A project like this is a lot for just two people to take on, so we are very grateful to all those who have assisted us so far. We have a long way still to go, so your help would still be much appreciated. There are lots of ways that you can help ….
Spend time with us as a Volunteer
We accept volunteers from all over the world who spend time working with us in exchange for meals and basic accommodation. If you’ve a real interest in permaculture and sustainability we would love to hear from you, or even if you’ve never done anything like this before and want to have a go! See the volunteer section of our website for lots more information.
From time to time we also have specific volunteer work party days where we work on specific projects, share a meal and enjoy some company and conversation. Keep an eye on our blog for future dates.
Participate in a Course or Workshop, or our Practical Self-Reliance programme
All year round we run our signature course, Practical Self-Reliance: A 4-week Immersion Experience. And during the summer months we run other courses and workshops here at the farm. We’ve been hosting Permaculture Design Courses here at Casalinho since 2012, and plan to continue to do so.
Investigate what we’re offering right now here.
Donate to our project
– Monetary donations
Despite reusing and recycling everything we can, a project like this still takes money. Sadly, we’ve found that it doesn’t grow on trees! But you can buy a tree for us, and we’ll plant it for you. We have already planted many productive trees at Casalinho but have plans to plant many more. With your help we can do so sooner. You´ll find a donate button in the left hand sidebar.
We intend to detail our planting plans here on the website in the fullness of time, but in the meantime if there´s something special you´d like us to plant on your behalf please let us know.
We would also like to create a library of relevant books for visitors to refer to. If you have something you think may be suitable we’d love to add it.
– Donations of ‘stuff’
One man’s rubbish is another’s gold, and we’re not too proud to turn away any useful donations of second hand (or new!) stuff we can make use of. A few ideas of things we’re always on the look out for –
Perhaps if you’re visiting us you could consider lightening your load for the trip home by leaving something with us? –
- Camping equipment – to enable us to accommodate volunteers who don’t have their own, and to keep as emergency spares. Tents, sleeping mats, sleeping bags etc
- Bedding – extra blankets and sleeping bags are particularly useful, for loaning to volunteers during the cooler months. Pillows, pillow cases and bed sheets are also really useful. We get through an awful lot!
- Work clothes – waterproof outerwear, waterproof or working boots, spare jeans, sweaters, T-shirts (particularly for taller guys) would all be well used. You’d be astonished how many people show up here without suitable clothing!
If you’re more local you might be able to help us out with –
- Organic material – if you’ve got large quantities of unchemically treated organic material that we could make use of for making new beds, mulching or compost we’d be thrilled. Kitchen waste is fine, the worms love it. And it’s OK if it contains napkins, egg shells, coffee grounds etc. All these things compost. Despite returning all our organic waste to the soil, we need lots, lots more.
- Quantities of paper or cardboard – we use this in the animal sheds, to add to the compost heaps and to suppress weeds. We never seem to have enough.
- Surplus fruit or produce – don’t let it rot because you have enough! We make jams and preserves and feed surplus fruit to the animals.
- Glass jars with lids, glass bottles – we do a lot of preserving and make our own wine, aguardente and jeropiga. Reusing glass jars is better than recycling them, but we do need lids.
- Kitchenware – in the summer months we can be feeding 40+ people per meal. That’s a lot of crockery, cutlery, pans and cooking utensils, and things do get broken and need replacing. If you’re throwing these things out, don’t! Matching sets is not our priority! In fact, pretty much any sort of houseware would find a new home here somewhere.
- Rugs and non synthetic backed carpet – it makes me weep to see these dumped in the forest when we could make use of them! They can be good condition and used to insulate the caravans, or in shreds and be used in the garden.
- Building materials, old tools, old clothes to adapt …. I could go on endlessly!
We pride ourselves on finding a creative reuse for everything we can. It keeps things out of landfill, and it keeps our operating costs down which enables us to spend more money on the things which matter to the project.
Talk to us!
Your feedback is important to us, and a terrific motivator. We’d love to hear your ideas, your inspirations and your thoughts.
Subscribe to our blog or our Facebook page to keep up to date with our activities or just email us your thoughts.
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