Events 2012

Gathering - South Spain

24 Mar - 21 Apr 2012  ★  middle of march 2012, at friends in El Morreon close to Órgiva in South Spain: Already since several weeks I search a suitable place for the upcomming Rawfood Gathering, and in one week it shall start! I ask all friends, all friends of friends, all alternative looking people, and I follow their tips, visit places. Hope and disappointment are changing once and again.

One of this friends is Melchior whom I got to know one year ago in El Morreon (a village close to Órgiva). He tells, he lived around four years ago for some weeks at wonderful, separated land in the mountains, and he could try... He writes a detailed email to Amiro, the keeper of the place. Amiro is enthusiasted: He started already an initiative to make there a Rainbow Gathering 20 years ago, but he didn't realize it because of several reasons, but the idea he kept in his head till today.

21 March: The weather is less friendly than Amiro. Actuallly we wanted to drive today, but at the gathering place there are 40 cm snow - more than in the whole winter before! Amiro suggest to postpone the gathering to May/June, but I don't like such short-term changings.

23 March: We arrive at the gathering place. The snow is melted almost completely. A Swedish sister and an English brother are already there. We get some pleasant sunny days, afterwards rain and snow again. Some people leave already because of the weather, but more and more people are arriving.

06 April: Full moon - we're around 50 brothers and sisters and make a big fire. There are wonderful musicians; they're singing so nice...

07 April: More than 20 people are leaving, because of a rainy weather forecast. We make a talking circle about moving to a place close to El Morreon/'Órgiva, at the main river. But the river is smelling bad sometimes, because of the shit of the villages... Soon we find a consensus: We stay here! The energy of this mountains is so amazing, and we want this special experience...

16 April: In a talking circle we decide: The next Rawfood Gathering in South Spain should become warmer! Either we'll find a place closer to the coast, then we held it again around eastern. Or we take a place in this mountains again, then it will happen in May/June. We found a nice place close by, with a little river, waterfall and a good spring.

We say thank you to Amiro and the Woofers for the hospitality and wish them a nice community with humeans, animals and plants.

Some statement: "I came as long as possible by bus and wanted to go the rest by foot. But it was snowing, my clothes were wet, I got lost and it became dark. I saw no other way than to call the police. The Guardia Civil came and was totally friendly to me. They brought me to the gathering place (by car it was around 40km!), and during the way they lend me their uniform for warming up. So I had over my wet hippie clothes a dry uniform of the Guardia Civil!" - "For me the way to here was very tiring. I spent one night at a fire, which I managed luckily to inflame, during it was snowing. But I'm glad that I came to here; the good food, the mountains and the brothers and sisters were helping me a lot."

Walkabout - South Spain

24 - 28 April 2012  ★  The original plan was to walk after the Rawfood Gathering around 300 km to Órgiva and the coast. But because of the rainy and cold weather in the mountains we started in El Morreon, an alternative village close to the town Órgiva in South Spain. Andrea came by plane from Germany for the walkabout, besides Daniel from El Morreon joined the hike. We walked nice roads and path along rivers and over the moutains.The food we found mostly in nature, additionally we bought a bit in the villages. My companions were excited from the simple living in nature, on the other hand it was tiring in the mountains. Therefore we finished the tour in Itrabo/Almunécar and continued by bus.

Walkabout - South Spain

11 - 13 May 2012  ★  Sabine, Lenka and me walked from Nerja-Maro to the Rio de la Miel, Pena Escrita, El Cielo and back. In the valley of the Rio de la Miel we visited a land where we could create a Rawfood Community, and Lenka and me really would like to live there. But till now we got only the information that we can have the land, so we don't know the conditions. The Pena Escrita is a separated zoo, 1200 meters high in the mountains. We don't like the idea to put the animals in cages for sight seeing of the humans. But we didn't support it, because the intrance is free for walkers (Update 2022: it's closed meanwhile). El Cielo ("the sky") is a 1507 m high mountain. which we climbed.

Gathering - South Germany

20 June - 17 July 2012  ★  Up to 80 brothers and sisters came together in this gathering on a separated meadow in the mountains of Southwest Germany. We took this site the third time; it's a nice place, and the organisation is much more easy if we don't change the place. The weather was unnormal rainy and cool, but the most of us managed it to become friends of this. There were relatively many children at the gathering, and childs and family were subjects of many talks and workshops. In the mornings there were Chi Gong workshops, and I gave 4 wild plant workshops. At the full moon we made several spiritual circles, e. g. the traditional Angel Walk. At the 10 July 22 people started a Wildfood Walkabout of several days - see below. After the walkabout we put our focus on the clean up and the journey to the European Rainbow Gathering; therefore we had no vision circle. So I'll share here my considerations: The Rawfood Gathering should happen next year after the European Rainbow Gathering, because:

• Our Rawfood Gathering in South Spain will take place maybe from 10 May - 08 June 2013, and the Rawfood Gathering in South Germany should not take place just afterwards because of organisation stuff.
• The European Rainbow Gathering will take place reatively early: form 08 July to 06 Aug 2013. Therefore we'll have a better chance for warm weather after the European Rainbow Gathering than before.
• After the European Rainbow Gathering we'll have a better chance for Wild fruits (maybe also black berries) than before.

And I sugest the same site like this year in the Black Forest in Southwest Germany.

After the Rawfood Gathering we had a funny journey to the European Rainbow Gathering in Slovakia.

Wildfood-Walkabout - South Germany

10 - 17 July 2012  ★  The wildfood walkabout was an interesting experiment: There are some rawfoodists, who say that it is possible and healthy to live durable on such little amount of wild food. For me this experiment was too short to give an answer to this question. I fasted at the 09 July, to be able to afterwards better. From the 10 to the 14 July I ate only wild food from nature. I felt a bit more week than before; after getting up I became a bit dizzy sometimes. Besides I was longing for the At the 5 July I felt good like before the walkabout. But before I ate a bit vegetables which a woman gave us from her garden, and five dates and five almonds. They appearently spend me already a lot of energy. Than we spend a day at the gathering, where I a te a lot of the raw food from there. I could imagine that I would feel good after a loger time of wild food. But for a long term I want to live in a garden in South Spain, and there I'll live on a bigger varity of wild food.

More details of the walkabout are available in German:

This walkabout got more interest than the earlier walkabouts - 22 participants in the beginning!. Reasons:

• To live only from wild nature, is for many people an interest experiment
• This walkabout was relatively easy - only 5 or 10 km a day
• Parallel the Rawfood Gathering continued, to which people could go back any time

Actually many people went back to the gathering after short time, because the uncomfortable weather, and we didn't find that many wild fruits like expected - they were almost one month later ripe than in the year before!

European Rainbow Gathering - Slovakia

19 Jul - 18 Aug 2012  ★  Several thousands of people came together to this gathering in the middle of Slovakia. The common foodcircles were not completely raw, therefore there were in the first days rawfood circles with self-serving. But then discussions arose; some people felt our circles like a separation. Therefore the focalizer decided to integrate the raw food in the common foodcircle. So many pots were reserved for raw food people. And several times there was only raw food in the big circle - a nice sign for the raw food movement. But for many raw food people it was difficult that they hardly could choose, what they got to eat. Therefore I see two possibilities:

• My favorite: We prepare for every food circle around 50 boxes with fruits, vegetables, good oil and good salt, put them in the food circle among the people (one box for around 20 people), and all people are able to choose as much raw food as they want to eat. However, this solution seems not to be enforceable.
• More practicable: We make our own raw food circle in an own raw food area, before the common food circles. An advantage would be that we can eat earlier: Because of the difficult organisation, the first common food circle takes place most time in the afternoon, and the second common food circle happens mostly in the evening, when it is already dark!

However, the next European Rainbow Gathering will take place in Greece, and probably I will not be there. If you want to go thgere and to help in the raw food area, you´re welcome to ask me about organisation stuff.

Surely there are several things more to critisize. But let's consider that all the organisation stuff happens on the base of voluntarity and donations - every day two food circles with more than thousand participants, besides all the workshops, the shit pits and much more!

Walkabout - Slavakia

10 - 12 Aug 2012  ★  Seven people I found at the European Rainbow Gathering who wanted to join this walkabout, but only for two or three days. So we walked around 5 km to the Temply Vrch (the lake with the warmest water of Slovakia), a bit further into the forest, and back to the European Rainbow Gathering.

Walkabout - South Spain

26 Aug - 08 Sept 2012  ★  Around 20 people came on the 26 August in the evening to the garden of Claudia and Michel and brought raw food. Such "Potlucks" happened all around the world on the occasion of the World Raw Food Day; our Potluck was in the alternative village "El Morreon" close to Órgiva, between Granada and the Meditarrean coast. Some of the visitors stayed there overnight and five started the next morning on a walkabout in the mountains - higher and higher... We climbed the "Mulhacen" at 3.480 m, the highest mountain in mainland Spain... Our route:

27 Aug El Morreon - "Beneficio" (Hippie village) - Canar - long distance waklking path GR7/E4 - figs, black berries, cactus figs
Overnight before Soportújar

28 Aug Pampaneira - Bubion - Capileira - mulberries, black berries, cherries
Overnight after Capileira

29 Aug La Cebadilla (abandoned village; only a hydroelectric power station is in use) - apples (in La Cebadilla there are indeed fig trees, but without fruits)
Overnight after Hoja del Capitán

30 Aug Refugio Poqueira (restaurant without raw food, hostal 5 Euro a night)
Overnight at Refugio Vivac de la Caldera (room with table for comfortably 15 people to sleep), 3065 m. Close by there is a clear water lake. The ground is muddy, but it is possible to swim, and in the sunny daytime it is hot there. The last running water we found approx. 1 km before the Refugio

31 Aug Tiring climb 415 m higher on the Mulhacen (3.480 m) - we are on the top of mainland Spain! Thorough break, food circle. There are several ruined buildings which can protect against the wind; next time we could sleep there - Mirador de Trevélez - Trevélez
Overnight above Trevélez

01 Sept We spend the day around Trevélez with reading, writing, exchanging, collecting food
Overnight again above Trevélez - mulberries, a few figs, grapes, apples, pears

02 Sept long distance path GR7/E4 -
Overnight before Juvilez - figs, mulberries

03 Sept Internet in Juvilez u. a.
Overnight after Juvilez

04 Sept Timar - Lobras - many figs, grapes, cactus figs
Overnight at Cádiar

05 Sept In the morning at 7.30 two of us take a bus to Órgiva, because they want to participate a Yoga-Festival in Marbella. We three other hikers arise our walking speed: Lobras - long distance path GR142 - Nieles - Cástaras - figs dried mulberries, cactus figs, grapes
Overnight before Torviscón

06 Sept Internet in Guadalinfo Torviscón
Overnight after Alcázar

07 Sept Fregenite; about this village we saw this movie from 2008. However, meanwhile several village people came back; now there are in the winter around 5, in the summer around 30 people - figs, dried mulberries, grapes, cactus figs, wild apples
Overnight below Fregenite

08 Sept Olías - river bed Guadalfeo - El Morreon