About Casa dos Sonhos

Our motivation

Have a look around and you will soon see there is a lot of potential lost in the world. We move around displaced people, abandoned places, wasted materials, scattered knowledge. How did we arrive at this point? Uprooted and cut off from the cycles of nature, our world and ourselves are but a shadow of what we could be. We feel grief for what led to this state. We fear what may come of it, and rage at what makes it so. Yet, we still dare to dream. We dream to tap into our lost potential and to find ways of working together.

This is why we created Casa dos Sonhos.

Who we are

Casa dos Sonhos has been an emerging dream since 2019, when the first steps were taken to create the ground for its manifestation. Today a growing group of people shares and shapes this dream: some create the organisational fabric, the infrastructure and the physical spaces where Casa dos Sonhos can unfold, while others build autonomous projects within its frame, from gardening and land management to carpentry, wellness and work with horses.

Our principles and goals

Casa dos Sonhos is the name of an encompassing project that takes place in four pieces of land in the south of Portugal: Arrabacinha, Vimieiro, Quinta do Coito Grande and Monte Novo da Serra.

Through Casa dos Sonhos, we create safe spaces for the development of the fullest of our potential according to three principles:

• Relentless Learning
• Consensual Exchange
• Unconditional Love

These principles are our roots. From regenerative housing units to the wellness center, from the food hub to the carpentry workshop: every project that takes place in our locations is rooted on the common basis of practising consensual exchange and unconditional love. The challenges we face on the way and the mistakes we make are taken as a possibility for relentless learning.

Like a tree, Casa dos Sonhos grows from its roots towards a set of goals aimed at regenerating our surroundings and ourselves in a spiral of growth inspired by the abundant function of nature. These are our goals:

• We grow food in a regenerative manner that exceeds the members’ needs by 2 times.
• We provide regenerative living conditions that exceed the members’ needs by 2 times.
• We use non fossil energy sources for all our needs.
• We take responsibility for all our plastic waste by either recycling it or depositing it on our own land.
• We ensure that rain and sewage water finds regenerative infiltration possibilities on our land.

From the firmness of our roots, we allow ourselves to develop and adapt to the needs of the present. The activities, products, workshops and projects that take place at Quinta do Coito Grande and in our other locations are part of an ever evolving dream that we now share together with many others.

In the heart of Alentejo, we believe we can be a regenerative presence for nature, our community and for our own selves.

Do you want to share this dream with us?

Dragons & Elephants

Dragons and Elephants Ltd is a Portugal-based company created to facilitate and support Casa dos Sonhos, a project aimed at promoting ecological, local and personal development in South Alentejo.

Dragons and Elephants was created in 2019 to provide consultancy services on Regenerative System Management and later expanded its scope to the management of Casa dos Sonhos. The headquarters of Dragons and Elephants are located in Quinta do Coito Grande – Colos, Portugal.

Cooperativa Integral da Terra

Cooperativa Integral da Terra is a cooperative based in the coastal region of southern Portugal that aims to develop a social local economy by assisting local producers and small businesses to work with ease, free from bureaucratic concerns and supported by a local network. Many of the services and activities that take place at Quinta do Coito Grande operate within the legal framework of this cooperative.

www.cooperativadaterra.pt