Grecia
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This permaculture garden is located in a quiet leafy village on Samothrace Island in Greece.
The smallholding is a free and open minded place, run by Evan, a gay man, originally from South Africa.
The place is very quiet, with a calm atmosphere. Do not expect city comfort levels, this is a remote island. There is a hot shower, and a fully functional.kitchen, but the place is definitely rustic. From October the rainy season starts, and the wind begins to blow.
The diet here is simple, and includes lots of greens, beans and local organic goat and sheep meat and homemade slow fermented bread and food that has been preserved. What you eat, however, is up to you, but we do cook and eat together. Evan is often on a keto diet.
Natural music (guitar, instruments and voice) is okay, with occasional music on the loudspeaker; not all day long.
The homestead uses solar and wind power, and uses electric and manual vehicles and machinery; no fossil fuel machines are used.
There are vegetable gardens, and a growing collection of fruit and nut trees. The garden project only really took off after the traditional aqueduct from the mountain river was (finally) repaired by Evan and his friends during the winter of 2020, giving a supply of water for the garden through the summer..
The goal is to achieve a high degree of self sufficiency, with recycling and rescue of materials found round the island for reuse. Food gathering includes local foraging for wild foods (fruits, nuts, and leaf vegetables) and medicinal plants.
No food is produced for sale; the aim is to be self sufficient with basic foods, and produce a small surplus if possible, for sharing with friends and neighbours.
In September 2021 we started with our first chickens: one rooster and six hens.
Work on site includes gardening, food gathering and preservation, wood collection all year, sawing wood, chopping wood, stacking wood, seagrass collection at the beach (for soil building), helping build stuff like ponds and water channels, and various odds and ends involved in running a self sufficient life. There is also an old ruined Byzantine church, just a pile of rocks and marbles, that I would be keen for someone to help me to make into a beautiful spot to relax under the trees.
I ask for 3 hours a day; more if you want to, but that's up to you. There is a lot of work to do here, so if you like keeping busy there is a never ending list of things to do. We mostly only eat what we grow or forage from the surroundings, apart from a few selected items I buy (flour, cheese, olive oil, tahini, cocoa and coffee mainly, but even some of this comes from barter and exchange): in summer big juicy salads, and large pots of stew all winter. You won't go hungry. Fresh produce is seasonal.
Práctica de idiomas
Ayuda en proyectos ecológicos
Jardinería
Proyectos de construcción y bricolaje
Cuidado de animales
Ayuda en una granja
Cocinar para toda la familia
Ayuda doméstica
Mantenimiento general
You will see an example of a functioning sustainable homestead being built, and if you wish, might think about becoming a part of it for a longer time, as Evan is looking to build a small community of like minded people centred around his house and his land.
You will meet the local farmers in the village, as we are nurturing a community and a sharing economy which is being actively encouraged; You will learn a lot from Evan about the local wild plants, and foraging and wild edibles and medicinal herbs.
Evan is interested in the lifestyle and ethos of wild and indigenous peoples, and also the ancient Greeks, and their philosophers. You will learn about and get to experience aspects of this open minded philosophy of life implemented in practical terms.
Three hours help a day, more if you feel like it, but that's up to you.
Length of stay? This is flexible, so if you want to stay longer than your agreed dates, just ask.
Ongoing projects: regular walks up the aqueduct to the source in the river to clear it of debris (and to have a swim - even in winter). Also an ongoing repair and maintenance project to fix it, repair small cracks and damage with cement etc on an ongoing basis. This means sometimes taking small amounts of mortar up the hill, and carrying it up to the aqueduct in a barrow, or in some places by hand in a bucket. Most of the aqueduct was fixed after a long project this winter, but it still needs more work, as it was not maintained properly for the previous 30 years.
Gardening: weeding, planting, digging, harvesting, maintaining the water channels in the garden, and preparing more channels and garden beds, moving the water around.
Clearing brambles to extend the planted areas. Maintaining the fences to keep the goats out. (important!)
Food gathering and preservation. Canning/bottling.
Looking after the chickens.
Building things like shelves. This year help is needed setting up the food storage pantry in the basement of the old stone house, and additional food storage shelves in the kitchen. Right now the pantry basement room has no shelving, only a fridge and chest freezer.
Helping build a natural cold pools for water management and storage (that can also be used for cooling off on hot days).
Help in the kitchen, sourdough bread making and daily baking, communal cooking, and cleaning the communal areas of the house.
Helping design and build a small wood heated sauna using waste and scavenged wood.
Helping design and build a composting toilet for humanure for the trees (not for the vegetables).
Helping clean and restore the area around the ruined Byzantine church that is on my land.
Other projects you might suggest after you see the place can be discussed.
Wood gathering. Wood cutting. Wood chopping. Wood stacking. (ongoing all year, but more intense in autumn and winter)
Help building/extending the outside kitchen areas, and the area around the outside oven.
Building and/or repairing drystone walls, and building a wood shed.
Idiomas hablados
Inglés: Fluido
Latin: Fluido
Francés: Intermedio
Hebrew: Intermedio
Este anfitrión ofrece intercambio de idiomas
I am slowly learning ancient Akkadian, and expanding my knowledge of Modern Greek (I am still not speaking it properly). I produce audio language courses, and might ask you to work with me in your native language, to make some audio recordings -I am very interested in nineteenth century language teaching methodologies, and their adaptation to modern technologies, especially the methods of Prendergast and Manesca.
SLEEPING:
A. One shared room in an old rustic traditional Samothraki one room house, with two double futons available.
B. A second shared room with two beds, in a marble floored room on the ground floor of the old house. (This room has our fridge and freezer in it as well, as it is the coolest room we have. It only has a door, which also functions as a window.)
C. The ground floor of the new house extension now has a completed roof and this new space will be used for sleeping. This will become the shared sleeping space for winter once it is finished.
D. There are also two outside single beds for hot summer nights. and plenty of space to pitch a tent if you prefer that, or these could be moved into space B or C.
Evan has a separate room available for himself.
LIBRARY:
There is a study/library (currently Evan sleeps here, but will be moving to a different room once the house extension is completed)
BATHROOM
The bathroom doesn't have a door. We go together up to the river most days to bathe and relax. Evan swims nude in the river all year round. One project is to build an open air humanure/composting toilet - the site has been picked, and it has an amazing view of the mountain - the next step is to construct it.
KITCHEN:
There is a large functional shared kitchen.
We have a small outside wood stove and a large traditional bread oven (wood fired) for baking bread and pizzas. The electric stove is only used during daytime during summer, as at night the system runs on batteries; enough power for the fridge and freezer and small things, but not for the electric cooker. This is why the electric stove and the washing machine can only be used during sunlight hours.
In autumn and winter we use the indoor wood stove to cook on and heat the kitchen - this is the only room in the house that is currently heated during the winter.
There is a lot of electrical power in summer: from November to February we have much less electrical power: this winter will be the first with a new wind turbine, so hopefully there will not be many days without full power during these two months this year.
The upside of being off grid on the island, is that the homestead does not suffer from power surges in the local electric grid, so your electrical equipment is always safe, and during the frequent power outages once the autumn winds start up or the snows begin there is almost always some power at the house.
About the area: The beach is 5 minutes stroll down the hill; and the icy cold river in the forest is about 15 minutes walk up the hill. Therma with its hot springs and tavernas is around 40mins walk away: There is a bus stop at the bottom of the hill with frequent buses in the summer season, only a couple of buses a day off season. There are two tavernas in the village, ( but no shops.) These are only open during the tourist season, which is over by the end of October..
The homestead is a free and open minded place: during the summer the house and garden are surrounded by big leafy trees, creating a private green sheltered oasis.
Keywords: sustainable , off-grid , beach, sea, mountain, river, garden, permaculture, nude swimming, nudity,self sufficient, radical faerie, ,LGBTQ,, community, autarky
Acceso a Internet
Acceso a Internet limitado
Tenemos animales
Somos fumadores
Puede alojar familias
Wifi connection is via my mobile phone hotspot, so is not always available, and is not to be used for heavily data intensive things like downloading movies. Liza's taverna ( Asprovolta) at the bottom of the hill next to the beach has free wifi (5 mins walk down the hill); I sometimes go down there to chill with my laptop and drink a tzipouro.
Más de dos
3 hours a day
Son opciones de calificación adicionales para cuando los miembros dejan sus comentarios. Se muestra la calificación media dejada en cada opción.
Precisión del perfil:
(4.8)
Intercambio cultural:
(5.0)
Comunicación:
(4.7)
