The year started for us with baby Paolo bringing magic and sleepless nights, something that has not changed after 14 months.. Shortly after Coralie lost her brother Viggo suddenly. A tragic loss that has left a big gap in our hearts. Grieving is a complex process, especially being in a rural place far away from family or familiarities. Viggo has been a bright light all his life, and we are doing everything we can to make him proud while we continue to build our dream project & life. Take nothing & no-one for granted..
In 2022, we have continued to share the learning journey of planting seeds in the soil & the minds of people by hosting 3 courses and 1 school camp.
In April we hosted a Syntropic Agroforestry Course with Jacob Evans (link to article about each of them ) & Oliver Goshey, in which students who want to start a regenerative project learned all aspects of Regeneration, Syntropic Farming & Holistic Context while converting a conventional almond orchard into a diverse one by planting 500 trees & bushes.
In September we continued hosting educational courses given by Oliver Goshey, both a 1-day & a 5-day course both with a wide variety of people and energy. It gives us great joy to see so many people on the regenerative path towards healing of our planet and us as individuals and communities. We have been able to host all these events after renovating our "Rebel Kitchen", which used to be an outside space for animals surrounded by stone walls, into a roofed outside kitchen and welcoming community area.
To us The Green Rebel is not just about planting a lot of trees and improving all life at the farm, but it is also sharing the adventure with a dedicated space to run educational & touching experiences. So an upgrade was necessary to make it happen
After a few weeks of hard work, the community kitchen is now a 100 sq m2 area with a 180 degrees view on the farm. It is a place where we cook, connect & learn together.
This investment has been possible thanks to an incredible investor who believes in the food transition, especially through agroforestry & planting trees. A purpose based organization that has planted over 165 million trees, while being an inspirational climate activist showing what can be done with purpose.
Ecosia is a search engine (we encourage you to use it instead of Google.. It’s the same for you but you contribute to something positive while navigating on the web). A very special thanks to Ecosia for your trust, helping us and other regenerative farms in EU to swim against a very strong tide. "If Google did what we're doing, or if every Google user switches over to Ecosia, 22 EU countries would have already phased out coal and 300 billion trees could be planted. Every Year"
Talking about planting trees.. 2022 was all about planting trees and increasing biodiversity at the farm.
In October we welcomed 30 friends of Coralie’s mother Nathalie to celebrate her 60th birthday.
Nathalie's & her husband Thomas' wish for her birthday was to plant a food forest in honor of Viggo. And we did! With so much love and energy together we started to plant Viggo’s Food Forest a very special place at the farm overlooking the mountain.
Later in October the 2zeetjes arrived by bike at the farm after cycling 6000 km across Europe to raise awareness about sustainable living, zero waste & plant based food with an aim to plant a food forest at the farm. They have received 3.021 euros of donations helping us planting more and diverse trees & bushes. A big thank you to Sijtse & Irma, and all the donors who have supported their cause!
With this opportunity we hosted a planting day event with our local community with more than 30 people coming together to help, plant and eat together. With incredible teamwork over 2,500 trees and bushes! Food was provided by Rebel Kitchen and it was a heart warming experience with so much love & care from friends & family.
A dream coming true
Last but not least and we think it was a big highlight to end the year, a dream coming true for us.
15 students from Hageveld College school came with their 2 teachers to learn about Regenerative Agriculture, Permaculture, Agroforestry, the importance of soil, and also to connect with themselves on a deeper level through meditation, walks & swims in nature.
This gave us a massive energy boost. To know that somehow we can have an impact on the future generation. They are the adults & leaders of tomorrow, they are hope & energy towards a better future. Seeing them harvesting their food for lunch, cooking, learning together while being so open to this experience really warmed our hearts. The students also came with a goal of planting trees for each graduated students of 2021, something that College Hageveld will continue to do here at the farm the coming years, in collaboration with our friends LifeTerra.
A hard work very well done! Have a look at this beautiful video where teacher Ge Visser explains a bit more about the trip:
Nothing would have been possible without the support of LifeTerra, our friends with an ambitious mission to plant 1 tree for every EU citizen, 500mln by 2025!
Planted over 7,700 trees & bushes!
We are happy to share that since arriving at the farm in October 2021 we have planted more than 7,700 trees bushes & shrubs with more than 30 different species at the Green Rebel Farm. It is a huge number for us, that has taken a lot of hard work and care, but possible because of all the support that we are receiving. Whether you have adopted a tree, a mini-forest, or buying our olive oil or almonds, you are contributing to us planting more and more trees. And this is only the beginning!
Photocredits: Sonia Marill (LifeTerra)
After a very busy period at the farm, it was time to focus on the harvest of the year: our first Almond harvest! Read all about it in our previous article where we share all about the process of harvesting, processing and getting them to you! A delicious healthy snack, that helps fight climate change and inspiring other farms to transition. Check them out here:
Next step in regenerating our soils & communities
2023 is going to be a big year for the farm! After so much energy and care that has happened in the past 2 years, we are launching our no-dig market garden in collaboration with our friend Alex. Alex is originally from the Girona area, but has been living in our nearby village Miravet for the last 7 years. Last year he started growing & selling organic vegetables in the area, and was looking for someone to partner up to beyond organic while also being able to experiment with other practices then just annuals. A win-win! As we have been thinking about this for a while, but are lacking the time to get this off the ground by ourselves. So here we are! The coming months we are developing a 1,000 m2 intensive no-dig market garden to provide weekly vegetable boxes to our local community. If you are interested in delicious, natural and healthy vegetables and are living in the area, reach out to us! We are yet to finalize our offering, timeline & area of potential delivery, but it is sure that we will have a limited amount of weekly boxes available. If you are interested in regenerative vegetables and are living in the area of Miravet, fill in this short Google form:
Hopefully we will also have an apricot, olive & almond harvest this year. But as the trees are already starting to flower in the midst of winter and a high chance of frost yet to come, we will just have to be patient and see what happens.
We are wishing you a year full of health, love and beautiful moments with loved ones. Life is a roller-coaster, and you never know what tomorrow might bring. Yesterday is history, today is a gift, and tomorrow is mystery. Let's make the most of out of this gift and mystery!
With love,
Carlo, Coralie, Paolo & Maathai, and Alex
Photo credits: Gabriela Hengeveld