The Valley

‘The Valley’ is a rural finca (farm) comprising 15 hectares of olive, almond and fig trees. It is set in a beautiful, private valley environment. We are completely off-grid. There is no mains electricity and no mains water supply. So, we use and harness solar power to run our office, home and volunteer accommodation. Rainwater is collected from every roof structure. We use it for washing clothes, dishes and showering. There is also an original underground collection tank which fills with wash off from the hills. We use this for watering other fruit trees. The farm is completely organic. We rely on the ancient terrace dry stone wall construction for natural irrigation.

Riba Rocks Olive Oil.

The finca was an abandoned olive farm when we discovered it in 2009. After many years of heavily pruning the trees and working to improve the land, we harvested our first olives to produce the Valley’s very own liquid gold, organic olive oil. What a treat it is! We now harvest the olive trees annually in early November to produce fresh olive oil each year, although the harvest is greater biannually. The olives are picked by hand without any mechanical means to protect the trees. We can our olive oil and offer it as a gift in return for a donation to the Riba Rocks not-for-profit Association.

Valley infrastructure.

With over 200 olive trees, which are now lightly pruned each winter, we have an abundance of fuel for heating in wood burning stoves. The ash bi-product is then stored for use on our wonderful water less compost toilets. The ash speeds up the composting process as well as completely neutralising any odours. The outdoor solar shower built by volunteers offers an amazing view of the landscape. Our large tipi shade structure is used for presentations and orienteering sessions. There are various accommodation options depending on the time of year. There is no light pollution here so the winter night skies are just incredible!

Volunteer projects.

Volunteer projects in the valley include: reconstructing dry stone terrace walls, renovation, gardening and improving soil, constructing and maintaining water less toilets, general farming, olive tree pruning, helping with art projects, preparing for music events, helping to organise artisan markets, supporting in the vegan kitchen, preserving and harvesting olives, and much more!

Workaway.

We have had the privilege of being Workaway hosts for many years. You can view our profile here. The workaway project is a wonderful opportunity for cultural, skill and language exchange. It continues to progress works here in The Valley with such energy and passion. We are so grateful to all our wonderful volunteers.

If you would like to visit The Valley, volunteer as part of our workaway exchange or offer your skills to our project, please contact us.