New Year ahead...

You might have heard the news by now that we have just signed the contract to rent this amazing Farm up on a hill here in Ibiza. All 6 of us will share the house together, and we move in on 1st of January. Talk about a New Year!!!

When i look back, i am amazed at the speed things have moved. When we arrived home from our adventures in the UK on November 2nd, we got down to some serious thinking, praying and talking about the real possibility of living together. I took to the idea of sharing a larger place straight away, as i get on very well with the others and i think i'd add alot of colour to community life - especially in the kitchen! The thought of a large community farm excites me. I cannot wait to work the land, grow fruit and vegetables; keep chickens and other animals.

Early on too, we all felt that this farm wasn't going to be just for us, but that it'd be a place to host and look after some of the people that we come across during the crazy summers. By this i mean people who come here to work and get burnt out or hurt along the way and need some space and time to heal and relax. I hope our farm will be that kind of place.

As with any change, i have both hopes and fears. It's a new chapter for all of us, and i know that life will totally change for all of us. Soon, the dreaming will be over, and the day-to-day living will begin, with both ups and downs. But i don't want to be negative or pessimistic - far from it.

Best of all for me is the large kitchen. I think the kitchen is THE most important part of any house. It's funny, as the house i live in at the moment has the smallest kitchen you'd ever see. You can't even swing an ant - let along a cat. With both Helen and i in the kitchen it feels like you're waltzing together just to get to the fridge. But our farm kitchen has...wait for it - a Bread Oven! Awesome! And a fire place in the corner, with a separate pantry area. We'll have a huge long table and get a few pews for us to sit on i think. I can already picture the meals we'll all be having together in that kitchen!

Fancy coming round for some food?

Weeds!!!

Spent 2 hours digging up weeds today at Solveig's farm. It might seem mundane work, but it's great to be outside in the lovely Winter sun! She is giving Helen and i many tips when it comes to growing vegetables or looking after chickens - seems strange, but i know that all this will come in handy down the line. We then had an hour and a half of Spanish, and I'm trying to get to grips with Spanish verbs and their endings. It's tough, but good to be stretched like this.

Community House

It's been a very exciting week so far, with some new developments unfolding at quite an incredible rate. Since the end of the summer, the 6 of us who live and work here for 24-7 Ibiza have been speaking about living together, with the possibility of owning or renting a large house somewhere in the country side being dreamt about.

For me, the desire to live in one place has slowly grown over the last few months, with the shared meals, the hanging out at The Heasleys place, and the general sense of togetherness and unity. Not that i've been unhappy with where i live at present, but just that the idea of community excites me and the thought of being all together and living and eating in one place is something that i'd love to try.

We've spent a decent amount of time giving this thought and prayer, and talking about how it would look, and for me it feels a good next step in our adventure. One thing you need to know is that the 'countryside' here in Ibiza is not that far from where we work, or the airport, or the capital. Ibiza being the size that it is means that wherever you live, you're not that far from civilisation.

We all would love this place to be a place of retreat too, and not just for us, but also for people that we meet in the summer who seem like they need some space and time to get away from the craziness of life.

I'll keep you posted with how this chapter unfolds.

Ibicencan Finca

Over the last few months i have had the privilege to be a part of a small community that live and work here on this beautiful Island. Some of these guys have been living here for nearly 4 years now. Some people have come and gone, and lots of great work has been done and strong foundations laid. At one point, there were 9 or so people part of the community here. But However, the desire to share not only the work of 24-7 Ibiza but actually a house, has grown day by day. It seems the journey is becoming increasingly shared, and we have been talking and thinking of all living together for some time.

We've been dreaming. Actually, before i set foot on this Island, alot of people have been dreaming.

Farming and Spanish

2nd lesson in Spanish today at Solveig's farm. She spent nearly 2 hours on verbs, irregular and regular. It's been so long since I've learnt another language, and, although i am enjoying the challenge, I'm also finding it a tad tricky. But i know I'll cope, and i have the time to really learn and to take some massive steps forward this winter. It's the perfect time.

I feel I'm also being given a lesson in learning how to live off of the land. Solvieg's farm is so self-sufficient. The only electricity she has comes from solar panels on her roof. She grows practically all her own fruit and veg. We were set to weeding her vegetable rows today in the glorious sunshine. It's very hard for anything to be a chore in such beautiful surroundings with the sun shining on you.

So i'm learning. And I'm loving learning all these new things!

I'll post again with more news soon.

24-7 Ibiza Video

Hi there guys. Here's something that our friend Matt Carvosso put together for us. He came and spent a week here in August, recording the action in the West End and interviewing Brian. I hope it gives you some insight into our work here in Ibiza.

Learning Spanish

Today Helen and i went to have a Spanish lesson at Solvieg's Country house in the North of the Island. Her place is near a village called Santa Agnes. We met her at the Anglican retreat last Saturday and she very kindly offered us both a lesson in Spanish in return for a little help around her house.

We drove there today, with the suspension nearly breaking from the dodgy roads, but we made it. She lives in such a remote part of the Island, but yet with Ibiza being so small, it's not too far from the town of San Antonio. I have totally hit the ground running in this lesson, and for most of the hour she got me speaking Spanish, and it is what i need.

After our lesson in her gorgeous kitchen, she showed us around the grounds of her place, giving us an idea of how we'll help her. I was gob-smacked! It is THE most gorgeous place i have ever seen...imagine a beautiful white-washed farm house, nestled between gorgeous rolling hills on one side and country-side on the other. She keeps hens (there were 9 little chicks in a box in her kitchen!), goats, and one lively dog, has numerous olive, almond and orange trees, and is also a bee-keeper, looking after 9 'houses' that the bees live in. Her house runs completely on Solar energy, and she has this outside Bread oven. That blew me away - how great would that be?! She grows every vegetable you can imagine, and our jobs will vary from repairing walls, to weeding her garden and maybe even painting her house. I'm really going to look forward to this each and every week. I think I'll enjoy much more the work side of this deal then the Spanish teaching, however, the chance to get to know Solveig and her family a little better it by far the best part.