Wow! In so many ways it feels like this past 5 months has been leading up to today! My desire and need to have some form of security and home after being locked out of India has been intense! Lockdown sure changed my life, and since march i have been homeless, living in a ice cold garden shed, living in a massage parlour, and many more strange and interesting places. Security to me means a home with no rent, water and power at little to no cost, and food growing in the garden! In May, two months after losing my right to return to my home in India we finalized the land purchase in Portugal, and ever since then I have been working hard and steadily toward putting my first home in Europe up! I have only been able to do all of this with the support of some dear friends and so many of you on Hive who have supported me on this mission in so many ways..

But This is not just about me.,..

What makes this so exciting is that i am FINALLY putting some roots down in Europe, a place where i have rights and an ability to start up ideas and projects. As many of you know, i am working toward building an earthship on our land, and as soon as I complete the yurt I will being the very exciting process of getting planning permission and finalizing the plans. This earthship is a special design I have been working on that is tailor made to this part of Portugal, where it gets VERY hot in summer. My plan is to build this model on the cheapest budget i can, and then test it and demonstrate its performance.

Once we have this working model we will be ready to facilitate other like minded people to do the same. I meet people almost every day who have land, or are looking to buy land,,. and want to build! Most people think Earthships have to cost a fortune, but that is not the case. I want to demonstrate another way to work, another way to build.. collaboratively, in the spirit of natural giving. I use Earthship biotecture because it is the best version of sustainable building and living i have ever seen.

My Earthship Design Plan

So getting back to the the yurt! It looks beautiful, and i really like the blue colour and designs,, just perfect! I was so lucky today to have the help of four people.. Hal, Morgana, Alexandra, and Oli.

Morgana turned up seconds before i was about to make a fatal mistake with some of the rope.. thank god she had experience with this particular type of yurt and she was able to guide so we well through each step.

The good news is that it fits on the platform just perfectly, and the rafters are sitting in place very nicely without falling out. I can remember helping a friend last time with this and we spent about 2 hours going around and around putting rafters back up as they fell down. I think the job was made easier because we had an exact centre point marked and a few good eyes on the work. Each of us chimed in at just the right moment to ensure this yurt was going up, and going up only once!

I can't thank all of my helpers enough.Hal was on day three of a 10 day fasting and he was really weak and not feeling well.

Despite that he turned up ready for action, and in the crazy Portugal heat and sun. The people in this area know what community is, what exchange is, and what the great spirit of sharing.

It makes me very happy to see it happening in this area, as that is exactly the attitude we need to help everyone get what they need without having to worry about money money money! Paying people to help costs a fortune, and yet most of us have plenty of time to help a friend for a few hours.. and of course especially these days!

So, tomorrow we will continue and I hope to be showing you beautiful pictures of the yurt with cloth ON and potentially a very happy Alex sitting inside it.. Fingers crossed!!!

Disrupting the "Cost of Living" Industry
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