Hello world!

Maria José Madeira, daughter of Manuel da Silva Noras and Joaquina Madeira, was born in a family in Póvoa da Isenta on November 28, 1928 and died on December 17, 2018. The life of Maria José Madeira, the nickname da Silva was added by her marriage to Vítor Duarte da Silva, was mainly devoted to agricultural work, taking care of her properties/farms as if “they were members of her family”. The “Madeiras” family was one of the founding families of the Village da Póvoa da Isenta, transmitting their properties from generation to generation.

The parents of Maria José, who called her Mari´Zé since she was a little girl and her brother António Noras, known by the nickname of Toin´oras, ended up with two properties/farms: one in the village, ” Foros da Pedreira”, from where the stone was extracted for the construction of several bridges in the area, where there was already a large olive grove with centuries-old olive trees; and the another, 5 km from the village, on the Tagus lezíria, where there was a large vineyard.

The family lived from the agricultural production of the two properties, where in the “Foros da Pedreira” they grew wheat, corn, beans, cereals and potatoes and from where they harvested olives to make olive oil; On the property of “Borda do Tejo”, very fertile land, flooded by the “floods of the Tagus” (River close to Santarem, Povoa da Isenta) , the grapes were harvested to make a high quality white wine.

The house where Mari ‘Zé grew up consisted of three divisions: the kitchen, where her mother cooked the “Mediterranean food” with almost all the ingredients produced on her properties; the “casa de fora”, a room for celebrating major family events; and the parents’ bedroom. Outside the house: the bread oven, the wine cellar, same land for the pigs and a mule’s barn. The mule barn, a stable where “Carriça” (the mule) spents the night, the mule was the workinghorse for this type of agriculture work, even at the beginning of the 20th century, Povoa da Isenta was not been absorbed by the revolution industrial.

For Mari’Zé, although she had her classmates with whom she played, Carriça was her playmate, when at the age of seven or eight she started helping her parents in the cultivation on the farms. Carriça”, despite being a large, very strong mule, capable of plowing the earth or pulling a trailer loaded with a vat (metal container for transport) of 200 kg of grapes, was very gentle and let himself be ridden by the little Mari´Zé taking her for a walk in her flowery fields. The Mule was strong and fearless.

However, one day, during the harvest of the “Borda do Tejo” vineyard, while pulling a cart loaded with a vat of grapes, a train with a loud rail squeel passed under the Ponte d`Asseca (bridge). The mule got scared and ran off the road and fell. As she fell, the trailer and the metal tub fell on her, causing deep injuries to her neck and front legs, leaving her seriously injured and unable to walk.

The veterinarian, called to the scene of the accident, advised Mari’zé’s father to have Carriça put in to sleep, he suspected that she could no longer work again, because she would certainly become limb and could not do any kind of chores.

Little Mari’Zé, at ages of ten years old, said: – Oh my father, you can’t do that to Carriça! Let’s take her home and heal her!

The father answered: – Even if she recovers from her injuries, why do you want an old lame mule who cannot work in our olive grove anymore?

– I would know how to take care of my Mule like my father taught me to treat the old olive trees in our olive grove! Treat them with great care, as if they were a member of our family:

cut dry branches, treat, feed and water them. So our olive trees will be more lively every year and give us a lot of olives – she exclaimed.

– Yes, but a mule is an animal. It’s not a tree. – argued the veterinarian. – It does not matter!

Whether it is a person, an animal, a plant or a tree, what we must do is treat it with all our affection! Don’t worry doctor, I’ll help my Mule heal and she’ll help me take care of my olive trees.

For many months Mari´zé kept her promise, she treated Carriça with great affection and slept every night in her stable, with her care and affection, Carriça recovered little by little, returning to work.

Years passed, the little girl became a woman and got married. Together with her husband, a mason who years later would build the village church Póvoa da Isenta, they built their house and Carriça transported all the materials and water needed to build the house.

With the death of her brother António Noras, she became the owner of the small supermarket and the village tavern, selling the vegetables and the wine that she produced herself. But it was working in her olive grove that gave her the greatest pleasure.

Her remarkable words were: “Here, in my olive grove, I feel good! Here my pains go away and I rejuvenate and bloom like a olive tree”. And so it was for many years. The olive trees gave fruit every season, picking plenty of olives from which high quality oil is produced every year. The quality of its oil was praised by the men who worked at the traditional olive oil press, exclaiming: Here is Mari´Zé who comes to bring the olives which are “exceptional” / the best in the region.

And Mari ‘zé answered: – Yes they are the best! But my trees, my olive trees are treated like my family!!!

Mari’Zé legacy is her greatest treasure to her family! It is up to us to honor it by caring for “Olival Mari’Zé” as a member of our family, and continue to produce the best olive oil.

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