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Hello! I’m Melina, a writer, natural builder, and mystic, living on the Greek island of Tinos.
And—I’m a million other things. As are you and everyone else.
But in general, at any given moment, I am oriented and active in one or all three of those things.
Just in the past seven years (as my body likes to remind me right now!) my husband and I renovated four stone homes and one commercial property on Tinos, and prior to that we built and lived in an experimental yurt-cob home on my family’s farm in the States.
We have an eerie telepathic ability to read not just each other but the hidden needs or potential of a space. Although this work can be tiring, that resurrection process deeply gratifies me, and despite claiming “I’m done with building” I know I’ll never truly retire those overalls. Not for long anyways. There’s always a space that needs our hands and hearts.
That being said, don’t think I’m a super advanced or buff builder. I’m not. It took me years to accept this and still call myself a builder. More than technical skills what I’ve mostly honed are my intuition and daring to experiment with natural materials. And sure, I’ve learned a ton about tools, craftsmanship, how to bend knees and suck in the gut to lift heavy objects, and some design principles along the way.
Now we rent out three properties and opened my husband’s plant-based eatery HOMA. So if you’re wondering what we do to make a living—it’s that. Our season is from April to October. Occasionally we host workshops and retreats on a variety of themes, such as hot yoga, photography, cooking, and writing.
As for writing, I received my first linen-lined journal on my eighth birthday. Other than a lovely cursive inscription inside, no one instructed me on what to do with it. But I didn’t need instructions. I knew. Before bed every night I sat to befriend the mysterious blank page. That companionship has continued without fail for three decades, as three trunks of journals can attest to.
Predictably, my early journals were mostly devoted to crushes and dramas of adolescence, but over time I started to trust the page enough to go deeper, ask better questions of myself, and dare hear answers in return.
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And part of what I heard was that there was a life waiting for me outside of my formal schooling and upbringing.
Then before graduating Magna Cum Laude from NYU, I discovered cob (mud) building. Instead of applying to grad schools I apprenticed with several pioneers of the North American natural building movement and then took seven years to write a memoir about it.
That manuscript has yet to be published but I’m fiercely proud of it. It was my first real effort at storytelling and inviting readers into my inner world. It explores the magic of place making, the psychology and politics of the built world, and the search for emotional authenticity as a young twenty-something woman.
Currently I'm writing a fiction series that explores consciousness, ancestral healing, animism, and Christ. Since my introduction to indigenous plant medicines in 2017, my experiences with non-linear healing have informed my writing path and projects. I feel especially humbled to work with Noyarao, a holy tree of the Shipibo tradition in Peru.
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Amazingly, it is this tree of light that has led me into the arms of Christ, and I am forever grateful for this.
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For now this site will remain quiet until I have news or retreat offerings to share.
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Thanks for reading.
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