During a prolonged drought, the Kambos farm in Komiaki, on the Greek island of Naxos, stands as a model of sustainable development, self-sufficiency, and prosperity, and showcases an alternative approach to land cultivation.
“People often ask me why I cultivate, how I started, and I always think of my grandfather, my father’s father,” says Vassilis Fakourelis, who now owns Kambos farm. “I remember him barefoot in the field, opening ‘temples.’ That’s what they called the old method of irrigation, where they dug a ditch from the spring to guide the water. He stood barefoot in the dirt and the water, a smile stretching ear to ear.”
“Cultivating brought him pure joy” . This image has stayed with me, and it’s how I imagined cultivation – with love, joy, and water at our feet,” Vassilis says as he shows us around his farm, an impressively green oasis in the dry landscape of Naxos with vegetables, fruit trees, colourful flowers and butterflies. “The water source my grandfather once used to nurture a small piece of land in Mesi, just up the road from here, supported a family of seven children through the vegetables and herbs it produced. But the past few years, it hasn’t produced a single drop of water. “Today, my grandfather wouldn’t be able to cultivate there, and neither could anyone else.”
Witnessing the colour and smell of the soil change, along with the increase in insect biodiversity, is one of the most wonderful achievements of my life.
The farm, some 20 km northwest of the Chora of Naxos (the main town of the island), is an innovative example of sustainability and an eco-friendly model of development and prosperity, respectful of nature and man. “This is where my great-grandparents cultivated the land. Six years ago, I decided to leave the bustling hive of Athens, move here, and dedicate myself to the land. Much of it was dry, arid, I would say. The vines were on their last legs, as were some of the trees my grandfather had planted. Now, I’m proud of it; a piece of land that would have remained barren has been revived”, Vassilis proudly explains.
The farm is based on a combination of sustainable farming practices such as permaculture design and organic farming, regenerative and biodynamic agriculture, natural and traditional farming. It is a sustainable project grounded in principles such as circular economy, ecosystem regeneration, recycling, and self-sufficiency. All seeds used on the farm are traditional, and the produce is entirely organic. “The aim of the farm is self-sufficiency in both food and health. It follows a zero waste approach with many items being reused, and I have managed to reach a point where I don’t need to buy anything for the farm,” he explains.
Greening a piece of land under restrictive soil and climate conditions such as those of Naxos is not a simple matter. “For the first six months, I didn’t leave the farm. I worked day and night, but it felt more like a pastime than real work. It’s a magical journey to be a cultivator, you have to observe everything that happens on the farm to get the lie of the land, how to enrich the soil and how to keep the water, which now, more than ever, is the most precious commodity.”
The wealth of the earth
Cultivating the earth begins with healthy soil. “I spent my first years here enriching it. It’s not something you can achieve at once, it has taken me six years. But witnessing the colour and smell of the soil change, along with the increase in insect biodiversity, is one of the most wonderful achievements of my life. I’ve built the foundation of my farm. It still needs a lot of improvement, but compared to what it originally was and the state of the surrounding farms, it’s in good shape”, he says.
Using soil-improvement methods such as crop rotation –the practice of rotating different crops in the same field–, the soil is enriched with nutrients that plants naturally contribute to the earth. Intercropping enhances soil fertility while saving space and water, and insect-repellent plants provide an ecological approach. “What chemical farming calls enemies, we call fellow-travellers”, Vasilis observes.
An important factor in soil regeneration is humus, which, as he explains, “is the organic matter, the wealth of the earth. The more humus the soil has, the more water it holds. And the more vegetation on the soil surface, the less water escapes. Roots, trunks and surface vegetation cut the water’s velocity and allow the earth to absorb it.”
The arid climate of Naxos has always posed a challenge for farmers. “Here in the drylands, the nights are humid, but by the first light of the sun, everything is dry. The question is how to keep the soil alive so it can retain water and channel it downward. For example, the micro-dams built during the mayoralty of Manolis Glezos in Apeiranthos (1987-88) enriched the water table by slowing down the speed of rainwater and giving the earth time to absorb it”, says Vasilis points out as we pause to view the farm from above.
A long-standing sustainable practice in the area has been the use of terraces. “All these terraces in the mountains were cultivated using oxen and ploughs. Where the oxen couldn’t go, the work was done with picks. In addition to creating arable land, the terraces played an important role in water retention by altering the slope of the terrain. It’s one thing to have a hill where rainwater rushes down, compacting the soil, and another to have horizontal planes that hold the soil in place. The way the old farmers worked greatly contributed to retaining water. They thought ahead, even when it rained more and there wasn’t such a shortage,” Vassilis explains.
Another key technique for crops in dry areas with a warm climate is organic mulching, which preserves soil moisture and reduces the need for frequent watering. “I throw in a generous amount of seaweed, sunflower leaves, sheep’s wool that we have scraped over the hours, scraps from the crusher, residue from the distillers, and incorporate all of this with a small digger.”
Here in the drylands, the nights are humid, but by the first light of the sun, everything is dry.
The innovative way in which Vassilis cultivates seemed unusual to many locals. “When I came here, many people made fun of me. ‘The Athenian has now come to cultivate,’ they said. But today you can see the difference with the surrounding vineyards, many of which are only stone and dry land. One neighbour came down and said to me, ‘We try everything possible; we dig around the plants to collect rainwater near the roots, we spray them, but we don’t get any grapes. You, on the other hand, do none of that, and each year I see you harvesting!’ He thinks I do nothing. This year I told him about seaweed and ground cover and somehow, he listened to me. Another neighbour, after a lot of suspicion, finally asked me to bring him seaweed.”
Unlike conventional farming, organic and biodynamic practices avoid synthetic fertilizers and chemicals, emphasising soil health. “Modern chemical farming uses the earth as a support,” Vassilis laments. “You pick up a handful of soil and it’s dead, there’s nothing there, whereas normally a handful of soil has trillions of microorganisms. Agrochemicals, monoculture and insecticides are destroying the land. But if only 1% of society produces the food, sustainable practices are not possible.”
Although land cultivation is traditionally associated with ploughing, sustainable practices seek to reduce it. “What I do once a year is use a gardening fork to thin out the soil a little in order to better oxygenate the roots and allow the soil to ‘breathe’. But precisely because I don’t dig, what has been really surprising to me is how trees are growing everywhere. Berries, lemon trees, cherry trees, wild olive trees—they all pop up. I uproot them, put them in pots, and either give them away or keep them to plant in more convenient spots on the island.”
Vassilis’s priority is to enhance the biodiversity of the soil, on the basis that, the richer the ecosystem, the more water it can hold. “I have planted about fifty fruit trees and several other trees that play the role of windbreaks. And when I find herbs, I collect their seeds and throw them on the farm to increase biodiversity,” he says as he pulls out a seed of Angelica archangelika from his pocket.
On the farm there is a four-year-old cabbage exclusively for butterflies.”It’s for them and that makes everyone happy. The butterflies come to give birth and eat the cabbage. We don’t kill anything on the farm. Its purpose is to bring joy to everyone, to the soil, to the plants, and, of course, to the people.”
Self-sufficiency
“All that is happening here is a long-term longing and an answer to how we could set up another way of life where we’ll be self-sufficient but also help the earth. An answer to how we can offer society something that nourishes, something that provides healing. I believe that products like the ones from the farm have true nourishment, as opposed to what mass production offers,” Vassilis tells us as we head towards the beehives.
At the Kambos farm, one finds an impressive variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs from traditional crop seeds. Fruit trees such as banana, date, mulberry and pomegranate, as well as fragrant herbs, and aromatic plants such as rosemary, sage, thyme, hibiscus, helichrysum, cistus, lemongrass, turmeric, ginger, a colourful garden full of tomatoes, artichokes, okra, peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins. The terraces are also full of sweet potatoes, strawberries, carob trees, sugar cane, corn and grapes.
Using these, Vassilis makes a series of transformations: natural products, essential oils, tinctures, grape molasses, dried fruits, syrups, essences, propolis, stevia jams, wax salves, soaps and many more. “I love being in the field, but I can’t do the salesman thing. I did it one year, there was a positive response from the shops, but seeing what was going on in Naxos with over-tourism and over-exploitation, I decided I didn’t want to be part of that system.”
Today, he sells to very few shops, all of them cooperatives, in Athens (Katalahou, Svoura), Thessaloniki, Crete (Terraverde, Apo Koinou), Amorgos (Votanikos) but also to families and friends who order in mass quantities – and of course he does some hand-to-hand exchanges. “My main income comes from the essential oils I supply to KORRES Natural Products, sweet potatoes, and then all the processed products—around 40 labels.”
The farm consumes a total of 8–10 litres of petrol per year, and the next step is to become fully energy-independent. Vassilis has already bought 1,500-watt photovoltaic panels in order to make the irrigation system self-sufficient. As long as there is sunlight, a pump will bring the water up to elevated tanks, and from there, it will irrigate the farm with a natural flow.
An innovative idea for natural salt
In the last 2–3 years, Vassilis has found an innovative way to produce his own salt. As he explains: “the largest amount of plastic eaten in the western world comes from salt, fish and packed food.” According to this research, we consume 5 grams of plastic every week, which is the equivalent of the size of a plastic card. “Collecting salt is easy, I know the rocks and places where I could kayak to collect it, but I wanted to take it a step further, no plastic, no pollution, so I came up with this idea.”
“I talked to university professors, post-graduates, PhD candidates, I tried many experiments and failed attempts. Finally, through the trial-and-error method of the Romans, I came up with this model, which is experimental and original – it doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world,” he says as we arrive in front of the greenhouse. At that moment, some repair work was being done by Arnaou, one of the many volunteers who had come to the Kambos farm to expand his knowledge of sustainable farming.
With special food pipes, a stainless steel pump and a special filter that keeps out microplastics and pollutants, Vasilis draws in seawater, which then goes through evaporation processes on natural surfaces in an enclosed greenhouse. By doing this, I am able to produce very high quality salt. The next step is to create a glass structure around the greenhouse that will hold the evaporated water, which is ideal for irrigation. It’s an idea I want to patent and release because it could be a sustainable solution.”
Today, many places in the mountainous areas of Naxos are now deserted and the fruit trees that used to exist there are rotting due to water shortages.
The greenhouse holds 8 cubic metres of water in a 37-square-metre evaporation area, and it takes about two months for the water to evaporate. “If you use less water, the evaporation happens faster. But imagine having a 370 sq.m. surface on any small, arid island; you’d get 80 cubic metres of drinking water a month. You’d be able to support a house, a garden, and generate a significant income from salt. Now imagine how much water could be produced on an even larger scale.”
Water, a luxury good
The water needs of the farm are covered by a natural lake a few metres from the sea. “We’re very lucky; there’s a big drainage basin, a wonderful little gem for the ecosystem, that always holds fresh water, but we don’t know for how long. There have been winters where we’ve been completely cut off, water would rush down like a river, but the past few years it hasn’t flowed. Only the year before last did I see a small stream, but it was nothing like in the earlier years. The aquifer has gone down too far, and the mountain springs have now dried up.”
As resources in the mountains dry up, conditions have become extremely difficult. “One of the last farmers producing traditional Naxian cheese, had an incredible artesian spring at an altitude of 800 metres, which has now been dry for the past three years. Because of that, he has to carry water to his cattle with barrels. This man is the last of his generation who does this kind of traditional animal husbandry.
The last rural island of the Cyclades
“In my opinion, Naxos is dying,” Vassilis says. “The islands used to be self-sufficient. In my grandfather’s time they cultivated everything, and by being frugal, whole families made a living. Today, grain crops are only grown for animal feed, and legumes are no longer cultivated. Only a few farmers supply tavernas and grocery stores, and their production isn’t nearly enough for the 400,000 visitors the island receives each summer, let alone its inhabitants. The biggest crop is the potato, but these hybrid seeds need unimaginable amounts of water and fertilizer to grow. Today, many places in the mountainous areas of Naxos are now deserted and the fruit trees that used to exist there are rotting due to water shortages.”
The prolonged water shortage, combined with an announcement by the local authorities of an increase in consumption fees with retroactive effect, has made Naxos a focal point in the discussions about water scarcity. It has even led to a series of disturbances on the island over the summer of 2024.
The people who are in the villages have no facilities, no doctors, no teachers, not even transport, and they are supposed to pay for the water used for swimming pools?
A wave of indignation manifested itself through protests and interventions in municipal council meetings. Although desalination plants were procured to cover the increased demand of the summer months, the islanders claimed that the water quality was poor, and the pressure was too low. For farmers, the situation was particularly dire. Many were unable to plant their crops; those who did saw their production drop dramatically. “The situation with the water, and the cost that they imposed, was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” says Vasilis, who took part in the protests.
Local residents are calling for the removal of water pricing measures and a discussion on more equitable distribution. “We cannot be the ones paying for tourism. The people who are in the villages have no facilities, no doctors, no teachers, not even transport, and they are supposed to pay for the water used for swimming pools?”
For villages such as Kinidaros, which until now had been self-sufficient and supplied the Chora with water, the demand increase ranges from 100-900%. “It is a matter of survival for the mountainous part of Naxos. The shops and tavernas in the mountain villages are the ones that keep the tradition and its products alive. In the tourist part of Chora of Naxos, wherever you go to eat, it’s the same fare as you would get in the Plaka neighbourhood of Athens or in Mykonos.”
The local meetings on the water crisis resulted in the formation of working groups eager to delve deeper into the situation and to spread the word. Residents decided to start collecting information on the legal framework, water management, the impact of drilling and desalination, and alternative sustainable solutions for the water sufficiency of the island.
“The aim is to understand what is happening regarding the water shortage in the islands and how things could be done differently”, Vassilis explains.
Vassilis hopes that this mobilisation for water will lead to further collective action for the benefit of the island, such as reforestation and mass plantings for the revival of the island’s flora and the creation of food-forests, as well as the organizing of educational activities for children and adults. His vision is to take the lessons he has learned from everything he has tried over the last six years on the Kambos farm and apply them on a larger scale.
All drone shots were captured by photojournalist Santiago Botero.
The article was first published in Greek in Sustainable Cyclades on 25 September 2024.
