Rovies, Euboea

 

We are stopping off at Giorgos Vallis’ place, in the northern of Euboea island. 2Km from the sea, right at the foot of a pine-forested mountain, just above a river. The site boasts ideal situation that has been known-of for a while since under ottoman occupation it was already being used by the Turcs who installed a water mill. Hence the name “Paliomylos”, Old Water Mill”.

 

The land consists of 8 hectares of organic olive grove, that Girgos would like to improve by planting a wide variety of fruit trees, using “green” fertilizer (clover, mustard…) and easy to maintain vegetables (rocket, broad beans…). The purpose behind all this being to replace the mono-culture by some kind of nutritious forest. You can already find some mushrooms, fruits and wild edibles scattered on the land.

 

Giorgos has been living here for little more than a year. He chose to give up his job abroad to devote his time to this familial land he’d like to turn into an eco-site. The goal is to make the land into an inclusive, self-sustainable haven, so the work is plentiful and projects can vary a lot. Creating a vegetable-garden was a priority from the start. 700M² of land are being worked on with permaculture principles, plenty of vegetables, flowers and herbs are growing everywhere. After that, they built dry toilets, an outside shower, cold frames for the seedling, they planted several dozen trees and crafter djembes, among other things...

 

During our stay, we got involved with the current project: a straw and clay workshop right next to the house. There are several proven methods for straw building, but Giorgos decided nonetheless to improvise, to try, to learn. The “straw brick” techniques : the straw is being mixed with a sifted clay paste, shoved into molds et dried for several days before the bricks are ready to use. The walls are build using a dirt-based mortar and both sides are covered in cob.

 

When we arrived, the foundation for the workshop were up, the base walls were built, the wooden structure erected and the roof was in place. Impressive, since the project had only been started a few month earlier.

To craft straw bricks is a multiple step process, quite tedious, requiring a lot of hands! We got lucky! The collective energy creates a dynamic and we tackle this challenge willingly!

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In 2 days, we made about 20 bricks, 1/10 of the quantity needed for the whole building. The picture below was taken bout a month after our visit. This building looks more like a charming and tiny house than a workshop with its many windows and mezzanine!