🎉👍😄

  39. Hello Joseph, you make Farm life look idyllic while we’ll know that it is very hard work. Assuming that most of your viewers are interested in your farming endeavors and making a living of a farm, they might be interested in the symbiosis of animal husbandry and farming the land. You hinted at it in this video. Which reminds me, how are the plans for the pigs coming along? I’d also be interested in the labor aspect of running the farm. Do you get help for harvesting? Do you hire other help? How did you develop your market since every other farmer also produces for the local market? How did you improve the farm over the years? Do you have any „before“ pictures? All questions you might want to tackle in future videos in your own entertaining way.

  42. Hi Joseph,
    What a beautiful time of year you have, and what a pleasure to be able to live and work there.
    I'm curious if you have to do a lot to guarantee the cherry harvest.
    Here in the Netherlands, in the cherry orchard, just before the cherries ripen, 24/7 surveillance is often carried out to ensure that the birds do not run off with the largest part.
    They really like them, but it is only when they are ripe that it becomes difficult to keep the birds out of the trees.
    Sometimes nets also used, but I don't see those kinds of precautions happening with you or your neighbor, much too time-consuming.

    Good luck with the livestock and have many eggs.

  44. Hi Joseph, ♥️♥️♥️ur video;TY! The whole area Gardunha/ Serra da Estrela is paradise; actually, far from perfect, 🇵🇹 is still pretty special. Safety, sunshine, greenness, fresh air, tranquility, cherry trees, vines, animals… what lovely life you have! So happy for you & family. TY for choosing my lovely 🇵🇹 for ur home, as many dismiss us for we are not a 'rich country' & no longer a pivotal player in the world stage. But we been there done that, and like all ex-powers we declined. Very comforting to see u dismissed the shroud of unimportance' Portugal tends to get & for picking us from rest of the world. For sharing & making a new life here with us. God bless & warm regards from historic Santarém, 🇵🇹❤️🙏🤗🙌

  45. Alô Joseph e família. Great vlog showing your lovely place and everything that goes along with it. I am going to be in Portugal especificaly Port, Algarve and Lisbon (in that order) areas from May 9th to may 22nd. If i decide to go to that part of the country where should I go to. Fundão or Covilhã? Also, do you know of a good place to stay be that a hotel or Airbnb? Will the cherries 🍒 be ripe by then? Does Fundão have a cherry festival? Thank you, Joseph. Warmest regards to you and your family. Cheers. Abraço.

  47. Hello Joseph, the cherry orchids are so beautiful..and I did enjoy you explaining how the goose egg hatching works.. how did you reduce the chickens from 200 to 50 ?
    Would love a video to show how you friend's sierra de estrala gaurd dog puppy is doing 😉 he should be about 6 months?
    Congrats to Lucy and Lloyd on their wedding..
    Looking forward to next weekend's recipe.. warm regards

  48. Beautiful video Joseph, thank you and I really understand why moving to Portugal is one of the best things you have done in your life. All the best to you and your wonderful family.

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