Womens Natural Building and Carpentry Workshop

Oct 7th - 18th 2024

@ Lazuz, Portugal

Due to popular demand, we are back to invite you to join us for an extended 12 day, womens only, natural building workshop on a beautiful 25 hecter farm in Southern Portugal. Led by the WNBC’s four core builders, you will gain a deep understanding, and hands on experience, of the ancient world of natural building in a safe and supported environment. 

What is Natural Building?

Natural building is so much more than just building with natural materials; it is about reconnecting with our ancestral roots and our natural environment. It’s about building beautiful, durable, healthy and spiritually uplifting buildings as well as building relationships with people and the planet along the way. It’s about observing and respecting the world around us, consciously using local, renewable and sustainable materials to create buildings that work in harmony with our mind, body and soul, and the environment they inhabit.

Building a structure with natural materials is an empowering, humbling and inspiring experience, and building with only women creates a sacred, safe and supported sisterhood. We will connect with the earth, with ourselves, with each other and with these ancient building techniques which are silently ingrained in all of us. Together we will tap into this hidden knowledge and bring to life the skills and magic to create your own home.

What is The Womens Natural Building Collective?

The WNBC is a collective of experienced women builders living and working in Southern Portugal. We build unique natural structures that respond to their environment whilst also creating job opportunities and a training programme to empower women with the skills to build.  We share a passion for building but also a deep passion for our planet and in creating a more balanced and beautiful future. Check out our facebook page for more pictures and updates https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552462372175 

Why women only?

We have nothing against our fellow brothers, honestly; as a collective we often work with men and we also have mixed gender courses. What we have noticed over the years, however, is how differently women respond on a site when men are present, especially when power tools and machines are introduced. Seeing this we wanted to create a space for women to feel comfortable, safe and supported to experiment and try these often ‘male dominated’ activities. We also know from experience that when women come together, with intention, a shared vision and similar goals, something very magical and special happens.

Who is the workshop for?

This workshop is for women of any age and physical ability; no one is excluded from building with earth, we embrace our diversity and differences, our strengths and weaknesses; we can all play an important role in the building process no matter how big or small. This workshop is for your personal development, inner growth empowerment and is designed so that every individual  walks away feeling inspired and confident to continue to build with earth and with the ethics of ecological house design.

What will you learn?

During this workshop you will be connecting with the earth from day one; gaining experience, trusting your intuition and learning through doing. You will be guided by our experienced and passionate team of women builders with many years of experience and a wealth of knowledge and skills. We will be building a structure using a variety of different natural building method and techniques on the land of one of the WNBC core builders, through doing this you get to see, feel and understand the materials and the building process from start to finish. 

You will learn how to;

• Test clay sub-soils and use the results to create the perfect earth mix

• Learn about ecological house design and implementation

• Make adobe bricks 

• Learn about the stages of construction; foundations, walls, roof, floor

• Mix and work with cob in many different forms

• Mix and apply slip straw

• Work safely with power tools 

• Learn how to build a reciprocal roof structure

• Learn about woodwork and carpentry

• Create beautiful artwork and sculptures with earth

• Mix and apply natural plasters

There will be some theory sessions too;

• Ecological House Design – how to design energy efficient homes in connection with your climate

• Natural Building Theory – How it all works and why

• Building techniques across the globe – what techniques are being used, where and why?

• Earth floors and reciprocal roofs

Alongside all of this we want to integrate and celebrate the feminine energy between us, to share, laugh, dance, cry (if we want to) and explore the different layers of ourselves. We will have additional (optional) morning and evening activities; yoga, women's circles, meditation, dance, singing to celebrate all that we are and all that we can be.

More about the host!

We will be staying at Lazuz, a beautiful 25 hectare farm owned by one of our WNBC core Builders, Tati. Tati brought the land with her partner Eran in 2016 and has dedicated the past years to developing the site, building houses and gardens, planting trees and also welcoming their baby daughter. The farm is a great example of how to start from scratch and the work and skills needed to create a regenerative homestead. 

Lazuz is located in the rolling hills of Alentejo, surrounded by cork trees and wild nature. 1km from Lazuz is a small village with a little cafe (which has a stone baked pizza event every week) and grocery store. a further 5km from this village is the bigger town of Sao Luis which has lots of amenities, pharmacy, bank, bakery, restaurants etc. 20km from the site you are on the beautiful beaches around Vila Nova De Milfontes 

Food

We will be eating fresh, local, vegetarian (always vegan options) meals 3 times a day which will be lovingly prepared by Tati and our support crew. If you have any allergies please let us know in advance so we can accommodate your needs, we ask for a small extra contribution for those with a gluten free diet due to extra expenses for ingrediences etc.

Accommodation

We can offer accommodation in either dorm style bell tents or yurt, smaller camping tents are also available. Participants are also able to bring their own camping equipment or  camper vans onto the site if they prefer. All accommodation comes at no extra costs.

Cost The fee for the workshop is €1,250 this includes all meals and refreshments, transportation to and from the site (from Sao Luis or Cercal), the course tuition and a handmade handout covering all the course material.

We ask participants to arrive before 13h00 on Oct 7th for a welcoming lunch, settling in and getting to know each other. Info regarding transportation etc will be sent after registration in our info pack. 

Deposit:

We ask all registrants to make a deposit of €200 to secure their spot, and the remaining fees be paid on arrival. Please email us at womensnaturalbuilding@gmail.com to register

Please Note:

In the unlikely event of us canceling the course, your deposit will be refunded in full; additionally, we will not be held responsible for any other financial losses accrued. 

Deposits are non-refundable if you choose to cancel. If cancellation is made 1 week prior to the course start date we ask for a contribution of 50% of the course fee to cover our losses. We will accept late bookings if there is space available.