Sustainable Living

Imagining Our Dream Farm: Slow living with Friends

Farming and Gardening Vision and Manifesto
terrace with comfortable couches and armchairs around table

It’s Sunday and we’re on relax mode, watching videos on Albanian Village Life. Inspired by this family in the rural mountainside, we again imagine our own dream farm, allowing ourselves to say things out loud:

I see a nice bungalow home giving that feeling of a wide open space even inside its walls. Think Pinterest farmhouse with the rustic, shabby chic vibe, worn out on the edges and wildly tame–a beloved, inviting home. We’ll have open-plan living and dining spaces, extending to a covered wraparound veranda that has retractable glass roofing, walls and windows. Screened during summer to ward off bugs, and closed off as a sunroom aka winter garden in the colder months.

Outside we have a wide open field perfect for games, picnics and our daughter’s major must-have, a tree house. All around are blooming bushes and fruit trees. We grow our own tomatoes, apples, plums, apricots, oranges, mulberry, lemons, malterri (Japanese plums), pears and pomegranate–a bigger version of our small family garden here in Turkey. This is in the Mediterranean, so it will have Mediterranean greens and herbs: flourishing bushes of rosemary, mint, basil, parsley, spring onions. We’re planting foreign vegetables and fruits too (non-invasive), because this farm is home to us in multiple ways. It’s a capsule of treasured travels and moments lived elsewhere, and what better way to enliven those moments than to nurture and cultivate heirloom seeds from around the world. Maybe we’d be able to grow bananas and calamansi, bringing us the smells and flavors of the Philippines in Europe.

Many Visiting and Gathering Spaces

Around us in courtyard fashion are wooden and stone guesthouses. Standalone villas where friends are welcome to visit to retreat into farm life or stay and become neighbors. Inspired by living architecture, the farm is both streamlined and abundant, expansive and tender, modern and natural. There are nooks and crannies everywhere, freeform spaces to connect with nature or just be alone. In the center are communal places that invite conversations and shared activities–an open kitchen, lounge, library (with the rolling ladder!), breathing space. There’s an oven and open pit for a bonfire and barbeque. A place for bodywork and celebrations.

anonymous little girl drawing on ground with chalks

It’s also a home to nurture our inner child, a safe place to play and experiment. We walk barefoot in our garden, to ground and discharge. I want a 100% organic section for humans too, with wifi jammers, and maybe even the foils and fringe science stuff to protect the space from radiation and waves. An outdoor womb to embrace us and detox us from modern life. Maybe a natural pool.

We make our own butter, cheese, jams, honey, and liquor, and find as much joy in the production process as in the actual farm-to-table wining and dining.

There are art studios, tinkering labs, makerspaces–a coworking space for creatives. And one for businesses.

There’s also a natural school that uses holistic technology to provide a living education that’s personalized to the talent, capacity, and interests of the child. It’s a blend of protecting the sense of wonder and magic in children, and including them in the joys of modern life.


Food Production for Our Home and Beyond

Koray is Mr. Scale, so he searches for organic chicken farming online and finds a video of a poultry farmer with 1,000 chickens in Cannakale, Turkey. I see the wheels turning in his head. The food engineer in him is already doing the math for a scalable system for eggs, meat and dairy production. We’re not just farming for our own consumption. It will make business sense. Nothing will go to waste.

I plow through the Turkish dialogue thanks to automated subtitles, and get schooled on how chickens are raised. Nope, (don’t laugh) we won’t be chasing after chickens to catch their eggs after all, and nope, free-range and organic don’t necessarily go together.

I gravitate more towards the homesteading videos, where farming is more personal and for the household. I like the one by the backyard farmer with 6 hens in a chicken mansion, all being tended to as pets. I learn that there are farms designed for meat and farms just to harvest eggs.

brown and black hen with peep of chick outdoor

Yin and Yang Farming

My interest is more on the farming lifestyle itself of slowing down, making everyday living sustainable. I’ve done my share of farm visits around the Philippines, both for tourism and for learning courses on Permaculture, Vermiculture and Biodynamic Farming. I like the personal investment in farming: touching the earth myself, cultivating the soil with my bare hands, naming my livestock.

When I first started dreaming up my perfect lifestyle, I always saw it on a farm next to the mountains and sea, with that synergy of nature and tech. I saw myself growing old on a small-scale beach farm community equipped with the latest tech innovations. Koray and I jokingly call it glamfarming, maybe similar to what most would call a weekend farm–a place to relax and grow my own food in an enjoyable way, with just enough surplus to gift to friends and family.

Now that I’m approaching two years in a four-season country, I have a deeper respect for and connection to the rhythm of nature, and the call to live according to this rhythm is ever stronger. The icing on the cake is the community: to have like-minded neighbors and pool resources for support (economic, social, wellness, spiritual) and smart living, such as greentech, agritech, housing tech, edutech. Wow, right?

With Koray bringing in his food production expertise and our 5-year-old needing a school community, step one is to build a prototype that works as a hub for business, education, creativity and joy. Then we can replicate this in different parts of the world, with each location tapping into the local environment, culture, talent, and energy. At their core, these farms are energy centers, bringing in elevated environments, livelihoods, and everyday living. These in turn elevate the mind, heart, and sense of self.

We have done location search in the Philippines, Turkey, Mediterranean Europe, and Central and South America, and we are zeroing in on Albania for the farm because of its designation as a 100% organic country. Montenegro and Macedonia are also tied into the mix as possible locations for an urban annex.

No doubt about it, we will build the farm of our dreams: a yin and yang farm and a happy place for us that is personal plus.

If you’re interested in joining us on this journey, send me a message, would be happy to have a chat.

Beautiful purple plants! Milk Thistle & Germander

Life in Turkey Farming and Gardening

Beautiful purple plants! And one of them is the milk thistle, which I thought was a prized plant tended in a garden…turns out it’s a widespread wild flower, even covering full hillsides.โ›ฐ๏ธ If you’re wondering why it sounds familiar, it’s a key ingredient for supplements for nursing moms–so it’s a superfood growing so abundantly here for free. It’s also been used for liver, kidney and gallbladder diseases. Wow ๐Ÿคฉ

The other purple shrub is the shrubby germander, a silvery-gray member of the mint family popular in landscaping home gardens. We thought it was lavender at first, but the aroma is very faint. Bees looooove them ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’œ

Nature walk by the seaside
April 2023

What is Island Life Plus?

Vision and Manifesto Slow Travel Sustainable Living

My friends know I’m exactly the type to run off to the islands and live a life on the beach. ๐Ÿ

Now at 42, with a family of my own and mom to a toddler, I’m revisiting this deep desire with different lenses.๐Ÿ‘“

What is island life and is it for everyone? Is it for my family?

๐Ÿ Slow
๐Ÿ Simple
๐Ÿ Back to basics
๐Ÿ Nature
๐Ÿ Bugs
๐Ÿ Flipflops

What is Island Life Plus?
๐Ÿโž•๏ธ with interesting like minds: conversations!
๐Ÿโž•๏ธ sense of new: innovation, ideas
๐Ÿโž•๏ธ art, theater, music
๐Ÿโž•๏ธ sports
๐Ÿโž•๏ธ people sharing themselves: hopes, dreams, expertise, experiences, stories, advocacies
๐Ÿโž•๏ธ people working together, both personal and professional collabs: schooling, gardening, dream projects, businesses, tech startups, labs, tinkering spaces, farming, hubs.

Writing all these down this Sunday morning excited me again to no end, and it’s how I know it’s still my life mission: it’s alive! Alive in me, and I will keep it alive in others who wish to share the journey.

My dream project has transformed from Alaya to Montalut to now Leadia. It’s not for everyone, but it definitely is for my family. Wherever we end up building @leadiagrowth, it’s the place I want to be in everyday, and the place I want my daughter to flourish and make lifelong friends. It’s where I see @korayerimez and I growing old with wine in hand, dancing into the night, laughing with friends who believe in dreams, wealth, abundance and deeply connecting with people, nurturing our stories and talents as gifts to ourselves, to each other and to the world.

How are you dreaming these days, friends? ๐ŸŒŸ


#dreams #islandlife #creativecommunities #growthliving #conversations #inspiringenvironments #everydayart #everydayartist

Building LEADIA: What is Community?

Gathering People My Nuvali Home

In 2011, I was living in Nuvali, an ecocity in the Philippines. I’d just built my first home and documented my journey to sustainable living in a blog, MyNuvaliHome.

I’m now incorporating that blog into Montalut, and came across abrasive comments on my About section, where I shared the Why of my blog. Reading between the lines, one can tell that the person was angry at something, yes, and it was at the promise of Nuvali.

When you’re building something out of the future, all you have is your vision of it. You are emerging something new, something that doesn’t yet exist. To see it too, some people need a proof of concept that it’s been done before or that you’ve built a prototype of sorts. Some need more than that–they want to feel it directly benefiting them before they jump in. If the benefits fall short of the promise, they bite.

And yet a few already see the future with you, and choose to journey with you.

Reading that comment today made me recall what community is, at least to me.

Here’s the reply I wrote back in 2012, and it still rings true today:

Nuvali is a beautiful place that Iโ€™ve personally invested in, and itโ€™s just one of the many new developments in the South that seeks to address the congestion problem in Metro Manila.  Anything can happen years from now, but as someone whoโ€™s already betting on this community, I also hope to be an active part of what will make it truly a home โ€” along with my future neighbors and those looking to contribute to and benefit from alternative communities like this.

Community is what we make of it, and as with anything in life, you get what you give. You give nothing, and you get nothing back. You give love and joy, and you get love and joy back.

Off to Bali to check out creative communities on the island! (2017)

Green Design and Architecture

First published on July 12, 2017. Reposting these from my old (now deleted) IG account.

Here’s a peep at the 5am sky with the full moon saying goodbye in the distance.

Hello from #Ubud! Video is from Yoga Barn, which pretty much lives up to the image I had of Bali in my head: green, dreamy, and with a whirling energy that doesn’t seem to land.

This time last year I was in Chiangmai where I first encountered Laughing Yoga. I loved it there and found solace in the cuckooness around. #Bali seems to be a place where iterations of #cuckoo are born everyday. We shall see how the next few days pan out.

Now having lunch with ducks and a ricefield as company and a cool breeze just made me pull out my jacket. ๐Ÿ˜Ž
#creativecommunities #alayaPH

Remembering the expansive ricefields of Bali (2017)

Enterprise and Wealth Creation Green Design and Architecture

First published on July 23, 2017. Reposting these from my old (now deleted) IG account.

Here’s a vid of my pretty friend Liudmila and I trying to overcome being camera shy and showing you 2 of the 5 intentional energy pavilions of #VisionVillas. These pavilions were built in relation to the Chinese elements of Wood, Fire, #Earth, #Metal and Water, each with its attendant energy and intention. We’re standing next to the Metal or Steel pavilion that inspires answers to the question #How?

What a brilliant idea to dedicate physical spaces in our homes with #energy #intentions.

1st stop in Bali: Green School (2017)

Green Design and Architecture

First on the #Bali agenda is a visit to The Green School, which like most #alternative schools, was put up in 2008 out of need. Inspired by Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, the Hardys created a #natural #school for their own children that was aligned with #sustainability. From 90 kids, there are now over 400 kids at the #GreenSchool. The students are on summer break so we were able to take our time exploring this morning.
#creativecommunities #alayaPH

First published on July 13, 2017. Reposting these from my old (now deleted) IG account.

My absolute favorite place in the #GreenSchool: the #river. We visited one classroom where you could hear it flowing and wow what an everyday environment to be in. I’m not sure how I’d be able to sit still and listen to a teacher with a river calling out to me like that.
#Bali #creativecommunities #alayaPH
I loved this! Walking through the Bamboo “forest” in the Heart of School, the community center of the Green School. The Japanese kids behind me were also having a good time ๐Ÿค—๐Ÿ‘ #Bali #creativecommunities #alayaPH

Day 2 in Bali: Visiting the Green Village (2017)

Slow Travel Green Design and Architecture

Next up: The #GreenVillage, a compound with 13 bamboo houses and villas about 5 mins away from the Green School. We’re going to see 2 houses today, I’m super excited.

First published on July 13, 2017. Reposting these from my old (now deleted) IG account.

Did you know that there are over 300 species of #bamboo? How to spot good bamboo: 1) White fungus means it is over 3 years old and ready for harvest, 2) A broken top means it is wet inside and won’t get strong. 3) Bamboo with more leaves is better–leaves absorb the moisture and keep the bamboo dry. ๐Ÿ‘
#bamboo101 #greenvillage #Bali #creativecommunities #alayaPH
Shown here is the #saltwater #pool by the cafe and waiting area. Really hope the rain lets up!
#Bali #creativecommunities #alayaPH
The piece de resistance of the Green Village’s #RiverHouse. Breathtaking view of the Ayung #River set against the greens of Bali. House tour to follow.

#Bali #creativecommunities #alayaPH #Sustainable #architecture #bamboo
Open air bedroom facing the Bali jungle. A super upgraded bahay kubo.
#GreenVillage #RiverHouse #Bali #creativecommunities
A staple in #GreenVillage houses: #Skylight using polycarbonate and bamboo.
Another showstopper: round glass doors. Talk about a grand entrance. My first drawing of my dream house had round hobbit doors! L-R: Take a guess at what’s inside those pointy huts. Three layers of roofing. Open concept living area with veranda.
How they built these bamboo houses on sloping land, usually 400sqm in size: massive bamboo poles from Java with 40cm steel rod inside, poured in with 40cm of concrete and embedded in a layer of stone. It takes workers about 3 months to lay the foundation and another 6 months to do finishing and interiors.

#bamboo101 #bamboo #GreenVillage #RiverHouse #Bali #creativecommunities

Natural #stoneware in the bathrooms and #kitchen. Love these black stones.๐Ÿ˜ One big caveat in bamboo houses: no candles or flames allowed!
#GreenVillage #bamboohouse #Bali #creativecommunities #alayaPH

Do you cultivate your inner garden to become more balanced and wholehearted?

Farming and Gardening Everyday Life

I spent about an hour yesterday morning doing this. There’s something therapeutic about touching the earth–and it’s especially pleasant when it feels cool and damp. It’s the next best thing we condo people have to #earthing.

My entrepreneur profile is Creator, always with new ideas and my head in the clouds. The opposite energy is Tempo energy, the slow-footed Trader working with perfect timing and her ear to the ground. I use just 4% of this energy in me, so it’s always a deliberate effort to stay rooted and connected to the earth.

Do you know your natural genius? And do you cultivate your garden to become more balanced and wholehearted?

#gardening #mygrovehome #alayaph #entreplife

Lesson on month 3 of gardening: Pests are inevitable.๐Ÿ›

Enterprise and Wealth Creation Farming and Gardening

The Alaya Mindset: “I am prepared for whatever comes.”

ย 
ย 
Last night, I found 4 bald tomato stalks on my sprouting tray, with the culprit munching on neighboring leaves ๐Ÿ˜ต
ย 
Despite being indoors and 22 floors up, a worm managed to crawl into our garden. Quite timely too, as that morning I was musing about having zero pest problems, and perhaps needed a wake up call.
ย 

My takeaway:

Prepare for all possibilities, desirable and undesirable. It’s good to be reminded that things can always turn sideways, and that the effective mindset to take on is not “Everything will be okay” but “I am prepared for whatever comes.”

Morning lesson from the garden

Farming and Gardening Enterprise and Wealth Creation

The Alaya Mindset: “I tend to my own life pot, soil and environment.”

Two alugbati cuttings in the same pot, same soil, same weather conditions, and yet growing so differently in our garden. One is moving in spirals as a wild vine and the other sitting smugly in its center, sprouting in beautiful symmetry.ย 

What is this life force that isย  so unique and asserts itself so undeniably?๐ŸŒฑ This life force is in all nature, including us.

Nice reminder to tend to our own pot, soil and environment–to keep them nurturing and permitting of all surprises and possibilities. To welcome both rain and sunshine, and watch out for pests.

What’s in your life garden? Are you getting enough nutrients: good food, quality sleep, inspiring conversation? Are you open to sunshine: things, experiences or people that warm and excite you? How about rain: those that keep you relaxed and flowing? And what are you doing to protect yourself from pests, or seasons of drought, like the COVID19 pandemic?

How about your business garden? Are you tending to your entrepreneur soil and business environment?

Today is Monday, and we’re crossing over to the second half of 2020 in 2 days. Here’s hoping for better, more nurturing days ahead. ๐Ÿ™