Raízes da Montanha

Raízes da Montanha is a pair of demonstration farms in the Serra de Monchique, in the Algarve. Its founders arrived as outsiders, came to live in the mountains and stayed. They were at Quinta Picapau in August 2018 when a wildfire swept through the Serra, and it changed how they see the landscape. Over roughly ten years of farming they developed the Monchique Stewardship System. It is a written guide in 14 parts, and they built it because nothing comparable existed for this terrain. The parts cover living soil, water, managed grazing, diverse tree canopy, eucalyptus as a resource, and community stewardship. The thinking is practical. Soil is treated as a living ecosystem, not an inert material that needs repeated feeding. Animals clear combustible undergrowth and build organic matter. Mixed food forests and native trees burn less readily than eucalyptus and pine monocultures. The farms also look at money. Land is abandoned when a local food economy disappears, so the project writes about markets, processing and infrastructure. Its view is that small farms will not beat supermarkets by copying them. Their chance lies in quality, freshness and a direct link between producer and eater. The team says plainly that they are not academics or foresters. Their knowledge comes from observation, mistakes and years of outdoor work, later compared with research on rural depopulation and wildfire. A regular blog covers food security, Javali (wild boar) damage, African swine fever risk, rewilding and regenerative farming on thin Mediterranean soils. Farm walks and working visits are planned for later, once the farms are further along. The first would focus on topics such as water management, agroforestry design and fire-resilient planning. The second would put visitors to work alongside the team in the soil.