Today is day 5 at my farm in Elvas, Portugal. I have a lot of thoughts about it, I feel like each day I’m feeling differently, so let’s start at the beginning. I arrived at 3pm on Friday, when the owner of the farm (Quinta), Miranda, picked me up from the bus station. We drove the 10 minutes back to the Quinta in her cool stick shift car with a little too loud music that we had to talk over to hear one another. She introduced me to the other woofer, Sydney, who had arrived the previous day and would be my roommate. I was also quickly introduced to the multiple cats and three dogs of the house, one of whom (Floppy) Miranda declared multiple times is so amazing because he doesn’t smell like a dog. Yet, the whole house smelled like dog.
I immediately noticed how cute the Quinta is. It’s full of color and warmth, Miranda always playing the best music from her Bluetooth speaker throughout the house. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but nevertheless it’s homey and inviting. The kitchen is my favorite room, with warm yellow walls and a window over the sink that overlooks some of her olive trees. The big kitchen table is the focal point of the room, placed in front of a bright red fireplace that sits in a little teal walled alcove.
The three of us talked and played the board game Azul on the big kitchen table until Miranda left to pick up the last 2 woofers, Hannah and Jasper. When they arrived back, we all got acquainted and Miranda made us salad and cabbage pasta for dinner, while we chatted over a beer. The evening was pleasant, but Miranda did mostly all the talking and she seemed to jump from one topic to another and when one of us would talk, she was quick to interrupt. The other woofers all seemed very nice, though we didn’t have much opportunity to get to know one another. Miranda seemed really thoughtful and very smart, just a bit jumpy perhaps or extremely talkative. She’s an editor, and freelances for a few publishing companies, making her extremely articulate and interesting to listen to. She’s edited many books that I know, like Daniel Silva’s books, and she also does a lot of academic papers and all genres from non-fiction to art literature to fiction. She strikes me as someone who has immense real world knowledge and knows a lot about everything.
On Saturday, the day was ours to do as we pleased since it was the weekend. We ate some breakfast and got an orientation, which really was just Miranda telling us her hyper specific preferences and talking in circles for 1.5 hours. I don’t think any of us felt much more orientated after that. It’s hard to criticize her, because really she’s very sweet. She’s just eccentric and has so much to say that it can get jumbled up in different tangents. I felt like there’s so much I can learn from her, but I don’t know if I will really have the opportunity to have a productive back and forth conversation like this. I was interested in how some alone time with the other 3 wwoofers would be, and excitedly I got the opportunity as we all decided to check out town (thankful for Jasper who can drive stick). We walked around the small town awkwardly, I didn’t feel like there was a large desire to connect, and conversations fell flat. We learned a little about one another, but I felt like everyone was pretty quiet and I was pushing myself out there to try and initiate a lot of the questions. I got the feeling that Jasper and Hannah were interesting people and I wanted to find a way to connect to them. We all ate lunch together in town, and then headed home. Jasper (21) and Hannah (27) are a couple from Washington, though you’d never know Jasper is only 21 - he seems incredibly well versed in many things, and has the kind of depth, niche interests, and real world experience that hardly anyone at this age does. Sydney is very kind, though she’s only 18 and taking a gap year before starting college. She kind of reminds me of me at that age - not much life experience or particular interests, though she’s very sweet.
I called Jovan, feeling dejected. Miranda is knowledgeable and I feel like I can learn a lot, but after orientation I’m not even really sure what work we’ll be doing. I was hoping to learn how to produce olive oil and learn about the process, but it doesn’t seem like tasks in the Olival are needed right now. Plus, she will talk your ear off and I don’t see how I can have a learning relationship like this. If I’m not going to learn anything on the farm, and it doesn’t seem likely that I will form connections, then why am I here? But, I decided, this uncomfortable feeling is how I’ve felt before while traveling. Arriving at an unfamiliar hostel in not so great conditions and 12 beds with strange roommates, I’ve had the feeling that maybe it’s just not for me. Then, the next day, something changes and suddenly I’m having the best time and making friends. It sometimes takes these few days of adjustment before things get comfortable, and I hoped this would be the case here. I’d wait until the work week starts and then reevaluate how I’m feeling.
The thing about the Quinta is that the olive oil here is, without exaggeration, the best I have ever had. And we have an endless supply of it. Also the best I’ve ever had? The olives!!! I can’t even believe that just one month ago, I disliked olives. I began opening up to them in Morocco, and the Gallega olives here pushed me into an absolute olive lover. Miranda loves food, and shares with us her techniques for brining all of her olives. Some lemon, oregano, in olive oil, and the olives are perfection. We have cases upon cases of olives and olive oil in the kitchen at are disposal. The bread here is unreal, and the 5 of us are heathens with it. We probably go through at least 3 loaves per day. One of my favorite things has become sitting around the kitchen table, stuffing ourselves on bread, olive oil, and olives.
This Saturday evening, we sat at the table playing cards, drinking wine, and eating our favorite things. It was then that Jasper announced he would make us dinner, which was a nice surprise because the weekend meals are usually not provided by Miranda. During the week, we have our weekly meal and chores rota, so we each get certain chores every day, and we each have one day where we prepare the lunch and dinner. We let Miranda know what we’re cooking ahead of time, and give her a shopping list to get us the ingredients, also using what we can from the garden. Being the weekend, Jasper hadn’t done this but looked through the fridge and extemporaneously concocted a meal. It was then that we learned.. Jasper is an amazing cook and has experience working in a fine dining restaurant, along with working on a farm in Denmark for 9 months, and attended farm school in Washington where he learned a lot about food. We all bonded over the amazing salad and lentil soup he made.
As Sunday came, I was feeling a little better about everything but still hesitant with my same concerns. The 4 of us wwoofers explored our neighborhood, going on a long walk and eventually to a lunch spot. We all started opening up more during this time, and I was starting to feel better about my time here. There was still awkwardness, but it felt more cohesive like people were becoming more curious about one another. The neighbor came over for dinner, which Jasper prepared. Watercress soup and bean soup, both amazing. We all played a board game that none of us knew how to play - ticket to ride - and felt deliriously tired during it, so everything became funny. How confused everyone was only made everything funnier. We ended up calling it a night when we realized we were playing it completely wrong after 2 hours of trying to learn it. This was another bonding experience that was helping solidify our slowly growing, small friendship.
Our workdays start at 8am and are finished by 12pm. On Monday, we spent the whole time weeding the vegetable garden to prepare the asparagus to grow. This was my first time seeing all that she has growing - oranges, pomegranates, herbs like mint, dill, tarragon, basil; lemons, avocado, watercress, grapefruit, asparagus, and a few others. But mainly the farm consists of 2500-3000 olive trees. I learned how to use a power tool, and the weeding went by quickly, but I wished that I could contribute more ideas and thoughts to Miranda and Jaspers conversations about permaculture, different types of agriculture principles, and many topics that went over my head. I admired how little direction was needed from my fellow wwoofer, and I decided I want to contribute more and take more discretion to help out in the areas I do know about - such as cooking. Miranda was on cooking duty, and made us an incredible tomato soup for lunch, with of course a lot of olive oil and bread. We all took well deserved naps, and then I sat outside and enjoyed the front garden until dinner time, when we had an avocado, beet, and citrus salad (so incredible), and shakshuka. Normally when one person is cooking, the rest are around the table playing games, and the music is playing on the speaker. It’s a really comfortable and easy environment that I am growing content in.
Tuesday proceeded in a similar fashion, though today we were working in the olival. We drove on the pickup truck through the cold morning air to our Olive trees, where we cleared all the brush and collected firewood. This took up all of our morning, and it was really refreshing to work with my hands and feel like I worked hard by the end of the work day. It was Hannah’s turn to cook, and she made a lentil soup and we all made orange juice together with freshly picked oranges from the garden. I decided I wanted to pick some lemons and make a lemon olive oil cake, and Miranda was very pleased about this. After our naps, I started in the kitchen with Sydney’s help, and it made me happy to help contribute something without being directed. Maybe it sounds silly, but Miranda is very particular and I want her to feel like I’m contributing well, and being helpful on the farm. Despite how I feel about my limited knowledge of farming, it gave me confidence to make something for the group. We all laughed about how happy we are with this routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, manual labor for 4 hours, eat lunch, nap, free time to enjoy the property, read a book, do as we please, and then a little more eating, social time, and more eating. I’m feeling very happy with all the amazing meals we’ve been having! Thursday is my day to cook, so hopefully I can pull something tasty off. Miranda has a lot of cookbooks in the kitchen for inspiration, so I chose from there.
We’re working again in the olival tomorrow, and I hope to learn more useful skills. If not, I think at the least being around people that are so different to my normal environment is inspiring to me. Miranda, Hannah, and Jasper, are very artistic. They are really opening my eyes to great music, along with Jasper and Hannah both being musicians, playing guitar and violin. They’re also all really into and agriculture and cooking, and are always discussing things I’m unfamiliar with. Although I don’t feel like I’m absorbing much of it, I think nevertheless being in this environment is changing my thought process in intangible ways, and I’m looking forward to learning more.
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