The Healing Garden
25th to 30th September 2016
Make your food your medicine, and medicine your food Aristotle
Varzea da Gonçala presents a six-day creative feast, demonstrating the practical use of Nature's abundance and potentialities, in the beautiful, tranquil setting of the Cerca valley
This hands-on retreat gives the essence of growing powerful nutritious plants in ecological ways in the garden, back yard and indoors. We will learn about growing,harvesting, storing, processing, and cooking highly nutritious dishes, showing how vegetables, wild weeds and fruits can become the basis of human health, preventing and tackling modern illnesses.
The days are set out to give an holistic approach to the diverse subject of health in body and mind.
The days are set out to give an holistic approach to the diverse subject of health in body and mind.
Daily schedule
8.00 -9.00 Yoga class: 'The Five Tibetans'
9.00=9.30 Breakfast
9.30-12.30 Workshop
12.30-13.30 Lunch
15.00-15.30 Making and drinking powershakes
15.30-16.00 Making powerfoods
16.00-18.00 Various healthy leisure activities, including walking in nature, swimming in the river or nearby resevoir lake, meditation circles, mantra-singing, jam session etc.
18.30 Dinner
20.30 Educational movie (on two evenings)
The meals are vegetarian, organic, and mostly from our garden
9.00=9.30 Breakfast
9.30-12.30 Workshop
12.30-13.30 Lunch
15.00-15.30 Making and drinking powershakes
15.30-16.00 Making powerfoods
16.00-18.00 Various healthy leisure activities, including walking in nature, swimming in the river or nearby resevoir lake, meditation circles, mantra-singing, jam session etc.
18.30 Dinner
20.30 Educational movie (on two evenings)
The meals are vegetarian, organic, and mostly from our garden
Topics and Workshop schedules
Day 1 Mother soil
Establishing and maintaining fertile humus rich top-soil supporting and nourishing all life above as below: soil knowledge, plants as indicators, drainage, infra-structures and cover crops
Nutritional difference between home-grown and conventionally grown
Chaym Feldman, Agro-Ecologist, and retreat coordinator
Day 2 Garden of Eden!
How to grow seasonal vegetables and sprouts in an intensive eco-garden: building a nursery, making local potting mix.
Introducing Polyculture, eco-niches, integrating vegetables and staple crops between medicinal plants and trees, and learning multiple bed formations. Re-balancing micro-flora and fauna in the soil
Chaym feldman
Day 3 Planting your meals
Establishing your vegetables according to major and minor crops, seasonality, rotation, fertilizing and nutrition.
Chaym Feldman
Day 4 The Yoga way, pH and blood
Disease prevention, blood type diet, integrating Yoga, and the "5 Tibetans" technique for re-contacting breathing and empowering energy flow.
Day 5 Wild healing
Meeting potent wild plants, and preparing these to create medicinal foods ,
Daphna Givon, medicinal herbs specialist and permaculturist.
Day 6 Vital food and vegan diets
Tackling modern illnesses through a vegan diet
Rochelle Robin Petal, Vegan chef and Nutritionist
The price for the retreat is €200, which includes all food, facilities, and camping. Indoor accommodation is available for an additional €50.
To enrol, we ask for a deposit of €50. Please go to the "booking" page on this website for instructions for how to pay.
Many thanks.
To enrol, we ask for a deposit of €50. Please go to the "booking" page on this website for instructions for how to pay.
Many thanks.
