The healthy lifestyle adopted by the Swiss woman from Firiteaz and the Timisoara woman from Charlottenburg

A healthy lifestyle is not just about food, it extends beyond the kitchen. Natural, simple and healthy building materials are also part of the same lifestyle in harmony with nature. Clay, lime, wood, hemp, hemp, wool, oil, wax are no longer outdated materials but natural alternatives to synthetics - cheaper and easier to use, but not always healthy in the long term. Our visit to two construction sites gave us the opportunity to meet two ladies who decided to use "curate" both for food and home renovation. Although different, they both share the same desire to breathe healthy air, to be away from the hustle and bustle of cities, to eat the best the earth can give, and to live in a space free from allergens or materials that pose health risks.

Katarina and the eco village of Firiteaz

I met Katarina Häni in Firiteaz, where she and her family have settled. She is Swiss and an advocate of healthy and natural living. In Switzerland, she studied agronomy, but she didn't agree with intensive methods of treating crops to achieve high yields but no taste. He came to Romania on vacation 14 years ago, liked the simplicity of the place and realized that here he could put into practice the principles of organic farming that he believed in. He settled in Firiteaz, 20 km from Arad, with his parents and his brother, also an agronomist, where he set up an organic farm.

Now there is a whole community in Firiteaz who work the natural land and eat healthy food. Passion has turned into business - Biofarmland - products are sold to those who share the same way of life. The land is not tilled, the crops are not sprayed with herbicides and insecticides, they grow old and forgotten cereals such as spelt or einkorn, healthy and tasty, which are milled in their own mill. A tea factory has also been set up where natural teas are prepared from herbs grown on their own land and dried naturally in the sun and wind. Here they also prepare blends of uniodized salt with various herbs and several types of mustard according to their own recipes.

Katarina's latest project is Firiteaz ecological village whereby wants to develop and implement a holistic system of personal and professional growth, in harmony with inner and outer nature, open to all who share the same values. Here he wants to bring together as wide a community as possible and develop educational programs for children, young people and adults to promote sustainable development in harmony with nature.

We went to Firiteaz to see how the attic of the house is transformed into a habitable loft. The materials used for the transformation are natural. The structure is made of wood, the insulation is Gutex wood fiber panels and mattressesunder the floor is placed hemp sound insulationthe walls are plastered with clay and coated with lime. Materials and advice come from Naturalpaint, a firm with which Katarina shares the same principles of life.

In Charlotenburg, the round village in Timis, where an old house has been restored with clay, lime and wood fiber

From Firiteaz we traveled to Charlotenburg, just 45 km from Timisoara, where Lucia Sepetean, a Timisoara native and natural lifestyle enthusiast, bought a house to breathe fresh air and leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind, at least once in a while.

Charlottenburg, Charlottenburg as it was once called, is a village in Timis County declared a historical monument because it is the only one in Romania built in a circle. It was founded in 1771 by 32 families of German origin (Swabians) who came here with the second wave of colonization that the Habsburg Empire was colonizing the area. The aim was to erase the traces of the 164 years of Ottoman rule that had ended in 1718. The village was built in a circle with an inner diameter of 210 m and had a fountain and a mulberry plantation in the center. There are still examples of centuries-old mulberry trees in the center of the village. Later the church, school and post office were built in the center. The houses were built "German", all the same height and equal distances apart.

Lucia didn't necessarily want to go to Charlottenburg, that's where she found the house. Many people left the village and the houses became available. She wasn't going to convert the house, just insulate it well to make it habitable all year round. He wanted to use natural materials, and Katarina, whom he knew because she used organic produce from the farm, recommended Naturalpaint. When the company's recommended craftsmen arrived, she was surprised to find a lot of damp and mold behind the false drywall. She had to take down the makeshift and rebuild everything more solidly. And while she was on the building site, she decided to turn the attic into a self-contained living space, well insulated and finished with natural materials. The renovation used Gutex wood fiber insulation, Conluto clay plaster and Kreidezeit lime paint.

At Charlottenburg there is still work to be done and we promised we would be back at the end. Especially since Lucia invited us and said she was waiting for us with waffles she made herself. Can you say no to that!