Next stop: restoring a traditional clay house

It's my last night at Tamera. Yesterday I managed to make contact with a young family at Troviscais, 27km away towards the sea, who are living in a ramshackle farmhouse and renovating a second one to make it habitable for winter. Their project is valedovento.wordpress.com, and i found them through thepoosh.org. Theyre using local materials that are breathable and which will recycle easily and beneficially back into the soil at the end of their useful life.

This is what Ive come away for! To help people with the work of reconstructing or building new homes, and learn about the many natural techniques involved.

Ive been asked: 'What do you want to build for?' With regard to doing perhaps more 'intellectual' or 'spiritual' work.

I like to use my hands - I want to be strong - I think it's essential that humanity regains a connection to the methods of building that are practicable and simple and to do with what local resources are available, a way of building that is ergonomic and best done by a group of people using their bodies and the common knowledge. I am interested in empowerment through achievement at this level. I want to disseminate this knowledge amongst the pioneers of the modern natural-self-build movement, and spread encouragement and a sense of belonging to a wider 'we'.

Its also in me to challenge perceptions of what a woman can excel at. The modern construction industry is chauvinistic, an old boys club, at any rate pretty inaccessible to women. And it peddles an obfuscating mystique, the one of concrete and plastic and power tools - building houses needn't be out of our reach. I want to learn vocationally that this is true, that I can build a sturdy robust house without devastating the environment!

It's my last night at Tamera. I'm going to miss the socialising, the deep talks, the chocolate 'bar', the comfort of staying here - running (hot!) water, being fed copious amounts of delicious food, beds, internet and phone access - the warmhearted openness of my fellow volunteers and community residents. This is a unique environment where many conventional social boundaries are warped or overturned. Thankyou Galia, Mishie, Martin, Arnald, Mudi, Miriam, Boaz, Felix, Denys, Julian, Phillip...

I've appreciated walking between the canteen and the south valley lake every morning with my bowl of oats n hot water (then forgetting to take it back to wash it up and the pile growing day on day). I appreciate, though reluctantly, the efficiency and structured nature of the visitor interface here and the daily schedule, as well as the group communication channels in place for residents. I admire the groundbreaking achievements in ecology, buildings, and community and societal development.

I can't imagine there's a better place to land when leaving your country.

And it's also not been what I wanted or expected. The monetary charge on top of working here for free. The rigidity of the rules. The lack of interaction between resident community and volunteer and student community, except in a tamera-parent, guest-child way. The proliferation of promiscuity mistaken for free love, or the misuse of that term for promiscuity. How slow, demoralising and unstrenuous the ecology work here can be, with no hoes - argh! - with no mechanism for taking on feedback from experts passing through, and no displayed plan or record of the planting in the gardens. The lack of commitment to deliver a programme of learning for the practical ecology students, prepared in advance and communicated clearly. The scarcity of signs on the dirt track roads around the place!!

Now Im intrigued to visit more intentional communities, especially ecovillages. In the north of Portugal there's one called Tribodar, that could feature.

Staying here has shown me that you can have all the procedure available and still things won't please everybody or work perfectly. I have a more keenly felt appreciation for flexibility and forgiveness, and it's role in our social lives.

Tamera is a dream made reality, seeing and feeling it gives me confidence and ambition.