Casa Mandala is situated in an olive finca (farm) on the edge of The Sierra Del Las Nieves, a  ’Parque Natural’  just outside  the small town of Alozaina.

Here the artizans and  artists, John and his partner Anna, are living the greenest of lifestyles one is likely to find, pushing the boundaries of reducing their standard of living in exchange for a beautiful  standard of life.

Here they recycle, create and build, all with an artistic theme and in touch with the flow of spirit and nature.

Though a skilled carpenter, John’s primary interest begins from his concept of living a ‘bill’ free life. Do away with bills to concentrate on life, this is expressed in his preferred method of building, Cob (cob is a mixture of clay or clay soil, 沙子和稻草). His buildings are mainly a mixture of stone, cob, and recycled materials like pallets and washing machine doors (the glass ones!)

John and Anna accept visiting volunteers who come to learn about using cob in art, sculpture and structure, and are accomodated in one of the three small handmade chalets.

The earthen roofed chalet

The Yurt

At Casa Mandala there are no connected services, the electric comes from their 3 kilowatt solar photo voltaic system, the toilets are compost toilets and the water is collected rain water from the previous winter.

Here is the shower!

I asked John, if he was sure he wanted me to show the shower, my first impression was people seeing this may be put off wanting to come and stay but now I understand how much value one can get from Casa Mandala and it is all summed in this shower, I will explain this statement a bit further on.

Water is a precious resource, some of us are lucky to live at the source of a beautiful never ending stream of clean water, some of us are not so lucky. At Casa Mandala water is precious, it is collected in the winter and rationed through out the year, obviously during this time the water can go off but here John has an ingenious way of purifying it and storing it.

The water is left in theses jars for a couple of days, the sun heats the water and this low heat process purifies the water. The water is then transferred to dark glass jars for storage before being used.

So how does the shower represent the value at Casa Mandala?

To live this sustainable lifestyle, a lifestyle that is far more work than our average western lifestyle requires letting go of fear and replacing that fear with trust in who and what we really are beneath our facades. That open shower with one bucket of water strips away our facades, strips away our modesty, strips away our fear of not looking our best, it connects us back to nature and what nature can supply us with. It is natural and allows us to experience who and what we really are. After a hard day’s work of positive energy, a great learning experience and sweat, I would think what it takes to use that shower would cleanse and refresh the soul, the spirit and the body.

To contact John and Anna  send an email to       soul_connection@hotmail.com

Meditation cave

Above is one of the meditation spaces at Molino Del Rey, a centre for holistic retreats.

Molino Del Rey is the first post of hopefully many homes and buildings I hope to visit local to our home whose owners are trying to live a more sustainable green lifestyle.

The complex of buildings were originally two water mills that have been converted to provide a wonderful setting of meditation spaces, caves, streams and waterfalls.

But what really interests me are these -

Not the most beautiful or spiritual view the centre has to offer but these washing machines, made by LG, only use approximately 150 watt hours of electricity for an average wash. The main reason they use such little electricity is because they have no means of heating the water.

Though Molino is not off grid, if it were, any kind of electric water heating is a big drain on the power and battery capacity available, increasing the power requirements and expense of a photo voltaic solar power system.

But if you also have one of these on your roof ,

“ 1300 litre solar hot water panels use the sun to heat the water for up to 22 guests and staff and of course the washing machines. Even on a cloudy day.

The two washing machines linked to the hot water panels are a great way to save electricity, reduce the size of the electricity bill and help green the planet.

There is also a back up oil fired boiler, (not so green).

If you would like to know more about Molino Del Rey go to www.molinodelrey.com

The writing on the wall

How can there be any bad news to green living?

在我 ‘成功’ 三部曲 (根据标签 ‘成功“) 我说的是如何迎合自我摧毁我们自己的社区和我们的星球，但我也相信，心脏成功的平衡与自我的成功可以完成修复损坏.

我不知道，如果是因为我现在是一个脾气暴躁的老男人或如果其他的分享我的看法，但我相信，我们现在遇到的各种危机, 金融和生态所造成的人类的浅层欲望的增长造成灵性的东西越来越!

随着中说，我认为这将是一个好主意，前往其他国家的人民找出他们是如何生活的绿色生活方式，所以我可以阅读和评论的绿色博客, hmmmm大错!!

我能找到卖绿色生活的博客, 从肥皂到电动汽车, 诚然，有一些反刍主题的新闻博客，但他们本身往往显得相当可疑的广告收入支持. (我不是说绿色网站, 只是博客)

我想读什么，究竟是谁了绿色的人不得不说, 我不是说他们是不是在那里, 我只是无法找到他们, 也许搜索引擎谷歌神不看重他们, 谁知道.

那么，什么绿色生活对你意味着什么? 你高兴你可以去网上买.

当然，你不会购买实际生活的绿色方式, 你只是购买到相同的旧自我漆成绿​​色的成功.

绿色生活是生活一个可持续发展的生活, 所以这是什么样的生活水准?

以及大约, 如果采取平均的美国公民和他们的生活水平降低四分之三，这种减少将是相当足够的可持续, 如果你住在英国和减半的生活水平, 再次是不够的可持续, 全世界人口有同样的生活水平的基础上. HTTP:///greenstory_view.php?storyid = 1196

那么，是什么人做，如果一个人想不仅要过绿色生活，但推广绿色生活方式的好处?

以及政府没有得到一个机会, 政府没有将要上台投票的基础上，这是要大规模减少你的生​​活方式.

不幸意味着大多数如果不是所有的丰富的西方国家政府都躺在自己的人，当他们谈论经济和经济增长.

那么，谁真的要牺牲自己的生活方式，返回地球，它的天然色泽。?

好吧，我, 如果你看，也许你会以及.

这是不可能维持经济增长的一个绿色的世界, 一个绿色的世界，需要持续收缩, 事实上，它可能是不再只是一种选择. 如果我们不能接受持续收缩，它很可能是经济和环境的变化，我们正在经历，将迫使我们.

对亏损的恐惧是大于你害怕的损失.

我相信，绿色生活的关键，就是要认真考虑争取心脏成功, 成功地做正确的事，而不是自我的成功, 正确的事情视而不见，为了有东西和电源的成功.

我们需要做更多的使用较少，但我们需要获得比赛的有，说我们是谁的小饰物和实现他们说，现在实际上是我们精神上浅. 我的财富是没有错的，但财富的标志, 对我来说, 代表经营, 利用某处沿着线的人与事.

你可以不买绿色生活, 作为一个整体，你一定要活下去绿色生活.

成为素食主义者 (肉食者说，但我想!) 做多和少用的是一个很好的例子, 它需要规划，并认为很好吃，是一个素食主义者.

我给你的任何例子将作出更多的努力，并使用更少的资源, 这是比较容易的部分, 难的是改变人们的感知，成功, 真正的成功, 没有多少权力和金钱你有或你有一个大理石顶部厨房, 法拉利停在外面.

真正的成功是共享的财富资源他人在您的社区, 这是心脏成功, 这是心态的关键，这将有助于创造一个绿色的生活和打击的替代品，这是偷其他的宝贵资源的力量, 较深的替代未来.

例如，让我们来看看房子的墙壁和屋顶隔热, 为什么不是所有的房子建在西方世界，在过去 30 年超级绝缘墙壁和屋顶在设计阶段集成?

这不是因为它的成本或设计因素是因为你不能停放保温外, 或穿一个政党或炫耀给你的朋友, 不像双层玻璃窗的成功可以证明，不保存尽可能多的能量，任何接近看不见的绝缘

Green living is fun and I admit this post appears to be removing all the fun away from a green lifestyle but I am just trying to be real.

现在，如果你的想法去绿色是因为所有的东西除了买一辆电动自行车，那么你是不是真的比你自己的自我帮助任何其他, 但如果你买的自行车作为一种工具, 旅行另一种手段，它会给你我讲的心脏成功, 以至于即使在寒冷潮湿的夜晚，在红绿灯在法拉利的家伙坐在旁边拉起你实际上可能为他感到遗憾!!