THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE
If you want to do something new, you will need new sorts of tools, both mental and physical. Today we take a tour of the tools at play in the new bio-intensive garden at La Donaira which [...]
FROM THE BELLY OF THE EARTH TO THE HEART OF THE SUN
With the arrival of Spring, we celebrate the new springs that have sprung up all across the land. Over the course of the last two years at La Donaira, 8 springs have been either resurrected or built [...]
AN ANGEL DISGUISED AS A VOLUNTEER
The volunteer program is a major component in the social poly-culture we are so passionate about growing at La Donaira. Like the hotel guests, volunteers are travelers with a diversity of backgrounds and interests, all sharing something [...]
A DARK STORY IN THREE ACTS
Stories bring places to life, and places attach special meaning to stories. Every story takes place somewhere, and every place has a story to tell. Our story begins in the womb of the mountains with the minerals [...]
FROM BEEKEEPER TO BEELOVER: An interview with Jonathan Powell, Part 1
“Sometimes a man must go alone into the forest and die into its heart, so he can bring back the forgotten pieces of this world”, Daverick Leggett, The Bright Burning Jonathan Powell, trustee of the [...]
THE PERFECT RECIPE TO FIND A SENSE OF PEACE
All of us feel the need to disconnect once in a while, to let go of our (sometimes) overwhelming day to day responsibilities, to clear our minds and return to ´ourselves´, after a period of being on [...]
PRESERVING THE PAJUNA, OUR HERITAGE CATTLE
Alarming declines in the numbers of flora and fauna around the world have raised fears that we are in the midst of a sixth major extinction. Humans have recently sped the extinction rate a thousand fold and [...]
A NEW GARDEN FOR A NEW YEAR
“We might say that the earth has the spirit of growth; that its flesh is the soil”, Leonardo da Vinci Climate disruption is the most pressing issue of our time, and current food systems account [...]
PORTRAIT OF AN ANDALUSIAN CORTIJO
La Donaira’s hotel, nested in an idyllic natural paradise between the Serranía de Ronda (Málaga) and the Sierra de Grazalema (Cádiz), is a renovated Andalusian Cortijo over a century old. In keeping with its values of promoting and protecting [...]
BIODYNAMICS – RETHINKING AGRICULTURE
As we pass the mid-winter mark we reflect on the changing of the seasons. The sun is low in the sky, many of the trees have lost their leaves and every living thing is gathering its strength for the [...]