It is with great excitement that we announce an open day at Can Muson Organic Farm in Santa Eulalia, Ibiza this weekend!
Located just off the Ibiza - Santa Eulalia road, the day to mark firmly in your diary is Saturday the 20th September. Starting at 11.00 and going all the way through to 18.00, it's a brilliant opportunity to visit one of our beautiful island's most forward-thinking businesses. For a map of the location click here.
Your Spotlight reporters visited the event last year and seriously ladies and gents, we had a fantastic day out. The farm is a shining example of a sustainable future for the island, with its organic fruit and veg, free-range livestock and passionate, professional staff.
We took a guided tour of the organic vegetable and herb gardens, where a guide from Friends of the Earth explained the organic gardening process. We visited all the animals on the farm - pigs, geese, turkeys, chickens, goats, sheep and rabbits. All native to Ibiza, all co-existing with plenty of space to roam and wonderfully cared for by the staff at the farm. The day was rounded off with a huge BBQ made from the farm's own free-range meat accompanied by liberal quaffing of homemade, country wine (vino payés). YUM!
Saturday's programme includes a range of workshops and activities, a guided tour to meet the animals, live World Music, a local products market, oodles of local and organic food and drink plus a public discussion about ‘sustainable Ibiza.' The talks and tours will be in Spanish ladies and gents, but there are always friendly, multi-lingual people around who'll be glad to explain what's being said.
Entrance to the farm is free, or you can choose a €5 'pulsera granjero' (farmer's wristband) which gives access to all workshops and activitites too.
Last year's event was a real heart-warming, family affair, with the children having the time of their lives running around, climbing trees and such in about the healthiest environment you can imagine. All excitedly chatting in at least 4 different languages but all seeming to understand each other perfectly!
Indeed, the owner and driving force behind the Can Muson Organic Farm, María Marí Colomar, began the project after visiting a local primary school. A native 'Ibicenca' and already a successful and accomplished businesswoman she was approaching retirement, originally with no plans whatsoever to start an organic farm.
Maria's son was working with children and had invited his mum to the school to give a talk to them. During the talk, the children were asked to draw a chicken. To Maria's horror, many of the children drew a picture of a box, like those from the take-away or supermarket, containing individual chicken portions.
She realised that this was almost certainly because many of today's town and city-dwelling children had never actually seen a real, live chicken. Big-hearted María decided to do something about that.
Since then, she has worked tirelessly to create a working, organic farm, with free-range livestock, for people to come and visit. One may even say, a 'farm for the future' of the type expounded upon by the BBC in their groundbreaking documentary back in 2009.
Their dream is to preserve naturally sustainable, country traditions, teach those traditions to future generations and help to spread an organic and sustainable approach to life for the good of the people, the island and the earth itself.
Truly, how nice to be able to buy fresh, local, tasty fruit and vegetables that you know have not been sprayed with poisonous chemicals or plastic. How lovely to get out in the fresh air with your family and enjoy a fantastic community day out and actually meet the animals that will, when the time comes, be humanely slaughtered to provide nourishment for us humans. It's really rather humbling, dear reader and many would say, quite rightly so.
And as if all that wasn't enough, the entire event is to raise funds for Alianza Mar Blava to continue their brilliant work to fight against Cairn Energy's planned Ibiza oil rig. Sponsors include Ibiza Preservation Fund, Friends of the Earth, Alianza Mar Blava, Greenheart, Geco organic restaurant and Payesa Ibiza.
We loudly applaud them all. We'll be there with bells on!
WORDS | Jane Charilaou PHOTOS | Jane Charilaou
