Written By Jillian & Sam
Welcome to Re-Green Permaculture Sanctuary! We will be your tour guides today around this wonderful community. (Feel free to follow along by referencing this map!)
As you can see, straight-forward, we have the sanctuary dogs (1). The biggest is Mocha, our gentle giant. The fluffiest is the elderly Lynda, she has the wiggliest butt this land has ever seen. Lastly, is the smaller Ellie, she may be medium in size, but she is giant in heart.
If you could somehow manage to tear your eyes away from them you will see Maya, the sanctuary’s resident donkey (2). Behind her house is the koi pond (3). During our first few days here, when the weather was on the sunnier side, this was a common place for people to hang around, with a book, some music or even a pillow. This same pond, was where Jack and Kyle (a Re-Green volunteer) went swimming in the freezing cold water. They had quite the crowd, but none as brave and willing to take the plunge. Past that is the house of our elderly neighbor who we delivered firewood to (4). Her house is affectionally called the “Cat Farm” as she is known in the feline community for having cat food out all the time.
Past the pond are the houses that we have been staying in (5). They are all equipped with nice fire places and heated mattresses. It’s both the perfect resting place after a long day, and the perfect hang spot for a nice game of BS. Definitely the most popular napping spot.
Passing the dogs again, we will travel to the other side of the permaculture sanctuary. This is where we have the dining hall, or “the hangout” (6). We have been lucky enough to be cooked three meals a day, and all that’s asked in return is that we wash our own dishes (7).
Some of us have also gotten the opportunity to help out in the kitchen! A kitchen day starts with two of us joining Kyle and Santos to feed either the chickens (8) or the pigs (9). From there we go on to travel through the many gardens with Gabi, picking the produce that Chef Bijean had requested for that days lunch. Rejoining Bijean, we help as sous chefs, chopping, seasoning and peeling our entirely organic and vegetarian menu.
Right outside the Hangout is some outdoor seating where we enjoyed many a lunch (10). The dogs would frequently join us for lunch, effectively begging for some scraps (we only gave them a little bit). This area is also the home of the outdoor pizza oven (11). At Re-Green, every Sunday night they throw a pizza party. This past Sunday saw five inches of snow and 40 handmade pizzas. With both our wool socks, and loud music on, we enjoyed pizza after pizza!
A little ways down a short path you would find the Maloka (12). A round building, created using entirely natural materials and permaculture building techniques, it’s used as a general gathering spot for our morning meetings, as well as any activity that took place once the snow started to fall.
Everyday at 4 o’clock, we would gather there for a drumming lesson. Lead by the local farmer and volunteer, Nikos. Over the course of five days, he helped us build a general foundation of the knowledge needed to participate in drumming circles, and on Sunday we performed the song we had been practicing for all of Re-Green. That quickly evolved into a music circle, with everyone involved. Shakers were passed out, tambourines too. William did the worm, we heard the songs “Crazy Frog” and “Seven Nation Army”. Very productive.
Stepping outside again, semi-between the Hangout and the Maloca is one of the main gardens (13). Some days we were here planting strawberries, other days we were shoveling Maya’s poop into what will eventually become compost (other ingredient of compost include: hay bales full of pee, used toilet paper and napkins, soggy cardboard, and leaves) (14). We spent lots of time searching for grubs to eventually feed to the chickens, and on the day of the Spring Equinox, we paraded around the garden with some instruments in an effort to wake up spring and push away the snow.
If you’re also planting strawberries or looking for grubs, and you look up towards the trees, if you’re lucky, you might spot a couple of us in a secret treehouse (15)! Located the day we got there, it quickly became a crowd favorite. Lots of us have spent a lot of time up there, napping, reading and chatting. Later in the week we found a second, overgrown platform higher up in the tree that has a wonderful view of “the edge”. “The Edge” refers to the cliff which this sanctuary is built on, standing on it you can see the Mediterranean Sea, the valley separating us from a national park, and panoramic views of snowy mountains (16).
