Amieiras: Providing Affordable Resilience Infrastructure

Our region gets over 700 mm of rain a year, but across compacted slopes, every drop races downhill before it can sink in. Flooding downstream. Soil gone. Springs dry by June. This isn't drought — it's a water management failure. And we have the machines and the know-how to fix it.

Amieiras is a land-based crew with 140 Ha at the top of the headwaters. We run heavy equipment, read contours, and build water retention into the landscape. Swales along contour. Check dams in drainage lines. Roadwork built so every ditch holds water instead of shedding it. Affordable, resilient infrastructure that works with the land, not against it.

This region is thick with rock roses, lavender, and rosemary — aromatic plants that produce precious essential oils. No one processes them locally. We want to change that: install a publicly accessible distillery, powered entirely by renewable energy, where any steward in the region can bring their harvest and turn wild plants into income. It transforms scrubland into a livelihood.

We don't draw plans and walk away. We make the earth move and we stay to see the results.

What we'll do, over 18 months:

• Deploy our earthwork crew across headwater properties — reading contours, cutting swales, building check dams, and integrating water retention into road and track infrastructure where neighbors need it
• Offer the neighborhood fund — a 25%-75% discount program for land stewards who want interventions on their land but face financial barriers; priority to the highest points of the watershed and properties with the highest water retention needs
• Provide equipment, tools, and fuel for each intervention — compact machinery, hand tools, and the fuel needed for earthwork on steep slopes
• Install Amieiras Distillery — a publicly accessible essential oil distillery powered entirely by renewable energy. Any steward in the region can bring their harvest of rock roses, lavender, rosemary, and other aromatic plants to be processed. A new source of land-based income for everyone.
• Finish and maintain retention structures so they're functional, durable, and holding water through the dry season

In two years, the properties we work on will hold more water than they release. Springs downstream will flow longer into summer. The Amieiras Distillery will be running, and neighbors who once saw scrubland as waste will see it as income. This is landcare with machines — infrastructure that heals the ground and feeds the people who live on it.

Funding Goals (all values in €)

• First €5,000 — Neighborhood fund subsidies and advertising the discount program
• Next €8,000 — Amieiras Distillery setup (copper still, renewable energy, processing shelter)
• Next €15,000 — Earthwork interventions on headwater properties (equipment, tools, fuel, crew time)
• All above €28,000 — More interventions, more distillery capacity, second round of subsidies

Budget

Neighborhood Fund (Discount Program)

• Advertising the discount program to land stewards — €1,500
• Subsidized discounts applied (25%-75% based on need) — ~€3,500

Interventions on Our Land

• Equipment rental and transport — €4,000
• Hand tools, surveying materials, marker stakes — €1,500
• Fuel for earthwork machinery — €3,000
• Crew labor (skilled operators for swales, check dams, roadwork-as-water-retention) — €6,000

Amieiras Essential Oil Distillery

• Copper still, condenser, and separator — €3,000
• Renewable energy setup (mirrors, solar panels, battery storage) — €2,500
• Processing shelter and workspace — €1,500
• Harvest collection tools — €1,000

Additional Interventions (if funded beyond €28,000)

• Extended earthwork across more headwater properties — ~€7,000
• Second round of neighborhood fund subsidies — ~€5,000
• Expanded distillery capacity of different sizes for parallel operation — ~€3,000