We spent one month volunteering at Finca Sagrada, a farm working with biodynamics, in a sacred valley close to Vilcabamba, south of Ecuador. This has been the most incredible experience I could dream of.
There are several reasons why we chose this project: it addresses all the criteria we were chasing:

• Working in biodynamics
• Living in community
• Embrace and support the local communities of native indigenous people
• Cultivating consciousness and spirituality

... the list could go on, Finca Sagrada offers it all and far beyond. This is not a dream, it is true, and it is real bliss.

More than a practical experience in the field of biodynamics, Finca Sagrada and its people offered us a spiritual journey in the world of the natural forces.

This article drives you through our experience. Here are the pieces of wisdom we want to share with you:

• Susan's tools to lead great meetings and to reveal your destiny path of joy
• Walter's classes on biodynamics farming
• The gentle bliss of gardening the sacred land with Jose, the most loving and spiritual farmer we ever met
• The treasures brought by community through the fun, conscious and deep level of affinities we built with our hosts and the other volunteers
• The Spirit house story and the actions of the Kogis

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Hereunder are some beautiful pictures from our dear friend Trace.
Trace is an awesome artist and a remarkable person. He invites us to contemplate the beauty and the divine that surrounds us, here and now.

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We kindly invite you to visit his space of arts, love, gratitude and compassion: "Leaf no Trace" (https://www.leafnotrace.space/).
As stated on his web space: "Chosen content will be available digitally for free and others will be available in a highly sustainable high quality print for just the cost of production and shipping."
We fully support him and wish him the best; may you also be touched by his shining love.

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We spent two weeks near Fortaleza to volunteer at the Sítio São Pedro, a project of autonomy on a beautiful 70-hectare land of hills and forests. As reviewed on WorkAway:
We had a wonderful experience with Wilton and his family, near Fortaleza. So o filé!
Wilton is a man of many talents, values and convictions. Accomplished artist with great songs and beautiful projects of land art; active environmental protector and social militant: in the countryside and in the city, he cares about his trees and the people; autonomy and transition to a greater sense of community are the paths he prepares for his family, friends, volunteers and perhaps all who want to smile at the thought of tomorrow.
Our experience on the site was intense, very instructive and highly rewarding. we had the unique opportunity to be autonomous custodians of the site and it was great! we totally recommend it to those who want to have clean hands in the soil, clear eyes in the forest and blessed hearts under the stars.
Health, peace, joy, love and happiness and thank you for this beautiful inspiration: you definitely influence our lives. We look forward to welcoming you soon into our own earthly paradise...
This article shares more information about Wilton and his family, about the Sítio São Pedro and what we did there as volunteers. Finally, we also propose a detailed review of the project from a permaculture perspective and humbly suggest ideas and further developments.
Enjoy your read. Feel free to comment, ask questions, suggest improvements: we are always very happy to hear from you 😉 Last, we mention many techniques and solutions, feel free to request more information about them, we might consider issuing a DIY tutorial.

On the 30th of June, we visited  Grandpa Urban Farm in the heart of Bangkok.
What solutions are available for urbanites? How can people in the heart of big metropoles like Bangkok acquire more autonomy and resilience?
Grandpa Urban Farm bring some relevant answers to those questions and issues!
The goal of this article is to share a bit about the history, the vision and the solutions that we saw at Grandpa Urban Farm.

As stated on the Auroville website: “Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities.
The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity.”
The purpose of this article is to share some of our impressions, stories and thoughts after our short-term stay in the City of Dawn.

I tend to write (too) long articles. This abstract gives you an overview of the content and the key messages from this blog post. Feel free to read the complete post 😊
In this article we describe Auroville both as Auroville describes itself as well as how we discovered it. The main lesson is that there is the theory, the words on the paper, and there are the facts, what we really experienced. Auroville is a concept in action, it is a living project, which is not achieved, and which is evolving. Some of the objectives are met, others are far from being met.
This article is not a cold critic of Auroville, it is our personal examination of what the town aims to be, what it has achieved, which challenges it is going through. We detail our observations regarding the town’s structure and architecture, the relation to money, the relation to spirituality, and much more. We acknowledge that Auroville is a creation of people. From the initiators, the charismatic Mother and Sri Aurobindo, to the current heroes of the multiple projects in Auroville, everyone brings its stone to the edifice.
Finally, Auroville is about spirituality, and one thing we cannot deny is that the city is full of vibrant energy, from the Matrimandir to the gardens, the streets, the projects’ sites, the hearts of the people… Many come to Auroville for a unique spiritual experience, all will find it!

Le Centre Songhai a été fondé il y a plus de 40 ans par le Père Nzamujo. Avant de fonder le Centre, le père Nzamujo enseignait l’ingénierie électronique dans une université californienne. A son arrivée au Bénin, il commence par travailler dans une logique de réutilisation et applique des modes de fonctionnement en cascade où les déchets d’un processus sont les matières premières d’un ou plusieurs autres processus. Ainsi, il commence par élever des cailles pour en vendre les œufs et la viande ; de ses cailles, il récupère les fientes pour élever des asticots ; les asticots nourriront des poissons et permettent de lancer l’activité de pisciculture. Les fientes des cailles et des poissons permettront également de cultiver des légumes, qui permettront d’alimenter les animaux, etc. Cercle vertueux !
Le Centre Songhai est aujourd’hui présent sur plusieurs sites au Bénin et au Nigéria. Au Bénin, les trois sites Songhai couvrent respectivement 300 hectares, 240 hectares et 30 hectares. Le 03/01/2018, nous avons visité le centre de Porto-Novo et ses 30 hectares. Ce qui frappe d’entrée est la grandeur du site, le nombre de bâtiments, le nombre de personnes sur le site, l’organisation des espaces, la propreté des lieux. Pour ces 30 hectares, ce ne sont pas moins de 80 permanents et plus de cent élèves et/ou stagiaires qui font vivre le Centre. En s’y baladant, lorsque nous tendons l’oreille nous entendons différentes langues : les gens affluent de toute la région et plus encore (e.g. Europe) : Bénin, Nigéria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Guinée, … la liste est longue. Si vous allez sur leur site et/ou vous documentez vous constaterez que de nombreux chefs d’états et/ou officiels de la région y sont allés et ont désigné l’initiative comme vecteur de développement à suivre.
Cet article a pour objectif de présenter les différents éléments, techniques et réalisations que nous avons pu constater lors de nos deux heures de visite du Centre Songhai (ici, le Centre).