How She Created an Off-Grid Garden on Abandoned Land
Eugenia Diaz is a designer and artist who built the tiny house of her dreams. Thanks to her unique vision, Eugenia now lives an entirely self-sufficient lifestyle, making the most of her countryside home and off-grid garden.
In 2019, Eugenia decided to leave her job in the city and move into a camper van in order to spend more time out in nature. Then, at the end of 2020, she moved again—this time to a small village in the mountains of Portugal.
Watch her amazing story in the video below:
After selecting a plot of abandoned land, Eugenia immediately began clearing out the bushes and dry branches that had accumulated there over time. To live a truly self-sufficient life, growing her own food became Eugenia’s top priority, so she quickly began constructing an off-the-grid vegetable garden of her own.
First, she built four raised beds for her off-grid garden. Then, she added topsoil to each of them in order to replenish the nutrients that had been lost in the dry clay soil that was already there.
Next, she covered the remaining land with stone and pavers to retain as much water as possible, since she had neither running water nor electricity. After that, she planted a variety of organic heirloom seeds and built a trench that she filled with hay so that she could grow potatoes.
Over the next few months, she watched her off-grid garden begin to really take off, and she turned her sights toward building a tiny house as well.
Off-grid garden
Fast forward to today and Eugenia’s off-grid alternative home and garden are both flourishing. She now has an off-grid garden watering system that works very well. And she has continued to add to her off-grid garden by planting local seeds and trees along her property.
For more off-grid stories, discover this off-grid tiny house on wheels and Earthship home in Australia.
To see more videos, check out the Eugenia Diaz YouTube channel.
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Did you check to see if it was truly abandoned with the local authorities or the owner by title search? There are legalities in play to protect homeowners from someone co-opting their property because someone "thinks' it's abandoned. You better do your due diligence now before you get into a legal tug of war.
Love it, you have done so much. It is an inspiration to me and other. I started my own herb garden but kind of late since I’m 80 years old. I’m am able to use and give to other. I save my herbs with sea salt. Thank you.
Her property? How did that happen?! A government land grant??? Garden today, evicted tomorrow. There goes your future food supply. How stupid is this?! To appeal to young adventurous people to go be bums?! It’s irresponsible!
Research the land requirements and restrictions Buy the land, establish utilities, start building your homestead. She should stick to container gardening; that is a throw it in your van option if you are forced to relocate! 🤯