Golden Autumn in Community

We invite you to join us for harvesting olives and other seasonal fruit, working on the land, and caring for Mother Earth in community.

Overview

Autumn is the time of year when the silver-gray sheen of olive leaves gives our landscape its special charm. It is a good time to be outside and gather nature’s gifts—the olives, and perhaps also the medronho and quince that ripen at this time of year. The olive tree has a long historical and cultural tradition as a symbol of wisdom and peace. We take its robustness as a teaching in perseverance and resilience. The oldest olive trees in the world are about 5,000 years old and have been cared for by tribes and villagers for generations.

We invite you to join us once again in the joyful work of harvesting, caring for the trees, and tending to the land. This is a chance to connect with these grounding and nurturing traditions, gather as a community, and enjoy the bounty of autumn.

Please come prepared for variable weather conditions. It might be warm and dry or cold and wet. In our region, October marks the beginning of the rainy season.

Who is the course for?

• People who want to get to know Tamera or return and enjoy being with us
• People who want to and are physically able to harvest and work on the land
• People interested in community-building

What you’ll do

• Harvest olives with our team in the olive grove
• Gather other fruits such as medronho and quince
• Participate in seasonal land care tasks—details to be decided closer to the time
• Gather as a group to listen to each other and strengthen our connections as a global community.

Course content

During our guest season, we are often asked the following questions:

• How can we build functioning alternatives to current systems?
• How can we grow and maintain a relationship with place and the more-than-human world?
• How can people live together in truth, trust, and solidarity?
• How do we deal with love, partnership, and sexuality?
• How do we work to heal the relationship between genders?
• How do we create global movements with common goals to work successfully for system change?

We will explore these questions and experience Tamera’s forum, ways of council, singing, and other group activities.

Please note that, as most of the activities in the program are based outside on Tamera’s land, our schedule will be flexible to respond to changes in the weather. We generally plan to spend the mornings and early afternoons harvesting, followed by community-building activities later in the afternoon. We are prepared to adjust the rhythm to enjoy the sunshine or seek shelter from the rain as needed.