Natural Farming Community building Cooperation between neighbours committed to peace
Begins
09 April 2017
Ends
19 April 2017
Place
Skala Ecovillage
The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new, Socrates
In these turbulent times, of rising fear, walls, refugee crisis and extreme reactions, people from Mediterranean countries and Middle East(with an emphasis on participants related to forest communities and ecological farms) come together, to learn, live and work, building a new future in the region, based on neighbourliness, communication and cooperation.
We will meet the land and nature and will celebrate the potential of the community, as people who wish to see this common area as a home to everyone.
A closer view to the workshop:
Natural farming: how to establish a vegetable garden, an orchard, how to grow grains and legumes. The Method of Clayballs as an answer to desertification. Establishment of dry land farms.
Sustainability: building a natural construction, how to make cheese, bread, yogurt, soap, how to dry vegetables and fruits. Medicinal plants for first aid.
Building community: documentaries, sharing circles, yoga, forum, celebration…
Cooperation and Intercultural communication between neighbours, committed to peace and the environment: documentaries, sharing circles…
We are coming together to:
- Work on the issue of peace in the region, the refugee question and the questions of neighbourly relations.
- Building Community and embracing diversity. Creating a strong community, needs to be based on respect of diversity, which leads to the stability and flexibility through harmony.
- Celebrating the gift of life and creating social bonds.
- Learning about Natural farming and Seeding for our present and future – Taking actions
- against desertification
Panos Manikis:
He was born in 1950. He studied agriculture but at the age of 30, after a serious illness, he gave up his carrier as an agriculturalist and went to Japan to learn about the Natural Farming Method, from Masanobu Fukuoka, the man who was inspired the philosophy of Natural Farming. He travelled with Fukuoka in Europe and Africa and 1989 he started creating his own natural farm, a small paradise near Edessa.
In 1998, together with Fukuoka they organized the largest ever seeding on Earth, sawing a hundreds tons of clayballs (seed pellets) over an area of 10.000 hectares. In 2009 together with Damian Colucci they organized a tour in Argentina, with many workshops from Patagonia up to Bolivia spreading the proposal for a sustainable life through natural farming. From that time onwards, he is working on spreading the idea of self-suffiency as an answer to the world economical and social crisis, organizing practical workshops, so that people can learn how to grow their own food and become self-sufficient. School vegetable gardens, urban vegetable gardens for unemployed people, large seedings for the revegetation of barren mountains and the School for Self-Sufficiency are the main activities of the Natural Farming Center, created in Klisochori in Edessa.
Skala Ecovillage is an attempt to form and accomplish an ecological friendly and collective way of living. We dream the Ecovillage as a vibrant and open social proposal which can replace the conventional structures of competition and fear with the constants of trust, solidarity and cooperation with ourselves and to life herself.
Currently, four adults and three children live permanently at Skala Ecovillage. At the same time, a wide network of friends and collectives, both in Greece and abroad, supports us in several ways.
Terms – Conditions and Information: This seminar is planned for about 30 participants from different countries: Greece, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Cyprus, Spain, Palestine, Bulgaria, Syria, Lebanon…
Language: English
Prices: Depending on your valuing and possibilities, recommended contribution between 200.- euro and 300.- euro. We want to offer this seminar in very low costs, because we want to support all the activists who really want to participate to have the possibility to do it. The finances cover the main costs as food and accommodation. Visits, transportation costs of excursions are not included. The specialists, group leaders and other SKALA members work voluntarily.
Booking and cancellation valid until 25.03.2017: Advance booking is wished. You can book by e- mail.
Accommodation: Guests in SKALA stay in dormitories or in large tents in the summer. When staying in the dormitories or tents, please bring a sleeping bag or blankets with you, as well as a towel biodegradable products, torch, notebook…
Food: The food is vegetarian, cooked in the community kitchen.
Children and Youth: Children are especially welcome at the summer gatherings. At other times we are unable to offer childcare. Course participants under the age of 18 need written permission from their parents or guardians.
Arrival: It is good to arrive the afternoon of the day before, so that we can begin in the morning of the 9th of April. We will end the seminar at the 19th at 3 pm.
Where can you find us?
Skala Ecovillage is located in southeast of Thessaloniki prefecture, Greece, in a relatively “unspoiled” region. You arrive in Thessaloniki by airline, bus, car, train, bicycle… From Thessaloniki you can take the regional bus to Zagliveri or you can come by car:
From Thessaloniki you take the old National Road of Thessaloniki – Kavala. You pass by Agios Vasileios and Vasiloudi and when you reach Gerakarou, you turn right on the traffic light towards Zagliveri. After several kilometres you pass by “Platanorama” cafe and after about 800 metres there is a sign that says “Faraggi Skalas” (meaning “Skala Canyon”). If you arrive at Zagliveri village that means that you have passed by and missed the sign.
At the sign you turn right on a dirt road. At the first junction (vertical dirt road) you continue straight and at the next junction “Y” you go right. After a while you meet two chapels. You drive on until you find on your right hand a metallic fake-door. This is the descending entrance to “Skala” estate (the beginning of the entrance is in a small forest). Welcome!
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