The Crew
Life at Over the Edge
So who are these people who have stepped off the edge of the world to live here? Nayana and Dado are the original pioneers, but we have had many lovely people help us over the years, some come for a month, some come for a year, and some never leave. Some come and go. We work hard, there’s always something to do on the farm, but we love our work and we take every day as it comes. The root of it all is learning about ourselves, taking responsibility for our own lives and sharing love and laughter. It’s a Zorba the Buddha Lifestyle, living this embodied experience totally, but with awareness. A little about current residents below.
Nayana
Nayana is a lifelong meditator and horses have been some of her wisest teachers. She has had the great good fortune of spending most of her life in their company getting to know what they need to thrive. She is also an aromatherapist and herbalist, and her day job is teaching people how to support animals holistically. She dreamed of having a horse farm for years, a place she could live intimately with the horses and share her love and knowledge with others who came to stay. She could not have realized this dream without Dado.
Dado
Dado and Nayana first met on horseback on a cattle drive in Rancho Rajneesh, Oregon, USA. A few months later Nayana found herself on the way to New Mexico, where Dado had taken the horses when the ranch in Oregon folded. She went for a weekend, and never left. Since then they have had many adventures together all around the world, until they embarked on their biggest one ever here in Portugal. Dado’s creative ingenuity has built this place from a piece of land with nothing but a well on it, to a thriving ecological home for everyone. He’s also a great cook and entertaining story teller who keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously.
Teddy and Matteo
Teddy and Matteo came to volunteer for a couple of months, That was in 2022! They knew nothing about horses or distillation when they arrived but dived right in and discovered that this is the life they’d been dreaming of! And we found we didn’t want to live without them, so here they still are.
Teddy takes care of all the living spaces for residents and guests, she may well be the first person you talk to when you make enquiries. She is also our still master and product manager, making our lovely soaps and other fragrant goodies.
Matteo has become a skilled horse person, with a soft touch that the horses (and dogs) love. He helps with all the farm work, building, distilling, cooking, animal care…. in other words he is always busy with farm life, turning his hand to whatever is needed. He is also our social media maestro
The Animals
A safe home for all
The animals are very much part of the crew, the horses have their own page, but the cats and dogs are deserve a mention too. All of the animals who live with us here (9 horses, 3 cats, 2 dogs) needed refuge. Some were more traditional ‘rescue’ animals, abandoned or in danger. Others were placed into our care as the best option to give them a safe and happy life when circumstances were difficult for them. We are committed to the lifelong wellbeing of every single one of them. Cats, dogs, horses they are loved and respected for the unique individual that they are and bring us joy every day.
“I teach a great meeting: the meeting of Zorba and Buddha. I teach Zorba The Buddha – a new synthesis. The meeting of the earth and the sky, the meeting of the visible and the invisible, the meeting of all the polarities – of man and woman, of day and night, of summer and winter, of sex and samadhi. Only in that meeting will a new man arrive on the earth.” Osho