The Nature of Life Foundation, registered in the Netherlands, is building a regenerative intergenerational community and educational ecosystem at Herdade do Passo in rural Portugal. It brings together children's nature-based education, co-living, ecological stewardship and cultural rootedness into a replicable model for sustainable rural life.
Herdade do Passo is a rural property in Portugal, and the Nature of Life Foundation (Stichting Nature of Life) wants to turn it into a living model for regenerative community and education. The foundation is registered in the Netherlands. The plan is for a place that restores the conditions for healthy, grounded human development across all generations.
It started from a reading of modern society as increasingly fragmented: children grow up without steady role models, work pulls adults away from family life, and elders are pushed to the margins of community life. The foundation wants to bring those threads back together. Children would learn through real experience, adults would keep learning throughout their lives, and elders would be active, valued participants in community life.
Wild Roots, an existing children's nature project that has outgrown its current space, is the starting point. Building on it, the foundation is developing a blueprint for co-living-based education: daily life, ecological stewardship, cultural roots and shared responsibility woven into one coherent, replicable system for sustainable rural living in Europe. Nature works as an active learning space, supported by local partners and a culture of mutual care.
The team at Herdade do Passo covers carpentry, nonviolent communication, vision and construction, Portuguese cultural integration, community facilitation, children's programmes and back-end organisation. Emotional maturity and relational skill count for as much here as technical expertise.
The community is still growing. Families, educators and skilled people who share the foundation's idea of a more connected, ecologically literate and intergenerationally rich society are invited to join or to follow what happens.
Our Goal
To create a living model for regenerative community and intergenerational education at Herdade do Passo in rural Portugal, where children, adults and elders learn and grow together in an ecologically grounded co-living setting.
Our Wishes
The foundation invites families, educators and skilled people who share its vision to join the community or follow what it is doing, and it is always looking for good additions to its community team.
