KATIKIA, THE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY FARM

You and your family could be in idillic Corfu for an eco-tourism holiday your family will remember forever. Read on... to book simply click here

The history of using traditional methods of growing and preserving produce at our farm dates back for many centuries. The garden produce is organically grown. The farm animals form a part of the recycling chain: they are fed with the food scraps farm grown plants, and then animal waste is used as a plant fertiliser.

Reuse is another side to our environmentally friendly farm. For example, my dad reuses timber many times, final stage being the use of it as firewood. He never throws away the bent rusty nails either: instead he straightens and reuses them. During any construction all the bits of broken bricks and concrete are used in non-structural concreting. Other construction waste also finds a second life. Then, old tin, ceramic and even plastic containers and wooden barrels become flower pots. The energy from the fireplace is used for three purposes:

• Heating of the place
• Cooking
• Heating the water for the central heating pipes.

So, there is no need for electrical or gas heating appliances.

The water for household needs such as showers, etc is heated by solar heaters. Most Greek households use them, while in Australia with its beautiful sunny climate they never became popular which is something I can't quite understand. Plastic waste is considered to be hard to recycle. While in Australia the kerb-side collection and recycling is widespread, in Greece it's non-existent. But at our Katikia farm we still give it a go. Firstly, all plastic bottles (as well as the glass ones) are reused for oil, vinegar, wine, etc storage. Plastic containers are reused for food storage or flower pots.

My mum invented an amazing way of recycling shopping plastic bags: she cuts them into strips and weaves them into colourful plastic mats. She used to do it with old clothes but the mats made of clothes are not as good for outdoor use as plastic ones because the clothes mats get easily soaked in the rain. The guests to our farm are given one of those when they leave. The young generation has not so much interest in the traditional forms of reusing and recycling, but hopefully the traditions will survive at our Katikia.