Monte dos Bracialinhos

Monte dos Bracialinhos is a farmstead located in the Braciais area of Serpa, Portugal.

On a surface of 44 hectares, there are 13 ha of millenary and centenary olive groves, 8 ha of young olive groves, 5 ha of orange trees and fruit trees, 6 ha of holm oak woodland and the rest is dry land for annual crops.

This distribution is representative of the classic Alentejo farms, which produced everything necessary for the self-sufficiency of families.

The ancient olive grove consists of wild olive trees that sprouted spontaneously, without marking or order, grafted with more than fifteen varieties anarchically distributed.

This way of cultivating ensured that there were always some olive trees with fruit to be prepared for direct consumption. Pickled olives along with oil and cereals were the basis of the local diet.

The young olive grove is planted at a spacing of six by eight with Portuguese varieties and some Spanish ones, designed for mechanical harvesting.

The holm oak area and dry land are also used for grazing.

In 2021, the process began to declare the olive grove area as organic farming.