Garlic and Being

Some philosophy

Honesty means to admit - when the glass is nof full- that the glass is not full.
You can, however, see it as half-full or as half-empty.
Joy about the half-full glass grows with the awareness that one is part of something which is bigger than oneself.
When this awareness is alive, I can live with my mistakes and shortcomings.
To maintain it alive it's useful to keep one's focus on the whole, on that which is bigger than oneself.

Activities that keep us busy...

In our ecologically kept finca there is constantly all sorts of work to do.
Caring for the garden, pruning the fruit trees, assembling compost heaps and experimental vegetable patches, making a supply of tomato conserves and firewood, building up stonewalls and working on fire protection.....
Within all these important activities we try to create beauty, art and a general "glow".
<< Ora et labora >> we would translate by: Planting garlic, feeling the beauty of the land and searching for the inner flow.

Our place

is slightly under 1500m high, in a natural park of Sierra Nevada (Southern Spain), more or less in the centre of the triangle Almería - Motril - Granada. The region, also known as "las Alpujarras", is considered to be one of the most beautiful areas of Spain.
From Yegen, the nearest village, a four km long dirt road leads to it.
The sea is about 50 km away (20 as the eagle flies).
The distance to the nearest airport, Almería, is roughly 100 km and to Málaga airport 200 km (three hours by car).
There is a regular bus service to and from Granada, twice a day.
The guest house has electricity and hot water (solar panels), heating and the basic comforts.

Guests

1. the "free" guest (basically wanting to be left alone and going his or her own way.)
   We charge 175€ per person per week (food excluded)
   
2. the course participant (takes part in a course)
   e.g. ecological agriculture, landscape gardening and art, introduction to the Spanish language, how to preserve your vegetables, or also Wu-Wei- the art of Not-Doing (with Jan).
   We charge -depending on the nature of the course and the number of participants- between 225 and 300€ per person per week (including meals)
3. the general helper
   a helper who has done the introductory week and completed the trial period and proven that he or she is able to work in an efficient, precise and -if necessary- independent way will get food and lodging for free = wwoof principle provided that both parties agree on that and only after the first three weeks.
   In the introductory week we charge 100€*
   in the trial period (2. and 3. week) 70€ per week*
   *For people living in Spain or in other countries of economic crisis these contributions may be reduced to 77€ and 50€ per week respectively.
   

Contact

As we do not have access to internet (and postal delivery is slow and unreliable)
by telephone:

landline 00 34 958 34 33 06

mobile phone Thomas 00 34 628 36 19 95
or Gerda 00 34 636 11 54 59 (speaks little Spanish)

Hope to see you soon!