Novas raízes,
new roots
Join us in creating a visionary community that is regenerative and off-grid
Reserve your place and together we will
• Restore native forest in cattle-grazed land
• Grow a food forest for long-term sustainable nourishment
• Co-create a community of humans living in and with nature
• Create a retreat space, homes and a fab lab for creative work
• Build community-led financial and physical infrastructure
If you want to go far,
go together
We have found 60 hectares of deforested land that was once part of the Mata Altlántica – the high-altitude coastal forests of Brazil.
To buy the land and begin to reforest and prepare to build a community of around 30 homes,
we need
YOU
We are looking for community-minded people who want to reserve their place for the future and get involved now.
You can join the community and reserve the option to live in it in the future by investing:
$60,000 Reais
€10,000 Euros
£9,000 Sterling
If a lump sum is not possible for you right now, we can think about how to contribute annual amounts and we will also take into account 'sweat equity', (work in kind).
Commit to your future
We are seeking community members to kick start a collective project
Your investment will reserve you a space to build or live on the land in the future and also buy a share in a community held company (not for profit) that will own the land.
A Future Option is both a share in a cooperative company (based in the UK with a Brazilian branch) and a reservation for a place build a home.
It has a minimum term of 10 years - after that you can opt to leave the community and sell your share.
If you don’t know if you want to live on the land and would like to be involved in the project in other ways, there will be many options to do that too.
How will the community grow?
Your Future Option reservation will meet the start-up costs of the community. We foresee the following costs (and others may arise):
• to buy approximately 60 hectares of land in need of regeneration
• to meet the legal and administrative costs of buying land
• to survey the land for recovery from cattle grazing
• to plan and implement forest management
• to create and build a Common House for visitors, volunteers and as future community space
• to survey and develop water and energy generation
• to employ caretakers for the land and forest until residents build homes and live there
• to create a planning masterplan for the site (to identify suitable spaces for building, energy generation, paths, access, etc).
The land
The plot of land being scoped is in the south of the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. Minas Gerais is bigger than France and its biome in its southern edge is predominantly the Mata Atlántica. This forest is as important to global carbon capture as the Amazon and 76 per cent of it has been cut down in the past 200 years. There are now many projects seeking to recover the forest.
The land is set in the mountain range known as Serra da Mantiqueira - Mantiqueira comes from the indigenous Tupi word Amantikir, meaning ‘crying mountains’ named for the large number of springs and streams found there. The plot is surrounded by forest reserves that cannot be developed. We are specially interested in recovering Araucaria trees, a living fossil and protected tree species known as Zág by the local indigenous population.
The sub-tropical climate varies with altitude. At 1200 metres above sea level, average temperatures across the year are temperate. There is a rainy season in the summer months (November to February) and a dry season in the winter months (March to October).
Aims and Hopes
To co-create a community where different generations, occupations, nationalities, pre-occupations and beliefs can find a home
What we hope to have in common is a desire to live in close collaboration with nature and each other, to be self-sufficient in energy and part of the fabric of the local context.
To include many exciting ideas that you bring about ways to share skills...
... and experience and create productive projects.
Our hope is that the community will grow with the desires and projects of members.
That means community led finance, involvement of all members in activities and decisions that benefit the whole community.
To make possible different levels of involvement: coming to live on the land, visiting annually, coming for a retreat for a short time or a residence for a longer period. To be able to invest money, or work or skills.
Location
The plot we have the possibility to buy is near the town of Passa Vinte, 2 hours from Rio de Janeiro and 3 hours drive from São Paulo.
It has been used for intensive cattle grazing, and the only trees that remain from the original forest cover are the Zág (Araucaria) that are protected by law.
There is a river that runs through and around the land, a waterfall and many springs. The river has enough force to make electricity generation possible with a small hydroelectric installation, as you can see in the video above.
What moves us
“The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently,”
Politics of the commons
As David Bollier writes '...the commons is a very old but also very new paradigm for human governance. In introducing the commons, I hope to persuade you that it is a potentially transformative idea that carries with it a powerful healing logic.'
Or as Silvia Federici writes of the politics of the commons, it's about 're-enchanting the world'.
What inspires you to build community?
How we will do it
Community-led projects for forests and people
Share your dream
Come to our meetings to share your vision of the off-grid creative life you'd like to create with others.
Collective decision-making that works
Enter your email below to hear about our next online meeting.
Join us!
We are bringing together community finance and structures that support collective thriving. Between us we bring decades of experience in cooperatives, mediation and group development.
Contact
Reach out to join our community building journey
hello@zagzig.org
2026 Creative Commons