Ecovillage under construction
Guarda
We are 2 people, father and son, living in a beautiful existing Portuguese village north of the Serra Estrela among the original inhabitants. So you will most of the time only working with me, Arjan, together.
We only have space for 2 wwoofers at the moment.
For health reasons, we can't have people in our home who.are vaccinated.. I know this sounds strange and may be offensive. However, we must consider our own health first.
In this village there is a biodynamic farm, with cows, from our neighbors with whom we regularly work together and have roughly the same ideals. Sometimes we help with the cows .
My father need some help in the household. We, you and I, make food a few days a week and we are working on different things. For example we work on a ruin to become a house. We also make our own bio bread. My father has three houses. All these houses need to be refurbished and/or renovated. 2 of them, including the volunteer house, are livable.
Land:
We have 4 pieces of land, 2 of which are close to home. This concerns the parental couple's backyard and a 2000m garden.
To be clear: We are building things up and that takes a lot of time and energy in addition to caring for my father.
So you can't expect an existing eco-village, but I try to stick to the core goals as much as possible and make them visible in and during the work.
Slowly more people, who want to work and live with nature, are coming to live in this in this environment.
They want to work and live with nature or are interested in the idee of Espacio da Vida. www.ecodorpportugal.nl
Our very broad vision is biodynamic agriculture and art.
We have interaction models such as on Tamera. We like to build a new family together with new people who are now coming to participate.
If you like you can learn a lot about b.d. agriculture and anthroposophy.
We, I and my neighbors, offer also:
learn, or do, eurithmy.
And in the field of healing:
yoga.
massage
therapeutic eurithmy
Average program:
Starting every morning at 8.30 with Eurithmie.
Start working at 9.00
At 10:30 there is a break. Then we work again from 11.00 to 12.30 and continue the meal that has already been prepared together.
Warm food at 13.00 and then rest until 15.00. In the afternoon we continue to work until 17.00. After that you are free to do what you want and we eat a sandwich around 18.15, if you like, and you are also free in the evening to make music or whatever you want. Or we organize some thing together.
My hobbies are :
swimming, eurythmy, classical guitar, percussion and singing (folk music), reading and studying books about anthroposophy. I also like to work in the garden. In the future I want to take up my old hobby of making instruments again. We don't have a wood workshop yet. So this is for the future.
The Area:
In the area you can enjoy beautiful walks. Possibly with the dog. you can also swim in the river. This is 6 minutes away by car..
You Accommodation:
There is a house for wwoofers for two persons with living room, badroom, kitchen and two sleeping rooms but this must be renovated. It needs a new roof. It's the house where I live, but when volunteers come, I sleep in a caravan.
November we will have the wood stove ready. One sleepingroom we stil working on and is simple. I Sleep sometimes in a caravan and there is a smal tent for the summer. We can have more tents if necessary. Next year , 2026, we will build the first organic house, but for now this is it. . So the pictures on the website are a indication of what we want to create in the future.
if you have any questions feel free to ask.
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas
Seed saving or production
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Green Building
Renewable energy production
Food justice / sovereignty
Mechanics / tools / technology
Methods or systems
Biodynamic agriculture
Holistic management
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Nonprofit / Community
0.4
Hectares
|
1
Acres
Arjan
Member since 2022
Languages spoken:
Dutch, English, German
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 100%
Response time: typically within 2 days
Guarda
Coimbra is het dichtstbijzijnde treinstation.
Reviews
Philippe
France
•
March 2026
Arjan et son père sont très sympathiques, c'était un plaisir de les aider dans leurs projets. Vu
Reply from Arjan
thank you.
Rik
Netherlands
•
September 2025
Elbert was een goede host. Er was iedere dag weer iets anders te doen. Hij had zelfs door de dag heen verschillende activiteiten om te doen. Hij zorgde voor eten en drinken. Er was goed mee te praten over wisselende onderwerpen. Je kreeg er goed je dag om en het was leerzaam.
Desi
Netherlands
•
July 2025
We stayed 1 week and had a nice time with Elbert ( Arjan is his other name )and his father Wout. We lived in a nice little house near by /on the corner where they lived. We did a lot of different work; weeding the garden, planting strawberrys, sowing vegetables, construction of a roof, preparing lunch meals, doing yoga together, and visiting Santa Isabel . This a living community for disabeld people who are connected to Espacio da Vida. There is plenty space to fill in you're own ideas and own initiative.
Desi & Mart • 2 jul 2025
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Emmanuelle
France
•
April 2024
Elbert was a kind host, he showed me many thing : taichi, how to make bread, construction stuff and gardening :) his family is really nice and the landscape are so beautiful!
Simba
United Kingdom
•
December 2023
As my first WWOOF experience, I’m glad this was my glance into agriculture and self sufficiency. Frankly, you’ve got to be resilient, it’s a project. It won’t always be warm. Sometimes you’ll toil, but Elbert realises your efforts, and lightens your burden. There’s plenty of time to meditate. Coming home to talk with his parents, walk the dog or read a book after chopping some wood, gave ample opportunity to reflect. Thanks, Elbert.
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Amelie
United Kingdom
•
November 2023
Elbert taught me eurythmy and ti chi practices, which I have exercised since. There is fresh bread nearly every morning. Elbert is a man working with divine will, manifesting noble projects in mid Portugal, which serve all of humanity. I found Elberts work inspiring and I was glad to help him and to conspire about a positive future now.
Thank you.
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