Timeline — our story in pictures

Our blue bananas are almost ripe! 🍌💙 (Musa acuminata 'Blue Java').

Our green sapote (Pouteria viridis).

Ready to be eaten green sapote (Pouteria viridis).

… more to come

Early harvest of our Matsunaga mulberry.

Winter propagation of Inga species (ice cream bean trees).

Milan pressing sugar cane manually.

Pruning workshop (April Food Tree Academy).

Irrigation techniques workshop (April Food Tree Academy).

Our farewell party ending the One-week Food Tree Academy course.

Creating a new large and convenient parking area for our visitors.

We’re now even more ready to welcome our visitors.

Huge harvest of Eugenia uniflora (Pitanga).

The beauty of our edible lotus flower (Nelumbo nucifera).

Gin berry fruit (Glycosmis pentaphylla).

Our Augmentorium (a special compost bin to get rid of the Mediterannean flies).

Harvesting Coffea arabica cherries

Day workshop (Fruit treasure hunt) with Nobel International School

More and more workshops with big groups of kids.

Early harvest of Litchi

Our canistel (Pouteria campechiana)

One of our beds, just 1 year after planting

Harvesting the Goumi fruit (Elaeagnus umbellata).

Brian Ottway, our botanist joining our team.

Receiving rare food trees for next planting season.

Workshops with Homeschooled kids.

Visit of Campus du Végétal Horticulture school (Brive-la-Gaillarde, France).

Pruning demonstration with Dror AVITAL during a Food Tree Care Workshop.

Biological control, introducing beneficial insects.

Attending the Garden Fair in Silves.

Collecting new rare food trees for the next years, in this case, Pradosia lactescens.

Providing a Fruit Tasting for our visitors.

Food tree workshop for homeschooled kids.

Hylocereus undatus fruit (dragon fruit), almost ready to harvest.

Picking a mango off one of our trees.

Solanum betaceum or tamarillo fruit, ready to pick.

Citrus maxima or pomelo fruit.

One day Workshop with local French speaking scouts, la Meute des Curieux.

Installing our first Augmentorium (a special tool to help in controlling the Mediterranean flies).

Volunteers pot luck lunch every Wednesday.

Workshop with Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo de Vila Real de Santo António (Grow Life project).

Chrysophyllum imperiale, also known as the Emperor Tree or Royal Tree—a majestic, endangered species native to Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.

Mulberry season is back!

Our Monstera deliciosa fruiting after 2 years.

The strange but delicious Akebia quinata fruit.

It’s harvest time for our coffea arabica.

One more guided tour, here with the Vale da Lama team.

The beautiful fruit of Debregeasia edulis or Yanagi ichigo.

Our Wish Tree is a success with our young visitors.

First harvest of our 3-year-old Jambolan (Syzygium cumini).

Milan and Clare holding a freshly harvested banana bunch.

The new complete map of the botanical garden.

Planting the Orchard’s last square meters on raised bed and in style!

Preparing bilingual information sheets, in Portuguese and English.

Milan with Steve Orange, our Australian intern, preparing a bed dedicated to Jaboticaba and eugenia trees. Lots of Eugenia uniflora — pitanga or Surinam cherry.