“The countryside, that place where chickens roam raw”
“The countryside, that place where chickens roam raw” . There will come a time when we stop quoting Cortazar , but that time has not yet come. Thus spoke the writer in the story Lucas, his ecological meditations in which he reflects on the urbanites' flirtations with Nature. If Cortázar had visited The Biodynamic Dehesa he would have confirmed that, indeed, in this corner of the Serrania de Ronda , all animals run raw.
Define The Biodynamic Dehesa it's not easy. The objective definition is agroecological project that allows a direct approach to Nature ”. Very well. That is saying nothing and saying everything. Let's go a little further. It is an experience that takes place in the mountains, 30 kilometers from Ronda and an hour and a half from Seville and Malaga , which allows you to live for a few hours as if horses, chickens, sheep... were yours and you took care of them, as if the countryside you see were your way of life. It is as if, for a time, you had a large farm and you walked around it slowly, accompanying the animals at their own pace, taking care of their soil and turning to it to collect the day's food. It is " Nature for dummies ”. This takes the form of visits lasting several hours, culminating in breakfast, an aperitif or lunch looking at the Sierra de Grazalema . No more no less.
We know little about the journey of the future, but we do know something: it will be transformative or it will not be. The positive journey, the one we look at, aspires to change something inside. It is not necessary to alter the foundations of our life, only to move some furniture from it. From a visit to the Dehesa you come away understanding where the organic food that we buy in stores and supermarkets comes from Y how animals are raised in freedom . When the visit ends, it has been tasted that another way of life, more connected with Nature, is possible. Furthermore, every good transformative journey must do it from sustainability, authenticity and enjoyment . There is no learning if it is done without respect for the environment and without having fun. This visit to La Dehesa Biodinamic meets these requirements. Check, check and check.
If Cortázar had visited the Biodynamic Dehesa he would have confirmed that, indeed, in this corner of the Serranía de Ronda, all the animals run raw
This project was born at the beginning of the year but the confinement stopped it. Now, come back with a bang: autumn is perfect to make this visit. It is sibling to a known project on these pages (or screens): Donaira . They both have in common their commitment to sustainability, with biodynamic agriculture and following the principles of permaculture . And this is the first thing they tell you when you visit the Dehesa. Here the land is the protagonist and the one that sets the pace.
Here the land sets the pace
These 700 hectares of field are a factory of life: here extra virgin olive oil is manufactured , from here comes the organic wine which is then taken at hotel dinners, hay is sown , are harvested almonds . Also animals are raised in freedom and endangered species such as the pajuna cow . It is a system full of balance in which all the elements are in constant interaction, “like a human body”, they tell us. During the visit to La Dehesa, one learns that everything has an impact on everything, that what the animals eat is what we will eat, that the moon influences the crops, that you don't have to force the land and that each animal, no matter how small, has its function . Everything drives you to put yourself in favor of Nature and its rhythms. and along the way Gloria, who guides the visit and one of the people who best knows these fields , she talks about rudolf steiner , ideologue of biodynamic agriculture and Mary Thun , Whose book Biodynamic agriculture calendar is followed to prepare the compounds that feed the soil. Mental note: read more about them.
The animals are the star of the visit and, of all of them, horses , who take center stage; They are too pretty to go unnoticed. On the farm there 90 Lusitanian horses that are raised in the wild. Diego is a smiling young man who caresses them every day so that they are not afraid of people. He encourages you to do it, even if they can impose on anyone. "Is nothing wrong? What do they calm you down?” he says. Effectively: something happens with these horses that leave you relaxed and connected . Being with the chickens and collecting their eggs is something that, a priori, the average Western person does not do, but it is worth it. Buying eggs at the supermarket will never be the same; after this visit we will not serve just anyone. But we do not want to reveal too much: it is better to go to this place as a virgin. We do reveal that the visit ends with a breakfast, snack or lunch , the latter designed by the Swedish chef Friedrick Andersson . It is at that moment when the experience closes.
Something happens with these horses that leave you relaxed and connected
In that same story a certain Lucas , Cortázar, an unrepentant urbanite wrote shyly: “ A landscape, a walk in the woods, a dip in a waterfall, a path among the rocks , they can only fulfill us aesthetically if we are assured of returning home or to the hotel”. Here I would have seen that wish fulfilled because, after a few hours in the countryside, you can finish off the visit with one night in La Donaira . They are independent experiences (you can visit the Dehesa without sleeping in the hotel and vice versa) but if they are done together, they fit together. What is eaten every night there comes from the field that is visited . Andersson and his team go through it every day as if it were his supermarket.
In La Donaira there are no televisions, there are windows . Coca-Cola is organic and, miraculously, it tastes very good. The room keys are not used, because it is as if a friend invited you to his house. The pool is spring water; before the pre-Covid era it was filtered by the same stones. Now it undergoes another process, but the effect is the same. If you ask for a chamomile infusion they will look at you and say: “ A chamomile? Let me go to the medicinal garden and cook you something better.”.
Dehesa Biodynamic Oil
This place seems invented for a time when wide spaces are sought, direct contact with Nature and learning while enjoying. Also, never before in this century have we idealized the countryside so much, yes, that place where chickens (here, hens) roam raw.
*The Biodynamic Dehesa offers visits in several languages of 3 or 4 hours and a special one called "Family Sundays". More infoin your web.
Cauliflower from the Dehesa Biodynamic