Introducing Life on Estate An:Theo
The Naxos chapter in my life began in 2009. Two Greek men, married to a German woman and an American woman, long-term couples and friends, facing into retirement and major life changes, decided to seize the moment and build family homes on a Greek island. We readily located our ideal property, a walkable distance to the sea, on the Cycladic Island of Naxos. Two stremata we bundled into one property, a K’Tima or Estate, with the amalgamated name, An:Theo. The remaining two stremata continue on as potato fields where Naxos Potatoes, known throughout Europe for quality and taste, are planted, tended and harvested by a local farmer, Stathis.
Nine months later we moved into two similar houses on Estate An:Theo with a shared outdoor kitchen along the path between them. We planted the cleared fields with trees, vines, herbs, grasses, cacti and shrubs all of which we learned to tend and harvest. What a thing it is to know the ancient marvel as your fingers pluck ripe lemons, oranges, figs, pears, peaches, pomegranates, mulberries, plums, capers, prickly pears (no, don’t pluck them), bay, lavender, aloe vera, oregano, basil, rosemary and thyme and then eat it that same day. Oh, yes, and a vineyard. We tend 350 grape vines, a dozen of which produce seedless table grapes. With the rest of the grapes, we experimented and, over several harvests, learned to make white, red and rose wines that are passable in some years and really quite good other years.
While we go regularly to enjoy time in the sea, primarily our life here is a “working holiday”. We live on Estate An:Theo 5 to 6 months of the year and entertain family and friends here. Our lifestyle is neither that of the year-round local nor that of the tourist. As “traveling islanders” we are more often working than sipping cocktails at a beach bar or napping under an umbrella.
I signed up for this phenomenal adventure (seriously, pinch me!) for ALL of it.
I decided to start as I meant to go on, to live honestly in the unfolding experience. I entered enthusiastically, with both feet, open in attitude, and with a commitment to embrace whatever came as a result. I’ve lived abroad several times in the past and learned this is the attitude that, for me, yields what matters most: learning, friendships, testing myself, experiences both planned and especially unexpected and expansion as a human being. My “Greek life” is both ideally suited to me at this stage of life and beyond my craziest fantasies. To be honest, I didn’t expect life to go in this direction or be this good.
Estate An:Theo became my “learning laboratory” for experimenting with gentler, more just, more sustainable and simpler ways of living while keeping our impact on the environment at the forefront.
I write vignettes about living my life here and the “discoveries” I make, about the bounty of family, friends, community, culture and traditions, food, and simplified self-care on my adopted Greek island, Naxos.
Follow along if you wish.
