THE CO PROJECT FARM PORTUGAL
A BRAIN SPA FOR CONTEMPORARY SUSTAINABILITY
due to covid-19 the cO project farm Is Now Permanently closed
This website is now an archive to the CO Project
ABOUT THE CO PROJECT PORTUGAL
Down a winding unpaved road, in the mountain town of Serra, Tomar, Central Portugal a lovingly turn-of-the-century olive farm was restored by Dr. Leyla Acaroglu. She took on this once dilapidated and abandoned farm in mid 2017 and founded the CO Project Farm as an ambitious living learning laboratory to apply her expertise in sustainable design and herself learn directly from being in relationship with nature.
From June 2017 until May 2020, the sustainable design, restoration and transformation got underway with a team of skilled local craftspeople and a host of international volunteers. Then the CO Project Farm hosted for almost 3 years many people interested in learning about systems regeneration, sustainable living and creative change-making. Many community open days were held, where people from fra-and-wide would come for a collaborative vegetarian cooking experience with local wine and all produce from the farm.
CO stands for creative optimism: and the abandoned farm at the end of a dirt road in Central Portugal was set up to offer the inspiration and tools to help people contribute to designing a positive, regenerative and sustainable future. Developed by Leyla Acaroglu and the UnSchool team, the project was about exploring the possibilities of contemporary sustainability, sustainable agriculture and a space to run workshops for the UnSchool of Disruptive Design. We developed unique off-site programs and farm-based immersive learning experiences in sustainable living, organic agriculture and creative change-making and had hundreds of visitors every year.
During the three years, we were able to operate, we ran programs for organizations and individuals to support the transition to a regenerative and sustainable future. The farm had two restored farmhouses and a large workshop space, a natural swimming pool, different examples of small-scale organic agriculture and lots of farm animals.
It was envisaged as a living-learning lab and brain spa to offer a space for collaborating around designing a sustainable future. we offered corporate retreats and nature-based experiences in advancing leadership and activating the circular economy. Leyla collaborated with many leading experts to deliver immersive learning experiences through hands-on and expert curriculum.
Steeped in history, this once-abandoned corner of the world is now a unique creative and cultural experience: a Brain Spa for creative optimists
Leyla with the resident animals
WHY LEYLA STARTED THE CO PROJECT FARM
CO Project Farm Founder, Dr. Leyla Acaroglu, is an award-winning designer, TED speaker, UNEP Champion of the Earth and social entrepreneur. The CO Project is all about creating a space for experiential learning that demonstrates and activates creative optimism as a tool for addressing real-world problems, such as those addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the UN.
“Nature has long been a magical mystery to me. In the first part of my career, I spent years becoming an expert in social systems and the industrial solutions we have made to meet human needs, all in the name of helping to address the man-made impacts they’ve collectively had on the planet.
I really like this planet. I'm extremely grateful for all its quirky diversity and abundance. But the missing piece for me has always been this: how do natural systems sustain themselves, evolve, and produce so efficiently and beautifully? How does nature solve its own problems gracefully?
on my quest to figure out how all the magic is made, I decided to find a laboratory big enough to experiment with the natural principles that make life.
My quest resulted in taking on a disused farm in the center of Portugal, a precious old olive and fruit grove that for over 100 years sustained a family with abundance, but had been abandoned for over 15 years.
Experimenting with nature in the context of this living lab is not about dissecting the parts of what makes a plant grow, or a farm flourish. It's about understanding the whole, how it all fits together to sustain and regenerate itself. How we can also do the same individually and collectively.
Humans make linear systems that have negative externalities, but nature makes regenerative systems that adapt to sustain the entire system. As designers and creatives we have the opportunity to discover how to meet human needs in ways that contribute back to the planet. This is my goal with CO: to help foster more creative optimism.
I'm excited to share this farm with you, on our collective quest to design a sustainable and regenerative future that works better than today.”
This was the dream Leyla started with in June 2017
This is what Leyla has turned the farm into by June 2019