Archive for the Category




Short distribution channels

Short distribution channel means that there is zero or only one intermediary between the producer and the consumer. Such direct market chains have many economic, environmental and social benefits. Thanks to the direct link between the producer and the consumer, all the money a consumer spends for the product goes to the producer. When the link between producer and consumer is not direct, each intermediary earns a percentage of the price of the product. As a consequence, the producer earns […]

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The Azores’ and Istria’s Green Tourism

Azores (Portugal) and Istria Region (Slovenia) are totally different environments, but have a lot in common in the field of rural and landscape area and tourism development. For those who don’t know, Azores are a Portuguese archipelago located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about two hours by plane from the Portuguese coast, recently winners of green and sustainable tourism awards all over the world.       What do Azores and Istria Region have in common? Isolation Passive […]

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Garden project

In park Istra we have a permaculture garden rich with herbs, fruits and vegetables. This garden has been created two years ago by Manja, who knows a lot about permaculture, and the other members of the association Park Istra. Every volunteer who is interested about the garden is invited to take care for it and, if they wish, to improve it. However, for someone who doesn’t know a lot about gardening and permaculture, it is not easy to know what […]

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The third year of Park Istra

I had an opportunity to witness the renovation of the old house in Park Istra from the very beginning more than two years ago. Each summer when I came back to Hrvoji for a few weeks as a volunteer I was impressed by the huge progress that was made when I was away. Even within days, big changes happen sometimes, but the accumulation of small changes over extended period of time is what really makes the difference. The work that […]

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Summertime and scout groups

Last year several scout groups wrote to us if they can come and contribute in Park Istra. As our place in Hrvoji is full in the summer, we started to search for an alternative place to host the scouts. The municipality of Koper suggested we could use a newly renovated traditional house in the nearby village of Smokvica. The house is protected as cultural heritage and listed as one of the 100 most beautiful rural houses of Slovenia. It turned out to […]

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Giving and receiving

Park Istra takes pride in giving back to the community and helping our neighbours attain their goals and dreams. Join the movement and start giving back to your community. You won’t regret it! Christian Wiebe

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Opportunity for volunteers who want to stay with us longer

We are happy to inform you that we have one more place for our EVS (European volunteer service) project, that would support your stay with us for 1 year. Since our project partners are from France, Portugal and Croatia, we can accept only volunteers from these countries. If you are citizen of one of these countries and you are under 30 years old, please get in touch with following organisations: Portugal- Check In:olga.kuczynska@checkin.org.pt; France- SCI Region Nord:sve@scinord.fr and Croatia- Žmergo: […]

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Ten years of Inconvenient truth

Ten years ago, in May 2006, Al Gore’s Inconvenient truth was released. The documentary had an important impact on the global awareness about climate change issues. In Park Istra we marked this occasion by organizing a movie night. We watched Al Gore’s legendary movie, then Vida presented the latest scientific discoveries about global warming, which sparked a lively debate. We were joined by several interesting guests, including european commisioner for transport, Violeta Bulc. Locals presented us with their home made products. Miro’s wine and Sandi’s […]

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Cultiver mon jardin — by Joris Vanbinnebeek

There once was a normal owl that lived a normal life in a normal town. Aside from, you know work and other stuff responsible owls in their twenty’s do, he spent his day watching the river of time flow by. He was neither happy nor sad. He was just… ‘there’ and ‘aware’ . One day the flow of time bore a toad with a magic quote: “ Are you living a life you would want to relive all over again […]

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Welcoming the Autumn

It is getting colder in Hrvoji. Autumn is the time when we look back and enjoy the fruits of our past work. And in Hrvoji we have a lot of fruits indeed! People that had lived in Hrvoji village had mostly left decades ago, but their orchards and vineyards are still here, with nobody to enjoy the gifts of nature. So when we really couldn’t gorge ourselves on fresh ripe fruits anymore, we started to make jams. In the last months there […]

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