Living Earth is a magical place located in the beautiful region of Poland Kaszuby, near a nice swimming lake called Morzycz. Far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, 14.5 hectares of land surrounded with our own trees, with more being planted every year, creating a special, natural enclave in which we promote healthy living, permaculture and organic farming. On this natural farm birds and other wild animals choose to live with more and more every year.
Lash and diverse plantlife, organic veggies and fruit trees, herbs, honey and the company of our friendly animals create perfect conditions for relaxing and maintaining direct connection to nature. Our guests will find peace, silence, community, and privacy here.
Karl
Kasia
KASIA & KARL
The history of this place that is now called Living Earth began in late 1999 with Kasia and her friend Janusz buying an old farm. There was a small, old dilapidated farm house and ruins of old barns, a handful of old trees and four swamps full of rubbish. The fields around it were bare and depleted, due to exposure to strong westerly winds. During the following three years, the rubbish was cleared, ponds were made and a deer-proof fence was built around the central area to protect all the trees that had been planted. The construction of the main house was finished in 2003 and, two years later, a farm building was constructed, but not finished.
In 2012 we (Kasia and Karl) bought Janusz’s half of the property. We appreciate all of Janusz’s hard work with re-structuring the land, planting and caring for the trees and organizing the building work.
In 2014, we moved onto the land after our seven-year adventure in Findhorn Community in Scotland. With the companionship of Caesar (the farm dog) and great help of our wonderful woofers, we continued to develop the land using permaculture ideas and solutions, e.g. planting more windbreaks and learning what works on this land. Soon, new inhabitants joined us: horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, two cats, two new dogs, gees and bees. For all our new residents we constructed new wooden stables, chicken mobile house, a winter shelter for poultry, a bee area with workshop and a apitherapy room, and a large vegetable garden to help feed us, our family and friends.
The year 2019 was eventful for us at Living Earth. We transformed the farm building into a retreat centre and named it Bungalow. A beautiful large clay combustion stove with a goanna sculpture was created in the dining room, which became the Heart of Retreat space. Our first workshop in Bungalow was Yoga Closer to Nature, which took place in August 2019, thus starting a new chapter in the history of Living Earth.*
The history of the place we know today as Żywa Ziemia begins at the turn of 1999 and 2000. It was then that Kasia and her friend Janusz bought an old farm together. On its premises stood a tiny, dilapidated house and ruins of farm buildings, next to it grew a group of old trees, further on stretched four littered marshes, and around, on a hill exposed to the howling westerly winds, stretched barren fields. Over the next three years, they jointly cleared and fenced the area, protecting the young trees in the central part of the habitat from deer. In 2003, they built the main residential building, and two years later the bulk of the farm building was built. The area of Żywa Ziemia slowly became more orderly, more and more trees covered the surface of the farm.
In 2012, we (Kasia and Karl) became full owners of Żywa Ziemia by purchasing half of the property belonging to Janusz. We appreciate his enormous contribution in the years 2000-2006 in cleaning the ponds and transforming the place, planting and caring for many trees, and organizing the construction of a house and an outbuilding.
After 7 years spent in Findhorn Community in Scotland, in 2014 we settled permanently in Zakrzewo, giving the place the name “Living Earth” expressing the dream of creating a natural oasis where nature and with it we, our family, close and distant friends can take a breath, regenerate, heal mutual relationships, and also learn something from each other.
In the company of Cezar (a dog born on the farm in 2004 or 2005) and with the help of woofers (volunteers working on organic farms) visiting us from all over the world, we continue to develop the place based on the ideas of permaculture. We plant thousands of shrubs and trees, we learn what is good for this Earth. Over the years, we have taken in more animals: Hucul horses, shaggy Hungarian pigs, bees, chickens, ducks, geese, two more dogs, two cats. We have built comfortable quarters for these new family members: a large wooden stable, a mobile house for chickens (with a portable fence protecting against foxes and a net against attacks by the numerous hawks here) and a winter habitat for chickens, ducks and geese. We have also set aside a beautiful area for an apiary with a beekeeping house and a room for apitherapy. We have also organised a large vegetable garden, where we grow wonderful organic vegetables.
2019 was a breakthrough year for Żywa Ziemi and for us, its owners, in many ways. The farm building was renovated and transformed into a workshop centre. We gave it the working name “Bungalow”, currently it is called “Freedom”, and its real Heart was a beautiful, clay cumulative furnace, decorated with a figure of a large Australian lizard called a goanna.
The first organized workshop, Yoga Closer to Nature, took place in August 2019. It began a new chapter in the history of the Living Earth. The next events – throat singing workshops and two courses related to the “Erasmus +” program – were a real reward for years of dreams and hard work
From 2019 to today, educational, artistic, therapeutic and development workshops and events have been held regularly. We host a lot of interesting people with whom we exchange experiences, knowledge and together we create a unique space in an atmosphere of community.
In December 2023, we founded the non-profit Foundation Nasza Żywa Ziemia, which is a continuation of the activities of the natural farm Żywa Ziemia and benefits from its 24 years of experience. The Foundation’s goal is to spread the idea of nurturing our humanity and harmonious connection with nature.
The first initiative within the Foundation was the opening of the “Holistic Center Our Living Earth” in April 2024. The new therapeutic space in an octagonal building with a fireplace smelling of fresh wood, with an area of approx. 36 m2, is a place that is perfect for individual and group sessions in circles of a dozen or so people, but also for conducting other workshops and practices.