Sete Fontes
Sete Fontes is a 15-hectare off-grid permaculture project near Portalegre, Portugal, founded by Michel Siebenaller and Isabel Valente and now turning into a small ecovillage. Since 2016 it has hosted volunteers while regenerating land, growing food and building community.
Sete Fontes is a 15-hectare off-grid permaculture project in the Parque Natural da Serra de São Mamede, near Portalegre in Alto Alentejo. The land has forests, natural springs and abundant water. Michel Siebenaller and Isabel Valente founded the project and have looked after it since 2016. Their focus has been on regenerating degraded land, growing organic food, and living simply and sustainably.
The project combines gardens, syntropic agroforestry, animal husbandry and a greenhouse. Shared spaces include a kitchen, a living room, a workshop area, a pizza oven, a yoga deck and a natural forest pool. Buildings go up using traditional eco-construction techniques such as wattle and daub, made from locally sourced sand, clay and straw. With AMIBA, Sete Fontes also takes part in a conservation programme for the Pedrês Portuguesa, an endangered chicken breed.
Over the years, volunteers from around the world have come through WWOOF and Workaway to share daily tasks like animal care, gardening and construction. The project is now moving towards becoming a small ecovillage. It is inviting new community members to live there, not just stay, as neighbours with private spaces and shared responsibilities. Community life is guided by consensus and by regenerative, ecological, off-grid and zero-waste values. It follows a vegan/vegetarian-oriented lifestyle, with an emphasis on maturity, kindness and rural practical skills.
Sete Fontes also works with local partners to host occasional workshops for the wider regional community, such as digital security sessions in Portalegre.
Our Goal
To regenerate degraded land in Alto Alentejo through permaculture and syntropic agroforestry, and to grow from an off-grid farm that hosts volunteers into a small ecovillage run by consensus.
Our Wishes
Sete Fontes is looking for socially engaged, like-minded people to join as new community members and create the ecovillage together. Ideally, they would have rural or practical experience, be financially independent and have access to a car.
