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The North Tour, North Greece

March&April 2020

#The concept

Before the COVID issue, that led to the lockdown, the plan was, in March and April, to bring food forests to projects and community places in the north of Greece, raising awareness and spreading knowledge about the potential of regenerating ecosystems while producing healthy food.
Since the projects had fully prepared themselves for the food forest, some had ordered already the plants, we had made the design/setup of the food forest with them, there was no reason why they should not still plant, with our guidance where necessary.

One big aim of the tour was to
#unify with people and projects from all over Greece and abroad. Strengthening the network of people and projects that actively contribute to building a better today and tomorrow, that are not afraid to seek new ways and have a bold vision for the future and that put their words to action!

Food forests mimic natural forests but consisting primary of plants that provide food. Mimicking the forest has the benefit of having an autonomous system that doesn't depend on inputs from outside, it creates soil and provides habitat and thus contributes to biodiversity in plants, insects and small animals besides a lot of other services.

Full info about the North Tour

Agroforestry conversion, Alentejo, Portugal

6-8.2.2020

The conversion of this orange grove in the land of Pedro, who was one of our participants in the PDC "Permahabitat" that was co-funded by the European union, is showing a great example of agroforestry in midst of monoculture olive groves in Alentejo and therefore shows a mimicable example of agroforestry in a productive setting. It was only the first step of converting his whole land which is mostly olive grove into agroforestry system. 25 people mostly from the local area came, that themselves have land and younger people that are involved in the student initiative on permaculture of the university of Lisbon. This event exposed not only the participants to a large scale land conversion, it showed them further the power of community and the principle of inclusion. Moreover the visitors of the guesthouse that come 50% from Portugal and 50% from all over the world, will see an exemplary agroforestry regenerative farming system, and they will be able to buy the products of this farm and bring it back into their communities, spreading the word about regenerative farming and consumption of those products as an alternative. Further it gives all visitors an entry point into the ecological community of Portugal and Greece, through the involvement of our project.

Aim

Regenerate the eco-system, Biodiversity, create an exemplary agroforestry system to inspire the agricultural surrounding, share knowledge and skills, contribute to the food sovereignty of the project

Impact:

700 Trees and shrubs planted, 100 seeds planted, 400 m2 of soil mulched and seeded with edible plants, 30 people inspired + all the following visitors

Follow Critical Concrete on their social media

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Urban micro food forest, Porto, Portugal

10.1.2020

integrate food forests into our #urban environment. #Reoccupying spaces that are abandoned, turning them into food producing, recreational oases, that #mimic the forests and add to our food sovereignty, lowering the #carbonfootprint of our food and giving us the chance to connect with nature.
#Urbanfoodforests can #recreate #communities, that have been lost in our urban environment. And the effects on kids, seeing where their food comes from is tremendous. The project of Critical Concrete caught our attention, since it works on methods of renovating already existing buildings by using ecological materials, like mycelium insulation, while giving young people the chance to complement their theoretical knowledge with practical skills and having a social impact with their work.

The small urban food forest that we planted there introduced the team of critical concrete to the basics and principles of urban food forests and will now be integrated into their professional work with possible future collaborations between our organizations. Further this collaboration connects the community of sustainable building, architecture and urban designers with the ecological movement in portugal.

Aim

Build an exemplary urban micro food forest, merge architecture with food forest, share knowledge and skills, contribute to the food sovereignty of the project

Impact:

30 Trees and shrubs planted, 100 seeds planted, winter vegetable garden planted, 15 m2 of soil mulched and seeded with edible plants, 15 people inspired + all the following visitors

Regeneration event, Loutraki

1-3.11.2019

In the beautiful project Eutopia, which is on the land of a former sand mine, we implemented a broad variety of soil regenerating techniques. Earthworks were necessary to stop the erosion, seeding and mulching were helpful tools that now have made the place greener then before. The event welcomed around 20 participants, that got introduced to these techniques and implemented with us the works.

Aim

Regenerate the eco system, build an exemplary regeneration demonstation site, share knowledge and skills

Impact:

20 Seedlings planted, 10 000 seeds planted, 6 swales, 1 diversion drain, 4 check dams, 300 m2 of soil mulched and seeded with edible plants, 20 people inspired + all the following visitors

Food forest, Epidavros

10.11.2019

Support of this early stage project, that will welcome artists, health oriented urbaners, that want to transition to a rural life, producing their own food and re-connecting with nature. In this free and open event, we shared the basics of Permaculture, soil regeneration, planting and food forest with the participants. Some of whom planted for the first time in their life.

Aim

Regenerate the land, create an exemplary edible small scale food forest. contribute to the food sovereignty of the project, share knowledge and skills

Impact:

10 Seedlings planted, 300 seeds planted, winter vegetable garden seeded, 100 m2 of soil mulched and seeded with edible plants, 20 people inspired + all the following visitors

Food forest, Megalopoli

22-24.11.2019

Planting a food forest in a beautiful property in the center of Megalopolis, is setting a bold green sign for how we as citizens imagine our future. Megalopoli, due to the electric company and the coal mine there is usually rather in the minds of people as a not very green-minded place. A reality which some of the cititzens refuse to accept. Further as being in the center of peloponnese, it has a strategic geographic position, many people pass by, stay there for one night, so having a food forest in this place offer the chance for a lot of exposure to the broader community. For coming autumn we have planned to implement a big food forest in land that belongs to this organization, at the entrance to the city from the north side, being visible from the road. Further we were invited and visited land of local habitants of Megalopoli to examine whether their land is suitable for a food forest. More collaborations are to be expected.

Aim

Create an exemplary edible food forest. contribute to the food sovereignty of the project, share knowledge and skills, give a green signal to the city

Impact:

120 Trees planted, 300 seeds planted, winter vegetable garden seeded, 100 m2 of soil mulched and seeded with edible plants, 30 people inspired + all the following visitors

Permaculture Design Course, Southern Lights farm, Greece

23.9 - 12.10.2019

Thanks to the PermaHabitat training course, the participants will get the opportunity to broaden their knowledge of permaculture, agroforestry and regenerative agriculture and further develop a range of professional skills including permaculture design, facilitation, mediation, communication, and other interpersonal skills relevant to their profession. Besides, the course will contribute to their personal growth and self-fulfilment, a major source of motivation for their day-to-day work. Additionally, the course will enable the organizations the participants are involved in (including the project’s partner organizations) to enhance the educational services they provide (including their citizenship and sustainability education activities) and their support services for young people, people with fewer opportunities and people developing a new activity/project. They will also get a chance to structure their partnerships and to broaden their network, both locally and across Europe.
People taking part in the activities of those organizations will also benefit from the training course, especially the aforementioned groups. Indeed, by improving the competence of the social workers supporting them, the course will help ease the professional integration of young people and vulnerable groups, encourage them to take part in social projects and get new innovative and sustainable projects to emerge.
After the pedagogical and methodological results of the course have gradually been presented to other youth and social organizations (thanks to several dissemination activities locally, regionally, nationally and abroad, both in-person and online), we can expect its positive effects to increase accordingly. Added up, these should have a beneficial impact on social cohesion, community living,
sustainable development and a flourishing network of permaculture, agroforestry and regenerative farming organizations. Making sure the teachings of the course regarding permaculture and youth work are widely shared will also benefit the general public longing for inspiration and practical
solutions, as well as contribute to the achievement of the global sustainable goals relative to the fight against climate change and health & wellbeing.
This was an Erasmus+ action and co-funded by the European Union

Aim

Train active change makers in Permaculture design skills, connect changemakers, strenghten the network and the movement

Impact:

30 Trees planted, 3000 seeds planted, winter vegetable garden seeded, 200 m2 of soil mulched, 50 people inspired + all the following visitors

Follow School without frontiers on their social media

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Worldschooling autumnomy - sChOlus pOcus!, Southern Lights farm, Greece

2.10.2019

Experience sharing between PermaHabitat training course and alternative education models. The merge of two communities, the worldschooling community with the regenerative farming/permaculture community in Greece. Besides the importance of collaborating across networks this shared day gave the opportunity to the participants of the course to get in contact with the philosophy and methodology of AGILE learning, a 21st century response to education empowering people and pupils to be creative, resilient and to flourish in a very different world than the one we’ve known - one for which traditional schooling is no longer adapted to. The event equally offered the opportunity to the participants of the Worldschooling course to get an introduction to the world of Permaculture in a functioning food forest, an exemplemanry eco-system on farm scale. Across collaborations emerged out of that, like for example are we planning to implement a food forest in the eco-hub that is emerging in the land of one of the participants of the worldschooling course in collaboration with some other participants of our course.

Aim

Exchange of practices and knowledge between our Erasmus+ course group and the worldschooling participants, uniting two movements

Impact:

55 participants inspired of which 7 were kids

Agroyoga, Southern Lights farm, Greece

19.6.-29.6.2019

30 participants, 5 countries, 11 days; The main objective of Agroyoga – Permaculture and Body Awareness - work mobility project is to promote the acquisition of practical skills and theoretical knowledge in the fields of permaculture and body movement in order to increase participants’ personal competences and professional opportunities in the field of sustainable practices.
This was an Erasmus+ action and co-funded by the European Union

Aim

Train active change makers in Permaculture design skills, connect changemakers, strenghten the network and the movement

Impact:

60 Trees planted, 2000 seeds planted, 400 m2 of soil mulched, 45 people inspired + all the following visitors

Permaculture and Food Forest workshop, Southern Lights farm, Greece

19-23.4.2019

In this course the Participants learned the basics of Permaculture and food forest while we did an important upgrade to our system. We implemented 25 new plant species in our system, mostly semi-tropical species. Further we experimented with reforestation techniques in one of our lands that has eroded soil due to overgrazing of animals of local sheperds.

Aim

Train active change makers in Permaculture design skills, connect changemakers, upgrade our agroforestry system

Impact:

300 Trees planted, 500 seeds planted, 400 m2 of soil mulched, 20 people inspired + all the following visitors

Full info, content and pictures on event ->

Speech about consumer choices and regeneration impact, Vegan Life Festival, Thessaloniki, Greece

14.4.2019

This speech by Sheila Darmos is about the reality of farming today in Greece, and how the reality of farming could look like if the consumers support the right farming practices. It is about the importance of knowing ones food producer in person and the potential regenerative farming has to restore soil health. The concept of food forests is explained and an insight into the 34 years organic farm of pioneer, organic farmer and social business man Stavros Darmos is given, which is now in its transition to an agroforestry system aka food forest aka syntropic farming.
Emphasis is given to the message that everyone can grow its own food forest and accoplish food sovernty, that one doesn´t need special skills or a degree, but that planting and growing ones food is of the simplest and most basic things every human should be familiar with.

Aim

Raising awareness and reaching out to people outside of the movement

Impact:

around 100 listened to the speech on spot while the video was shared throughout the internet

Regenerative Agriculture and Food Forest Farming, Southern Lights farm, Greece

23.11-2.12.2018

This workshop aimed to train people in Permaculture knowledge, teach the basics of Food forest, and share techniques of managing an agroforestry system. In this 10 day course we had a lot of practical implementation and did an important step in the conversion of our system into an agroforesty system.

Aim

Train active change makers in Permaculture design skills, connect changemakers, upgrade our agroforestry system

Impact:

300 Trees planted, 500 seeds planted, 400 m2 of soil mulched, 20 people inspired + all the following visitors