Practising a Sustainable Life: An Interview with Sara Rodrigues
Cooking dinner with Sara, Rodrigo and Sam, in our makeshift fire (August 2020)
After many years of urban living, the Portuguese artist Sara Rodrigues, and her partner, Rodrigo B. Camacho, moved from London to the rural area of Cabeceiras de Basto in Portugal, to start a new life. The pair are realising a dream from the ground up with their bare hands: a zero waste, self-sustainable home. The name of this project is Landra.
Landra is not only intended as a home. It will also be a place where they can continue their art practice, commit to the pursuit of ethical living, grow food, develop research and provide residencies and educational programmes.
Last Summer, I hiked the beautiful valley of Landra’s fertile grounds. I swam in Landra’s clear cold stream, sat on its rocks soaking in the sun, watched butterflies feed on wildflowers. At night, I crawled into my tent, scared by the wandering of curious wild horses.
Wild cherry blossoming (March 2021)
The name Landra comes from a type of local acorn; to use the word is to root the project in its regional history, to revisit local and forgotten knowledge of the land. Landra is a project that aims to reinvent the way we live, and rediscover knowledge that may have been lost with industrialisation.
Projects such as Landra may sound romantic, but their example can also help shape our own understanding of sustainable practices. And what is wrong with a little romance? Perhaps their sustainable living methodologies can also be scaled up – from micro to macro, one step at a time.
Nowadays, we feel more and more incapable of making ethical decisions that do not exacerbate the climate crisis. From what we wear, to how we travel to work, and what we eat, the responsibility for the on-going crisis is often placed on the shoulders of the consumer as opposed to the corporations and economic systems that have made those products and lifestyles widely available in the first place. However, it is clear that our own individual efforts and sacrifices alone cannot tackle these structural problems at the root. Stories such as Sara and Rodrigo’s – of almost total utopian madness – inspire us to keep on dreaming of change, questioning the systems that seem set in stone and the collective inertia that keeps the destructive cycles in spin, inviting the individual to participate in a wider conversation of structural change.
This interview contains some of the ideas we discussed during my visit to Landra in the Summer of 2020, revisited for Mercurius over a zoom chat in February 2021. Sara kindly added links and resources to the text.
Down by the river (March 2021)
ML: How did the project start? Did you look at similar projects that inspired you?
SR: The idea started while we were still living in London, in a small flat in a huge city. My practice and research were already looking at climate change and its entanglements. This included an awareness of our complicity in the global capitalist system, which is particularly apparent in London, where there is no direct relation to the food you eat and the water you drink – the essentials of life - and life is ultimately based on extractive processes. The more I researched, the more I felt unable to continue living the way I did. I wanted to find a better system, a way of life that is not only sustainable but also regenerative, a system that contributes positively to the ecosystems on which I depend to survive.
I started to study Permaculture and understood that such a way of life is possible: working with rather than against natural principles that are based on the ethics of earth care, people care and the return of surplus. These natural principles are not only applicable to those living in nature, but also to urban dwellers. Indeed, for many it is hard to imagine abandoning the metropolis, in whose webs of labour and capital many of us are trapped in order to survive.
I always think it’s quite surreal how schools, at least in Portugal when I was growing up, don’t teach you basic life skills, such as identifying plants, saving seeds, growing food, harvesting water, composting. The teaching is focused only on preparing you for the labour market. So when you lose your job - such as many have in the Covid Crisis - you end up with nothing. No-one has the basic right to land, to actual soil. To achieve this requires one to be in a position of privilege: to already have access to land or to have the initial capital to invest. Such privilege will also vary depending on the location, the size of the land, and the amount of people involved.
There are already many examples of how much can be achieved with a relatively small space. Contrary to what we’re made to believe, it doesn’t take so much to live in abundance. The start is the hardest, as it takes some time to grow a sufficient amount of food. You also need a surplus to be able to trade your produce for things you can’t produce yourself. A few generations ago, people in the surrounding villages were used to living with what they produced and shared. There were even shared facilities, such as communal tools and communal ovens.
ML: As more and more people work from home, and employers begin to accept these conditions, perhaps more people can start to think more seriously about living a more soil-focused and sustainable life. For example, many European Governments are even offering subsidies to young people looking to relocate to underpopulated regions, such as these schemes in Italy.
SR: Yes, it’s definitely helpful to have these options in order to facilitate the transition. Workers could eventually even leave their regular job, or at least work part-time. It’s a slow process and requires enormous dedication, but it’s definitely worth it. In the beginning, you work from sunrise to sunset. Yet it’s not tiring, because every day you see things growing, blossoming, evolving, and you are part of it. And even for those that don’t feel like leaving a big city, it’s still possible to make things much better. There are many examples of neighbourhood allotments and community-building projects that are growing in popularity, as well as support for local farmers that are working with methods that care for soil life (and all life).
Microorganisms growing on steamed rice (April 2021)
ML: Tell us about your involvement in London-based projects.
SR: The Goldsmiths allotment, run by Ros Gray, truly inspired me. I always lived in flats and when I was a child I often asked my mum if I could have a garden and a dog – but I only got a dog! Also stuck in a flat, sadly. I think unconsciously I always had that awareness and dream of wanting to see and grow life around me. But to have the allotment, which was the size of a desk, really helped me experiment and acquire a feel for the soil with my hands. My first tomatoes were only five in number, very red and the size of marbles. It was magical to see them come from “nothing”. This sounds ridiculous, because obviously we know how plants grow. However, if you are not in touch with these processes you can feel completely disconnected. And the earth is so alive. We mostly cultivated peas and beans, which are hardy and easily grow in London during the colder months of the year.
ML: My two indoor cherry-tomato plants have just died. They produced tomatoes from June to December, and thrived because of the heating. I used to leave the windows open so the wind could shake and they could self-pollinate. But when it got colder I would just shake them manually and that also worked. My guests used to ask in admiration if they were real tomatoes.
SR: That’s the thing! Many people have houseplants but it’s very rare for them to grow food indoors. However, it is possible!
ML: The problem is you can never grow enough tomatoes to make an entire meal every week. You might be able to make a tomato sauce or a salad once every two weeks. You become aware of how much food humans consume versus the time it takes for the food to grow. Perhaps a healthy allotment project would enable its members to share the food within the community? Trade some tomatoes for potatoes?
SR: Ideally yes, but you would be surprised by how little food we actually grew. The weather was a major factor. Some had experimental plots, but the majority grew the same hardy vegetables as most of us were students who left the city in the summer. Spring came with treats from the communal bushes, such as tasty gooseberries and raspberries. We learned about composting and mulching, as well as sharing knowledge and seeds.
ML: This recalls the reality of food production and importation. Surely that’s one of the attractions of moving to Portugal? In Portugal, the weather is very amenable and you can grow a wider variety of things. What are your plans in this regard?
SR: It’s scary to think the UK imports over 50% of the food it consumes. However, it’s all about how land is governed. In the UK there is a large amount of agricultural land. This land is mostly pasture, followed by grain production, which is owned by a tiny proportion of the population. Horticulturist Robert Hart has shown that it’s possible to apply the techniques of forest gardening to Britain’s temperate climate.
Forest gardening is a millennial tradition that has been used by diverse indigenous cultures throughout the world. It works by layering edible plants as a forest would; planting trees, shrubs, climbers, perennials and annuals in the same space. The ecosystem of the subsequent Food Forest doesn’t need to return to zero when the annual plants die each year.
In an ideal situation, we would eat mostly perennials, such as fruit, nuts and shrubs. There are various edible perennial plants that haven’t been popularised or commercialised. We're trying to learn as much about them as possible. Creating a food forest is a long term plan for Landa. However, building such an environment takes years. In the meantime, we will also make do with an allotment of annual plants. What is amazing is that the more the environment works by itself, the less work you have to do. We’ve identified a great number of edible species that grow wild on the surrounding land and are actually more nutritious than the domesticated ones, though most people don’t realise they are edible.
Edible primrose in flower (February 2021)
ML: When I visited you in Landa, you spoke about rewilding, bringing back plants that were native to the land. Can you explain?
SR: This land is called Carvalhal, which means “Oak Land”. We were told it used to be quite densely wooded. Although some oak, chestnut, maple and olive trees have survived, we discovered that the previous land manager actually felled many of them under the pretext of ‘cleaning’ the land. He told us he also spent a lot of money applying herbicides to get rid of “weeds”. And all this just to herd cows. Such practises seem fairly widespread these days. If you walk into any gardening centre, you will see a constant promotion of agrochemicals and machinery. We regularly hear chainsaws and lawnmowers from the other side of the valley, where pastures predominate. There is also a small village there. We learned from a local that this land once abounded with fruit trees. We would like to bring back those trees and other species to create a rich polyculture.
We are not so concerned with ideas of what is native, as many of the edible species grown in Portugal were originally from other continents anyway.
ML: Yes the concept of native, although often used, is problematic.
SR: Indeed. Some species are called invasive because they are very good at doing what they do! But they only dominate in environments in which the ecosystem is not especially resilient and has already been damaged. That is how we would like to intervene, by trying to keep it in balance. A bare soil with a specificity of available nutrients, or a dearth of available nutrients, may allow certain seeds or ‘weeds’ to take over. However, these takeovers also create a future habitat where shrubs and trees can grow. Once the shade created by the trees and shrubs expands, the environment becomes inhospitable for those same plants/weeds that were initially dominant. I see those early inhabitants as ‘healers of the land’, as they are the ones that come first and thrive in harsh conditions. They are there for a reason.
We want there to be a balance to what we introduce. The majority of plants can thrive if they are able to adapt. As more species are invited to the environment, the land will grow richer and potentiate more life. For example, if we introduce more flowers, we will have more pollinators and so on, and that will create a positive and abundant environment.
ML: I know the land has a natural spring/stream, which I imagine will be used for watering the grounds and for the house? Can you speak about your plan for self-management and sustainability?
SR: We have been reading up on water and waste management systems to create a system for Landra. Since the land is in a valley, we can use the slope to our advantage. There are two springs at the top of the valley and a stream at the bottom. We analysed the water and it is drinkable – it’s actually purer than bottled water. However, we have been warned by locals that leisure fishermen have sadly used bleach in the past to make it easier to catch fish.
We are hoping that our participation in the local community and Landra will contribute to an understanding of the dangers of using products such as bleach in waterways and toxic herbicides. Such practices have become normalised. In turn, we are also keen to learn about the local practices that have proved useful and beneficial throughout the ages.
Many contaminants, such as agrochemicals, are actually quite recent inventions, and often the bi-products of war: produced first as chemical weapons and then introduced into agribusiness. Such chemicals, along with the tractors that plough the land and destroy soil life, are dependent on petroleum extraction and energy consumption. Their usage is a modern practice first put into place at the behest of industrialised nations, to make food cheap and widely available but poor in quality. They impoverish both the people and environments that produce it: cheap food, cheap labour, cheap nature.
Most of the population have abandoned agricultural practices, and choose to shop in supermarket chains that control the supply of that which is most essential to life. Here, in Portugal, many of those that still hold land live on subsidies designed to protect certain horse and sheep breeds. Most of the young have left.
This problem prevails across the country. It dates back to the fascist regime that lasted until 1974, a regime that strove to keep peasants poor in the name of national interests. Afterwards, the EU introduced its ‘modernised’ agribusiness model. Now the land is abandoned and cheap, inviting multinational businesses to take over and implement mono-cultural systems for profit. Vitacress in Alentejo or Westfalia Fruit are some examples. It is noteworthy that these corporations will try to convince you of how ‘sustainable’ they are. That is why the name Landra is so important to us. It’s not the common Portuguese name for acorn (bolota), but based on the regional and local culture, with its own traditions and customs, which are ultimately being lost. You can actually make bread with these acorns. And there is no need to work the land when an abundance of acorns falls from the trees each year.
To return to the topic of water harvesting, we will also be using water from the spring at the top of the hill, creating paths for it to travel through the land and stay on the land for as long as possible before running downstream. We’re looking to restore a tank near the stone house to create a water supply for ourselves. However, it is also really important to use rainwater, which has a more balanced pH for most plants. Additionally, we want to make a few ponds to store water and attract various insects and amphibians that thrive in those niches, like frogs. Because the valley is forested, it develops plenty of mist and humidity. Thankfully, there are still enough trees and plants to maintain the ecosystem.
At the moment we wash ourselves in the stream or with the rainwater we catch in a container. Since there is currently no electricity being generated, we’ve been living there on and off with the bare minimum. The house, though made of stone, is derelict, so we have been sleeping inside a tent. In the evenings we cook and warm ourselves with a small wood stove, which we carried to the site using a wheelbarrow. We used the same method to transport the other materials. We’re one kilometre away from the nearest paved road, so our only access is by foot, as you experienced. As we have no electric light, apart from our phone torches, we go to sleep when the fire runs out and then wake up with the sun and the roosters’ call. It is a beautiful thing to strip off those extra layers of comfort provided by modernity. You feel much closer to the natural rhythms and patterns of life. You really feel alive, in a deep, connected way.
Since the plan is slowly to rebuild the house, the time has come to make decisions on how to manage the water and waste. It’s very important to think about closed cycles. In modern households, everything is connected to pipes whose ends we never see. When designing the sewage systems - toilets and sinks - it is imperative to understand that everything has to return safely to the land. We tend to forget that most products we use for cleaning are toxic. However, there are traditional soaps made from natural ingredients that are just as efficient. For example, there’s a basic one made from fat and lye, which can be obtained from ash.
ML: And that doesn’t damage the land?
SR: No. Fat derives from either vegetable oil or animal fat and ash from burnt wood. Vinegar is also a great cleaning product. However, it should be highly diluted in water before it is returned to the soil.
Sam trying to start a fire? (August 2020)
ML: So what happens in a normal household?
SR: That’s the thing, we will have to make an off-grid system for household wastewater. In a normal household, even in the countryside, everything is connected to the national grid or sewage system. The amount of money and energy necessary to treat water, and the waste it produces, is horrifying. Your toxic washing products go down the same drain as industrial by-products and your faeces – which, one might add, are like animal excrements, inasmuch as they are great at fertilising land and compostable. So human faeces really should be going back into the soil. Once everything has been filtered, chlorine is added to kill the pathogens, notwithstanding the fact that chlorination by-products are possibly cancerogenic. This water is then pumped back into the system as tap water.
Instead of doing this, we would like to have closed loops without waste products. That is, we will use human faeces for composting and fertilising and we won’t use any toxic products in the house so that the water can safely go back into the soil. My personal hygiene is already adapting to these conditions. The skin cleans itself, controls essential nutrients and bacteria, and produces self-hydrating sebum. In the U.S, for example, the common use of soap for personal hygiene was only popularised after the Civil War, in a Union effort to avoid the spread of disease because of extremely unsanitary conditions. This is not the case for us. The World Wars led to the development of petroleum-based soaps, due to the shortage of natural oils and abundance of extracted ones.
ML: Perhaps such products are necessary for cities where people live on top of each other, and millions of people use the metro between 8 and 10am. I have also heard of many products that work with bacteria, instead of killing bacteria, using good bacteria to cover surfaces so that bad bacteria won’t survive. A bit like probiotics versus antibiotics in our gut.
SR: Exactly, probiotics means pro-life, not anti-life; that is definitely how our immune system works. It’s about creating a complex and balanced environment instead of a depleted one, both inside and outside our bodies. We are cultivating indigenous microorganisms from the most ancient tree-soil connections we can find on the land, bringing them back into contact with the rest of the environment. We’re learning a lot from Korean Natural Farming, developed by Han-Kyu-Cho, which is all about working with the full spectrum of microbial life, where there is no concept of good and bad.
ML: It is all about changing our mentality with regard to cleanliness, de-learning things that modernity has taught us.
Aside from the infrastructure necessary to start a sustainable lifestyle-project such as Landra, how do you want the project to contribute to your practice, to other artists and the local community? Or is it just going to be your home?
SR: It will definitely take a long time to establish the whole vision. Initial costs for tools and materials do build up. We want to do everything ourselves as much as possible, little by little. For example, we are working with a local carpenter to restore the house, floors and windows and doors. He will provide us with the materials.
ML: How will the project be economically sustainable? Even if the labour is almost free, you still have basic costs, such as materials. Solar panels, for example, can be pricey. How will Landra support itself economically in the long term?
SR: The idea is to create a self-sustainable system that provides all the necessities for life and more. For the time being, we will depend on some teaching and art practice projects for income. However, in terms of Landra’s running costs, the idea is to produce more than what two people can consume, and trade or sell the surplus in the local market. We already have samples of olives that we picked and cured, as well as acorn coffee and flour, which will eventually be available on our website, accompanied by texts to encourage people to make their own. Last Year, we actually took home many acorns from the streets of Porto, before they were swept away by the cleaners. We also want Landra to be an educational project, develop a library, run workshops and residencies where people can stay for a long period and also contribute to the daily life of Landra.
ML: Will you set up a Not-For-Profit Organization?
SR: Yes, that’s one of our options. There may be some funding available to set up specific parts of the project, especially on the educational front. There is a lot that can be done in terms of sharing good practices to increase local resilience, and this is very important to us.
ML: What about as an art practice? Can Landra be somewhere in-between an institution and an artwork?
SR: The more my art practice developed the more I realised I had to make these life changes, as they are interchangeable. I think art should be a part of life, and all of these processes are extremely creative. I don’t believe disciplines should be separated, as everything is connected. It’s inspiring to learn about so many new-old ways of making and doing, to be in the midst of everything that is alive, and changing, and to be part of it all. In terms of a professional art practice, I think it is a vehicle that can bring many considerations into focus and show that other ways are possible. As Bill Mollison, one of the founders of Permaculture, would put it: “the yield of any system is only limited by the creativity of its designer.”
The great thing about Landra is that it can also contribute to other peoples’ research and practice. There’s an openness, a flux of knowledge that can spillover and cross-pollinate. It will be amazing to establish that community and exchange. Everyone is welcome to come and be part of Landra, see what is possible, and be inspired to effect change in their own lives.
Our website will serve as a journal, as well as a place to share practices and notes about our environment.
Sara in the dark light only by the fireplace (August 2020)
ML: The benefit of Landra is that you’re completely submerged in Nature, but not isolated. The town is nearby and even the city of Porto is not so far away. This means you can also be involved in the local community.
SR: We’re just an hour away from Porto, and 5km from the centre of Cabeceiras de Basto, but the closest village is probably a 20-minute walk away. What we have realised is that many people in the area don’t necessarily live this kind of rural life. They often just commute to an urban centre for jobs that have nothing to do with the land anymore. Even though they share the same physical location, they’re not completely there. Nonetheless, they retain a strong connection to the idea of nature, almost in a spiritual way. They also appreciate the woodland, though most no longer have a day-to-day relationship with it.
And then we have other characters in the area, such as the hunters, whose ideas of wilderness make them feel entitled to cross private property in the middle of the night, cut through fences and shoot at an unsafe distance from homes. This recreational activity is embedded in a sense of local culture. In a way they are part of the ecosystem, as they stand in for the lack of wolves, which has led to an excess of wild boars. The national park of Geres is working to reintroduce wolves to the area, though people are resistant, because they fear for the welfare of their domesticated animals.
ML: There’s something rebellious and masculine about the figure of the hunter-trespasser: an anonymous character, almost an outlaw, who does not enter into negotiations or look for mutual aid. It’s a more complex figure than the fishermen who poison the water. The hunter resists the privatisation of land, carries guns (in a country where not even the police is armed) and trespasses – regardless of one’s own feelings about hunting.
SR: Yes, it raises questions of land and territory, possession and commons. At first, we were reluctant to put up a fence, but then we realised we couldn’t grow anything with the neighbours horses constantly coming and going. These animals used to roam vast amounts of land but when kept in relatively small-sized lots they end up overgrazing. The hunters have cut through our metal fence to hunt the wild boars, claiming they were here before us. There is a lot of common land where it is still legal to hunt, but it’s illegal to hunt at a distance of less than 200 metres from a house. People from the villages are also scared of being shot.
Cabeceiras de Basto (August 2020)
ML: I heard that hunting was prohibited in Portugal during the lockdown because hunting is a group sport and the far-right party opposed the restrictions. In my head, I associated hunters with supporters of the far right. I understand the figure from the perspective of masculinity values but not the rebellion against private property.
SR: When you live in the city, you have certain preconceptions about what people in the countryside are like and their views. For example, Brexiteers in the UK. But when you inhabit these places you get a very different sense of reality and of people’s sense of belonging. The politics and the issues are never so black and white. There are many intricacies in the lives of the people here. By understanding them, you get a better sense of how things can be improved – and we want Landra to be a place for these discussions. Negotiation and mutual aid are two very important values to carry forward.
Sara Rodrigues (b. Porto, 1990) is an interdisciplinary artist working in audiovisual composition, performance and installation, with an immersive research-led practice that takes the form of both short interventions and long-duration projects. She has worked with various performers, producing scores with open structures. Her work often calls for participation, with experiment-like scenarios that explore the complex relations of life-making, the interconnectedness of humans and their ecosystems, and how life is ultimately shaped by power and control. It also envisions possible forms of autonomy, resilience and regeneration.
Rodrigo B. Camacho (b. Funchal, 1990) trained as a classical pianist and composer. His practice has changed profoundly as the lines between theatre, dance and performance have blurred. Dramatic expression, the physicality of gestures and choreography are as important to him as sound itself and all his current works are interdisciplinary. He is particularly interested in language and communication, emergence and game theory, in the dichotomic relationships between structuralism and randomness, chaos and complexity, and in the intersection of these fields with sociology and critical studies. He believes conceptual rigour is as important as aesthetics and technical quality.
Find more about Landra here.
