SEED THE FUTURE / PLANT PENDELI
MORE ON PENDELI PROJECT:
For a description of the project go to: http://ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_civ_4700428_16/09/2005_60836
Please RSVP as soon as possible to Alicia Coriolano at alicor@odara.net. Be sure to let us know if you can offer transport, stating your starting point. We'll encourage car-pool passengers to contribute toward gas.
Mayor Bakalakos and farmer Manikis welcome our participation and those intending to join in what appears to be an exciting adventure should be at the meeting point, the Dimotiko Anapsiktirio "To Petrino" - on Saturday morning at 9:30 am. I understand the mayor will distribute bread, cheese, grapes and wine to participants and therefore we must let him know how many HELADA volunteers will be there but it would be wise to include a snack in your back pack.
The balls will be packed in 15-20 kilo bags; vehicles transport these bags to the seeding site and volunteers will be given mud ball in whatever quantity they are able to carry.
It will be an all-day event starting at 9:30 AM. Allow 90 minutes travel time if using public transport.
Public Transport to
Anthousa
Bus & Metro: Leaving from the center of Athens,
take the A5 city bus from its starting point ("Afetiria")
on the paradromo of Akadimias St. all the way to the end of the line in
Anthousa, getting off at the terminus, travel time 60 minutes, fare 45
cents. On weekends the A5 runs every 15-20 minutes * You can also take
Metro line 3 to Ethniki Amina, or connect with the A5 at Pallini suburban
railroad station. From Ethniki Amina to the A5 Terminus allow a minimum of
35 minutes travel time. Once at the terminus, wait for local bus 301. On
weekends the 301 runs every 30-35 minutes. It takes about 5 minutes to
reach stasi 6th Anthousas where you get off. There is a new, nice looking
stone-built, cafeteria "To Petrino" the "dimotiko
anapsiktirio." This is the meeting point for all participants.
The Saturday A5 bus schedule can be viewed online at: http://www.oasa.gr/uk/routes/i_stops.asp?route_id=+%C15&rvariant_id=1&medium =0&s_t=5
What to Wear and Bring
Pendeli weather will be cooler than downtown, and potentially changeable.
Dress in peelable layers, for steamy sun or chilly drizzle. The terrain is
rocky, so wear hiking boots or sturdy athletic shoes. There will be
brambles, thorn bushes and critters, so wear long, tough trousers and high
socks
The clay seed balls may be messy. Work gloves are suggested.
A hat would be appropriate, and bring sun block.
We'll picnic together. Bring a sack lunch, large water bottle, and snacks.
Bring a cell phone and digital camera if possible. Take a sturdy plastic carrying bag, canvas sling or other method of helping to get the mud balls from the truck to the hillside.
Historical and Other
Background
On September 16 Christine Kounellis forwarded the Kathimerini article
to Steering Committee members; after each decided to participate
individually, we thought it might be interesting to make this our Fall
event by joining forces with the organizers: the mayor of Anthousa, a
small community on the foothills of Pendeli, and Panayotis Manikis, a
farmer from Edessa, northern Greece, who uses the Fukuoka method of
natural farming.
Nikos Pournaras got in touch with the mayor and passed the ball to Alicia who followed up, got in touch with Manikis, researched useful links and in the company of Regina visited Anthousa to check out public transport & the site.
The essence of Fukuoka's method is to reproduce natural conditions as closely as possible. Seeds are mixed with clay, compost and manure then formed into small balls. Much less seed is used than in conventional growing, resulting in fewer but larger and stronger plants.
Farmer Manikis is donating 6 tons of these clay balls to the community of Anthousa in order to re-forest an area of Pendeli that has suffered two forest fires in recent years.
Manikis calculates that about 4 tons will be seeded on Saturday, 2T on Sunday: that's why our volunteers are being asked to participate on Saturday; those unable to make it are welcome on Sunday.
About 10 volunteers from SCI (http://www.sciint.org) will join volunteers from Greece and hopefully a significant group of HELADA volunteers on the week end of 8-9 October in order to scatter mud balls on the burned slopes.
The mayor is paying for the transport of the seeds from northern Greece to Anthousa, offering basic lodging and meals for the SCI volunteers and a cheese, bread & grapes snack during the work day.
LINKS
This site has a short biography of the founder of SCI (Service Civil International), the source of volunteers for Panayotis Manikis' projects: http://wworks.com/~sciivs/infopage/people.html
At the bottom of this page - Project #7 is Manikis' http://camps.sciint.org/result.php
This is the SCI Hellas site with a report from 2004 work camp: http://www.sci.gr/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=10
E. F. Schumacher's (yes, 'Small is Beautiful') article including a short description of the Fukuoka method: http://www.authenticbusiness.co.uk/archive/webofhope/
Yahoo group for Fukuoka farming: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fukuoka_farming/
Natural Agriculture page (in French) with several links and Fukuoka bibliography: http://fr.ekopedia.org/Agriculture_naturelle
Fukuoka bibliography in English:
One-straw Revolution: Introduction to Natural Farming ~Masanobu Fukuoka,
et al HarperCollins Hardcover - July 19, 1985
Natural Way of Farming ~M. Fukuoka Paperback - December 31, 1985
The Road Back to Nature: Regaining the Paradise Lost ~Masanobu Fukuoka, et
al Japan Publications Trading Co Hardcover - April 1988