If you're new around here, we're the Newby's. I'm Tara, this is my husband John and in September
of 2021 we bought a farm in Northern Portugal. Three acres of Mountainside that was abandoned,
derelict and overgrown and hadn't been lived in cleared or worked for just over 12 years. We bought it with a dream to turn it into
an off-grid Homestead for us and our two little boys Crusoe and Sawyer. This video is the story so far and we hope
it might inspire you to follow your own dreams, whether that's in your back garden, changing
the color of your kitchen or to own your own homestead. We believe in Thinking Big, Being Brave and
Exploring every single opportunity that comes our way. After all it's every single minute and second
that matters. [Music] We release new videos every week with stories
of our farm so please do subscribe and join us for the journey. We arrived for our first proper stint on our
farm in May of 2022 with no real idea of what we'd bought. This place was completely overgrown and hadn't
been cleared for such a long time and to walk around today almost a year later, it looks
completely different and it's incredible to look back and see all the work we've done. When we first got here we knew really only
that we had four main buildings on the farm. We've now discovered that it's five and we're
in the process of converting one of them into a little tiny house but we knew we had one
property that was ready to be lived in our little Stone House. We had another one which was sort of liveable
but really not in any great state with rotten windows and things falling out the bottom
floor. We then have a building that is pretty much
completely derelict with the roof falling in which we've got big plans for and we have
what you all know if you've been following us for a while is our 'not garage'. We thought it was a garage, it's not. It's actually traditionally known as an adega
and was where they used to make wine. More on that later because we have started
resurrecting the kind of wine part of this farm and we're so excited for that journey. You want to go to the lawn? We've also grown a lawn. This lawn is without question Crusoe's favourite
place to be on the farm and in this video we're going to tell you the story of all of
these projects from start to finish. One of the things that I'm loving the most
about being on our farm in Northern Portugal is settling into daily routines. If you've been following us for a while you'll
know that I recently started running but I'm a huge believer in incorporating small daily
habits that benefit our well-being and one of my favourites is AG1 by Athletic Greens. You, like us, have no doubt seen this stuff
everywhere and there's really good reason for that. We've been taking AG1 for about six months
now and we've loved how easy it is to take with us no matter where we've gone and have
noticed a huge difference in our energy levels. Which is saying something considering neither
of us are getting much sleep with two children under two. In this little bottle of goodness are 75 vitamins,
minerals and Whole Food sourced ingredients. It also contains pre and probiotics to support
your gut health. So basically replaces the need for any other
vitamin and mineral supplements. Just in that one scoop and an AG1 minute you'll
be getting everything you need to support your body's well-being in a day. We love this stuff so much we've shared it
with our own family and friends. You may even recognize these guys. That is honestly so much better than I would
have expected it to be. It doesn't taste like greens, it tastes fruity I really thought everyone was lying So if you've been thinking about incorporating
AG1 into your own day, then please use the link in our description below. You'll get five free travel packs and a year's
supply of vitamin D Drops with your first purchase and honestly we just can't recommend
it enough. Why not join all of us and start doing something
small that makes a huge difference to our day. Now as John likes to say, on with the show! And so cleaning was where it began, with all
of us getting involved, in the good bits and they're not so good bits There's a big spider! Oh crumbs that's a big spider. No I can't help you carry that downstairs,
you're going to have to do that by yourself. The previous owners had left everything behind
and there were all sorts of treasures and trash for us to sort through in the cupboards. We had to get really down and dirty to peel
back the years [Music] [Music] Look at all this space Crusoe! Crusoe's obsession and love of helping his
dad started here and with breaks from the work sweetened by oranges from our very own
trees, we started to feel like we had stumbled upon something very special indeed. [Music] [Music]
Once the houses had been cleared, it was time to start on the land. Looking back now it's almost unbelievable
to think how much of our property we didn't even know we had. Bamboo had completely taken over huge sections
of the property, hiding boulders, views and old staircases that were such a surprise to
uncover. [Music] [Music] [Music] It was at this stage that we started to get
to know a few of the locals and we quickly realized how desperately we needed help. The Portuguese people have got to be some
of the most generous, kind, welcoming and willing that we've ever come across and it
wasn't long before we had some seriously hard-working folk lending us a hand. [Music] [Music] hello [Music] We also got in the big guns! In the form of the now infamous Senor Mario
and his very cool big digger to finally get our bamboo problem a little bit more under
control and Crusoe's second biggest love, diggers, was born. [Music] Now that we could see a little bit clearer
what we actually had to work with. It was time for us to start dreaming up projects
to sink our teeth into. We started small with the projects we did,
not really sure what direction to take. Suddenly finding yourself with three acres
of land takes some time to wrap your head around, especially when the garden at our
home back in England was smaller than our not garage. There was lots to think about. We also knew we had something of a limited
time frame with our second son brewing away and the Schengen 90-day limit still an issue
for us, we didn't want to get started on anything too major in our first three months but that
didn't mean there wasn't plenty to be getting on with.[Music] The 'not garage' had revealed itself to be
a real treasure trove of all sorts and one of the first projects we decided to do was
to try our hand at some creative 'upcycling'. John took to crafting a table from the old
wine press. When you're faced with such huge projects
like we were here on the farm, starting with anything, any kind of project, is well a really
great way just to start and this table was a symbol of that beginning. We've cleaned the land and we've cleaned the
houses and now it was time to start creating and building stuff for the farm to make it
our home. [Music] This table symbolized the beginning
of that creation, the beginning of all that was to follow over the next six or seven months
[Music] Stained from years of pressing grapes it's
now a place where we can gather as a family, carrying memories of the families before us
and allowing us to make our own. [Music] It was around this time that we became the
unexpected parents to two little Feathered Friends, the chick and the duck that were
gifted to Crusoe by our dear friend Lyda and brought us so much joy for the time that they
were with us, especially for little Crusoe. We sadly lost our duck to predators but the
chicken is all grown up and lives with Lyda on a mountainside overlooking the river. We're gearing up to get some more animals
on our farm sometime soon, so watch this space. Next on the agenda we started working on the
idea of having an outdoor bathroom and the first part of that was to install a shower Check that out Once the shower was installed, we decided
to build a bamboo screen made from the bamboo collected during the clearing of the farm. This is a project that still has so much to
come and we can't wait until it's all in place [Music] What do you think? I love it. I think it's so much fun. What do you think? Yeah [Music] As the summer wore on we watched with absolute
delight as our fruit tree started to come to life and we realised just how much Crusoe
loved fruit. Before long it was time for our first ever
harvest. Our plum trees were absolutely laden and I
tried my hand at turning some of them into chutney. A skill that'll definitely need some work
and will no doubt get lots of practice this coming year [Music] I don't really understand the difference between
a shallot and an onion but I can tell you it's not the amount that they make me cry. It seems like. Would you like me to do it? Yes please, it's horrible. Thank you [Music]
Okay so we just put apple cider vinegar, orange juice and orange zest in there and now it
says bring it to the boil and then leave it to simmer and then we'll have chutney and
this is the first time I've ever made chutney While all this was going on, John was beavering
away at his most ambitious project to date. To turn one of our terraces into a lawn that
the boys could use to play and where we could make a base for family life. This was no ordinary lawn project, we started
with a tractor who tilled the land for us and revealed just how extensive our bamboo
problem was. John then painstakingly trudged every single
inch of the entire field, stomping it as flat as he could with nothing more than his own
two feet. How are you doing my love? Ah I am sore, it starts to hurt a little bit
but it'll be worth it you know. You've done so much. Yeah I'm hoping that uh it's uh good enough
for a cricket pitch more like a maybe a polo pitch [Music]
so this is the grass I went for um it's called Mediterraneo turf grass it's 30 meters squared
in each box. It needs very low irrigation which it was
important for us we don't want something that needs a lot of water because we don't want
to use lots of water irrigating lawn because that seems frivolous and also takes two weeks
to germinate but it's very drought and heat resistant as well which again is important
because this field at the moment is quite exposed. We've got plans to plant some trees to make
a bit more shade for the kids um so we'll see what we decide to do there but um hopefully
this is the right stuff [Music] That storm is coming in we really want to
get there's the wind we really want to get as much seed down as possible even though
the field isn't anywhere near finished but probably about three quarters of the way there
now. I just want to get that first lot of rain
coming down. It's going to rain now for the next three
days, so hopefully we can capitalize on that [Music] Our first summer in Portugal was heating up
and we were in for a massive heat wave but our first visitors were also arriving in the
form of my cousins from South Africa. Having extra hands around the farm was incredible
and John was able to indulge in yet another one of his more ambitious and did someone
say crazy projects. In the top terrace of our farm was a huge
old water reservoir and we had our eye on it to create a swimming pool but in typical
Newby fashion this wouldn't be any old pool. John decided it needed a couch in it. Yes you heard that right a couch! [Music] My belly was getting ever bigger as Sawyer
was preparing to make his appearance but that didn't slow our progress on the farm. We had realized that we were going to need
more space, as Crusoe got bigger and a second baby loomed and so we decided to move into
the other house on the farm. This was a day we won't soon forget, as we
moved house as the heavens opened and doused us and John's beloved lawn in a deluge of
rain unlike anything we'd seen so far Can you hold it? Hold that. There we go, pull it that way Crusoe take
it that way [Music] Oh my goodness [Music] love that's amazing. You have built a bed. Well half of it [Music] I thought you just
started cutting wood [Music] Before we knew it it was time to head back
to the UK for three months to sort out John's D7 Visa, which was granted in early October
and to have our second son Sawyer. He joined us on the 23rd of September and
he's made our family feel complete. We arrived back to the farm in November of
2022 and it was far from sunshine and roses. In fact there was hardly any sunshine at all! Relentless, record-breaking rainfall battered
Portugal for weeks but despite an awful lot of water falling from the sky, we had returned
to a depleted spring and no water on our farm. Myself and the boys moved off the farm into
our friend's house up the road and we faced our most challenging weeks, with a new baby
and a huge building project as John worked on making the house we're living in now, well,
liveable. Yeah! [Music] In our home itself the walls were down and
John was keen to let his carpentry creativity float and started on building us a kitchen
with nothing more than a handsaw. The results are absolutely beautiful and we
couldn't be happier with the little space we call home. [Music] Now that we're settled into our little house
our attention has turned back to the land. Clearing away the last of the brambles that
had strangled our old vines, plowing a field ready for vegetables, pruning the old trees
in the orchard ready for the season ahead and working on moving water around the farm
to all of our lower terraces. There is a never-ending list of things to
do and we're doing as much as we can ourselves but we also ask for help from our incredible
community as often as we can too. After all they're the experts and we really
do have a lot to learn So there you have it the first nine months
on our farm in Northern Portugal have been incredible but let's show you where we're
at right now This is what the lawn looks like and it's
proving to be the most amazing place for us to gather as a family, for the boys to play
and to kind of become the heart of our home here on the farm. The two lower terraces have both been cleared,
this first one down here is about to be planted with white wine grapes and the bottom one
is our wildflower meadow which we're leaving completely intact, all we've done down there
is plant three fruit trees a pear, a nectarine and a peach oh and a fig, four. And when Spring rolls around that bursts into
the most incredible array of wildflowers and it is unbelievably beautiful and while we're
down here on the lawn let's not forget what's going to shortly be happening right behind
me Crusoe and Sawyer's Swiss Family Robinson Tree House will soon begin to take shape and just in front of me over here a terrace and a field that's been cleared
and is starting to be planted in red wine grapes. Let's head quickly to the top of the farm,
up here is where we're growing our food. Here's our orchard newly pruned and looked
after. We're composting over there and behind me
up here is our vegetable garden where we started growing our first vegetables, we've built
a compost bin, we're putting up a greenhouse and well this is the bit I'm most excited
about. Hopefully this year will be the first year
we'll harvest our own food from the farm and we've just made a purchase of over 200 grapevines. A mix of red wine, white wine and table grapes. So there is going to be quite a bounty on
this farm we hope in the near future [Music] and our current project this tiny house which
we're converting into a guest bedroom because we've got so many people coming to stay this
year. Anyway, stay tuned for more on that project
soon because it's just about done but in the meantime if you've enjoyed this video, which
was monumental to put together please remember to hit that thumbs up subscribe to our channel
if you haven't already. Ae release episodes twice a week on a Wednesday
and a Sunday and we would love to have you join us and leave us a comment because we
love hearing from you. We always reply um and we always read them
and it just means so much to us to have such an amazing community as part of our story
here in Portugal. Let us know what you think folks it's great
to have you here, thanks so much we'll see you on Wednesday bye [Music]
