On Sunday morning, a pasta-making goddess, Elisa, came to Monestevole to teach us her ways. We started out by measuring the ingredients under her watchful eye: 2 kgs of strong flour, 21 eggs from the chickens on the farm, and a whole lot of love to make up for our lack of skill. We created … Continue reading Pasta: A Production
On Saturday, the whole group took a walk to the nearby olive mill, where we were able to see olive oil being made from the olives we helped to harvest. This mill serves the whole community, and people pay to use it in olive oil, which is then sold on site. Stacks of olive … Continue reading A Mill and a Half
Whilst staying at the Monestevole farm, we had the opportunity to meet actual ‘tribe’ members, Amy and Neil, TribeWanted board members. On Wednesday night, this entrepreneurial couple from England visited the farm to talk to us about one of their biggest dreams that, in 2002, became a reality. It all began in northern Mozambique in … Continue reading The Power of A Dream
Yesterday evening at 7:11 pm, we experienced the first of two earthquakes. We were having a pretty normal day when suddenly my dad ran into the room and asked if we had felt the earthquake. What!? There was an earthquake? I was so confused and I wondered why I had not felt it. I was … Continue reading The Earthquakes
Team Earth has been very busy today as they have been bustling around the greenhouse. They started off watering garden beds with a long hose. Next, they will create a new garden bed, such as this one below: They are spreading biodegradable plastic among the garden bed and then they will dig holes … Continue reading Preparing Garden Beds
All around the world, over 3000 farm animals are slaughtered per second. The world is eating more animals now than ever before, and a psychological disconnect has been made in between the taking of a life and the consumption of meat. When buying a chicken from the supermarket, few think of the 42-day long life … Continue reading 3000 Per Second
Just last night we were given the full lowdown on exactly how much we have been consuming as a group of 30 people. We were taken aback at the numbers. It turns out that each person is using more water daily than the average Italian who uses 150L/per … Continue reading Consumption Stats
Resilience noun 1.the ability to spring back into shape; elasticity 2.the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties On Earthbound, I often find myself in conversations about resilience; the resilience of people; the resilience of wildlife; and the resilience of agriculture. Whether it be on the island of Lesbos where refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and many … Continue reading Resilience
Panting and sweaty, I try my hardest to refrain from collapsing upon the ancient marble of the Propylaea, a great marble gateway. I've climbed the steps to the Acropolis, the centre of Athens, and it's tallest point. My cheek resting on the marble stair, I look up and see the great Parthenon towering before me. I can … Continue reading History Alive
Today, before kitchen duty, team water went to gather some stories from Monestevole. Meet Matilda the Pig: Matilda was born three and a half years ago. She was the runt of seven piglets and very tiny and frail. They believed she wouldn't survive so they took her into the house to care for her. At … Continue reading Saturday Stories from Monestevole, Italy: Matilda and Rose Hips
My favourite city in the world is Athens. I’ve had very little experience in cities, but so far, this is the one. Ironically, upon my arrival in Athens, I hated it. The bustling city was just not my thing. I’m from Canada and I could get lost in my backyard. I’m not very used to … Continue reading Loving the City
DAILY WORK IN OUR TEAMS: Olive Harvest: TEAM WATER is entertaining themselves with their funky rhymes while olives fall on their heads. They are determined to get at least 450 kilos, and it's lit according to one of their team members Ryan. We agreed yesterday that we need to step up our game for the olive harvesting and … Continue reading Monestevole, Italy: October 20
We haven’t exactly been looking at biofuels during our time in Greece, but after my first blog post about biogas in Bali and Pak Kyle’s (Green School’s Bio Bus founder) intrigue and love for all things biodiesel, I decided to do a little research on biodiesels in Greece. While the biodiesel scene here is a bit … Continue reading Grease in Greece
We are super excited to be going to press our olives into oil for the first time today after lunch. Until then, we are on our working hard on the farm this morning. Here is what we are up to: Olive Harvest: Olive harvest continues. Belle remarked "This is the heart of the olive … Continue reading Monestevole, Italy: October 19
DAILY WORK IN OUR TEAMS: Each day our work teams rotate around the farm duties in a four-day cycle. Olive Harvest: Today TEAM FIRE started the day with unloading animal feed and hay off a truck. They then continued with the task of harvesting olives using rakes and then piling the fruits of their conquest … Continue reading Monestevole, Italy: October 18
I am currently in the throws of exploring what it means to be human. Here on Earthbound, each day is like taking thick doses of reality, swallowed by the surrender to the world’s beauty. I find myself constantly swimming between the polarity of beauty and pain, joy, and despair. One moment I am running through … Continue reading The Bright Side of Being Human
DAILY WORK IN OUR TEAMS: Each day our work teams rotate around the farm duties in a four-day cycle. Olive Harvest: Today TEAM EARTH was on Olive harvest. They spread the nets under the trees, pruned the lower branches that suck energy from each tree and then use small rakes to pull the green and red … Continue reading Monestevole, Italy: October 17
We stood before a hill, a construction of survivors and of the ones that had their lives taken for the call of new start in a country that they have never been to, to a safe home. As we looked upon the view of orange, grey, red and baby yellow life jackets. The echo went … Continue reading A Mountain of Life
I had a vision. A vision of a little girl coming from Syria to live a new life here in Greece. She had hope. She saw the island, she was only about ten metres from the shore. She could do it. Couldn't she? The little girl jumped off the rubber boat into the water, excited … Continue reading Stepping Into Refugees’ Shoes
Imagine a big green rainforest full of life and nature. Now try to imagine being on a boat racing through the cold and cool river while looking at this amazing scenery. This is exactly what we did on the island of Sumatra in a small part called Ketambe. Now close your eyes and try to imagine … Continue reading The Adventures of Rafting
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