New for 2012, Mairela Holistic Retreat is working closely with Toivo Biodynamic Farm in Heinola. There are opportunities to add time at Toivo Biodynamic Farm to the beginning or end of your holiday at Mairela Retreat,

OR to take part in a Self Healing Workshop week at the farm. Enjoy mornings in the studio following the workshop program, afternoons working on the Biodynamic Farm and evenings free to explore the surroundings, take a sauna or just sit and relax with fellow guests.

Toivo Biodynamic Farm attracts guests and helpers from all across the globe contributing to a multicultural atmosphere wherein everyone is accepted just as they are. As Biodynamic farming is organic farming closely aligned to planetary forces the time spent working on the fields is a real opportunity to connect to Earth energy. Being part of the workings of a biodynamic farm offers insight into an ecologically sound future and sustainable lifestyle.

Toivo is a Finnish word meaning "Hope" or "Wish" which very neatly embodies the energy behind Toivo Biodynamic Farm.

The farm, previously known as Rihu farm has grown organically over the past 26 years and now with its new name Toivo Biodynamic Farm enters a new era, showing the way forward for ecological sustainability and Self Healing.

Toivo Biodynamic Farm's Healing Centre in association with Mairela Holistic Healing Retreat, provides opportunities to experience working, understanding and living in harmony with the land, Our Earth, which mirrors the work of understanding and living in harmony with Our Self.

What is a Biodynamic Farm?

Very simply a biodynamic farm works principally as an organic farm, i.e. no chemicals are used on the land or plants. The planting, weeding, hoeing and harvesting of each crop is guided by a calendar which is prepared each year using planetary phases. One of the most important aspects of biodynamic farming is to be self sustaining, the cycle of produce to compost is perpetual.

At Toivo Biodynamic Farm we have our own cows which are fed on the waste from each harvest (outer leaves and stalks etc.) during the winter and spend the summer months grazing a forest pasture in co-operation with another local smallholding which keeps the forest pasture as a special site of interest. The grazing of the cattle keeps the grass short enough to allow certain species of flowers to grow within the trees which would otherwise normally be swamped by the grass.

The cows in turn create our own biodynamic compost which is added back to the soil each year ensuring that the soil maintains its amazing nutritional composition. This in turn ensures that the produce harvested from our fields is exceptionally nutritious and without doubt very tasty. The tomatoes and cucumbers grown in the greenhouses have a taste beyond anything found in the local supermarket.

At certain times of the year at Toivo Biodynamic Farm there is extra milk available for making butter, yoghurt and viili (traditional cultured dairy milk product known affectionately as sticky milk!).

Everyone is welcome to try their hand at making dairy products when milk is available.

Biodynamic farming has been used across the world to help increase productivity in depleted areas and provides a blueprint for the way forward for agriculture in the future.

More information about its role can be found in this article which talks about the SEKEM agricultural model.

The SEKEM agricultural model is a very real project that began in Egypt in 1977 with 70 hectares of desert sand and using biodynamic farming created a working model of sustainable human development encompassing integrated economic, social and cultural development using the economics of love.

The economics of Love and Acceptance are two of the founding stones of Toivo Biodynamic Farm. Reading back through old guest books it is easy to see how Toivo is experienced as a place where you feel you can just Be, just the way you are.

Transfers between Toivo Biodynamic Farm and Mairela Holistic Retreat are available.

The nearest airport to Toivo Biodynamic Farm is Helsinki Vantaa serviced by most major airlines including Blue 1 from London Heathrow and Norwegian.com from London Gatwick.

There is a regular coach route to Heinola bus station directly from the airport. Transfers between Toivo Biodynamic Farm and Heinola bus station are available.

If you are interested in voluntary work at the farm please make contact via WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms)