The Landscape Farm

The Landscape Farm is a small family farm in Comeiras de Baixo, a hamlet in the parish of São Vicente do Paúl, north of the city of Santarém. It lies in the Bairro Ribatejano, the rolling clay and limestone country on the right bank of the Tagus, long known for olive groves, vineyards, bread and vegetable gardens. The owner, landscape architect Jorge Cancela, works about 20 hectares around his grandparents' house and calls his approach landscape agriculture: each crop is grown where the land suits it.

The farm sells more than 50 seasonal products, all certified organic. Its extra virgin olive oil comes from traditional rain-fed groves with centuries-old trees of the local Galega and Lentrisca varieties, picked by hand and extracted at low temperature. The honey is multifloral, mostly from wild plants, and is made in traditional cork hives, where the bees build their combs freely. Surplus produce is turned into jams, chutneys, pestos, sun-dried tomatoes and pies, and bread is baked in an oven fired with olive wood. Dried figs, chickpeas, grass peas and wild oregano complete the range.

No synthetic chemicals are used. The vegetable plots in the valleys are fertilised with manure from the farm's own horses and donkeys, which also graze under the olive trees, while sheep keep the weeds down and hens eat the leftovers from the garden. The soil is fed without being tilled and plastic is limited to a few tunnels and small greenhouses. The European Union's CAP Network lists the farm as a good-practice project: 20 hectares of abandoned fields were brought back into production as agroforestry and regenerative farming, and unsold vegetables go to compost or animal feed, so nothing is wasted.

Products are sold at the farm shop in the village, by order through the farm's website and in weekly organic baskets delivered in the Ribatejo and Greater Lisbon. Visitors can book a day on the farm, joining whatever work is in season, such as the olive harvest, planting in the garden, blackberry picking or taking honey from the hives, followed by a lunch cooked with the farm's produce. Groups are small, with a maximum of twelve people. The farm also offers olive oil tastings and organises occasional workshops under the name Escola do Campo. Comeiras de Baixo is reached by road from Santarém; arrange your visit in advance.