Sunday, May 9, 2010

Our First Greek Farm

Our first farm in Greece is on the island of Paros in the Cyclades chain of islands between Crete and mainland Greece. After three days in Athens we arrived on a ferry in the small town of Paroikia. The water is clear blue and beautiful, and the hills are sparse and dry, covered only with small juniper trees and bushes of wild sage and thyme.

We took a bus to the southern tip of the island, Alyki, where our host met us. Jim is a tall, middle-aged Englishman with long graying hair, and as we stepped off the bus he was sitting on a low rock wall by the beach, looking quite relaxed. He invited us to sit with him there for some initial chat. Jim and his longtime love Irini have spent most of their lives as working (and struggling) artists. After living in a collection of ruins on Paros for many years, they both came into unexpected inheritance, which they decided to use to create a grand creative arts retreat in a valley near the sea. This is where we are living and working now.

Over the last ten years Jim, Irini, and more than a hundred WWOOFers have constructed a massive garden complex with five guesthouses, numerous fountains and almond trees, olives, grape vines, and more. Everything has been built with the highest detail and craftsmanship imaginable, and they are close to finally starting their creative arts retreat. It is really one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. For the last week we have been busy working with rocks and concrete, mulching plants, and cutting weeds. The wet season is over, and almost every day has been hot with clear blue skies. It is wonderful after the long winter we've experienced here.

From the main house we can see far across the sea, across the numerous islands that form the Cyclades, and every night we watch the sun set over this mystical landscape. Some nights the air is very clear and everything glows in bright, solid colors as the sun sinks into the sea. Other nights a misty air settles about the mountains and the hazy red colors that illuminate the ridges create a Tolkienesque effect, like the mountains of Mordor or somewhere.

Here we sit with Jim discussing the state of the world from the vantage point of a "retreat," a word Jim used often on our first day to describe this place and his general outlook. Jim is a great talker, and loves to expound on his ideas about the modern world: how we work long hours in unrewarding jobs to make enough money to buy commodities that offer slight comfort in life, and one that is largely escapist. Meanwhile the privileged few grow wealthier, and the means of their accumulation are both sinister and sophisticated. At the same time, the products of traditional culture become mere commodities that quickly lose their depth of meaning. For Jim, the answer to these things may be in the form of retreat - which is what he hopes to accomplish with his arts center. By leaving behind the busy rat race and learning skills, real and practical skills, he believes people can gain a better sense of their own creative potential. At the same time perhaps they will learn to perceive the world more clearly, and in living closer to the land will learn to live without the products and entrapments of consumer culture. Jim has said several times that, "the peasants always get bad press," because they always live on the outside of the society that makes rules and doles out punishments. Perhaps the peasants had the good life all along, he speculates.

At any rate, we are living out his dream here. The work is definitely hard. But we are learning to handle it. The food is simple, but good. Gone are the two hour Italian lunches with wine and a good siesta afterward. Here we eat sandwiches for lunch and go back to work through the afternoon. It is a good change for us, and the times as well as the food Jim and Irini like to eat are virtually identical to ours. Irini is Greek and very hospitable. I think Medora and I both smiled when we first heard her voice, authentic Greek accent, earthy quality that Ilias has too. If you've ever seen "Never on Sunday," you know what I mean.

Paros is really a beautiful island, and we are looking forward to visiting a few other Cycladic islands such as Santorini, Delos, and Mykonos. The first ancient Greek lyric poet, Archilochus, was from Paros. There is something beautiful in thinking that lyric poetry was born on Paros and the surrounding islands. In fact, most of the lyric poets were from these islands, from Archilochus to Simonides to Sappho. The largely pastoral lifestyle would have made for a more introspective environment, while the desolate beauty lends a mystical feeling to the landscape. There is often a cool breeze blowing off the sea, and when it rustles the olive leaves it is almost natural to imagine the hand of some God behind it. The land is just so bare and prophetic, it seems that mystical creatures alone could ever be true natives of the island.

Website of Creative Arts Center...
http://tothegarden.org/wp/

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update. I sooo enjoyed you catching us all up.

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  2. I've just had a great time catching up on the posts from the last month. I'm so glad that you guys are finally in Greece. It sounds like a dream come true and it's so wonderful and inspiring that you've gone out to find your dream. I'm fondly remembering hearing your plans while we sat on your front porch on warm nights watching Stumps make a fool of himself in front of Willy.

    I can't believe you guys have been gone for five months already! I can't wait to see you sometime again.

    Keep taking care of each other!

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