This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
8th Life La Palma is in a stage of recovery and reactivation (read the history of 8th Life La Palma). Therefore, at this time we mainly need the participation of skilled people with a permaculture background.
Note that the minimum stay at 8th Life is 1 month.
Typically we divide the day into 3 periods of 2,5 hours. One period centered around farm maintenance and farm projects, one period focused on individual and group projects, and one period for studying permaculture. This will depend on each participant’s goals at 8th Life.
We ask all participants to collaborate on both maintenance tasks (gardening, tree caring, spaces cleaning, etc.) and to develop individual or group projects. The idea is to work on several tasks/projects so that each can lead and mentor others in a project they have expertise with, and to learn from others in another project.
If you have a background in permaculture
If you hold a PDC or have at least participated in permaculture related projects, you could:
- volunteer on existing design projects and on daily tasks;
- develop your portfolio as an intern with a design project of your own;
- or deepen your knowledge with an advanced internship.
The Advanced Internship consists of taking our online Advanced Integral Permaculture Design course while developing your design projects onsite.
To apply, please fill out this application form after reading the General Conditions below.
If you are still new to permaculture
We invite you to enroll on our Basic Internship program which consists of:
- taking at least half of the online Permaculture Design Certificate classes (40 hours) before arriving at 8th Life;
- studying the rest of classes on site;
- practicing what your are learning by developing a design project onsite
- collaborating on others’projects to learn from them
- participating in daily farm’s tasks
If for some reason you can’t take on the PDC course and only want to volunteer, you may have key skills to offer. Please review the activities below you could contribute to with your skills.
To apply, please fill out this application form after reading the General Conditions below.
Internship structure (Basic & Advanced)
Before arriving on site:
- Read carefully all the information about 8th Life, the Integral Permaculture Academy, our Internship Agreements and our Living Together Agreements
- Study the 20 multimedia classes to understand the basic theory (approx. 2h each – required in order to focus on the practice while on site). (Basic Internship program only)
- Start deciding which design projects to focus on during your stay together with the project coordinator
While on site you will:
- work 2.5 hours a day on the farm, 5 days a week, contributing to the farm maintenance (building & repair work, garden care…), food production, and soil fertility building.
- work on your internship project at least 2.5 hours a day, 5 days a week
- participate as a facilitator 1 hour a day mentoring other students and volunteers having less experience.
- review & question the theory learned previously against the designs you will get to know on the farm during a period of observation, then start on your own designs
- document, plan & advance your practical design projects with the support of weekly mentoring sessions and daily circles or ‘Think & Listens’ with the group
- & conclude your stay with a design presentation which will count for your PDC, iPDC or Diploma design portfolio
Classes and mentorship are provided by the Integral Permaculture Academy and imply costs (see further below).
To apply, please fill out this application form after reading the General Conditions below.
Activities and projects
- Veggies and trees Nursery
- Gardening, vegetable production
- Cereal production
- Tree caring
- Fruit harvest and transformation
- Solar dehydrator project
- Water mgmt infrastructure project
- Energy production project
- Soil building project (ongoing)
- Forest planting project
- Eco-construction projects
- Animal project
- Tool repair and buidling
- Infrastructure repair and maintenance (carpentry, masonry, painting, stone walls, water tanks, etc.)
- Eco-coops to be developed onsite
Example: Rocket Stove builder
General Conditions
Why do we ask for donations from participants?
The 8thLife Permaculture EcoVillage Project belongs to the Asociación GaiaTasiri, a non-profit organisation registered in Spain. The project has a continuous running costs and we rely only on donations to cover them.
All participants to the project come to learn, experiment, help out and build. Activities include the development or group projects and individual projects which often need material inputs as we’re still building long-term infrastructures such as energy, housing, or water management projects. To cover these costs, we decided to ask for a small financial contributions to all participants as this is the most straight forward and sustainable way to fund projects that they are working on. It has also the benefit of making each participant more responsible and aware of the use of materials and budget.
Besides activities costs, we also have to cover a debt contracted to buy the land and houses we are using. In order to pay back this debt, we have to ask for donations to the participants who choose to be hosted in rooms.
The amount of the donation depends on the kind of accomodation you choose (see below).
We can offer two options for the people who want to participate but cannot afford to make a donation. They can apply for a scholarship and/or they can dedicate their time with us to developing future profitable eco-cooperative projects.
Remember that your donation is a very valuable and important financial contribution for the project’s wellbeing and continuity.
Bursaries
8th Life Scolarship
At 8th Life we want permaculture to be inclusive and accessible to all. If you are a resident in the Canary Islands and would have difficulties to cover the costs implied by the Basic Internship program, you could apply for a scholarship by filling our application form.
European Union Scolarship
We are a host organization within the European Solidarity Corps program. If you are between 18 and 30 years old, there are bursaries available if you qualify under the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) requirements.
This program is fully funded by the EU and we give priority to people with fewer opportunities (people at risk of social, cultural or economic exclusion). Please note we have a limited number of scolarship available. We currently have open scholarship for nationals from Poland, Czech Republic, Greece and France. If you are from another country, you could still apply for the next round.
To apply, please fill out this application form.
Accomodation
In the project we have rooms and a camping site. Wherever you stay, you will be able to use the shared facilities: drinking spring water, camping kitchen, compost toilets, solar shower and library with internet connection.
For camping, you would need to bring your own tent, and sleeping bag, but if you really can’t bring a tent, ask and we might have one available for you.
The rooms are usually booked far in advance, so if you want to stay in a shared or single room, please ask us first and then plan and reserve with plenty of time ahead.
Accommodation type >> | Tent | Shared Room | Own Room |
---|---|---|---|
Per month accommodation only | 30€ | 100€ | 150€ |
If enrolled in a course with the Integral Permaculture Academy | 20€ | 70€ | 120€ |
Food
At 8th Life we are still far from being food self-sufficient. With your help we’ll try to remedy that. But for the time being, you’ll need to cover your own food needs, so you would do your own shopping in the nearby town and farmers’ market and prepare your food in our shared kitchen, either by yourself or together with the other hosts (you can self-organize).
Buying food will cost you between €20-30 per week (depending on your diet).
At certain times of the year, the farm produces more than the residents need, in which case you are welcome to harvest the excess. However, it very much depends on the time of the year and who is eating from the farm, so please do not depend on this, and consider it a bonus rather than an expectation.
Please note we are not a vegetarian / vegan project, but we welcome people following all kinds of diet. We believe there is no ethical, ecological or biological right and wrong answers regarding diets. What is important is mutual respect and openness to hear each other.
Basic and Advanced Integral Permaculture courses
Classes and mentorship are provided by the Integral Permaculture Academy.
The prices of the courses are:
- Permaculture Design Certificate: 286€
- Advanced Permaculture Design Certificate: 832€
Please visit our Academy’s website for more info : integralpermaculture.org
To apply, please fill out this application form after reading the General Conditions below.
have a look at these newsletters:
- Some Design Presentations
- Spring News
- EVS Experiences and Growing Gardens
- Spring Blossoms
- End of First EVS Programme
Examples of Design Projects
– these are just some, there are many others,
and they are all organized in our private online design portfolio,
to which you will have access once you enroll
in order to study the different design projects and choose which ones to work on.
Gardens



We currently have 3 plant nurseries: one for trees, one for seedlings and one for cuttings / bigger plants. Interns interested in this work usually take responsibility for one of them in turn, also contributing to design ideas for improving them if they wish.
As we love nurseries (most of our production is gifted to neighbours and friends at present, and we have exchanged all sorts of stuff for plants in the past) we’re always open to making new or improved ones, like this rather ‘wild design’ one of our students came up with :

The old trial greenhouse and the guinea-pig multifunctional greenhouse design we made for a future larger greenhouse.
Chicken house


Solar Showers

It was re-designed in february 2015 & has been through several re-designs already.
We could do with more showers, so there’s scope for much creativity as there are lots of ways they can be designed, … eg. as an integral part of a wood-heated sauna-spar complex that we are fantasizing about from time … 🙂
Just this simple shower can be improved by building a compost-heated winter version & by adding a storage tank for hot water.
Compost Toilets

Again, we started with the very basic sawdust bucket-system which we still use in parts of the growing project as they work very well, but in 2015 a friend also built us a larger twin chamber composting toilet.