top of page
Search

Fundraising Updates + Winter Celebrations

Writer's picture: Hari Hari

Fundraising update

Since we completed the sale agreement for the land in June 2024 and made a partial payment, the next deadline to pay the remainder was mid December 2024.

We had a target of €65k and are happy to announce that we raised €45k and we were given an extension until April 2025 to pay the remaining €25k to the previous owners.

Part of the funds were raised as a loan from a social investor in Finland who works with ecovillages and wants to support the movement. We are very happy for this support, and feel grateful that there are such investors in the world. I started this project with trust that we could attract such investors and it gives me faith in society to have made these connections.

Such loans helps us pay for the land and gives us the security of ownership, while also giving us more time to attract resident members. When these new members join and invest into the project, those funds will be used to pay back the loans.


Mike Trial and new yurts

The other part of the money we raised by December 2024 was from Mike, who has been staying here as a trial period since July 2024.

Mike has been doing some great work building various improvements to our facilities and is inspired to experiment with different 'eco-tech' such as different compost toilet designs, rocket stoves, charcoal kilns, pottery and more.

In the Summer we bought two more yurts - one 5m diameter yurt to offer as accommodation, and one 9m yurt to build up as a bigger event space. The pieces for the 9m yurt were big and heavy and we thankfully has help from our neighbours who run a campsite on the other side of the closest village

To continue his trial period, we offered Mike the 5m yurt to stay in over the Winter, if he helped build it up. It came with a platform, the same as the Red yurt, and so was similar to set up. We cleared a new area on the same terrace as the yellow yurt and Mike build an awning over the door and windows.



Winter Events

By Mid December, Mike was settled in his yurt and we had made the land payment progress - now we could celebrate and settle into the slower Winter pace.

We went to a Winter market at another Ecovillage project close by, Cabrum. It was a lovely event, with a cosy market selling many artisanal goods, tasty cakes and yummy lunch made in their community kitchen. There was a Mushroom foraging walk, where I learned a lot, and was inspired to see all the different mushroom products on sale.

It was also inspiring to see the progress of the ecovillage since I visited a few years before, and to check out some of the natural build homes and facilities.


Closer to Christmas was a local community meal in our closest village Caldas Da Felgueira. It was nice to connect with out neighbours and meet more of the local people at a typical Portuguese Christmas meal, including grilled cod fish and many desserts.



Winter Solstice Celebration

Our peak celebration was a Winter Solstice event that we hosted at our place with many local friends. We had a 'bring a dish' lunch in the community kitchen, followed by craft workshops for children and adults that we offered in the warm sunshine, then an evening Winter Solstice ceremony and singing circle in the community yurt.

We created this event as an alternative to the typical Christmas celebrations which we feel are too religious or consumerist for our taste, rather preferring a more pagan, community celebration in tune with the yearly cycle.



For the crafts: Catia had clay candle holders that could be painted, Julia had various natural objects to be made into hanging mobiles, Mike had some frames for weaving mats from reeds, and Hari was guiding basket weaving from Willow and Olive branches.

It was lovely to be together on the land, with such a sunny Winter day and some gentle activities that everyone could get interested in.



As the shortest day of the year was ending, with the sun going down, we all gathered in the Yellow community yurt for a Winter Solstice ceremony, led by Debra. We all took some time to write down something that we want to let go of and something that we want to call in. Debra invited us to then place the things we want to let go of into a 'yule log' that we would then burn in the fire as a Solstice ritual.

We were then led into a singing circle by our Friends Miia and Kat, with ceremonial cacao being served and a ritual to welcome in the heart-opening energy of cacao. It was by far the biggest group we have made in the Yellow yurt, with around 40 people, so was a cosy, vibrant circle, with the children joining in.

Soon after, some families moved to the fire where there was bread dough ready to make stick bread over the fire. After more singing, we closed the ceremony circle and took the Yule log to be burned in the fire, finishing with some cake around the fire.



We really appreciated having such a lovely celebration with such a group of friends and I felt it was a fitting end of the year, with much to celebrate. It was also a beautiful start of Winter, to welcome a period of reflection, hibernation and looking ahead to plans and intentions for the coming year.

21 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


© 2023 by Nature Org. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page