The Ager Foundation Promoting of Agro and Eco Tourism in Gozo

Who We Are:

Our Responsible Tourism Policy

Meaning of Ager

Our mission is to educate, promote and improve the quality of the life and the sustainable rural development by offering hands-on experiences with the locals.

The project aims to create a tourism infrastructure while encouraging new entrepreneurial activities in rural areas of the island of Gozo by:

Capitalising on a more significant sustainable advantage of Gozo as a tourist destination and a unique selling proposition: the people, the hospitality tradition, the culture and countryside and its ecology;

Smoothening out the seasonality pattern of Gozo tourism, as agro tourism in Gozo is basically an all weather product;

Directing tourists to the countryside, thus allowing for a less biased geographical distribution of the tourist population in the island-region;

Marketing Gozo as a unique destination while providing a focus of action and debate for participants (both service providers and service users) to promote and implement the values of respect towards traditions and culture in an ecologically sustainable society.

Basically the word Ager has two meanings. The Latin Etymology of Ager means a field. We like this meaning since it indicates that this project is directly related with human’s work and its direct connection with nature and mother earth. The second meaning of Ager derives from the Romance meaning ‘to act’ and ‘to be doing’. This is also a very suitable meaning for the Ager Foundation since our services focus on giving a hands-on experience to our guests since we encourage them to take an active part in the events.

The Ager Foundation became a a member of the Slow Food Movement in 2007. The Slow Food Movement is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. To do that, Slow Food brings together pleasure and responsibility, and makes them inseparable. Today, we have over 100,000 members in 132 countrie

What we offer

Programme:

From 09.00 till  13:30

• Meeting Ager Foundation personnel.

• Meeting farmer/s in their natural milieu.

• Hands-on and interactive programme including:

       Range of activities with the local farmer, cultivating the land.

       Exploring, identifying the Flora and Fauna

       Discover the natural and social history

• Adventure trail encompassing full emersion of the topography, geology, climatology and the natural and man-made irrigation system

  Purposefully strolling in unspoilt natural terrain, enjoying nature and bird watching, in a relaxed and meaningful way.

• Enjoy an open air picnic, featuring fresh Gozitan 'ftira', an appetizing, wholesome meal made of oven old village bakery - baked bread serving as a jacket for a sumptuous selection of fillers, ranging from 'gbejniet' (Gozo cheeselets), anchovies and/or fresh tomatoes.

Experience the taste and the preparation of natural Gozo food

Gozitan cuisine has been influenced by the people who made their home here over the centuries, from the Arabs, Italians and Spanish to the French and British. Traditional Maltese cooking has distinct touches of the Sicilian and Moorish.

The Ager foundation, being a member of the Slow Food International, strives to preserve traditional and local cuisine and promotes farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristics of the local ecosystem. Joining one of our cultural tours will give you the opportunity to discover what local villagers have to offer: traditional pasta dishes garnished with home made sauces followed by rich sweets. One should mention in this regard ravioli (ravjul) with fresh sheep cheese - just as an example.

Programme:

From 09.30 till  13:30

• Welcome tea/coffee with host family while cooking the traditional coffee with ground cloves and other herbs

• Food preparation and cooking including fillings and preparing the dessert/sweet

• Home-cooked lunch with host

• Optional picking of capers or other seasonal fruits from the countryside

• Preserving seasonal fruits in the traditional way (example: dried tomatoes, dried figs, onions and other home-made items of food) for many Gozitan families.

• Afternoon Tea/Coffee