Introduction

The calendar doesn't lie... It really is more than 10 years since we set off from Tokyo's Narita Airport to start a new life in Portugal. There are moments when it seems as if those years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Then at other times I think back on what has happened in that decade – the changes in our lives, the things we have done, the things we have learnt – and I wonder how we've fitted it all in. After all, we arrived here in Portugal having hardly grown so much as a radish in our lives – and now we are smallholders, growing a lot of our own vegetables, self-sufficient in olive oil, making wine and distilling bagaço (Portuguese grappa), brewing beer and making miso, experts in compost and mulching.... We've done a lot of house renovations and a number of smaller building projects. We've learnt a lot. We've made a lot of mistakes. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge.
And it's five years since we posted anything online about our experiences. Now, the urge has once again arisen to share some of our experiences. We'd like to show how it is not just possible to leave the trappings of city life behind, but that it really is invigorating and life-affirming to do so. We are unlikely to go back to a life where we are dependent on large, external systems for everything; the empowerment that comes from taking responsibility for our own lives is just too great. And we hope to encourage others who might want to do something similar and perhaps even help them avoid some of the same mistakes. So we've started this new project where we'll bring together new posts with material recovered from a long abandoned blog that ran from 2004 to 2009.
Feel free to nose around. You can skip the Japanese pages if you prefer!