Making sun-dried tomatoes
takes patience and skill.
And it's even harder to grow them.
The soil of Santorini in Greece is arid,
volcanic, and difficult to farm,
but that's part of the island chain's beauty,
to agronomist Petros Oikonomou.
Farms like his used to supply
several local tomato paste factories,
but an earthquake in 1956 destroyed
so much of the island that the industry never recovered.
Tourism overtook agriculture as the driver
of the local economy in the 20th century.
But Petros has dedicated more than 20 years
to reviving Santorini's tomato crop.
He studied these historical growing methods
and combined his passions for farming and education
into an agritourism business.
It's called Anydro, which means ...
Without water.
This is because he doesn't use
traditional irrigation to grow the produce on his farm.
Instead, he plants the seeds directly
into the pumice stone soil that stays moist
from just humidity and dew.
Petros sows the tomato seeds in February
and harvests them four months later.
He handpicks them, since the plants grow bushy
and close to the ground.
He's only able to harvest about 200 kilos per acre.
Petros also grows other local heritage crops,
such as the melon-like zucchini,
white eggplants,
and a type of yellow bean that he mills by hand.
But the tomatoes are still Anydro's focus.
Petros uses them to make jars
of the famous Santorini tomato paste.
And sun-dried tomatoes.
He sells these jars for 8 euros each,
and they're shipped all over Greece.
His main clients are the visitors
that come to the Anydro tours.
Three years ago, Petros started offering cooking classes
for those who wanted to go off the beaten path
to learn more about the rural landscape
and its unique crops.
In 2019, Anydro had 500 visitors,
and he was expecting double that this year.
The coronavirus restrictions meant significantly
fewer tourists came to Santorini over the summer.
Petros has managed to keep
a sense of humor about it, though.
Overall, he sees a silver lining
in the pandemic.
His farm took a hit,
but it isn't his only income.
He teaches agronomy at the local technical school
and hopes for better years.