Even as a child, I was always tidying up the garden. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have the chance to learn from my grandparents, I was too young at that time, when our garden was at its peak and they were still alive…
But my maternal grandfather left me a little flap built into the gutter, which I called a water spout, because it allowed me to collect the water that would otherwise be released into a barrel.
I have used it ever since whenever I can – although at first I had no idea that it would be of particular importance in dry periods.
I was perhaps the first, but certainly one of the first, to implement the Dr. József Országh water self-supply system in Hungary. Duna Television even did a report with me at the time.
Tree planting – one of the main lines of my life
As far as tree planting is concerned, I am somewhere between 2-3 thousand trees. It’s hard to count…
I also planted many trees and other plants in Kőbánya, the place where I grew up. Then in Érd I planted hundreds of them, as I did in Etyek.
In Kőbánya and Érd, only in my own gardens, but in Etyek I have already started to use community spaces.
Together we planted, for example, a row of berkenye in front of the cemetery, a family tree by the road connecting Etyek to Biatorbággy, a tree with the local community at the library, and I planted a tree here to commemorate the birth of my two children.
To commemorate the birth of my son, a Canadian maple quickly rose above the ridge of the two-storey house next door – just as my son has since become a fine, handsome lad.
My daughter received a beautiful willow tree, which I planted by uprooting a branch from another tree. Who knows? Maybe because I have beautiful emotional memories attached to the willow.
Neither was a conscious choice, both were intuitive.
My daughter and I have since visited our old house. We didn’t really have to peek in because the trees had outgrown almost everything.
In the Baj vineyard, my daughter and I planted trees again by the hundreds. True, this time again mainly in our own garden. But I won’t go on…
Green living in everyday life
At Etyek I installed percolators in the taps, put energy-saving bulbs in the lamps and continued gardening.
At first I was more interested in creating beautiful beds and expanding the areas for crops, but later I came across the concept of Hügelkultur and built my first hill bed – with my usual perfectionism.
Later I switched to raised beds, but there will be more raised beds built – I’m sure!
Exploring and deepening permaculture
It was also at this time that I first encountered the concept of permaculture, through the American Larry Korn, who was a student of Masanobu Fukuoka.
Larry is sadly no longer alive, but I was one of the lucky ones who was able to take an online course in 2013. That was the first time I learned permaculture.
And although the principles and methodology of permaculture are universal, somehow I got a very different approach from Larry than I experience today.
Then, ten years later, in February 2022, a large-scale permaculture design programme was launched by the Tree of Life, the final camp of which, at the end of August, I think my peers and I will remember for as long as we live.
This is how I officially became an international permaculture designer.
Creations, constructions, shared experiences
It was then that I built one of my most beautiful and largest herb spirals, my first walipini, and also a 30 cubic metre pond – planted with plants and fish.
I have built a worm tower, a pallet bed, Miyawaki forest, etc…
Since then I have been involved in the development of an 80 hectare domestic, a 117 hectare and a 21 hectare foreign permaculture estate.
I have been asked to work on several projects and over the years I have built my own 5360 m² estate.
Energy awareness and self-sufficiency
Already in Etyek, I switched from a bath to a water-saving shower and carefully turned off the water while soaping. I even made my own soap! I even distilled essential oils from plants I collected myself.
I also built my first mass stove – to replace gas and give my family a feeling of warmth like nothing else.
And in the Baj vineyard I have already switched from toilets to compost toilets. I had known for a long time that 33% of household water consumption goes down the drain in a flush cup, but that’s when I first realised it and switched to a compost toilet.
Knowledge sharing, community building
I have also dedicated my previous blogs to sustainability, passionately collected films on the subject, and even wanted to create a film club in Budapest, in MOM Park, where I built an event centre as the Hungarian sales and marketing director of a major US company, and where I organised lectures and film screenings on the subject.
We toured ancestral communities all over the country, invited speakers from all over the country, organised book launches, etc.
Livestock and global models
Pet ownership came in waves in my life, although we almost always had a dog. However, I have only kept poultry, rabbits, goats and sheep since 2018. My mother is the one who keeps the memories of my childhood alive.
It’s true that I first came across the name of Allan Savory, a Zimbabwean ecologist, biologist and farmer, and his holistic grazing model back in 2013, after I bought the Baji property – but I hadn’t started farming then.
But later I also joined the Savory Global Network with the property.
Local communities, global thinking
I first encountered the concept of Blue Zones in 2008, when Dan Buettner’s book on the subject was published.
I have also recently watched the Netflix series 2023, and now I am transported to a place where everything is in place to raise awareness of such a community.
Awareness, because they have been living this way for centuries.
It’s not to teach them – it’s to learn from them and make them aware of their own wonder.
I could also mention the practice and the pursuit of selective waste collection, or rather zero waste, in my life.
So too is the principle of less is more. After all, life has helped me to do the latter, as I was constantly losing everything.
But I have also been involved with the principles and teachings of the Transition Town Movement.
I’ll write about community building, self-development and labyrinths in one (or more) upcoming posts.
All of this is very exciting because it’s all about permaculture (and not just gardening!) – and because it and Montegiordano are the perfect place and community to do it.
