Jo Chipchase - Going Green - In Spain

PROFILE Green living

Going green Is relocating to a remote area of España to pursue a low-impact lifestyle a green dream or an uphill challenge?

F

or those of us who aren’t fully fledged in our green credentials, sustainable living (la vida sostenible in Spanish) is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce a person’s use of their own resources and the earth’s natural resources, while respecting the cycles of nature. This low-impact lifestyle is advocated by some of the expat population in Spain who choose to live ‘off-grid’, sometimes in remote locations not served by main roads or utilities.

Persons practising sustainable living are likely to reject the likes of ready meals, imported food, mains utilities, Sky TV and conspicuous consumerism in favour of growing organic produce, generating their own power, recycling what they use, living in nature’s elements, managing without mod-cons and reducing their use of motor vehicles.

Remote living brings many problems.

Words Jo Chipchase However, while some people simply modify their habits to be more eco-friendly, others relocate to locations worthy of a Bear Grylls survival documentary, where it is necessary to gain access using rough tracks, brave sub-zero temperatures in winter, and gather provisions from the nearest town during occasional visits.

In some cases, people have made conscious decisions to leave the British ‘rat race’ so they can downsize and pursue a greener, more tranquilo existence off the beaten track in Spain, where the abundance of natural resources – such as fruit and vegetables, fertile soil and a climate that allows two growing seasons – can support a low-impact lifestyle. However, this type of existence may not be suitable for everyone and some who attempt it may crave the home comforts of Britain after a while.

Choosing your ‘off-grid’ retreat in Spain

Off-grid or off-track?

Although off-grid, low-impact living is a fulfilling and ethical long-term choice for many expats in Spain, this sort of lifestyle needs to be approached with care and consideration. If not planned properly, it can easily turn into an uphill struggle against the elements, isolation, unexpected costs and lack of income instead of being a ‘green dream’ in a beautiful setting.

Living in the elements.

Sowing the seeds

Winter snow above Canar.

40 Living Spain SPRING 2011

Sunseed (www.sunseed.org.uk) is a community based in the semi-arid Karsts de Yesos natural park in Almería, south-east Spain. Set up in 1986 by an English and Spanish charity, it teaches members how to live a greener, simpler life.

Practices at Sunseed include eating an ethical and healthy vegetarian diet, using solar cookers, generating bicycle-powered energy and learning to make natural products such as soap and toothpaste that don’t cause any ‘greying’ of water. Organic vegetable growing is taught and the community’s water supply is derived from rainwater harvesting using a water pumping system. The community also recycles its rubbish.

At Sunseed, volunteers learn about traditional and local ecological building methods and how to use material such as caña (bamboo), lime, clay, cob and stone. Projects include the construction of polytunnels, dry stone walls and geodesic domes.

Jef Carrick, project manager at Sunseed, joined the community in 2008. He says, “Sunseed has a great reputation and I was drawn to it by a friend who had previously visited the project. My background in England was in construction. When I saw Sunseed’s advert for a bio-construction co-ordinator, I instantly applied.”

For a Brit however, working in dry, hot

conditions can be challenging. “The harsh climate of Almería has a big impact on our crop yield. The summers are hard to deal with at times – the temperatures are rising each year and the rainfall is less. We’re constantly adapting to the changing environment and finding solutions.

“Many small communities in Spain are learning how to be more sustainable so, slowly, changes are being made.

“This lifestyle is for everybody. It has to be; otherwise we’ll keep taking more from the planet’s resources and won’t be able to replace them. To sustain our planet, we first need to sustain ourselves.”

Jef Carrick is project manager at Sunseed.

Property specialist, Caroline Frohwein Ricano of Tiempo Rural (www.tiemporural.net) has helped many people source rural retreats in Granada Province.

“It is possible to find your idyllic retreat, especially if you have ample funds. The costs have risen though.

Before 2002-3, it was easy to obtain a property on a budget, especially before the currency change to the euro.”

Caroline suggests looking for a place that only requires cosmetic changes.

Buying a ruin to develop is full of pitfalls.

“Even if you can do most of the work yourself, the cost of building permissions may be prohibitive. Building materials are no longer cheap in Spain and labour costs considerably more than it did a few years ago. As for building an eco-house, this concept isn’t well-developed in Spain.

“If you’re going to locate yourself up a mountain, ask yourself whether you can meet the challenges of an off-grid lifestyle. How will you obtain provisions and transport them to your property? If you have school-age children, are you going to home school them? If not, how will they get to school? Can you cope if things go wrong?

“The legal side of your home purchase is another potentially treacherous area. This must be handled by an independent solicitor who will check whether the property is entered correctly in the land registry and that you have water rights to which you believe you’re entitled. If there are inadequate or no water rights – a common problem in southern Spain – your bargain mountain retreat becomes worthless.”

Check your water rights.

SPRING 2011 Living Spain 41

PROFILE Green living

Low-impact family living in tipis and yurts

Tom outside his old home in Spain.

Sierra Nevada to Surrey

Thomas Dashwood relocated to Spain in 2003 and has recently returned to Britain, where he lives in Surrey. After exploring La Alpujarra, he bought a finca located at 1,700 metres altitude, above the village of Canar. “When I moved to La Alpujarra, I wanted to escape from the hedonism of Brighton. I was impressed by the beauty and diversity of the land and the people living simply in alternative communities such as Beneficio.”

Thomas was attracted by the idea of leading a self-sufficient lifestyle, generating his own power, sourcing wood, looking at how to use energy from water.

He found his dream home in the Natural Park on the south side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, 45 minutes away from the nearest town.

Unfortunately for Thomas, after a few years of remote living, ‘the good life’ proved to be not so good. The winters were arduous, with temperatures at 1,700 metres dropping as low as -20C at night.

Following several occasions when he was snowed in, and being trapped on a mountain for a night during a blizzard, he began to rethink.

“It’s difficult to have a career when you’re living up a mountain. The cost of fuel to drive to town and back became prohibitive, and I was beset by problems such as the expensive batteries on my generator failing and the theft of one of my solar panels. Furthermore, when I bought the house, I believed I had a right to the water course running past the property but this turned out to be inaccurate. Fortunately, the local ayuntamiento (town hall) is re-evaluating the water rights.”

Despite Thomas putting capital aside as a contingency fund, he overlooked vehicle costs and other things going wrong. The romantic notion of escaping to a quiet, austere lifestyle may have seemed appealing beforehand, but when he was actually living up the mountain, he realised how much he missed his old life. “I am a social creature and so in the end, I decided to relocate to the south of England where I could reexamine my options and look for work.”

42 Living Spain SPRING 2011

Sam Meaden in her health food shop, Eco Loco in Orgiva.

Eco Loco in La Alpujarra Sam Meaden runs the ‘Eco Loco’ organic health food shop in Orgiva, La Alpujarra, with her business partner, Dani, and consumes and promotes a raw food diet. She moved to La Alpujarra in 2003 after working in Spain as a “Wwoofer” [sic] (volunteer on organic farms).

Previously, she lived in London where she was an environmental activist and practised permaculture gardening.

“When I arrived in La Alpujarra, I was impressed with the abundance of free fruit in the trees and hedges – the figs, pomegranates, oranges and grapes. I joined forces with Dani, who was selling local honey at Orgiva market.

We started selling products that primarily used what was around us. We’re interested in raw nutrition and we looked after an amazing mountain finca (country house) above Capilera for a while. When we were there, we started running raw food retreats and food preparation courses. We still run stalls at local parties and Living in the elements.

festivals selling juice, nut and seed milks and raw chocolate.

It has taken Sam a long time to get used to growing food in the Spanish climate, and she is still getting to grips with it after seven years.

“There are two seasons here and you can grow in winter but things go to seed quicker. It can also prove tricky to source organic seeds.”

Sam questions whether some people who live ‘off-grid’ are really lowering their footprint.

“With solar panels, it can take more energy to create the panels than the energy they output in their lifetime. People often use them as the only available option, not to be ethical. And how organic and green are you really being if you’re driving up and down a mountain track and catching planes to visit relatives back in England?”

Sam also believes that many expats underestimate the winter climate at above sea-level locations in southern Spain. “People mistakenly think that because it is southern Spain the winter will be warm. This is a misconception. Houses here are designed for summer. They’re not very well insulated or energy efficient so they’re harder to heat. It’s easier to heat a terraced house in England with loft insulation.”

The sun can disappear for weeks, meaning solar panels won’t work, and neither will your computer and internet connection. “If you’re living at high altitude, be prepared for harshness and solitude,” says Sam. “We had one particularly cold winter where the water in our pipes was frozen and the kids were constantly complaining that their hands were cold. The Spanish avoid those conditions and they’ll be in the local village, leaving the mad English to endure them alone.”

Amy Tatum is building her own house in a mountain location just below Canar, La Alpujarra. Her family comprises five children and her partner, Todd. They currently lead a low-impact lifestyle using tipis and yurts for accommodation and natural resources for warmth, cooking and cleaning.

Amy moved to La Alpujarra in 2003, having visited for a holiday when she fell asleep in a friend’s hammock in Beneficio, a community of self-sufficient people, and deciding to stay.

“We bought our own land in 2008. I like living off-grid. Our drinking water comes out of the ground, the use of gas bottles and solar electricity creates no bills, and the kids see another way of life. We live in the elements – the wind and the rain – and have an appreciation of and connection to the earth. We have amazing views across the ocean to Morocco and see incredible sunsets and sunrises.”

Amy’s lifestyle means she and her family have little impact on the earth. They use fire for warmth and for cooking breakfast, and her daughters Ella (12), Annie (12) and Poppy (4) have a 5m yurt as their bedroom, while her son Silas (14) has a 4.5m tipi. A communal geodesic dome is the kitchen with a gas oven

and storage for food, and they have running water in the sinks in the washing up area. Their waste is treated sustainably in a composting loo (complete with view), and an outdoor bathroom with hot running water from a ‘calientador’ (boiler) that runs an outdoor shower. There’s also a bath with a fire underneath to heat the water, providing an outside bathing experience.

“We burn butane gas to cook our main meals. We cut the wood for our fires locally: we use poplar, walnut and olive.” They also take advantage of the weather, by collecting dead wood blown off the trees during strong winds and storms, and using solar panels to power their electrical items. “We would eventually like to use hydro-electricity generated from the gushing water in the barranco (gully).

We’re currently building a wooden chalet for our kitchen and communal living area using forestry-cut wood, which we have permission to take and recycle.

“Our chosen lifestyle teaches the children the cycles of nature first hand – the seasons, daylight and fruits that are ripe. They have an appreciation for taking from the planet. For example, they understand that if it’s cloudy, we can’t charge our mobile phones.”

Try before you ‘buy’ Try Wwoofing

It’s possible to try sustainable living in Spain before you make a permanent move from England, thanks to the popular Wwoofing scheme. Here, volunteers sign up to work on organic farms all over the world, in exchange for accommodation and food. Work in Spain may include olive picking, helping with irrigation systems, assisting on building projects etc. It’s likely to be challenging but rewarding. See WWOOF – World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. www.ruralvolunteers.org

Join Sunseed

At Sunseed in Almería Province, you’ll learn the basics of a sustainable lifestyle in a challenging environment. All work and cooking tasks are arranged on a rota.

Volunteers can be full time or part time.

The cost of living at Sunseed, covering food and accommodation, starts at €74 per week. www.sunseed.org.uk

The village of Capilera.

SPRING 2011 Living Spain 43