Nurture Earth and spirit
Whispers of Nature
07.08.-18.08.2025, Mokovec Farm, Slovenia
Born out of calling, in August was hosted the first youth exchange in Mokovec Farm with intention of supporting young people in their building of resilience. The idea was to give young people space to experience community, nature and art; and to feel part of the whole process. The core team consisted of six young people, mentored by Prija Barbara Balan, whose paths crossed thanks to shared dream – to share precious space of permaculture farm with others in order to give them a chance to dive deeper into themselves. All of them having profound self-discovery experiences thanks to spending time in nature felt inspired to facilitate similar meetings for youth from Slovenia, Spain, Hungary. At the same time opening this space for the contribution of others that happened through activities offered as workshops of Open Space. “Another thing that made this youth exchange so special was the open spaces for the participants to bring in their workshops, I remember sketching, writing, makrame, bachata and many more spontaneous ideas that became reality within days or sometimes hours.”
During 12 days the group enjoyed having the hands-on experience of living on the farm, involving learning about sowing calendar, sustainable practices and getting their hands dirty with actual work to learn about sustainability and permaculture. Through clay and paint they were exploring expressing themselves through art. In various movement exercises and hike to Golek, they spent a lot of time in the forest, in the nature. One participant recall that:” I loved the workshop space in the forest where we expressed ourselves in many different ways., through movement, dance, playfulness, slowness, art and beautiful sharing.”
The preciousness of this experienced was created by deep sense of connection between the people and them trying their best to translate the harmony of nature into the harmony of community they cocreated together.
Testimonials
And what did we experience and learn?
»"I enjoyed the workshops connecting me to myself and also to other members of the community. I loved the experiential content where I could feel more than talk and be rather emotional than rational. I think this was for me the essence of the whole training. I loved the community and being in beautiful nature in all kinds of weather. "«
»"I experienced this training course as intense and so impactful in the best way. Going into it without expectations, these 10 days left me with a lot of knowledge, insight and experience that I greatly value."«
»"I felt very well in this program, it was inspiring, safe, full of experiences. The connection with nature helped a lot in my own journey of self-knowledge. During this journey I learned a deeper connection with myself through nature and various artistic tools."«
»"The experience was great for me. I have already incorporated some breathing practices into my life. When walking my dog, I try not to take my phone with me, and at work, I tell my colleagues to slow down if what they're sharing with me feels too intense. I wrote a project for the school inspired by this training, where I integrated work on social skills, but with nature as the setting for practicing those skills.
The most important lesson for me is that things can be done without rushing and how important it is to stop and take a moment for yourself. I’ve also learned that other people's processes don’t have to affect my mood and/or confidence.«
