Growers

Growers (also known as Grow) is a community-discovery platform and mobile app that connects people seeking an alternative way of living with verified regenerative hosts throughout Portugal. Through the app, users can browse and book stays, workshops, retreats and volunteering opportunities at intentional communities, eco-farms, permaculture projects and off-grid sites. Rather than conventional tourism, Growers positions itself as a gateway into 'another way of living'—waking up inside a working community, cooking and building together, and leaving with real skills rather than just photographs. The platform organises experiences into themes such as Knowledge Sharing & Education, Creative & Expressive Arts, Living Together, Body & Energy Practices, and Land & Food-Based Practices. Users create a Grower profile, search for hosts by interest and location, attend events, and earn skill badges—covering topics from permaculture and mushroom cultivation to beekeeping, natural building, yoga and drumming—while accumulating experience points as they progress. All hosts are reviewed and vetted by the Growers team to ensure safe, respectful and inspiring spaces. The platform features dozens of partner communities and retreat centres across Portugal, including accommodation stays, multi-day workshops (such as natural building and cob oven courses), and long-term volunteering placements (from 10 days up to a year) in community living, nature regeneration and personal development. Growers also shares practical sustainability content, such as DIY solar food dehydrators, to inspire self-reliant, low-impact living. Its mission is to help people find community and grow together through hands-on, skill-based connection to the land and to each other.