iris … like a rainbow

Iris unguicularis ssp cretensis, a winter flower
The name of this plant comes from the rainbow. Such are the colours of this flower and is various species.
it’s a perennial aromatic and medicinal plant with large blue-violet flowers containing white and yellow patterns. Well we never imagined the extent of medicinal uses of this magical plant : antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-cancer properties as well as it can be used to combat allergies, to suppress post-menopausal symptoms and cardiovascular therapies. And the list go on…
It blooms in winter and continues in spring in the colder regions

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kalamari?

Kalamari, extra terrestrials or… Amazing succulents!!!

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thank you Greece Is

Oh Sweet Greece. So beautiful, so colorful, so blue and gold, so nurturing, so diverse, lovely, blessed, wild and sweet, so big though so small!

Thank you Greece Is. It’s an honor to be featured in your latest edition.
This Saturday – Sunday (13-14/01) in The New York Times International Edition – Kathimerini English Edition available throughout Greece.
Or visit www.greece-is.com … we are featured in page 77.

 

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chimonanthus… winter sweet!

Guess what? This folk is called Chimonanthus. It’s a Greek word meaning the flower of winter.(χειμωνανθος) It’s also called winter sweet and the name says it all. In the winter landscape where you hardly see any flowers, this beautiful shrub blossoms and these very fragrant flowers appear. This is what the picture can’t tell. The amazing sweet fragrance around the plant that makes it a must for your patio. I took a look in my favourite source of information pfaf.org (plants for a future) to find out that the flowers are edible and perfect to flavour and scent our teas. But also there are a few medicinal uses such as antiphlogistic, antireumatic and sialagogue. Their essential oils are used to treat colds – how fitting with the nature of this plant to create flowers in the heart of winter. We could even use the flowers to make perfume. Winter Sweet!

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permaculture @ re-green

agriculture/natural building/herbs&medicines/yoga/healing

We really don’t like the potential of limitation when we need to use terminology to describe life changing events. We also try not to be dogmatic. Observation, new realizations, adaptations, re-designing, and of course mistakes are part of the game. Our intention is to be able to learn how to live harmoniously with the Earth and Spirit.

Unfortunately the disconnection of the modern human from nature is such that lets face it! We need a “manual” of how to stir a flowing happy and healthy life as an integral part of Nature. Through the path of Permaculture we get the motivation and inspiration to change our lives.

Coming from the fields of computer engineering and marketing with complete ignorance in this life style not knowing where to begin, we found in Permaculture a good point of start, the first steps leading to an advanced design for the future! Permaculture is the perfect package for modern man to be able to re-construct his life from scratch and the perfect content of education for children of today. It brings in all the components of the ecosystem, all the knowledge, the ancestral and the technological wisdom, the elements of the sun, the wind, the water and the earth, all the practical principles and spiritual ethics, all wrapped up empowering us to make a holistic approach to sustainable and regenerative living.

In 2011 was the turning point in our life when we attended the first ever Permacutlure Design Course (PDC) to be held in Greece. Ever since our life changed miraculously so we decided to honour this process and invite annually our precious teachers back to Greece to offer this invaluable knowledge of a hands on system!

In 2017 we felt we had accomplished the plan of 2011 and we organized our second PDC to design our dreams in Seliana, not only for the next era of Re-Green but also for the Community of Good Neighbours that had emerged meanwhile with new people who decided to make their home around Re-Green.

This process is dynamic and regenerative and the more we surrender to nature the more we understand that Re-Green is becoming an entity of its own, and we believe it will continue to flourish like a balanced ecosystem even after we are gone…

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Natural Building

Natural Building was introduced to us through Permaculture and is today one of our main sectors of activities. The abundance of natural local materials and our constant experimentation led today to the manifestation of beautiful, organic, useful, healthy, durable, nature friendly, essential buildings, constructions and installations.
We explored the passive heating of our buildings, the use of different natural materials and techniques, efficient heating stoves, natural air-conditioning, green roofs, natural insulation, earth and lime plastering techniques, natural paints and much more. As you walk around the paths in the garden you can find a fully operational outside kitchen area with rocket stoves and a wood oven, a reciprocal roof, all tadelakt plastered, the earth-bag built dog house, plastered with earth and covered with a green roof, a solar oven, a hand made dehydrator, natural bee hives, a hot tub, our precious Temazcal (steam house) and our spiritual hall “The Maloca” a 100 sq/meters octagon building, all built with local, natural, reused, recycled and healthy materials.
But this was just the beginning … today as the Community of Good Neighbors is slowly growing the challenge of transforming and renovating existing old buildings for new residents is already a part of our Natural Healthy Building life with 5 new homes under way…

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Yoga

Yoga, The Permaculture of Zone 0

One of the challenges of the life here at Re-Green is not to lose ourselves in the numerous, different tasks and levels of an autonomous life. Everyday necessary tasks like cooking, caring for the living beings of the farm, gardening, harvesting, building, hosting, chopping wood, running courses … and actively being out in the countryside until the sun sets, all this external practices may occupy completely the time one may allocate to look internally and care for his own wellbeing. In the beginning of the project there have been quite some times of physical exhaustion and symptoms of neglection of the body, the mind and the spirit.
Yoga came to counter balance the excesses of overworking and to offer as we say the “internal permaculture”. Caring for the earth begins with caring and nurturing oneself. Building awareness of where the body holds tension, practicing to release and connect to our internal infinite beauty became a fully appreciated everyday medicine. Awakening early in the morning to reach for the sun or restoring ourselves in the quietness of the dusk’s twilight oh yes…brought bliss, harmony, relief, centering and so much gratitude.
The resident Yoga teacher of Re-Green is Amber. She keeps the whole team in shape, uniting us in the everyday circle of Yoga, offering selfless service and walking her talk, tuning us to bring the sun or the moon out on the vast skies of our mountains. Amber speaks the language of the nature through her devoted practice of Yoga.

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News Post

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The Garden

We like to think of our land as a Garden. The peace and harmony of a fruitful Garden with the colors, the scents, the sounds, the yield, the taste, the waters running through…
The 6000 sq.meter land came into Re-Greens care in 2008, being naked with minimal diversity. The sad, abandoned and thirsty monoculture of pears in the previously pesticided and chemically fertilized land is today a living paradise on Earth. Wild nature is mixed with an orchard of a big variety of fruit trees, nut trees, climbers like vines and kiwis, herbs and berries, vegetables and flowers, nitrogen fixing bushes and trees, insect attracting plants and structures, ground cover and green manure. Each plant is chosen for the roles that it will play in this balanced ecosystem, whether for food, wildlife habitat, soil building, fertility improvement and much more. We like to think of it as our Garden of Eden, or as we were introduced to by permaculture, an Edible Forest Garden. How cool is THAT!

As we expose ourselves to the Permaculture, Homeodynamic and Biodynamic practices, experience comes along and different techniques and experiments are applied. Making Compost and Building Soil is today one of our main goals, trying constantly to nourish the land, give back, observe and interact.

We follow, a Fukuoka rehabilitation plan for the land of the archaeological excavations building soil back, we introduced a few animals and constantly try to nourish the land, give back, observe and interact.

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The Guest House

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