Are you looking for a more sustainable lifestyle?
If you want to reduce waste and create a productive ecosystem, you are in the right place.
This is not just another permaculture website that will talk about ethics and lead you along prescribed pathways pointing out principles in practice. This is the website of a family home that is feeling its way toward a more sustainable, resilient, and restorative lifestyle. We share the lessons we have learned and the insights we have gained with you, our fellow travellers.
Not everyone’s ambitions align, and off-grid yurt life is not for all. But there are smaller, less extreme ways to redress the imbalance threatening our environment and our future. In this small, quiet corner of Paphos we are exploring some of them in our workshops and tours. Why not join us for the adventure?
The land...
Our family land just outside the small village of Nikokleia, not far from southwest Cyprus town of Paphos, has been certified organic since 2006.
A small enterprise with a focus on agriculture and sustainability, Paphos Green Goddess is a child of the Naughties. With a nucleus of mature mango, olive, and avocado trees as well as over 1,000 vines for wine production, the estate also includes passive and active rainwater harvesting, different composting systems, vermiculture, and poultry. Examples of companion planting and medicinal herb and flower cultivation can be seen alongside an array of kitchen garden staples. Biodiversity is encouraged with a bee hotel, water stations for insects, and natural habitat for snakes and lizards.
The garden...
In the garden much of the magic happens. Here the focus is on growing seasonal vegetables in as sustainable manner as possible using no-till methods and harvesting rainwater to keep irrigation to a minimum. There are three garden/orchard spaces, planted with a variety of local and other trees which give cover to birds and wildlife as well as providing shade for the flowers, herbs, and plants that grow beneath them.
The field...
The field is our commercial production area with a range of perennial trees and vines that we harvest throughout the year. The New Year sees the start of the avocado harvest, and spring heralds a burst of activities as the different varieties of wine grapes begin to sprout. The grapes are picked and the wine is made during July and August — sometimes even into September, thus overlapping with the mango season, which runs from mid-August into October. The year closes with the olives: first the table olives which ripen at the end of October. The last weekend in November sees the harvest of the olives for oil. They are cold-pressed in a local mill, and the extra virgin oil is stored in stainless steel tanks for use throughout the year.
The Goddess...
Learning — and teaching — resilience gives me hope in this fast-changing world. Through connecting to the land and the plants and animals that depend on it as we do, I find strength and can help others do the same.