permaculture, regenerative and eco construction in Bulgaria

Name: permaculture, regenerative and eco construction in Bulgaria
Start: 2026-06-10
End: 2027-09-30
Location: Zhelen, Bulgaria

Code: 31217dae-0bdb-11f1-8b4c-fa163ef8d720 Copied

Bulgaria Farming Construction Culture Social work Farming Construction +2 Permanent

About the project

📝 Detailed information

🏢 About the local organisation

Trinoga association was established in 2005 and still is situated in Zhelen village, Sofia district. It is not only an NGO, but also an eco-community of people that permanently live in the nature and implement in real life the beliefs that inspire and lead us. The tree pillars of our philosophy are: life in harmony with nature, social unity and personal growth. By being persistent over the years we attracted many other enthusiasts, some of whom settled for permanent residence in the neighborhood - far away from the cities in a remote area in the Balkan Mountain, 5 km away from any asphalted village and shops. By now there are 20 autonomous households co-habitating and cooperating with each other. We called our place and project, around which Trinoga Association evolves: “Vegetarium Community Home”. The core team includes 5 persons. We are known as one of the first places in Bulgaria, where many young people had the opportunity to come, live in harmony with nature and obtain practical skills and experience, that in many cases determined the direction of their lives. As we are fluent in English, French, German, Spanish and Bulgarian we could accept many local, as well as foreign volunteers . Being integral part of the Global Ecovillage Network, we maintain close relations with NGOs in Italy, France, Portugal and Switzerland. Our team is guest teaching in Sofia University, New Bulgarian University and professional schools on the matters of Sustainable development, Healthy lifestyle and Community building. Our mentor is M.D. Dimitar Pashkulev, a well-known Bulgarian specialist in natural medicine and Integral approach. Since 2015, after tens of enterprises are commercializing his natural products and more than 50 edited books of him, M.D. Pashkulev found his actual vocation in living together in Vegetarium Home. He is permanently consulting and supporting our activities on the aim of non-formal teaching of young people in sustainable activism and solidarity toward environment and communities.

💼 What the programme involves

We propose the group to stay in our homestead and join the daily community life, including:
Simple health routines in the morning; Organisational meetings and sharing circles; Work in
rotating teams on real tasks: cleaning, range maintenance, caring for horses, chickens and
bees. In the vegetable gardens: watering, fertilizing, mulching and collecting horse manure for
compost. For the landscape regeneration: moving branches and bushes to support carbon se-
questration, soil recovery and protection; Eco-building with clay; Help collecting firewood for
the winter. The program is practical, hands-on and rooted in outdoor learning and wellbeing.
In days-off we propose excursions to nearby caves, waterfalls, and other beautiful areas, in
the company of our 2 horses: Peppi and Rada.

Trinoga carries out seasonal reforestation and landscape regeneration activities in areas affected by erosion, deforestation, or land degradation. These actions include tree planting, permaculture-based site design such as swales, terraces, and mulching, and the development of small community nurseries and seed-saving practices. The work is designed as a long-term process rather than one-off actions and includes post-planting care, stewardship, and basic citizen-science monitoring. Local volunteers and community members are actively involved, ensuring local ownership, skill transfer, and measurable survival and resilience of restored landscapes.

🏠 Accommodation on site

Common dormitory and tents. Outdoor showers and toilets

🍲 Food

Daily changing cooking team provides all the meals for all the participants. The participants
learn about healthy nutrition and cooking, joining the cooking team, under our guidance.
Food is vegetarian, predominantly plant-based, abundant with seasonal fruits, vegetables,
beans, grains and nuts, sprouts, foraged wild plants and homemade diary and eggs.

🎒 Leisure activities

Our open and pragmatic methodology provides knowledge, skills and attitudes for: - Healthy and non-violent living; - Regenerative landscaping; - Planting endemic and useful plants: nutritional, medicinal, ecological; - Renovation and construction of houses, using wood, clay, stone, straw and other materials; - Maintenance of eco-farms: gardens, animals, buildings and machinery; - Receiving and training volunteers; - Exchange of production, physical and intellectual labor, with the local population; - Consulting and volunteering for other projects; - Non-dogmatic spirituality;

⚠️ Requirements

The Participant profile: No previous experience needed. You need strong motivation and will to live the values and principles of the project, to practice it's lifestyle. To be open and implement the desired habits, regarding food, daily regime and program. To be ready to handle responsibilities. For this, you need to be listening, flexible, hardworking and willing to persevere.

ℹ️ Additional information

The participation fee we demand includes accommodation, facilities, food and guidance in the field activities. Theoretical and hands-on training by our experts is also included, in some of
the fundamental dimensions of the integral wellbeing: complete and proper nutrition, healthy
morning routine, non-dogmatic spirituality, non-violent communication, adequate biorhythm,
permaculture, crisis resilience, adaptation to climate change, individual and social psychology.

Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.