Our work in Barichara focuses on creating a real-world prototype of bioregional regeneration at the territorial scale. We focus on how to create synergies and collaboration across local initiatives so that they can work together. This includes creating portfolios of projects that we finance all together in the same process.
Right now, we are focusing on our Regenerative Education Fund with investments in the following local initiatives:
Bioparque Móncora
The bioparque is a 5.5 hectare community reforestation project that has been going for fifteen years. It is an anchor of inspiration and education for the people of our territory. Located just above the town of Barichara, tourists go there for nature connection and the townspeople go to walk their dogs. Schools and universities send their students to conduct research and learn about native trees.
We are raising $25,000 to pay for the two men who serve as groundskeepers for planting trees and maintaining the forest as it grows. This money covers both of their salaries for an entire year.
Caja Vieja (Las Ruinas)
We have the opportunity to purchase the land at the entrance to the bioparque and construct the ecological buildings as a permanent home for our Waldorf school Sueños del Bosque. The land can be purchased for $150,000 and we estimate that the buildings can be constructed by hand with traditional earthen techniques from our territory for an additional $50,000.
This would make the home of the school the ENTIRE bioparque due to their close proximity and the relationships we have with the bioparque that has deepened throughout the last five years of work in partnership.
The land of "Las Ruinas" at the entrance of the much larger Bioparque Móncora
Origen Del Agua Nature Reserve
One of the initial pilot projects of territorial regeneration is Origen del Agua -- a nature reserve and reforestation project that was purchased with donations in 2021. It is a 3.2 hectare piece of land that is strategically located at the top of a ridge line where both a surface drainage and aquifer system connect it with the watershed of the Barichara River.
We need $50,000 to cover the costs of materials for reforestation work, education materials, staffing, and development of curricula that go to rural schools throughout the territory. This is land that was completely eroded when we began that will inspire many as it comes into flourishing as native forest once again.
The School of Sueños del Bosque
Our Waldorf school Sueños del Bosque serves as the community weaver and territorial catalyst for our regenerative education ecosystem. This year we hired a teaching staff and attracted the first cohort of families to join the school.
We have a customized calendar throughout the year that offsets our vacations from the public schools so that we can offer community education programs while they are out of school. We also collaborate with educators who offer workshops in local textiles, earthen construction. native plants, syntropic gardening, permaculture, and many other regenerative approaches.
We need $75,000 for the next year to cover the cost of our five-person staff and the incubation of these community weaving processes for the territory as a whole.
Our Budget for 2025
We are cultivating reciprocity relationships with donors and investors who help us bring $350,000 into the learning ecosystem for next year. This is a process of building real relationships with people who seek inspiration, learning, healing, or sanctuary in the midst of planetary turmoil.
Have a look at the pitch deck we published recently that explains these relationships in more detail. Our intention is to raise several million dollars for land acquisitions, transition pathways into regenerative economic models, ecosystem restoration efforts at the scale of entire watersheds, and this foundational work on regenerative education.
If you feel moved to contribute, please reach out to us or simply make a donation here on this website. Also share this with others who may want to participate in some way.
Onward, fellow humans.
Hi Joe, we “met” yesterday during your zoom talk on the Gathering of Tribes (Portugal). You inspired me (and all that attended) to dive deeper. I’m that guy that made a coment about being regenerating myself without knowing it (or at least labeling it as such). You woke me up for the bioregions thing (in particular the learning centers) and it resonates a lot due to the work I do trough elearning with the local government authorities. Thank you again and I’m hopping we can talk further about this topic. PS: I’ve enroled the Desigu School for Regeneration