Permalokko Garden
Updated: Aug 8, 2021
Υπάρχει και Ελληνική έκδοση του κειμένου,
αλλάζοντας τη γλώσσα στα Ελληνικά (κουμπί στο τέλος της σελίδας)
Arriving to the island in September 2018 has a sense like arriving to the party after it has finished. The season is officially over, good or bad I don’t know, but the tourists are scarce.
Stats:
40°26'49.7"N 25°35'35.8"E
Island of North Aegean
178km2
1611m mountain called Saos
Approximately 2500 people (2011)
Maria, my long time friend and mentor, came to the harbour to welcome me.
Maria is a true fighter for a better future. She is a spiritual traveller, hard worker and always ends up with too many to dos. I want to call her a Doer with an untrained self control. I love her deeply. Maria and Dora live in Chora and attend to a little piece of land near Sotiros Tavern, called Permalokko Garden.
I met Dora through Maria and immediately realised we were going to be long term friends. She is a character that speaks the truth, good or bad, enjoys the simplicity of life and has the gift of making things cozy. She is a carer and a master chef.
In the Garden, I met Jules. The first official workaway volunteer. Jules is a fantastic human with a vision and a strong will. He never stops and makes visions reality. In a small amount of time he transformed a neglected garden to an oasis, giving us the initiative to do our best.
We worked hard to make some things happen, like ground preparation for spring cultivation, stairs, doors, beds, terraces and a lot of mulching. We worked under the moto that nothing goes to waste. Each day we gathered fallen leaves from the village square or streets that otherwise would go to the trash and transferred them in big bags to the garden.
I will never forget having those night conversations with Jules about life and our experiences so far. We found common ground and inspired each other. These conversations, as I have learned on the way, are very important to keep a high morale. It’s like an affirmation “yes, my friend, we are on a good path”, like a pat on the shoulder.
It was from those conversations that I heard for the first time the term permaculture and what it represents. Got marvellous tips about books to read, like “1978 Fukuoka-The One Straw Revolution” or the bible of western permaculturism “1988 Mollison- Permaculture, A Designers’ Manual”. I saw documentaries that stunned and awoken the rebel in me. Every day that passed confirmed my rising appetite to do the best I could for the sake of mother earth.
After a little while, Charleene, Jule’s girlfriend, joined our team and we became an unbeatable pack. Whenever I think of Charleene I have and image of her humming a song or doing a little dance. Together with Maria & Dora we gathered walnuts, cooked inspiring food, we went on excursions to distant shores and we bonded a lot.
Some Videos from
The Permalokko Garden, YouTube Channel
The time flew and got to the point of goodbye. I continued to visit the island and help the girls with the garden and Jules & Charleen continued their travels on bicycle, towards the asian countries.
I hope one day we meet again.
This is an interactive part of the post, please put the song to play on the background and continue to read.
One of the most memorable experiences I had in Samothraki was an overnight stay in Kipos beach.
A place that looks like Mars, completely by myself.
I arrived late afternoon, watched the sunset in all its glory, watched the stars iMAX, slept in the van with a bat, we woke up in the morning and got out, walked to the shore, took all my clothes off, the sun rose and I entered the sea. The moment before I went in, flisvos was giving a recital and the sea could not have been more calm. In greek we call it “oil”.
What can I say, it was a blessed moment.
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