Until recently, my first association with permaculture was with the design of difficult terrains, syntropic farms or simply gardens modeled after Nature. During my stay at Cob in Nessonas, Greece however, I created a new definition for myself: Permaculture teaches us how to restore the harmony within ourselves, among people we are in contact with, between us and Nature, between us and the future.
During my stay there slowly (well, slowly in comparison to the pace everything happens there) a whole new dimension came into play for me, the human one. Not the one of the humans, making impressive earthworks or syntropic forests, these I already admired. It was rather the realization that we need to redesign our inner space and our common inner spaces in a permacultural way in order to make our landscape designs work as intended. In the end the abstract “People care” “Earth care” and “Fair share” ethical principles of Permaculture acquired a real meaning for me.
Of course, there are many people around, who try and succeed to implement them in their everyday lives. What I saw for the first time, however, was how a community of people were implementing it. And I saw it not in one, but in two very different communities.
One of these communities was formed by the people, living and running Cob and the PDC course. With incredible dedication, openness, curiosity, hard work, love and care they create a truly “Living in Permaculture” environment. It is like a glimpse in an almost utopian future, an island of dreams in the raging ocean of modernity.
The dream island pays the full price of being in a world flooded by crisis wave after crisis wave – in terms of required energy to keep it going and due to the refusal to contribute in any way to consumerism. It helped me realize how difficult the road ahead is if we want these islets to grow to the point of forming at least one continent. But there I also saw how far is this community on their way, despite the obstacles from the environment, not ready yet for their ideas, and this gives me a lot of hope.
And, of course, there is also a very light and joyful side – so much fun, laugh, dance, singing, joking, friendship. This place just attracts such wonderful people and I am smiling, while I am thinking and writing about these unforgettable days together. A play, called “21” we played once, also taught me that we are able to feel and harmonize the group energy, a new thing from another new dimension for me (thank you, Simone!). I would like to see children in every school playing it and connecting with each other in a much more authentic way.
My other “Living in Permaculture ” community experience was in the monastery “Saint John ” near the village Anatoli, where people from Cob took us one day. This was absolutely unorthodox, unexpected, unconventional. About 30 nuns, living high in the mountain, almost self sufficient, running а bio-farm, small dairy production unit, distillery and a small shop, taking part in the seed saving and exchange movement, using solar energy, reusing gray water, driving electric car, renovating and repairing buildings and installations by themself. They don’t receive financial aid from the official church institutions, but with creativity, superefficient organization and very hard work everything there works just perfect. The base of their relationships are trust and love, they have an amazing sense of humor and are very open minded, pray for the world, while making their cheese, welcome their guests heartily and ask for forgiveness every evening before they go to sleep.
The combination of spirituality and innovativeness in the monastery is striking. It reminds us that communities, living according to the Permaculture ethics, can be found in unusual places. We just need to keep our eyes – and minds – open, in order to find them and connect with them. Because only when we connect with each other and stay connected, this wonder 1+1>2 can happen and the isolated islets will form the dream continent.
Thank you, Green school village, Cob Greece and Erasmus + program for the opportunity to have such a wonderful experience!
