Volunteering & Community

That co-creation can take many forms. I’m always looking for volunteers interested in shorter stays. I will do all I can to help you develop skills that matter to you, and offer a taste of what a life in conscious connection to people and planet feels like. Key current areas of activity include:

• Building passive-functioning homes made of stone and earth
• Growing a food forest and raising chickens and ducks for eggs
• Reforesting the local area while managing against wildfires.
• Hosting seasonal fundraising events to help finance project development.

I also want to offer a long-term haven for those that don’t have the means for their own land, but do have the dream to live in conscious connection with nature and each other. I want to create a thriving home for several families, where we can live and prosper together. After some time integrating, we could build a dwelling for you, and look after the land together.

S‌ome of the ways in which you'll find us passing time include: 

• Campfires, outdoor cinema, live music;
• Space for meditation, tai chi or yoga practice - I’ve taught yoga and thai massage across the world, and you’re welcome to book a massage with me;
• Lounging in the river on my land, or at one of three river beaches within a 5km distance;
• Join the festivities at one of many local traditional portuguese festas;
• Visit my friends Barry and his menagerie of animals or Sarah and Cedric for Pizza Night.
• Take a trip to the local farmers market in Castelo Branco;
• A day trip to the Garduhna and Estrella mountain ranges an hour north, or the historic village of Monsanto and the Spanish border a little further.

 This vision is constantly evolving and I invite people who resonate with these words to co-create with me as they integrate into the community. 

I have spent some time talking to elders of other successful communities. Their advice on starting a community is to begin by spending a decent amount of quality time together, to see how living, learning, and working with the land feels together, across the seasonal rhythms of off-grid life.

If it feels right, we can explore what becoming a long-term resident would look like. I envisage the community as a whole funding and building a home for you, through organising an event where we teach people the skills to build with earth or stone as we go.

What we are doing varies week to week, month to month, season to season but we can say that the help needed will always involve looking after animals, gardening, social media and marketing and keeping the Tao Valley clean and tidy.

Special learning opportunities include language exchange, eco-building, permaculture, animal husbandry, project management, cooking, and hospitality (when we are hosting an event). Also, if you are a body worker like me (Thai massage), treatment exchanges would be most welcome.

We ask people to work for three hours a day here, instead of the usual five hours, to reflect the fact that we share food costs. These are small - usually around 20-30 euros a week each and accommodation is included as part of this exchange.

For more information about being at Tao Valley including accommodation, children, pets, weather and what to bring please see our Visit Us  page.

Living so closely with nature, experience has taught me that life works best when we shift the course of our days with the seasons. For example, an earlier start to beat the heat in summer, compared to a slower beginning in the winter. I have also found that leaning into a co-created routine helps us to work harmoniously and spend as much time carefree as possible - though the structure flexes to meet people’s needs, and we create space for people to express those needs.  Here is a rough guide to a typical day in September last year:

0600-0800 Morning meditation &  tai chi (optional)

0800-0830 Breakfast

0830-0900 Sharing circle, team orientation, and daily tasks

0900-1200/1400 Help

1200-1400 Free time for those helping for three hours

1400-1500 Lunch 

1500 onwards: Whatever! We usually share breakfast and lunch. Dinner is optional. River swimming and relaxation. Getting lost in nature. Sometimes people choose to carry on with a project they’re enjoying - that’s welcome but not at all expected of course. Just like being at home, cooking breakfast and dinner plus doing the dishes and cleaning are not included in the hours of help but are rotated tasks equally divided among everyone here.