YEAR ONE. Everything we built on our abandoned land

One year ago we arrived on a piece of land we just bought in Portugal. We came with one van on a big piece of land with a lot of rain falling. Like a lot. It rains more here than in London or the Netherlands. It was raining all day. I wasn't really prepared for that. I mean Portugal should be sunny. So it meant daily wet socks and trying to dry stuff in a very humid van. There wasn't much here. We got water from a local tap And this was the toilet. That's a poop hole. And the goal for this year was to set up a base camp. Set up some basic infrastructure so we can be here with more people. So here we have our first campfire. Get it? Campfire. Yeah good joke. Anyway there was a lot of work to do and this video has all the progress we made in one year. So the land is big. It's 10 hectares. And at this point we haven't really seen the entire land. Only with a drone. Because it's really hard to access everything. Fully overgrown with thorns. So we started making pathways. So we need to go through the bushes somewhere here. So we made a path all around the land and we could walk around much better. Wait let me actually give you a better perspective of the land to keep an overview. So we go here. The land is here. And this is the path we just made. Let's keep a list of all the things we did. Make pathways. Check. And as a reference here's the highest point on the land. It has a big rock. This is what the view looks like from here. Now with pathways we can explore much more. And doing so we started seeing some things. Like over here we saw a puddle of water. We got curious to how big it was so we cleared up the space around it. We removed a lot of spiky bushes and chopped down a bunch of dead trees. And while doing all of this we also found a few random things in there. Wow. Cow bone. What's happening in this part? Looks like burnt plastic. Also found some more stuff. Like this metal from a motorbike. So now it's ready. Okay it still looks a bit rough. But this little swamp could potentially be a place to swim in the future. And just for your reference this little swamp is located right here on the map. But from some neighbors we actually heard there should be a bigger water source on the land right there. But looking from above it should be somewhere hidden between these bushes. It's hard to imagine. But when we walked down we noticed it does look like something is there. Underneath these dead trees. So we started to drag them out and clear it up. Mattia took a little dip. First swim of the year. 22nd of February. It'll be nice and lovely. And it turned out to be quite a big reservoir of water. Before. After. And all of this work is quite fun. Discovering these new things on the land. But it's also intense because at this point we have very basic tools. We really needed to start setting up our base camp. So a few months ago before we came to the land we got two old shipping containers. We needed them to move our stuff to the land. But we figured if we move a container anyway let's also turn them into something useful. Not just a box to ship things. So we converted one container in a fully equipped workspace with all our tools. And the other one we call the town center. And it has all the basic utilities like a kitchen, fridge, washing machine, things like that. So once we built them we packed them up and sent them off. And they came to Portugal with some very sketchy unloading. Kind of scary moment. It felt like they could fall at any point. I mean it's a fully packed shipping container on two individual forklifts on a muddy road. But at this moment they're not on the land yet. Just in a storage place close by. Because before they could come we still have to make some space. So I currently have the base camp installed on this grass patch. But we have the two shipping containers coming. So I want to clear up a little bit the bushes and thorns here until the trees. So the containers can go there and we have a bit more space. Which means yeah taking down a few more spiky bushes and leveling the floor. To make sure the containers are parked flat. So finally they got dropped off on the land. Luckily everything went okay. They arrived in one piece. And first they dropped the workspace. And then the kitchen. And this was a big upgrade. We suddenly have a lot of tools and a place to be dry. We call this base camp. This is the main place where we will camp out in the coming years as we work on the land. So we figured let's make it nice around here. We started cleaning up the area around it. Remove some spiky bushes. Level the soil. And plant a herbal garden with some flowers. And at this point the place looks nice. And we have this fully equipped kitchen and workspace. However there's no electricity yet. So we can't use anything. So we made a big metal frame to mount on top of the container. We installed the solar panels on the roof. Installed all the components for a solar system. And connected all the cables. Okay moment of truth. Everything is wired up. Solar panels coming in here. The only thing breaking the circuit is the fuse box. So if we put this one on everything should work. So let's see. That seems to work. To be honest this was quite a magical moment. Suddenly we could use everything. Like the blender. But besides electricity we needed another crucial thing. Water. Because up until this point all the water we use still comes from our jerry cans. We refill them in a village nearby and bring them to the land. But actually the upside of all the rain is that there's plenty of water around us. So we found an old abandoned well on a spring on the land of the neighbors. And the spring is right here. And they turned it into a well. But it's abandoned and not used for many years. So we asked the neighbor if we could use his well and clean it up. And he said yes. So we cleaned up the area around it and opened it up. It looks impressive. But first a little swim. You know. Quality control. Yeah maybe not the best for drinking. So we asked some guys to help out cleaning it. Rita asked them to mount a GoPro on their head. So they got in there and emptied the well. We got some funny footage from that. And once it was done we started digging the pipes in the ground. We connected all the tubes above the ground. And we assembled all the parts for the water system. Which is using a pressure tank. And we installed everything. So Rita can you show the water? Yes the water. Look at this. Water. Water. Water. And finally also a shower. Well sort of. A few weeks later we upgrade to a decent shower. So we now have hot showers. Yeah this is good. So now we have local water powered on solar energy. But one thing missing after six months. An upgrade to the poop hole. It got kind of essential at this point. So Ian came and he built a nice little compost toilet. With a seat from recycled plastic. Works with sawdust and you add a scoop after you poop. So at this moment we have water, electricity, a dry space and a shower. It's quite a proper base camp with good utilities. And it's set up right there. So now it's time to work a bit more on the land. Now it's getting pretty hot in summer. But we have a little stream on the land that is covered again with bushes. So our moms came to help out and clean it up. Take away dead trees and thorns so we can access the fresh flowing water. Now we have a nice place to swim and refresh. We also built a little dam from some rocks and the water rises so we can take a dip. And this stream we cleared is located right there at the edge of the land. But what we actually really wanted to clear up was a little ruin located here on the land. It's a small building built on a granite foundation. And apparently it was a kitchen in the old days. Also fully overgrown and hard to access. We chopped down the overgrown thorns so we could go around it. Cleared the inside which was for some reason full of soil. And we took down the almost collapsing roof. It was really nice to finally be able to access this building. And it has quite a beautiful location with a view on the field. Now we have one more ruin to clean. And this one scared us actually a bit because it's way, way bigger and way more overgrown. It's hidden here between the bushes. So we invited some friends to help us clear it. And after a few days we managed to take out all the spiky bushes and trees that are grown into it. Now we can take measurements and make a plan on what to do with it. You will see more of that in season 2. And here you can see how they're positioned on the land. Big ruin, small ruin, base camp. So as you might have guessed it's right there on the map. And by now we actually became quite good friends with the neighbors. They're always driving with their tractors seeing what's going on. Most of them are above 60 and they grow up around this land. They know it inside out. I don't think they really understand what we're doing. I mean we're not even really sure but they like it. And they might be older but they're still very active and happy to help out. Using their tractors to connect a wood chipper and chip some trees. Or help us to move big stuff. And they also often bring us food which they grow on their own land. Potatoes. Mr. Antonio and Fernanda. The neighbors. Look at this. It's really nice. And in exchange we help them a bit harvesting things like potatoes or grapes for their wine. And besides making friends with neighbors we also observed a lot of friends around. Little birds that eat our leftover bread. Caterpillars that are walking around to our pathways. Or slowly eating our plants. Pit by pit. Frogs from the swamp. Goats and sheep from the neighbors that eat our grass. And probably this is the friendliest friend. We have a guest for dinner tonight. Yeah they always drop by to see what's going on. We have very welcoming friends. So towards the end of the year winter is approaching. It's getting colder and the days are shorter. We noticed something missing. Up until now everything was very practical. Like getting water, electricity, toilet. We needed a fun social activity in our routine. So we made a pizza oven from clay. And another essential thing needed for it was a roof to keep it dry. Because yeah remember more rains here than the Netherlands. Or I guess Italy. So we gathered some materials. And we used some roof tiles from the big ruin we just cleaned up. And we built a wooden structure with it. A roof to protect from the rain in the winter. So now we can just work outside when it rains without getting wet. Which is a big upgrade. But more importantly we can bake pizza all year around. So it's now raining but we eat pizza dry. Now this is a Saturday routine. Bake delicious pizzas. And the pizza oven is set up right here in the middle of base camp. So we can eat as much as possible. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack. And finally a last build of the year. A roof in front of the town center. Because every time it rains it gets all muddy inside. When the sun shines it gets very hot. So we made a wooden structure with an experimental roof. Made from recycled plastic sheets. It's a bit of a living prototype. We're not sure how it's going to go but let's see. All right so that was season one compressed into a short video. It was quite an intense year I would say. A lot of things to do. It was very raw when we first came on the land. And all the rain and just the van. But there's something very satisfying about really starting basic. And see small upgrades. Like the first time we had a cutter for the bushes. Or having electricity or water. Really makes you appreciate these basic things. Which is really nice to be part of that. And the goal of this year was to set up a base camp. To have a place where we can be with more people. And set up some basic infrastructure. So it was mainly me and Rita here on the land. And some friends and family came to help here and there. And throughout time towards the end of the year. Adrian and Julie came to help out for longer periods of time. But the goal is really to not do too much on the land itself. Because we first wanted to see where we even are. What does the land need. What is the plan we're going to do. Before we start chopping down and intervening too much. So the goal was to set up a base camp. So we can invite more people to come and help out. And meanwhile think of a good plan. And we've been doing that. We have a base camp now. We thought of a good plan. And that's what we're going to do in season two. So in the next video we're going to show you the plan. Of all the things you want to do this year. That's a lot. But it's also exciting. And we're going to be with more people. So more hands. More work to be done. If you already want to see that video. You can support us on Patreon. So you see the video one week ahead. And you just support the project as well. That was it for this video. Thanks for watching. Exciting to start season two. Hope you guys are as well. And see you coming Monday. Every Monday three o'clock.