We’re Transforming an Abandoned Land in Spain into a Homestead (One Step at a Time)

Reading time: 6 minutes

Step by step, we are transforming an abandoned piece of land we bought in Spain into a homestead.

And in this article, I will share some of the progress made in the last few weeks of work on our Spanish farm.

Exploring the Land

The farm is located between two mountains. On the highest part, I saw a structure through binoculars that I don’t know exactly what it is.

In the project overview article, I cover the farm landscape in more detail.

Exploring the higher part of the land will be really cool, because I imagine the views from up there must be really beautiful.

Wow! I had an idea that the views were beautiful, but I never imagined they would be this incredible.

Now is time to go back and start work, because there is to many projects to be done.

Expanding an IBC Platform

One of the projects that I have been dedicating most of my time to since I bought the farm is building the off-grid water system from scratch.

Since the land is made up of terraces of different heights, I am taking advantage of the landscape to use gravity to pressure the water.

I have built several IBC platforms like the one I am expanding.

The process is very simple.

First I level the ground, then I place concrete blocks that will be the base of the platform.

I use the concrete blocks so that the wood of the cage pallet does not come into contact with the ground, so it lasts longer.

Repairing the Cage

For the homestead’s off-grid water system, I’m using IBC totes, as they are cheap and available in many places in Spain.

This is the IBC tote that I will use to expand this platform. I bought it from my dear neighbor David.

The wooden pallet of this cage is a little damaged because of the termites.

When the wood comes into contact with the ground, the termites devour everything. That is why I use concrete blocks.

Now that the cage is repaired, I’m going to put it on the platform.

The next step in this project will be to wash and wrap the IBC tote. But this will be done in a couple of weeks.

The Fruit Trees

The plan is to turn this abandoned land into a homestead and make this place our off-grid home.

Thinking about self-sustainability, I am starting to do some tests, planting several fruit seeds.

I started by planting citrus fruits. In the tray we have lemon, tangerine and orange plants.

Building the Outdoor Shower

Now that I’m spending more time on the homestead, and with summer coming, I needed an outdoor shower.

For this project I’m going to reuse an outdoor shower that’s not being used in the apartment.

Rustic Look

I’m going to use a pine tree as a post, so the outdoor shower will be functional, but with a rustic look.

This shower looks really cool.

Taking a shower at the farm during the summer days will be nice.

Unloading the Roof Sheets

The IBC platforms I’m building will have multi-purpose.

In addition to storing water, they will also be used to collect rainwater.

Fiber-Cement

Just to be clear, these roof sheets are not made of asbestos. They are made of fiber-cement.

This material is not ideal, but since it was very cheap, I think it will be fine for collect rainwater.

I’m going to use these roof sheets as rainwater collection roofs for the IBC platforms.

When the off-grid water system is complete, each of the IBC platforms will not only store water, but also collect rainwater.

Repairing the Generator

To continue with the water platform project, I need to wash some dirty IBC totes.

The problem is that since we are off-grid, we don’t have electricity on the farm.

We have a gasoline generator that isn’t working.

The plan is to disassemble the fuel line, tank and carburetor. Clean everything and put it back together.

Once everything is clean, I’ll put everything back together and start it up to see if the generator will work.

I am very pleased that the generator is working.

Transforming an Abandoned Land into a Homestead

Since this article is just a preview of what happened in this episode, I recorded a video where I show everything in more detail.

Watch the video:

In the video above, you will see the challenges and achievements of this journey of transforming this abandoned land into a homestead, one step at a time.

Learn more about us here 🙂

Conclusion

In this article, you followed part of our journey, where we explored the land, expanded an IBC platform, built an outdoor shower, delivered some roof sheets, and fixed a broken gasoline generator.

Considering I’m doing most of the work myself, I think there’s been some progress on this restoration project.

That’s it for this article. Did you like it?

Leave your comment or suggestion below. I love responding to all comments and I always do it personally.

Talk to you soon 🙂

P.S. If you would like to help us build our dream home, you can do it here. Or if you would like to help us continue recording videos, you can do it here. Either way, your support is very much appreciated.