My summer “off the grid”, part 2: On a raw food organic farm

After the “Nowhere-Festival” I needed some rest. I got it at Tricia’s organic farm. Tricia is British and bought a piece of land a few years ago near Coin, not far from Malaga. The property is situated on a slope and ends at a river in the valley. Running water is an important aspect when buying land that needs to be cultivated. Tricia has a few fruit and nut trees as well as a vegetable garden. Especially in summer, regular watering is important. In her case, the water supply comes from the river. From there, water is pumped to a station in the higher terrain. Then it is distributed to the various neighbors. There is an exact schedule when each property gets water.

I visited Tricia in mid-July, one of the hottest and driest seasons of the year. The river had very little water left. In some places it was just deep enough to lay down and refresh a bit. For me the river was not only refreshment, but also my shower. There is no tap water at Tricia´s. She lives completely “off the grid”. No water, no electricity and no refrigerator.

The river water is used for watering, but not as drinking water. Since the property is not at the source of the river, the degree of pollution of the water is unknown. So if the farmers near the land of Trisha’s watercourse contaminate the water with e.g. dirty water or pesticides, it is no longer clean. That is already the first problem of organic cultivation. Even if one follows all rules and uses only ecologically justifiable products oneself, the neighbor can destroy everything. In her case it is an orange farmer who sprays his trees with pesticides. That’s a pity, but unfortunately it can’t be changed. She has already tried to talk to him and make him change his mind. But he stays with what has been old and proven.

So if you want to be absolutely sure, soak the fruit and vegetables before eating them. Vinegar and baking soda are the substances of choice here. You can remove the pesticides by soaking them 15 minutes. I haven’t always been very specific about soaking.

In my time, the mulberry tree carried fruit. I love this fruit. I also can’t remember having eaten it before, either. Maybe it’s because of the shape of the harvest. It is almost impossible to grab the berries from the tree without being completely covered with purple color afterwards. My hands always looked as if I had “slaughtered” a mulberry tree. All this did not stop me from continuing to snack directly from the tree every morning.

Trisha’s nutritional philosophy is raw vegan. Of course, this is particularly interesting for me. I have been living off a plant-based diet for years. For health reasons, I am interested in how I can continue to optimize my diet. Especially through the Ayurvedic nutrition and body-type theory. So for my Ayurveda type there is no pure raw food recommended. Nevertheless, I wanted to try it out for a few days. Since we had high summer, it was also easy for me. In addition, I had been diagnosed with a wheat intolerance shortly before. Adieu, my beloved German wholemeal bread, wholemeal noodles and baking with spelt, wheat and rye. I should also avoid barley. This is mainly used in beer. But that’s not so bad. I have never been a big beer drinker. Only “Kölsch”, my local beer from Cologne, I always drank at carnival. Now I also know why I always felt so bad afterwards…

Meanwhile I only drink alcohol very rarely. It just doesn’t agree with me anymore. Or has it ever done so?

So “raw vegan” was just right for me. At Tricia`s, this form of nutrition contains no grain at all. We fed on fruit, vegetables, nuts and sprouted legumes. I learned the most delicious recipes from these ingredients. My absolute favorite is a vegetable curry and a carrot cake. Both dishes I have made myself by hand. I only used mechanical kitchen utensils. Tricia uses solar power. She has solar panels on her roof and storage batteries in her house. But you can only use electronic devices to a limited extent. Such a high-performance kitchen machine, as well as hairdryers and electric kettles, eat too much electricity.

But for a Wifi router it is enough. Once again, Internet reception in “no man’s land”. Also my telephone Internet reception was outstanding.

The next neighbors are not far away, but you don’t usually see or hear them. The direct neighbors are fruit growers. They cultivate their land during the day and drive home in the evening. When they are there, you can of course hear cars, farming machines and a radio. At night it is pleasantly quiet. Not even the dogs bark. For me exactly what I had longed for. Absolute silence to sleep deeply.

In the morning I got up with the sunrise. I used this time for myself and made myself a tea. Therefore I heated filtered spring water on the gas stove. This is operated with a gas cartridge. Tricia collects the spring water regularly from the wells of the nearest site. This is typical for Spain. The spring water in the villages is drinkable. If it is not, there is a sign that says “non potable”. Tricia has a professional water filter from which I filled my drinking water bottle. For everything else, unfiltered spring water is used.

The washing up is similar to the Nowhere-Festival. This time only in two steps: Rinse off and pass through clear water. The water then is used for watering various plants. It goes without saying that Tricia only uses biodegradable dishwashing liquid.
Tricia uses a camping variant for the shower. It is a kind of camel bag, a solid plastic bag. It is filled with water and hung above the head. At the bottom there is a mini shower head.  This works well to rinse off the body. To wash the hair, I recommend the water bucket overhead variant. In winter, the water is warmed up on the gas stove. I decided for the river bath. Simply bathing in the river until I felt clean, which I like to do several times a day. In the middle of summer this is a pleasant cooling down.

When it comes to toilets, it may be a little odd for one or another. A compost toilet is only available for poo. You sit on a toilet seat that is embedded in a large board. Underneath, at a depth of at least one meter, is the pit. After you finish you take a shovel with sand or dried leaves and cover it. I am always amazed that there is no bad smell. Basically it doesn’t smell at all. However, this could also be due to my diet.

Liquids should not go into the hole. One is instructed to pee wherever possible. The land is very dry and only the fruit and nut trees are watered. I already know this kind of “giving back to nature” from a yoga retreat. That’s why it wasn’t strange to me. However, they had a place for it that was protected from sight. Here you have a large, wide country at your disposal. Since there are, as I said, no direct neighbors, it is not quite so dramatic. With a maximum of three people living on the farm at the same time, you will find your place. People who can sit well in the squat position have an advantage here. Anyone who has already travelled around India, like me, knows these toilets in which the squat seat is frequently found. Some know it from France.

The compost toilet was built by volunteers. So Tricia also manages to cultivate the land. She offers an exchange program for volunteers. On WorkAway she offers 1-2 volunteers a place to sleep and food. The volunteers don’t have to be vegan raw food vegans, but vegan. The use of the “hippie kitchen” is open to everyone. There is also a “bathroom”, in which there is a camping shower and a washbasin: a pot and a bowl. Also here the old water is poured into nature.

The cultivation of the land