Lorien – a Belgian ecovillage in the making
Together with Mira and four others we visited a co-housing/ecovillage project in Poncelle, Province of Luxemburg, Belgium this past weekend.
Imagine a little village in the least polluted areas of Belgium on a sunny day. You arrive around lunchtime and have lunch with Michel, who three years ago had the idea of starting up a co-housing project and acquired a piece of land with similarly minded people. He tells you about his vision and even though it is obvious that much work is still needed, you can see it: a place of happy co-housing. Everybody has their own house and income, but there is also a big common house, that can be used at any time by Lorien’s people for parties or for workshops, but can also be rented out to generate a bit more income.
Lorien’s land came with a few unfinished buildings and land of 1,5ha. The potential is plenty, but the money is not. So until more people join, i.e. buy a piece of it, finishing the houses needs to wait. In the meantime the garden can be put into place.
So this is what we helped with: we cleared an area in the garden, planted some vegetables, cleared up another area for a neighbour’s donkeys and fenced it off, so they can graze on the long grass. Soon there will be a workshop that will take the development of the garden to the next level.
The weekend was not all about work though. After a dinner which some of us prepared, we sat around a campfire until one in the morning talking over beer and wine. We all felt it was interesting to learn more about the project, but also putting up fences, etc. together with friends and others brought up interesting conversations. This combined with camping and fire made for a great weekend and I am looking forward to visit again. Would you want to come along next time? If so, please comment on this page and we will let you know the details. If you do not have a tent, there are also caravans that you can sleep in.
For more info on Lórien, check here: Lorien & ecovillage profile
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June 3rd, 2009 at 12:06 am
Sounds intresting…let me know if you d repeat this once again.
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:23 am
Yes, it was really a nice weekend. If you are interested in joining us next time, please sign up here: http://ideaplants.ning.com/group/ecovolunteersbxl
June 9th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I look forward to hearing when the next one is. Hope to join a trip sooner than later. Thanks, Mira, for telling me about this group!
September 6th, 2009 at 8:46 am
I’m interested too to join….. i did some volunteering work already in ecovillages abroad
thank you
September 6th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Hi Stefanie,
we are going somewhere else next Saturday? Maybe you want to join us? Check out: http://ideaplants.ning.com/xn/detail/2428859:Event:2740
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