Summer 2025

„Be a Volunteer“ at the Finca El Tejar

With this sentence we invite on the online platform HelpX and on homepage under the heading ‚Cooperation‘ interested persons to live and work alongside us for a while. Hosts and helpers from all over the world can register on HelpX and create their profile there. The helpers tell a little about themselves – their motivation, interests, skills and experience – while the hosts describe their location, the type and number of hours of help they would like and what they offer in return. A filter function allows both hosts and helpers to find what they are looking for, e.g. the country of travel or origin, the host’s project type (farm, community living, educational project, private household…), traveling alone or as a couple and more. In this way, those who are a good match can find each other. Both sides can actively search the site and write to suitable candidates.

In our case, the volunteers carry out tasks on our finca, help with cleaning and cooking and receive free board and lodging in return. They can also take part in the tai chi and yoga classes and satsang at our Yogacenter Marbella, as well as the communal peace meditations. This way, the volunteers can get to know our community and its diversity, experience everyday life on the finca, and we get to know them and their stories.

In the last few months, between November and March, six volunteers were with us one after the other and we heard the most interesting stories! From a glacier crossing in the Himalayas, an alternative wedding ceremony in Hawaii, everyday life in a polar station in the Antarctic, national park maintenance in the Scottish Highlands, travel reports from long-distance hiking trails and the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.

There were stories about other communities, organic farms and permaculture projects. We talked about our vegetable garden, traded gardening methods and collected ideas. We heard personal life stories and learned about interesting and courageous life paths. Very often the common language we speak is English.

We celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Eve together and our volunteer guests eagerly took part in the colourful program for the birthday of Labaoananda, the spiritual leader of our community, and delighted us with it! They were also able to take part in a sweat lodge.

Together we cleaned up the stream and its banks in a major joint effort. After last winter’s heavy rainfall, there was a veritable jungle of washed over, overturned and washed up plants and trees to clear. We also collected a lot of garbage in the process! And our volunteers were right in the middle of it all.

Some of the volunteers really enjoyed being creative and spent their free time and evenings building bat boxes, for example. Marina from France explained and showed us how to weave baskets using material that grows on the finca.

When the opportunity arose, Labaoananda made it possible for the volunteers to take part in some of the practice sessions at the Yogacenter Marbella. Exercises from hatha yoga, fascia care and contemplation were sometimes translated into French and sometimes into English. This was a special opportunity for our volunteers.

And what a lot has been done in the garden with the help of the volunteers! Together we fought the couch grass with endless perseverance and removed it completely. Together we created a potato field, sowed green manure sown, and planted winter vegetables such as lettuce, onions, garlic and fennel. We removed dried-out branches from the citrus trees.

A particular highlight was the tree planting in the part of the finca that we call ‚Little Ojén‘. First of all, we had to lay over 100 meters of hose to provide a water connection for irrigation. Then we cleared brambles and planted over 70 young trees with compost and watered them by hand. Then it was back to laying hoses – irrigation lines on the individual levels and finally drippers for each individual tree. This work took several weeks and we could not have done it without the help of the volunteers!

What lasting impressions did the volunteers take home from their time with us? They told us they felt at home, here and with all of us. For them, the finca offered shelter, a connection to us, and a glimpse into a spiritual community like ours. They learned a lot in various areas and would like to come back one day – we would be delighted!

We had a wonderful, enriching, inspiring and productive time together, and we are excited and looking forward to what’s to come!