Ideaplants

The house was built in 1840 by Johann Heinrich Siek and Florentina Maria Welkers. In the end of the eighties it was bought by a group of students that renovated the old farm house, created a reedbed water cleaning system and in later stages a solar & wind energy supply system that enabled community to live autonomously. As being part of a the local village, the community was an open space for meetings with surrounding farms and created for over 30 years a central social point of the wider village community. Since all community members were working full time outsite of the farm, there was a good financial basis to maintain the farm and to maintain a stable life. Today there is only one family living in the building but the original idea has resulted into a solar energy company (Rainbows End Solartechnik) that is run by Claus Stickann, one of the farm inhabitants. Besides, one of the early participants played a significant role in the development of the wind energy corporation Nordex and last but not least into Ideaplants (I have lived in this community for over 10 years during my childhood).

How does it feel to grow up in a permaculture farm?

Well, pretty normal actually. When I was 5 years old I simply assumed that everyone has a windmill in the backyard and solar panels on the roof.

Only when I explained someone in detail what happened when the butcher came to kill one of our cows or that I used to eat the rabbits I had as pets, I realized that there was different ways of living to what I was used to.

My brother always says that we grew up with less prejudices since we were not too much biased by television shows & advertisements and we lived with a variety of people including someone who built and play African percussions, a person that had cycled around the world and written a book about his experiences and someone who could make crispy Indian pancakes (that’s the things you remember as a child).

Looking back today, I can definitely say that I had a lot of freedom when growing up. There was not many rules except of being back home for dinner and doing my homework. Especially since there was a maximum of 20 cars passing by per day and nobody had to worry about our safety.

People mind assume that I grew up with meetings until late were people smoke wheat have hectic political discussions and try to indoctrinate you with their views. But it was rather the opposite. Live was very practical and laid back. The idea was not to rely on ‘the government’ to bring a change but to take yourself the responsibly and to actively create a surrounding that is livable and does have a low impact on the environment. The goal was not to change others but to start with yourself.

I would not want to change the way I grew up since it gave me lots of space to develop my own potentials and views and because I felt taken serious from a very early age. However, it was also not inconvenient to live be able to enjoy city life when we moved in my teenage years. Unfortunately there is no cinemas and youth clubs growing on trees so far – although who knows where we will end up in a few years with all those genetic engineering practices.

All the best,

Mira