Category Archives: ADA – abejas de amor

Common memories of a community #2

Common memories of a community – as time goes by…

The first impression in the human environment is dominated by the hearing, the second by the optics, then comes the smell and the touch, and the taste may be internalized as the most intimate in the truest sense. May this be the case offline, some senses are lost in social media. Very much we are focused on visual information.

The most frequently accessed page of our website is the front page. And the first impression is more of a visual one. Instead of choosing a picture as a substitute in the hope, that it would convey all the emotion and truth about the real situation of our community, we decided on a picture montage that we update at irregular intervals and thus also lay an optical thread through the events.

The picture that has accompanied us through the last few years becomes history and takes with it all the stories behind it. Here the place is to pause for a moment and remember some stories and their protagonists.

  1. Two young Spanish woman are planting trees in the color garden. In the third session again we planted more than 100 fruit trees in various locations. In a monoculture environment (olive, carob, almond) only a few fruit trees are planted, mostly as a food supplement for family and friends. Our strategy of planting as many trees as possible as early as possible is provoking misunderstanding from some neighbors. One farmer summed it up: You are already that old. Why are you still planting so many young trees? The answer was easy for us: For the children of your children.
    As non-professionals in agriculture, we were initially surprised at how fragmented knowledge was distributed among the local population. But nobody dared to do anything new, nobody questioned anything. FamiliaFeliz’s planting campaigns are an expression of the joy of exploring which varieties and varieties are opening up new alternatives for local production. The crisis in 2020-2022 made clear the need to look locally for solutions for food production. No matter how small our contribution will be over the next 100 years, there will be a garden in Cervera del Maestre where people can collect fruit when they can no longer look after it.
  2. Abejas de amor is a bee project and reflects the situation of these insects, the market and the health situation of insect and customer. The pandemic effect had amplified all the unsustainability in global economy, but this sector was already suffering before. The problem with the bees is the beekeeper, not the pesticide. This sentence is certainly a provocation. It is surprising that in Spain Glyphosate is used for weed control – what a word – at the roadsides. In the rural area around Cervera del Maestre, large industrial agriculture has never paid off thanks to small terraces and so the use of plant toxins is not so widespread. But near the sea in the huge flat orange groves, airplanes are still sometimes used today. Most beekeepers have moved further and further inland with their colonies. The tough competition turns the full beehive into a commodity for dealers, and many colonies are stolen. A friend lost 25 colonies at one location in one night (value among dealers 150 – 200 euros, with 60 kg of honey and 30,000 bees in the box). This criminal energy also always needs an addressee, and that has to be a beekeeper who does not want to know exactly where these colonies come from, that are being offered to him. But this is not the place to judge beekeepers, especially small and part-time businesses fight with love and passion for a better world for the bees. But as everywhere where the economy finds its way, it displaces knowledge, reason and sustainability. The Abejas de amor project is about offering bees a habitat without having to exploit them economically. The aim is to gain varroa (varroa destructor) populations and to promote renaturation of the bees. That can only be done far from the market and money. The color garden is one of many locations in the area to host bee hives and to focus on solutions to go with the nature more than against it.
  3. One old and wise farmer put it in simple terms. Philippe once said: Carob, that was the oil of the Middle Ages. The Maestrazgo has always been very rich in this type of tree and it is a real pleasure to be able to spend your siesta under a carob tree in the hot afternoon. Its crown offers protection from the sun, its fruit tastes good to people and animals, and its wood is warm in winter. And its germs pacify even the diamond dealers.
    FamiliaFeliz has started to collect the carob and give it to the local cooperative. The attempt to alleviate the feed shortage in northern Europe and to send the carob was unsuccessful. There were none interested. A few kilograms are enough for our own use, in 2018/2019 we collected the first 2 tons, in 2019/2020 we are just over the first ton. We can only achieve this thanks to the tireless helpers, the money goes to our social youth and educational projects.
  4. The color garden with its more than 4 hectares and numerous terraces offers very different goals for learning, staying and working. There are signposts so that you don’t always answer the same questions. The project started in 2018. In the following time new signs were added again and again. The infrastructure is growing.
    A signpost is also a symbol of orientation. Just as in the small that is shown the way, it also gives orientation in life. And that is one of the most important tasks of this garden, providing orientation in life, not as a requirement, but as an offer.
  5. In 2017 and 2018 there was a time with children and young adults in the CASAdelDRAGON. Community was easy to experience. Some projects where realized. People have moved on, some have started the way back to the life they came from and that they actually wanted to leave. Others have settled in Cervera themselves, founded their own Familiafeliz and connected with the country and its people. So the village has grown, the large relaxed community of Cervera del Maestre and now and then the children still find their way into the garden of colors, to paint, to play and for one or the other piece of pizza.
  6. The development of the Art Camp as part of the color garden took up a lot of space. The infrastructure of toilets, showers, cooking and catering areas made it possible to welcome 56 young people and adults as guests. After that, the place was often used for meetings and workshops. And shortly after commissioning, art also discovered and conquered the new areas and rooms. This gives the area of the garden its character. As you can see from the new cover photo, this will also be a long process that will keep generating new ideas and solutions.
  7. Imagine you return to Europe, to the places of your ancestors. You get a bike for free and earn the money for the trip. You are driving from northern Europe to the south of Portugal. You are on a journey, to your roots, and to yourself. A place like FamiliaFeliz is just one stop. You leave a lasting impression, there is room in the heart. Letting go as a sign of Love.
    From the perspective of some visitors, the CASAdelDRAGON is a place of constant change, and fatigue and insecurity often spread as a result. For others it is a great gift to get to know so many such important people, it is also called LIFE.
  8. Hidden between many arrows, the reference to the “bar of all reason” appears. This is a typical German-language play on words and describes a bar on the one hand and a place beyond all common sense on the other. The bar itself is still fiction, but the prospect of its opening in 2021 is not small. What began with Julien’s mushroom cultivation as an Erasmus funded school project will take shape. The Art Camp also needs a hospitable place to stay. With the “bar of all reason” we are addressing a typical Spanish phenomenon. A large part of the social takes place in public spaces, as long as it does not concern family or closest friends. The bar is an integral part of social life. But it is always tied to being liquid and being able to afford the coffee. The decline of the economy was already before Corona, and will certainly be accompanied by a loss of purchasing power for the common population for many years afterwards. This means that these social places can no longer be reached. The aim of this social sculpture is to create a new space of opposition that is not driven by the money economy. Rather, the guest is invited to bring something to eat, on condition that it is shared with those who are also there. The bar of reason provides a space in which guest and host are united.
  9. You can build walls or build bridges. The results are different. This bridge was built by students from Halle and crosses the acequia, a medieval sewer that runs through the color garden. It was built by 3 women who have used hammer and nail for the first time in their lives, all of them older than 22 years. The intense experience of nature has also built a bridge in their hearts. The more theoretical training in biology got the desire for the physical experience to the side. Anyone who crosses the acequia is grateful for this bridge. And he will have access to the sculpture garden, where the first works are under construction.
  10. In the midst of the pandemic in 2020-2022, some where wondering what the government’s exit strategy might look like and realized to their surprise that there might never be one.
    The signposts in the color garden also show the way back. And at one point, back is just another direction.
  11. The CASAdelDRAGON is very often in the foreground when we report on our community. But in addition to our homeunit in Cervera, we have a second home, in Windeck near Cologne in Germany. This place is more in the background but no less important or significant. And there, too, the art and creativity are visible in many places. The tile fragments connect these places, like the people who worked on them. And these also convey stories of events and people who have accompanied us.

This is the second article about our cover images. The first you will find here. If you want to be part of these movement and these histories in times of reconstruction, think about a visit and apply for joining one of our next activities.

The food of tomorrow at less entropy

experimental gardening - the food of tomorrow - heavens gate for paramedcium
experimental gardening – the food of tomorrow – heavens gate for paramedcium

One of my best memories of biology lessons at school was the introduction into fauna and flora in microscopic size. We harvested some grass outside the school building and cut it into little pieces. We stored it in a jar with some water for 3 weeks and we explored the life inside of one drop of the liquid under a microscope.

expoerimental gardening - the food of tomorrow - a bed in the color garden
experimental gardening – the food of tomorrow – a bed in the color garden

On September 2019 we designed a new bed in the entrance of the art camp, which is part of the color garden of CASAdelDRAGON. After harvesting delicious cauliflowers and some onions in January 2020 we prepared the bed for a new season with salads and herbs beginning of March 2020.

experimental gardening - the food of tomorrow - new setup for a new season
experimental gardening – the food of tomorrow – new setup for a new season

We cleaned the stone frame around and inside the bed and collected a big pile of grass and rotten organic material.

experimental gardening - the food of tomorrow - replacing and testing the watering system
experimental gardening – the food of tomorrow – replacing and testing the watering system

We covered the soil with hay from another field nearby and we tested the watering system.

experimental gardening - the food of tomorrow - ready to grow
experimental gardening – the food of tomorrow – ready to grow

Finally the bed was ready. But we thought about all the organic material with was part of this bed before. If we take out season by season salads and vegetables we need to fertilize and re-energize the soil. We are using already methods like composting and terra preta and water from aquaponics. The question was: what else we can try to transform organic waste into something useful for our beds.

The memory of the magical biology lesson guided us to another experiment.

experimental gardening - the food of tomorrow - the paramecium reactor
experimental gardening – the food of tomorrow – the paramecium reactor

We stored all the organic waste from cleaning the bed inside a blue barrel and placed it under a carob tree nearby. We filled it up with stored rain water.

The water will cloud greenish, stink and in the next 2 weeks there will be a strong increase of numerous bacteria, both aerobic and anaerobic. A lot of them will be later food for paramecium, a single – celled – organism. We will add some of the liquid to the bed when we are going to water the plants in the bed.

Paramecium is a very good indicator for water quality and in many aspects an interesting organism (its DNA has double size compared to humans).

To transform organic waste close to the bed into a useful fertilizer is a strategy we will explore more. Following the second law of thermodynamics and reduce the increase of entropy will guide us to our food of tomorrow.

The Art of Education

the art of education - what  it is and what should it be?
the art of education – what it is and what should it be?

In early 2020 we had a lot of talks about living in communities, values and goals and further activities and upcoming projects.

It was also a time to reflext about the last years. The following collection gives an overview about social educative artistic activities of our community and address one Always re-emerging question: “What is this all about?”

the art of education - exploring yourself
the art of education – exploring yourself

In spain we are runing an artist residence, the house of the dragon (CASAdelDRAGON). One key to deliver informal education is a huge garden area called the color garden. It is our campus and space for a lot of social activities like camps in nature for families with kids (left photo).

Also we are involved in the summer school activities of APEAL, which is a NGO in Bucharest (Romania).

the art of education - it stuff for informal education purpose
the art of education – it stuff for informal education purpose

For the community project of ApEAL in Chiocanesti near Bucharest we collected some IT stuff to enable the association for computerbased workshops.

the art of education - students from a german university are building bridges
the art of education – students from a german university are building bridges

A group of biology students was building a bridge over one old water channel, designed by roman and arabic conquerors. This project was not part of the original workshop but the realisation of a common wish of the students to contribute in some way to the social project of our color garden.

the art of education - participative art installation in a gallery
the art of education – participative art installation in a gallery

The CASAdelDRAGON is an artist residence, guest house and a think tank for innovative social art projects. In the basement of the house we run a gallery since more than 10 years and we use the space also for partizipative art installations like the regalo bar, a shop, in which you can not buy anything, you just can receive a donation or you can donate something to others. It was quite a challenge for latin souls to use this opportunity.

the art of education - alternative bee keeping in Castellon
the art of education – alternative bee keeping in Castellon

Part of the color garden is a vegetable garden with a lot of young fruit trees. As an addition we are involved in beekeeping in the province of Castellon. This project address the actual situation of bees between industrial agriculture, micro-economical views on nature and sustainable needs for human habitats.

the art of education - aquaponic as contemporary art
the art of education – aquaponic as contemporary art

In a relation to the MLU Halle (Martin Luther University) we hosted from time to time biology students in the guesthouse. As part of one exhibition about social art we showed an smal scale aquaponic installation.

the art of education - latin roots and european identity
the art of education – latin roots and european identity

Magda from a little village near Bucharest was sitting on the terrasse of CASAdelDRAGON and said with tears in her eyes: “I want that my Children will see what i see now!” We where thinking the same 3 years before and we invited the first kids from Romania to visit the region of Maestrazgo, the land of the templer and deeply connected to the european history. In the following years we had several groups visiting and partizipating in our social art projects and we will continue this in 2020 and further on.

the art of education - everything about love
the art of education – everything about love

In our german home unit we established the “room for art” in the basement of one house. We invited people with interest in social art and contemporary education for a one day workshop to paint together. By transforming passive visitors to active creators of their environment we sculptured their brains, following Beuys and his idea of social sculpturing.

the art of education - discovering arabic roots in spanish ground
the art of education – discovering arabic roots in spanish ground

This Hand belongs to a great person. Her name is Fadella. She was coming from Bahrein to study our community life and she gave us a very deep impact in the arabic spanish european history. Her finger points on a handmade ancient nail, laying on a stone which is part of a roman trade path (which is part of our color garden).

the art of education - lunch time
the art of education – lunch time

The hosue of the dragon is an open house. A lot of times we are sitting together and share the Food whioch guests and Friends and visitors. These events are not intensivly organised and prepared and they appear more spontaniosly – but exactly this delives a flair, with is great and special.

the art of education - a christmas market in south France
the art of education – a christmas market in south France

Our close friend Anne is runing a severgardens project in south France. Part of this UNESCO featured project is to explore, develop and share knowledge about natural pigments and dye techniques and ways to produce natural colors for artistic purpose (which is also part of our activities in the color garden in spain). We spend a very cold and long day in France to connect locals with organic products and techniques and developed some connections for the project of Anne.

the art of education - a lecture about social science
the art of education – a lecture about social science

Following an invitation we gave some lectures in Germany for students of Biology. Partizipative strategies and methods of social art projects for science and classical education might re-design the thinking of former education.

the art of education - AMAL - and a happy new year
the art of education – AMAL – and a happy new year

In the educative space of Cecile – permaculture Penyaflor – near Tortosa we invited the guests to paint with us, reflecting the theme L.O.V.E. Later these art works became part of an exhibition under the title AMAL.

the art of education - workshop for leader
the art of education – workshop for leader

In Romania we organised a workshop about leadership. A group of children, teachers, government officials and social workers was involved to create a game about leading a summercamp for youth. The game will be published as part of another social art project ARTSURPRISE. It will be a tool to train youth in social leadership.

the art of education - where we go Cecile?
the art of education – where we go Cecile?

The missing link is another social art project in which we connect social spaces like Ceciles Permaculture Penyaflor, EcoTros or others. Quo vadis – the question for all of us and especially for social entrepreneurs like Cecile.

the art of education - a rocket stove for lunch time
the art of education – a rocket stove for lunch time

German students are buildung a rocket stove in the color garden. They are highly motivated by creating the foundation of something useful for the lunch of the next day (and the next day was really the next day!).

the art of education - light sculptures in Girona
the art of education – light sculptures in Gerona

In another open social space, the masia from Francesc, a friend living close to Gerona, was th stage for one art performance in the night. We created some light sculptures in the dark and enjoyed a conversation about art and relevance and sustainability of contemporary art.

the art of education - self organised cooking event as informal learning session
the art of education – self organised cooking event as informal learning session

To transform a passive event of a lunch into an active partizipation of the guests we invited some creatives in the color garden to prepare and enjoy local food and experimental cooking.

the art of education - learning as a personal process
the art of education – learning as a personal process

Learning something is in our opinion a personal process embedded into a social environment in which the person is free to discover and receive what (s)he is Looking for. Therefor the job of a contemporary living community with the goal of establishing a social space for informal learning and personal happiness is to create this space, to maintain it and to protect it.

the art of education - the free university of informal education
the art of education – the free university of informal education

Tine gave a workshop about awareness and meditation. The workshop was part of the educative activities of our free University (UNIIE). This underline, that we see our task more in enableling the space for informal learning than to just offer workshops.

A lot of people have a lot to tell. We want to enable them to do this… and to enjoy it at the same time.

the art of education - sense and meaning in life
the art of education – sense and meaning in life

Life brings people to the house of the dragon and they continue their way through their lifes. Some of them, as the nordic nod mosaic in the kitchen of the CASAdelDRAGON reflects, find back later and enjoy another time what they created and what others created in between.

If you have been reading this article till now – something we appreaciate a lot – you might belong to a group of people who really want to go deep into something. If you cross all These pieces of Information and ask yourself where is the red line in all of this, it is the power and success of partizipative art and ist influence on contemporary education. We are not aware about the outcome but we feel to be part of a wider movement of a lot of creative people all over the world. And even if we do not know if we will reach the goal, we are happy on the way.

Familiafeliz Info Day 2018-10-06

FamiliaFeliz Info(rmation Day) 2018 – 10 – 06 from 10 am to 10 pm – Cervera del Maestre – Castellon – Spain

We come together with members, helpers and friends of our community to talk about further steps to develop our living community. We will show you our projects, resources, partners and opportunities and we are interested in your dreams, ideas and projects.

We will enjoy this day with delicious food and a lot of fun.

We have a lot of space for cars, caravans and  vans and mobile homes and we have some caravans on our colorgarden plot and limited places in the artist residence CASAdelDRAGON in the village nearby. Accommodation is free.

You could apply here for staying up to 3 nights for a short visit around this Info Day or apply here as a volunter for a longer visit.

abejas de amor – bees of love – new bee hives in Cervera del Maestre

In the early spring 2018 we mounted more than 20 bee hives in various fincas near Cervera del Maestre. We ask for a little piece of land, quiet and abroad from traffic. We assamble between 2 and 6 bee hives in one location and we are looking for a place with sun in the morning and a little bit of shadow in the hottest time of the day.

On the finca of Otto we mounted 2 bee hives. Every box is also linked to a person who was in any way important for my life.

 

Utz for example was helping a lot since 1987 to develop the artist residence CASAdelDRAGON and supporting a lot of our activities too. Now he is coming sometimes with his family and the next generation “take-over” the mission step by step.

Marta is bee keeper and very important for this project. Most of the boxes are a donation of her and her friend Jesus, also bee keeper in Castellon.

Amalia is a warm friend, artist (paintigs, sculptures), and she helped us a lot in connecting with local people and administration.

Orientation in the color garden

signpost before
the signpost near the fig-lounge before…

In the beginning of the color garden project we managed around 3 ha land and started with cleaning the first stone walls and implementing the first raised beds. After some years we added time by time new installations and “features” in the bio garden, the sculpture garden or even inside the social area near the open kitchen.

 

signpost after adding some arrows
signpost after adding some arrows

At the same time we had more and more visitors and guests, in october 2017 first time students from the biology department of the MLU Halle (Saale) Germany. Later in spring 2018 we welcomed again students from Halle, first from the “Burg Giebichenstein (art university)” and later new students from the MLU Halle (Saale). They where interested in aquaponics and in management of natural resources. More and more it became usefull to establish a system of sign posts in the garden to route the visitors between all the different locations.

 

signpost near the aquaponics installation area

In spring 2018 we expanded the area up to more than 8 ha and we placed new signposts in crossings and important places.

 

second signpost with new arrows

Also we liked to play a little bit with the words and wrapped some of the targets in an artistic linguistic way.

The choice of Hercules pointed out an area where we are able to accommodate horses or donkeys. But the place is also linked to a powerful and important decission of Clara related to the horse project. We liked to underline this powerful decission of her and we will remember it linked to another famous decission in the greec mythology, the choice of Hercules. By the way, we like classical music too.

Experimental beekeeping on a new plot in Cervera del Maestre

As one of our new working units in spain we develop alternative experimental beekeeping. Our focus is on exploring best environments for bees in the province of Castellon.

We call this project  Abejas de amor.

To maximize tolerance against varroa and other bee deseases we mount specially prepared bee hives based on layens sized boxes and frames.

In early march 2018 we started to mount the first hives on our new plot.

This is only possible with support from family and friends. And therefore we use the project also to say Thank you! to these lovely and social people.

Only with YOU it is possible to develop and maintain such a big project.

Familiafeliz develops a social space for personal happiness.  Abejas de amor explores and develops a social space for happy bees.

Thank you and enjoy!

ADA – first beehives in a friends plot in Sant Mateo


In summer 2017 the artist Juan Petry started to mount first bee hives in plots of friends in the region of MAESTRAZGO. The bee hives are part of a large social sculpture project for the next years.

Main target is to give bees a refugium without any chemical or economical treatment, a “social space for bees”.

If we follow the economical thinking, we will not arrive in a “better” world, better for bees is not better for shareholders. At the end every system could be optimized only in one direction. Therefor its time to create a bee project far from business and economical benefit.

ADA – abejas de amor – is a social sculpture, and everybody is invited to join this project. It is part of the activities of the living community FamiliaFeliz in Spain.

More about the working unit ADA |