The village of Makrinitsa has a long history of one of the richest in Central Greece.

 

Looking down the spectacular view is a rare place that achieved so much real growth in so little time. This is the example of 3d Natural Gardens.

 

Just a year ago two people with deep knowledge of Natural farming decided to start a project that in due time could be one of the most useful in the Greek ecosystem of sustainability. Based on their concept of 3d gardens that one could eat, from them, they are pursuing their purpose of providing other projects with small trees nurtured according to their method from seed to small trees almost ready for gentle harvest.

 

One of the biggest problems when starting an aspirant sustainable project from scratch, is that you have to wait at least 5-10 years for fruits-trees to actually bear fruits. This period of time is quite long and as fruits are considered one of the major aspects in nutrition value could become quite challenging.

 

Dionisis who was a renowned chemist with studies in UK and Pepi for whom you could say that she can speak to plants, started their project with almost nothing in their pockets. The two things they had in their advantage was a house with some acres of available space close to a beautiful forest at the village of Makrinitsa and their deep cultivated knowledge gathered from years of observation and practice in Natural Farming.

 

Natural Farming is a concept both in agriculture and philosophy elaborated by the Japanese Masanobu Fukuoka at his book One straw revolution as well as in practice and further explored by his Greek apprentice Panagiotis Manikis. Its first and only rule is often quoted as “Do Nothing” but in practical terms could be “Do the less you can”

Taking as granted that humans cannot know better in cultivation than the earth itself a natural farmer acts more like a caretaker. You spread seeds in the widest variety available and leave nature do what it does best, selecting what will grow and what will fail.

 

Compared to traditional, chemical agriculture, as well as at other variants this approach seems to have lots of advantages in energy used as most of the tools of trade for a farmer are not needed. This gives a big economic boost in an age where most of them are up to their necks in debts, but on the other hand it is very time consuming when someone compares it to traditional standards.

 

But one have to consider that traditional standards in agriculture have brought as many problems as they tried, and sometimes manage, to solve such as land corrosion and poisoning from fertilizers and pesticides. Natural farming on the other hand focuses on cultivating a clean and rich soil and instead of the quantity of plants produced, at their variety and quality.

 

In those days passed since moving at Makrinitsa Dionisis and Pepi have managed to transform their little fields at an astonishing pace for natural farming, they produce almost 100% of what they need, coffee and sugar excluded, and that’s even more amazing if one considers that they started without a penny in their pockets and had to provide food as soon as possible but instead with a real treasure in seeds and experiences.

Fast growing big leaf vegetables as well as gathering wild food from the nearby forest was the their first deed and they managed to secure their needed calories fast enough as both of them are vegetarians.

 

Nowadays Makrinitsa stands as an expensive tourist attraction and most of the locals have withdrawn from their fields for more than 2 decades. This is a real treasure for people as Dionisis and Pepy who managed to get some extra ground to experiment even for free as well as the easy gathering of fruits from the long neglected trees that have almost returned at semi-wild status. The forest next door provides mushrooms and wild plants and herbs for those who know where to look.

 

And observing after all is the main core concept of natural farming.

 

 

" One of the biggest problems when starting an aspirant sustainable project from scratch, is that you have to wait at least 5-10 years for fruits-trees to actually bear fruits. This period of time is quite long and as fruits are considered one of the major aspects in nutrition value could become quite challenging."