Biodiversity Wonderformula

Olive Bliss

Olive Bliss is our practical Abundanism project along the coast of all Mediterranean countries. We started in October 2021 in Greece with an educational program for Wild Olive Farming. We started without money.

Just social capital and our own imagination.

Start with a Biome

We design our human systems with LIFE, HEALTH, and FREEDOM as a compass.

We looked around us in the Mediterranean. We were a guest at Meraki People Greece. A project inspiring to change a Greek rural area with entrepreneurship and biodiversity. Transforming the economy of 24 villages around Astros.

All we see is olives. Orchards. And old-fashioned ways of doing olive farming. Spraying pesticides. Artificial irrigation. Compacting the soil. Not using companion planting for extra income streams.

We want to add systemic design, education, and inspiration here. So, we decide to stay longer, rent an apartment in Paralio Astros and do our thing. Connect to locals. Get a feel for the ecosystem and culture (the biome). And get to work.

We designed a new human system for Greek organic olive farmers, olive oil producers, and related entrepreneurs.

Some aspects:

Greece, even though quite small, holds 3rd place among olive oil producing countries. As much as 70% of all production is Extra Virgin Olive Oil
There is an official EU health claim for organic, high phenolic olive oil (EU 432/2012)
This high phenolic content appears when the olives are farmed in a wild way. Wild Olive Farming
Olive orchards can be managed as ecologically intensified agroforests. Restoring ecosystems is very necessary in the world. Because it increases the carrying capacity of the earth so we can live with many diverse species on her surface
The high-phenolic olive oil content can be measured with an easy Greek test, developed by Aristoleo
Greek universities know a lot about high phenolic content olives and wild olive farming
We meet the syntropic farming experts of Southern Lights. They analyze diverse organic farms (smaller and huge) with drones and design agroforests on 6 pilot farms on the Peloponnese now. Sharing education and inspiration
We get in contact with James Godfrey Fausset of Wild Urban Spaces, a specialist on ecological intensification. Agroforestry with the Mayawaki method. Often used in dense urban spaces. He does a Greek project now on a big olive farm near Athens
We meet the Tai-chi farmer Giorgos and his partner Athina in Korinthos. On their diversified farm Gerania (grapes, olives, herbs, market garden) they master the knowledge and wisdom of life energy. We measure the life energy with Bovis methods (sorry, only Dutch). What we encounter on this farm is mind-blowing! We decide to stay for a bit and volunteer. Turning the farm into a true agroforest without destroying the life energy

We got so much energy from our research period in Parelio Astros. Thank you, Greek people!

Our Vision

Our Olive Bliss Greek business model design in a nutshell:

The basics of our thinking are based on cluster economies, systemic design, and economies of scope. We always design open living systems with minimized material use and optimum flow. No stuckness in technological lock-ins or narrow-minded business models.

People, Planet, Prosperity.

Start: feeding the rocky soil olive trees love so much with microbes and fungi. Inoculated biochar (to give the microorganisms shelter against an occasional spray from a neighbor). Crushed volcanic rock for an abundance of nutrients. Composts full of microorganisms and fungi strands
We inventorize possibilities of companion planting (extra income streams). Herbs. Undergrowth. Climbers. And phytomining plants, that enable harvesting accumulated minerals and metals. A good possibility is harvesting nickel
We educate the farmers. Showing them that with raised margins and companion planting it's easier to make their business case
Margin for export is high. 75 euro a bottle paid by rich people in medicine market
Half of the harvest will be sold for normal prices on the local shelves. It will be the basis for local health. And the rest of the business models: ecotourism based on health
We show ways of harvesting that do not compact the soil. Making paths for tractors. Connecting to Andreas Stafanidis, his Athens-based Entrepreneurial Society, and maker's spaces where drone development is taking place. Harvesting olives with swarm drones is a concrete option in the future
We educate the olive oil producers and the rest of the supply chain
We connect to the local community bio-fab-labs that create jobs for educated people in villages. Young, ambitious people can come back to the region and do work on the testing and value proving related to wild olive farming
We advocate branding a whole region (Greek organic), to prevent farmers from becoming competitors. Making it easier to share the cost of innovation research and strategize for high margin exports and linked business models for the ecotourism entrepreneurs
We design the business models with margin and access for the local region/ shops/ tourism. So these regional businesses can benefit too. They can build their business models with HEALTH as the main driver for regenerative tourism, travel, and digital nomads

And of course, the bigger picture is way bigger than just olives. And we are not the only ones busy with this bigger picture. Blue Economy, Biomimicry, regeneration, agroforestry.

We weave people and projects together. Weaving science with common sense. Inspiring government and business leaders with methods and tools to redesign human systems too.

Courage

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."

- R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983).

At Abundanism, we are fed up with bickering who is right on details.

We walk our talk. And talk our walk.

We know that we are way too stuck in technological lock-ins now. Existing, powerful businesses and their technologies are hindering progress. Evolution. But we are realists. We have to accept what we created so far as human beings on this planet. And redesign new models from what we have around us.

Olive Bliss started on Greek land owned by the Gardikioti family. The Meraki People of Thyrea (translation: The Portal) are the first ones we visited locally with our think-and-do-tank Abundanism.

We hope all of the coastal Mediterranean countries will follow sooner than later.

We love the diversity of the Greek islands. We love it that people don't hesitate to involve their hearts and emotions in their work. We had lunch with hotshots of government and business.

One of the CEOs grabbed his guitar out of the boot of his car and gave us a song.

Touching hearts. That's what's needed in the new, open, living systems of humanity. Heart. Soul. And that's what we'll design.

For Planet, People, and Prosperity.