Press Release

The “art of grafting” or otherwise “how to tame…a wild vine” will be the subject of the two-day experiential grafting workshop, on October 01 – 02, 2022, in Anemotia Lesvos, which will complete the installation work of the new standard organic vineyard of Social Enterprise of Ifestio Anemotias.

After the “wild” vine rootstocks were planted last spring, with the help of the volunteers and good friends of our Social Enterprise, after watching the bare branches grow and their lush foliage green on the dry and stony slope of the caldera, the time has come for this vine to take on the characteristics of the place, by grafting it with native varieties, from vines of the area that are up to a hundred years old.

The participants will get to know the grafting techniques, but above all they will become partakers of the transformation. As the events unfold over the course of the two days, practice will follow theory and work will be followed by entertainment. Professionals and amateurs, women and men, natives and foreigners will train and cooperate, the wild vine will be tamed, become productive, and people will soften, become tolerant (resilient).

The workshop will include practical training in the vaccination of “wild” vine subjects and interactive lectures, related to the how, when, why and secrets of vaccination, the treatment of vine diseases with methods friendly to the environment and people, the cultivation of the soil with systems of reduced processing, climate change and our need to adapt to the new data.

The two days will close, as always, with music and dancing, with plenty of wine and tsipouro, accompanied by local delicacies, always with Dionysus, creator and protector of the vine, as an ally.

The workshop takes place within the framework of the project “Restoration of degraded land through its transformation into an organic vineyard to save native varieties”, which is financed by the “Green Fund”, in the program “Natural environment & innovative actions 2021” and the measure “Innovative actions” with the citizens”. Responsible for the implementation of the project is Ifestio Anemotias Social Enterprise, in collaboration with the Environmental Cultural Association of Skalochorio DRYS and the Winegrowers’ Association of Anemotia of Lesvos “o Kampos” and with the contribution of the Museum of Natural History of the Lesvos Petrified Forest.