The view from the porch at the School of Nature. Photo by Güneş Sönmez, used with permission. Located in the high reaches of Eski Orhanlı, an abandoned mountain village close to the town of Seferihisar, Doğa Okulu, or School of Nature, is not a regular school. There is no fixed teaching staff, nor is there a curriculum. At Doğa Okulu everyone is nature's student, re-engaging with the primeval knowledge inherent to natural living by imitating nature itself: experimenting, experiencing and evolving collectively without rigid schedules. An hour from the Aegean coast in the province of Izmir, Eski Orhanlı looks out over a fertile valley. The climate and soil provide a home to free-growing olive trees and grape vines, as well as the region's trademark oaks. The village was inhabited for thousands of years before it was vacated in the 1980s, as Eski Orhanlı's locals decided to constitute a new village in the valley, with better transport access to the fields where they work. One school replaces another Eski Orhanlı's derelict primary school was donated to Doğa Okulu for research purposes. It was restored with help from Doğa Derneği (a prominent Turkish environmental NGO), villagers of the region and Seferihisar‘s municipal government. The very creation of Doğa Okulu turned out to be the first lesson the school offered humankind: volunteers blended ancient crafts with sustainable solutions from the present in order to reconstruct the timeworn building. Doğa Okulu opened its gates in February 2014. This wall art was created by a Doğa Okulu architect expressing the nature surrounding the school. Photo taken from Doğa Okulu and used with permission. The concrete structure of the old school was replaced with the soil and stones of the village. Power for the school comes from solar panels and crushed olive seeds, or prina. The school's website refers to the building as “the living building” as it “breathes” through clay plaster. The place where Eski Orhanlı's children once learned to read and write now hosts workshops, master-apprentice courses and no shortage of conversations. The new residents of Orhanlı train urbanites in crafts such as producing olive oil by hand, using that same olive oil in turn to create natural soap. Raziye, a Turkish folklorist and a volunteer at Doğa Okulu writes in her blog post: Orhanlı’da köy sakinleri hala kendi sabununu yapmaya devam ediyor. Biz de köy sakinlerinden Pembe Teyze’yle konuşup sabun yapmaya karar verdik. Hem sabun yaptık hem de sabun hakkında değerli bilgiler öğrendik. Mesela öyle her aklına estiğinde sabun yapılmazmış. Sabun, yaz ağzı denilen ilkbaharda ve güzün katımaya (sertleşmeye) uygun zamanlarda yapılırmış. “Sabahın bereketi üzerimize olsun” diyerek erken vakitlerde avluda ateşi yaktık. The residents of Orhanlı continue to produce their own soap. Talking to one of the inhabitants, Aunt Pembe, we decided to do so as well. Now we have learned how to make it, we are also learning essential information about soap. Apparently, one cannot make soap whenever he or she pleases. The appropriate time to produce soap is at the dawn of the summer, spring time and when fall starts to get harsher. Saying “shall the abundance of morning be upon us”, we built a fire early in the morning. Master-apprentice courses are typically two or three-day events with a wide range of topics. For example, the First Steps into Nature course, running June 20-21, was an introductory course for newbie nature enthusiasts. Attendants came to understand the key points of living in nature, recognizing many of their urban habits as unnatural and unsustainable. One of the participants in the course, Merve Ozayitgu, tweets: Orhanlı köyü Doğa Okulu'ndan günaydın!Yerel tohumlardan patlıcan, biber,domates fidelerim ekilip dikilmeyi bekliyor. pic.twitter.com/92R0a3sFpN — Merve Özayıtgu (@merveozayitgu) June 22, 2014 Good morning from Doğa Okulu, Orhanlı! My aubergine, pepper and tomato seedlings from local seeds are waiting to be planted. MAGMA, an emerging Turkish geographical magazine, is another key supporter of Doğa Okulu. The magazine's co-founders Kemal Tayfur and Özcan Yüksek held an evironmentally-themed writing and editing apprenticeship in July. On social media students of the school pine for the Doğa Okulu experience long after they depart. Bu gece hepimizin rüyasındasın Doğa Okulu. @Doganinaskina #doğanınsofrasında pic.twitter.com/0zxfDuxRZZ — Sururi Uras (@SururiUras) August 17, 2014 Tonight, you are in our dreams, School of Nature. Other recent courses include one on the production of natural clay plaster and adobe September 5-7, while a course on birdwatching will follow later this autumn.