2015: A year of ‘firsts’ for Permaculture in Greece!

Tumultuous times? Permaculture power! Go green, Greece!

You may be hearing the worst about Greece, so here’s the best news: people are turning to permaculture!

All that abandoned land, all those forgotten properties: permaculture is providing appealing solutions that make returning to the land a desirable and delicious option. It’s the only thing that makes sense in a nonsensical world!

And in case you are wondering who I am, my name is Tina Lymberis and for the last 5 years, ever since my move from Australia to Greece, I’ve tuned into my permaculture passion: I’ve been organising and teaching seminars, sustaining a blog about permaculture with educational articles in greek (www.kangouro.gr), starting transition initiatives and now I’m about to launch Greece’s first permaculture guide in greek (earth user’s guide to permaculture, Rosemary Morrow).

As a self-proclaimed ambassador for permaculture, here are some of the permaculture ‘firsts’ I initiated so far this year:

• a weekend PDC in greek – it was the first time a PDC was taught in greek! I ran it over 4 weekends, 1/month for 4 months at Anna Mordechai’s space for children’s permaculture education at Τhe Garden in Vari. Lots of fabulous connections came out of it!

• an International Permaculture Day event on May 3rd in collaboration with Elena Gogou from Halandri Urban Farm in Athens. It was extremely successful on many levels, read why.

• permaculture picnic sessions in July in collaboration with Alexandros Kostis from Athens Healing Garden – with a focus on social & urban permaculture and transition.

• the first comprehensive permaculture guide in greek is due to be published 16 September 2015: ‘earth user’s guide to permaculture’ by Rosemary Morrow. I translated it and ran it as a Community Supported Publication in order to cover the self-publication costs – people simply pre-paid the book. So far, I’ve been successful in raising €4,000 out of the €5,000 needed!

• Rosemary Morrow is coming to Greece to teach a full PDC (27 Sep – 9 Oct), with an emphasis on the Mediterranean climate and dryland strategies. Co-organisers: Fotini and Kostas from Nea Guinea. It’s such an honour to co-teach with Rosemary and collaborate with great people working on great projects!

• a fundraising campaign to fund 15 Greeks to attend the PDC with Rosemary Morrow and myself!

This year is also the first year with so many permaculture courses: 3 full PDCs with teachers from overseas: Rod Everett & Mill Millichap at re-green, Peter Cow at Hopeland, Rosemary Morrow at Nea Guinea and other smaller introductory ones. I just spent 2 days spreading permaculture power at Free&Real.

I’m seeing more and more projects pop up under the banner of ‘permaculture’ and/or ‘natural farming’, more passionate people getting empowered and more people realising the power of collaboration. Once the book is out and the PDC is over, perhaps early next year, we will start looking into the legalities of setting up a permaculture association in Greece (let me know if you can help)! I’m personally very excited about what’s happening in Greece at the moment, because it forces people to see the truth: that we are ultimately responsible for our world and permaculture is a step in the dreamed direction!

Please help us reach our dreams, by reaching into your pocket and spotting us some of your surplus savings so that 15 greek people can attend Rosemary Morrow’s Permaculture Design Course in September 2015 and gain the necessary knowledge to re-green our over-grazed and over-burnt grounds! https://igg.me/at/fund-15-Greeks-Rowe-Morrow-PDC/x/9696950