Page 18 - C.A.L.L. #22 - Fall 2003

Terra Mirim Foundation, Brazil

Terra Mirim is located in the Simoes Filho municipality, Bahia, in a lovely green area, where nature
reveals all its beauty. A lagoon, a river, fruit trees, a vegetable garden and a medicinal herb garden
are part of the landscape, where the visitors can feel peaceful and experience serene moments in
close contact with nature.

It was founded in 1992 and today Terra Mirim Foundation is an eco-spiritual non-profit entity
recognized as a Public Utility. It is a vocational and residential community linked to the international
Eco-Villages Network.

Integrative Ecology is its main focus – a vast ecological concept that encompasses the belief that
the cure for Planet Earth depends on human beings’ well-being at all levels, from the physical to the
spiritual one.

Terra Minim’s Environmental Preservation Program relies on participation of the whole community.
The Itamboata River that crosses the foundation was cleaned, thus facilitating the Pure Water
Projects. The program is trying to gather resources for expanding its scope of action: recovery of
the surrounding wood area, environmental friendly activities from the water spring to the mouth of
the river, as well as educational friendly activities with the neighboring community.

The Herb Garden, part of the Environment Project, cares for the region’s native herbs. Plants not
only feed, but also cure human beings, as part of their service to nature, to the Planet and to
mankind.

More than 5 thousand trees were planted around the lagoon, along the river banks and in many other
areas over the last two years, making the landscape even more beautiful; making it a most pleasant
place to take a stroll or to just relish the pleasure of being there.

Guests and visitors from all over the world come to Terra Mirim. They can stay in cottages or in
individual rooms, which are simple but cozy. They take part in the community’s routine: daily
meditation, sharing and being together, and the daily chores: namely cleaning, preparing food,
working in the vegetable garden… They also participate in the Study Groups, Workshops, and Art
Workshops supervised by the Foundation members.

At Mirim food is a special issue and therefore is prepared with great care. The pleasures of cooking,
the eating itself and the savoring of the flavors are all to be enjoyed. There are no special dietetic
regimen; here we simply do not eat any kind of meat, not for religious or health reasons, but simply
because we deeply love animals, and consider them our brothers and sisters.

Maria Helena Avena, from Terra Mirim Foundation, has been in correspondence with our very own Sol Etzioni. She
explains that today Terra Mirim Foundation has 35 adults and 10 children living on site as members of the
community. They also have about 50 volunteers who come to work helping the members, but don't actually live in the
community.

View their website at http://www.terramirim.org.br/ or contact them at hospedagem@terramrim.org.br

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