Old farm with 30he of mediterranean trees - living sustainable LAB
Faro
Hi there, my name is Rosa I'm a 44 years old Algarve autochthone (that means that my family is from here and I was raised here also), I studied psychology in Lisbon, but soon realized living in the city is not for me. I felt the urge to return to my fathers lands, certified organic for over 30 years, to avoid their abandonment and; the loss of all traditional oral knowledge regarding managing orchards within water scarcity. I've been here for 16 years now, transforming the old Roman Villa houses into eco-tourism, developing strategies to make the farm profitable, sustainable and self-sufficient in food. Our aim is also to be self-sufficient in energy by the end of the decade but seems everyday more complicated. We also have a non-profit art and culture organization that aims to explore diferent ways of living and organize a communal living with people that pass by.
Our type of agriculture is 'natural' agriculture as we don't use any chemicals or even organic fertilizers – we fertilize everything with manure from our animals, compost and organic garbage and only, use olive oil to avoid some plagues in young trees like citrines, bottles with vinegar trapping the Mediterranean fly, etc.
We are in the natural reserve of the marshlands of Castro Marim and VRSA, a Ramsar Convention protection area (protection for waterbird migrations), where you can watch rare birds. We aim to construct a small ornithology observatory as well.
Nowdays, the farm has 11 workers divided in 3 main areas:
A) Agriculture - with 5 ha of adult fig trees, 6 ha of baby orange trees, 2 ha of centenary olive trees, 9 ha of carob trees, 5 ha of marshlands where we used extract sea salt traditionally (now is rented to another family) and Flor de Sal (the salt flower), 1 ha of almond trees.
B) Production & transformation: transforming prime-mater into bio/gourmet products like jams, aromatic olive oil, fig truffles, dried figs, etc.
C) Eco-Tourism - managing the self-sufficiency areas: vegetable gardens, cleaning communal spaces, cleaning/refurbishing houses
For fig crop we usually work with local people, mostly old skilled workers that teach us traditional agriculture secrets that you can learn as well. We do not follow any particular agricultural “dogma” since we combine several experiences & knowledge bodies within creativity and adaptation. We promote that all our volunteers, pass by our different areas whenever possible, being the farm cycle & rhythm the main structural force of work. We search for people with good vibes, positive working & cohabitation habits, responsibility, humor and creative minds. We allow everyone to express themselves into work as long as its useful & articulated with the farm.
We expect 5 h/day of work 5 days/week for lodgement and food (all produce from the farm plus weekly delivery from shopping lists made by wwoofers themselfs).
Depending of the season we can receive from 1 to 8 woofers at our wwoff house - a wooden cottage by the pool with two main rooms accommodating 4 each. We prefer woofers staying longer than 3 weeks and up to 6 months (longer stays are normally re-assessed after 1 month, just to check if host & volunteer feel right about it). Different proposals can be considered. Wwoofers are invited to enjoy and use all farm facilities, pool, tavern, library, pond & pond deck within leisure hours. We only have 3 workers living at farm so social life is self-organized in between volunteers.
General tasks by seasons (need of woofers):
September: drying figs, planting strawberry plants, fixing roofs (2-4 wwoofer)
October: harvest quince and making marmalade and jelly (2-4 w)
November: harvest olives for conserve and extracting olive oil, plant beans (6-10 w)
December: helping to make fig truffles and pack them (2-4 w)
January: prune trees use cuts for tree nursery, clean vegetable garden and replant (2-4 w)
February: orange pruning and fertilization with cow manure (4-6 w)
March: cleaning gardens and painting the old houses with lime and traditional pigments (4-6 w)
April: cleaning gardens, planting veggies and painting the old houses with lime and traditional pigments (4-6 w)
May: cleaning gardens and painting the old houses with lime and traditional pigments (2-4 w)
June: Fig harvest, making fig jam (10 w)
July & August: Carob harvest, Fig harvest, sea salt harvest (depends of lodgement availability, but 4-6 w)
All year jobs: making this an EDEN, proposing your ideas to improve it: compost toilets, children's playground, ornithology observatory, etc. We also have a water dam that collects water from the rains and could use some hands for cleaning, building observatory, tipis, etc.
The weather here is generally good in winter (sunny and temperatures from 10 - 25ºC), autumn and spring is incredibly good (18 - 30 ºC) although there are windy days, summer is really hot (25 - 35ºC).
As you can see, its an ambitious project in which we aim to provide local authorities an example that sustainable, organic and ecological projects can be the future to our small village, and that mass tourism is making traditional knowledge and agriculture disappear.
Regards,
Rosa
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Poultry farming
Sheep or goat farming
Forestry
Flower farming
Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas
Seed saving or production
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Food justice / sovereignty
Methods or systems
Holistic management
No-till farming
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Production farm
Certified organic
30
Hectares
|
74.1
Acres
Accommodation
Rosa
Member since 2017
Languages spoken:
English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 54%
Response time: typically within 8 days
Faro
We are located in the southeastern part of the Algarve, in Castro Marim, 3 km from the beach, 10 km away from the Spanish border. The easiest way to arrive is to use the Castro Marim train station (500 m from our main building and houses) that has direct
Reviews
Shaun
United Kingdom
•
July 2025
This is a busy set up with lots going on, very relaxed and varied work. Good accommodation set up, fantastic swimming pool and relaxing areas. Rosa is a great host, very accommodating, knowledgeable, passionate about her quinoa.its a really interesting place that will continue to grow. Lovely friendly people living and working there. Food was great, location is good right next to train station and 40 mins walk to towns, supermarkets and great beach areas. I would 100% recommend this place to any new or experienced woofer.
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Niels
Netherlands
•
July 2024
(I stayed for about a month in may/june 2024) I very much enjoyed my stay at Quinta da Fornalha. The WWOOFer cabin/house and its facilities are basic but sufficient, the workload is fair and varied and the people living and working on the farm are super nice. Rosa really runs a very inspiring and impactful farm full of interesting people and projects. The farm itself and the area around are full of little gems you can discover by foot or bike. There were a few bikes that we as WWOOFers could use. One of which was a little more functional then the other, but they were still nice to get places 😉. Rosa knows a ton about the area and its history as well as regenerative practices. It was wonderful to see and learn more about how a functional organic and regenerative farm operates in full swing and be art of the fig harvest! I also enjoyes working and living with the other volenteers in a small community setting.
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Mario
Portugal
•
May 2024
Rosa is an amazing host! She, the staff and other volunteers have become extended family. Together, it feels we are working for a higher purpose.
The Quinta is a community and home-base for me now. It has great potential for me to further develop myself through collaborative projects. I look forward to very long-term relationship there.
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Keren
United States
•
May 2024
My husband and I had the most amazing time at the Quinta Da Fornalha. Not only is the Quinta a beauty place but the beauty of the people there. Rosa herself is an amazing leader who took every moment she could to teach us the reason behind why we did something and how it benefited the land. She is an individual who invites creativity and the input/ideas of those who visit her farm and never wants you to be bored with what you are doing. We made good friends here, ate good food, played lots of card games, snuggled lots of dogs and cats. The community we experienced here was the best part. We learned so much about planting, woodworking, harvesting, pruning, and how biodiversity works altogether and finding the creative solution to any challenges that may arise. I would highly suggest staying at the Quinta. The train station is literally a stone throw away and we also had the privilege to travel all around the Algarve during our stay. We hope to return one day and think so fondly about our time here.
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Heather
Canada
•
February 2024
We spent one month here as a couple and the farm was an all-around wonderful experience. They were very accommodating and very organized and prepared. Rosa is very informative and explains things well, which we loved. The farm was full of great people and the meals with the other volunteers was a great social environment. It was fun to also work in the kitchen and help prepare different foods like fig truffles and carob butter. Would recommend to anyone who wants to get a good first introduction to WWOOFing or who is more experienced. There are a lot of cool opportunities and growth happening here! Thanks for a lovely time.
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Manel
France
•
September 2023
We spend an amazing month of august at Quinta da Fornalha. We learn a lot about agroecology and the story about Rosa taking back her father farm was really inspiring and moving. The people and the other woofers were all really nice. The accommodations were of quality. We were able to arrange our 6 hours of work per day to our liking. The fig were delicious. I could only recommend going there.
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