The Ploumi campaign
 "Ploumi" is a collective cafe, grocery, and community center in Archanes,Crete..
We are a collective of 5 musicians and artisans from Crete, as well as other parts of Greece and Cyprus, united by our desire to foster local economic autonomy, encourage environmental awareness, and strengthen the local community.

For this reason we have chosen one of the most central buildings in Archanes, a neoclassical old cafe, built before 1920, which we have been renovating from scratch, with the least possible expenses but with good taste and based on our own strength.  As a result  we 'd like you  to contribute and be  part of our dream. Ploumi  is something more than a cafe
In addition to being a welcoming cafe, our space will be a hub for free knowledge sharing, concerts and artistic exhibitions, sales of local and imported fair trade produce, and free community meals.

Examples of classes we'd like to share are:

1.   the rich musical Crete and the near east traditions.
   
2.  early music educational games for children
   
3.   collecting and using wild medicinal and edible plants of the area
   
4.   local handicrafts such as handmade paper goods and knitting
   
5.   traditional, healthy cooking
   
6.   using less resources and energy by reusing and repurposing materials
   
7.   green building
   

The area: Archanes

The area of Archanes is a 5000 year old settlement with an incredibly rich heritage of music, handicrafts, local wild plants, agriculture, and history which we hope to bring forth to the community and beyond it. It is 16 kilometers from the Cretan capital of Iraklio, and the town has won awards from the European Union and the University of Crete for historical reconstruction and development. Musical workshop "Labyrinth"

"Ploumi" is also seven kilometers from Houdetsi, the home of  musical workshop"Labyrinth" , which has become a world renowned center for studying near eastern modal music traditions, as well as a thriving hub of collaboration for virtuosic musicians from all of these traditions. All this means we are in an incredibly unique and culturally-rich environment, and we hope to help  all this knowledge spread  to every one interested. The impact

We are unique as we are one of the first Cretan collectives to form outside a major city. Yet, since Archanes is the place of a thriving community of musicians, artists, artisans, ecological builders, and community workers, we are confident that the town will both support our presence here and benefit from it. A lot of people in the community have already been very excited of what we are doing. We hope you will agree and we also hope to see you here! Join our campaign now!

Every help will be warmly accepted, in order to complete our purpose. 
Walls painting, furniture, kitchen and cafe equipment, renovation materials, wood and stone maintenance, bioclimatical construction materials, removal and replacement of old scrap parts of the building, are some of the basic works that are taking place here.
We have set a goal of 10000 euros to cover all expenses and create "Ploumi" just as we 've dreamt it of. 
Our campaign is flexible and will be active for 30 days. The more you help us, the more difficulties will be got over. Additionally, you will give us the ability to make most of our ideas come true.

Perks

There is a variety of perks set in our campaign.  Perks are set according to their value and postal charges. All of them have a great importance for us because they are strictly related to our friends and our activities. You can find artifacts, herbs and other local products, CDs of high quality music,holidays and accomondation during special cultural events,meetings with great musicians and musical instruments, visits to the village of Archanes, the island of Crete and all the surrounding area and of course dinners and other offers at "Ploumi", whenever you visit us.

There will be also updates and more information about our campaign, the progress of the works.

Visit us also:
Cooperative grocery cafe "Ploumi" : the blog
"Ploumi" on facebook
"Ploumi" on youtube
"Ploumi" on vimeo
"Ploumi" on flickr

Please contribute now and share our campaign. Help us. Help  "Ploumi" come true.

The "Ploumi" team.
P.S: We 'd like to thank Argiris, Victoria and Ross for their help.