Kariofyllis Farm: A Family-Friendly Animal Adventure on Lesvos

Since opening his farm to the general public in 2018, the younger farmer Giorgos Kariofyllis has provided a whole lot of free excursions to households and guests, introducing them to his distinctive lifestyle in Lepetymnos, on Lesvos. “The place are you spending all of your cash, child?” his fellow villagers used to ask him a few decade in the past. This was after Giorgos, having graduated from the Division of Mediterranean Research on the College of the Aegean on Rhodes, returned to his ancestral village and bought some land –with the steering of his “lawyer,” as he jokingly calls his agricultural guide. “I inherited a small plot from my father, simply sufficient to supply the 12 months’s provide of olive oil, like most individuals do in Lesvos. However I wished extra – I used to be in search of one thing completely different,” he explains. “As a child, I used to be fascinated by farms, and through my travels overseas, I at all times visited them. One farm in Switzerland left me utterly captivated.”

At Kariofyllis Farm, you’ll end up amazed by over 300 free-ranging animals of varied species, all dwelling on 1.8 acres of land. Among the many inhabitants are pygmy goats, Cameroon sheep, Cyprus wild sheep, and even some animals introduced right here by completely different organizations. Giorgos works intently with the Municipality of Western Lesvos, offering care and refuge for animals in want, corresponding to these deserted throughout the 2022 Vatera wildfire. He additionally takes in pets from people who typically notice that “rabbits aren’t precisely ideally suited home pets.”

The tour doesn’t finish there. Guests can marvel at uncommon, black-feathered Indonesian chickens, fallow deer, Mandarin geese, Carolina geese, peacocks, regal pheasants and a pond full of unique fish and the native freshwater Lesvobinos. “None of them are for consuming,” Giorgos assures with a smile, preempting the query.

Round Economic system and Aronia

At Kariofyllis Farm, the idea of the round economic system is of course built-in into day by day life. For example, Giorgos’ spouse, Sofia, turns the spectacular peacock feathers which are shed every year into bookmark souvenirs. (A marine biologist who teaches on the Division of Oceanography on the College of the Aegean, Sofia helps on the farm every time she finds time.)

The goats, which graze freely on the mountain, contribute to pure brush clearing, serving to to stop wildfires. “Why do now we have wildfires? As a result of individuals have develop into disconnected from nature,” Giorgos explains. He provides that one of many causes he created this farm was to show metropolis kids about domesticated animals. “However not for an entrance payment – this isn’t a zoo,” he emphasizes.

Kariofyllis Farm is a improbable vacation spot for the entire household. Guests can discover freely, and earlier than leaving, they will’t assist however take house “one thing completely different”—the chokeberries, or aronia berries, that Giorgos had at all times dreamed of cultivating. This superfood, grown within the excessive mountains of Lepetymnos, is made into jam, utilized in tea sachets, or dried out for an extended shelf life.

Since final March, guests can get pleasure from the breathtaking views stretching to Mount Athos from the café subsequent to the farm. There, they may meet Fifi, the resident cat who by no means leaves the café, or Liza, a rescue canine from Mandamados who sometimes ventures all the way down to the village. The stables on the farm are one other fashionable attraction; they home ponies, horses and donkeys.

Giorgos tends to his “animal kingdom” day by day, with the assistance of Zeus and Hera, two purebred Greek shepherd canines, and Lena, a German shepherd. Hera even “trains” and “guides” the brand new canines upon their arrival in a 3000-sq.m. house used for adapting them to their new atmosphere; at different instances, the house is used as a breeding facility.

For the reason that animals reside naturally, with minimal medical intervention, Giorgos is accustomed to their passing however finds consolation in understanding that they lived freely and humanely. For instance, Alfie, a small goat that was born disabled, lived a full 4 years, far exceeding his anticipated lifespan.

Kariofyllis Farm, Lepetymnos, Lesvos, Tel. (+30) 697.945.8991