Spring has arrived at Almenara and it’s time to celebrate!
With the record rains we’ve been having this year, spring is bringing a stunning show of flowers here in the valley of Catalina Pérez. The mallow and wild daisies are towering above us already as we walk through the fields. The glory of spring and this abundance of natural beauty naturally leads us to remember all we have to celebrate in this peaceful corner of the world.
The 4th edition of our annual Almenara Festival 2025 is happening on Saturday 26th April
We’re really looking forward to gathering with friends and our wider community to celebrate spring and the return of the Earth’s regenerative energy. The festival programme is coming together and it looks like we’ll be having lots of fun – come and enjoy a natural earth plastering workshop, the inauguration of the flexagon with a tea ceremony, guided walks, yoga workshops and kirtan, children’s activities, poetry readings, music and dance… Not to mention our unique Human Library which we’ve heard referred to as our ‘Speed Dating’ event, designed to showcase unique local regenerative projects. April is the perfect time of year to enjoy a day in our permaculture sanctuary and celebrate spring with friends and family, while learning about all sorts of local regenerative projects from neighbours who’ll be here sharing their dreams and their practical ideas to help us imagine regenerative futures together.
This year Finca Vegana will be in charge of the food side of our festival. We’ve sampled their cooking and it’s simply delicious. Come and try it for yourselves, and if you love it as much as we do, the good news is that they’ll be publishing their first cookbook in May, sharing all sorts of tricks and recipes with anyone interested in exploring delicious, healthy, vegan cuisine.
We’re sharing our developing programme here: www.almenara.online/festival-25/. And you’re not too late to collaborate – we still need volunteers to help on the day. If you join our Telegram group (via this link – t.me/+kBLkUX4whqM0MWRk) you can contact us to offer your help and keep up to date about our activities.
Natural Building in Community
We’ve been steadily building our flexagon with the learning community for the last two months, and we’re now working on the living roof, the porch, and all that is necessary to finish in time for Almenara Festival! We’re right on schedule despite the rains. The desire to work in community and to learn to build our own shelter eclipses all else. Working in the rain has been more than a lesson in resilience, it’s been a testimony to the power of new narratives. If you haven’t been able to come and join us for a volunteer day and would like to, please join our Telegram group via this link – t.me/+kBLkUX4whqM0MWRk – to keep up to date about our activities.
EMCCINNO
That strange acronym (pronounced EM-SI-NO) carries the echo of ‘encina’, or quercus ilex, the evergreen oak that is the bastion of resilience in Mediterranean forest across the Iberian peninsula. It’s also the name of our exciting new EU Horizon project: EMCCINNO (EMpowering CCIs to boost systemic INNOvation for sustainable climate transition. At the end of February, we (Andrew, Jorge and Joanna of Be.Time and Almenara Culturas Regenerativas) travelled to Marseille for the Kick Off Meeting. The project brings together an amazing team of people from 5 different countries: 5 pilot projects, 4 research institutes, 2 networks and a design partner.
As one of the pilot projects, we’ll be spending the next 3 years researching the important role of cultural and creative organisations (CCIs) in the social transformation needed to address the climate and ecological emergency, as well as exploring collaborative working models that will help social enterprises achieve resilience. We will be using arts, ecology and participatory approaches in a placemaking project that will bring citizens together to imagine regenerative futures. Over the next 6 months we’ll be working on the design, and inviting people to come and talk to us, so watch this space! Find out more about EMCCINNO by visiting the new website www.emccinno.eu, or following the project on social media – you’ll find us on BlueSky, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Water is Love
This week we waved goodbye to Candela and Aitor from Objetivo de Luz. Our collaboration has been so enjoyable and fruitful that we were really sad to see them go, but we’re delighted to say that they’ll be back! We’re planning all sorts of hands-on learning activities with them for the autumn and winter, plus there are more videos to come about their time here at Catalina.
Their latest video documents Tamera’s approach to water retention in homage to their work done at their site in Portugal, and features a connection with our work at the end. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/dpwt1gfipco?si=pDnCcOcdp0wHhViE . If you’re interested in Candela and Aitor’s work and our ongoing collaboration, sign up for their newsletter here: objetivodeluz.substack.com, and explore their YouTube channel for lots of great permaculture content. It’s mostly in Spanish, but don’t forget that YouTube autogenerates subtitles in the language of your choice!
Hope to see you at Almenara Festival in a few weeks time!
