Ideaplants

Last weekend I went to visit La Grande Cense with a group of volunteers. This co-housing community near Brussels is now some last renovations before all individuals and families can start moving into their new homes. They are therefore organizing a summer camp where everyone is invited to help.


A group of 30 grown ups and 15 children will be soon living in 20 units in a fully renovated old farm with a big inner courtyard for social gatherings, a big and sunny terrace, shared kitchen & lounging facilities and large garden space.


Although the construction site already looks liveable it was not the actual space that impressed me most this weekend. I was more impressed by the group members.


You can feel that everyone at the Grande Cense group has gone through an intense learning process. Becoming clear about your own core values, defining a shared vision, establishing an effective decision making process and clear ground rules. All this costs a lot of time and effort and it is as essential for a co-housing project as finding a nice space to live and defining technical and ecological parameters.

What is more challenging than sharing your life with a group of people?

It takes a strong core group with shared values, a clear vision and the necessary organizational and people skills, to set up a co-housing project.


Our little volunteer group was using ecological paint to paint some of the walls in the common area. With all information and tips for a future co-housing project we gathered and some nice conversations, it only felt good to be able to contribute 2 days of work to this project.


Thanks for this nice weekend to everyone at La Grande Cense!

Project Status: Intermediate – active for five years

Number of Members: approx. 15 full time members, many frequent visitors and international volunteers

Current activities:
*Maintenance of organic, permaculture garden
*Development of wind and solar energy, and conversion of diesel cars to run on vegetable oil.
*Renovation of nearby houses using sustainable building practices
*Education, courses and workshops: permaculture, herbal medicine, renewable technology, anarchism, sustainable construction, etc.

Website: http://www.escanda.org/
Email: escanda-info@gmx.net
Telephone: (+34) 985493696

Escanda stands for Espacio Socaial Colectivo para la Autogestión, la Diversidad y la Autonomía. This is a collective consisting of approximately fifteen permanent members, who live together in a large house in the mountains near Pola de Lena in Asturias, North Spain. They have developed the project over the last five years. The residents come from many countries, as well as Spain, and have a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. They unite for some common goals, which are primarily political, environmental and social. They aim to develop and revitalize the countryside in Asturias, which is suffering neglect from decades of emigration and heavy industry, while reducing dependency on capitalist services and the government. In addition they seek to implement ecological, sustainable technologies and practices, such as renewable wind power and cars that run on used vegetable oil from local restaurants. They wish to achieve these goals through the principles of anarchism, harmonious team-work and non-hierarchical decision-making.

The atmosphere at the collective is always vibrant, friendly and positive, while meal-times are particularly lively. The large number of visitors (up to 300 per year) each guarantee this. They come to partake in events, courses, workshops and actions organised by the “Escandeleros” (the permanent members), or as WWOOF volunteers. Most activities centre around the large casa, while on-going projects involve renovating two smaller houses and tending the large organic garden and apple orchard. Daily tasks are performed on a rota basis, each member and visitor volunteering for cooking, cleaning, recycling etc. whenever they can. Education is a fundamental goal of Escanda, not just for the members and volunteers, but also of the local community and especially for children, who deserve the kind of future the project envisions.

Video on Escanda (in Spanish):

Fotos: www.escanda.org

Truely inspiring. Thanks to Brendan & Kim for your input!

Location: Soto de Rey, Oviedo, Spain

Profile: Ixuxu is a cultural and ecological association that was initially founded out of a growing concern for the erosion of traditional ways of life, the loss of native animal and plant species and the destruction of the environment in general.

“Ixuxu” is derived from an ancient scream in Asturian (the local language). Since 1990, the project has been working in various ways to establish a symbiotic relationship between man and nature that is mutually enriching and regenerative. In its life of fifteen years Ixuxu has initiated many projects, many of which are still running.

The intention is to provide an environment which is exemplary of sustainable living and is itself a learning experience and to run real and practical courses that empower people with the knowledge and experience to lead more sustainable lives, to have all the information and understanding so that they can make choices for themselves that are healthy for both them and the planet.

Project Status: Advanced – active for more than 15 years

Number of members: 3 full time members, around 20 part time members plus international volunteers

Current activities:

Needs:
Funding base: there is a need for more profound funding strategies that gives the association the necessary financial security, man power: project developers & volunteers are always welcome!

Haves:
Accommodation, lot’s of space and land, course and teaching facilities, local horse and sheep species, beautiful scenery, loyal members, great public transport connection to the nearby city Oviedo, community of members and associates helping at the project, teaching gardens, solar energy system

Email: gaia@ixuxu.org

Phone: +34 677 622 586 / +44 20 7193 7365

Membership of other organisations: Wwoof (www.wwoof.org)

A model for the world

I’ve found Ixuxu more or less by accident: A friend of mine and I were travelling in Spain. When we came to Oviedo, we got to know a girl that worked in a third world shop and was involved in the association Ixuxu . After hosting us for a few nights in town, she brought us to this romantic place in the mountains of Asturias, where the project is hidden. Constantly new people are coming and going into the kitchen that creates the heart of the farm. Due to the hilly landscape, buildings are spread all over the territory that includes several hectares of land. Cooking dinner at Ixuxu is a real challenge since you can have between 2 and 50 persons at the dinner table. The network of volunteers, visitors, friends and workers is huge. But Ixuxu is not only a place to meet interesting people – here you quickly become part of the community. Travellers find their way to the farm via the WWoof list, school classes are coming for visits in order to learn more about nature and sustainable living and even courses for adults on different topics are being held throughout the year.

No one can tell the story of Ixuxu better than Aurelio. He seems shy when you meet him for the first time, but he surprises and captures your attention with his lively presence and his honest and emotional way when telling the story of the place that he has put so many years of his life in. In 1990 Aurelio and his friends occupied the land of Ixuxu that was left empty since its owners died long time before. The group of people started working with the land and recovering big parts that had been destroyed by previous intensive farming. The idea was not only to use the farming space, but also to create an area where native animals, which local farmers had started replacing with foreign races, could be preserved. Much more than that – ‘Ixuxu is a model for the world. We wanted to show people that there is more than what they see now and that a different way of life is possible.’.

I’ve visited the project several times and I must say that it is a really special place to be. Every time I’m there I feel like diving into a different world that so naturally makes you feel welcome. Ixuxu is not the only place in the world like this. But it is definitely one of the most beautiful places that shows you that a life with nature is possible.

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

Location: Eva Lanxmeer, Culemborg, the NetherlandsThe Werf project was initiated in summer 2004 by architect Marien Faas who lives in Eva Lanxmeer. The original purpose of the project was to create a prototype house. The concept was based on four core principles:

1. To create a house were several generations can live together (housing possibilities for disabled people were integrated in the concept)

2. An integration of the elements living, learning and working (a school class, an office compound and living compounds were integrated in the building)

3. To bring together natural components of environment and culture (integrating urban and rural architecture styles)

4. Not only the final building but also the building process should fulfil the above 3 principles, which resulted in a co-operation between volunteers and professionals which was not only a social process but also less expensive.

With the further development of the building project more volunteers started joining the project and there was a need of housing opportunities. As a temporary solution, Marien agreed with the local government that a certain amount of volunteers could be hosted in
an old factory building called Stationswerf that was used to store materials for the project.

By the end of 2005 the Stationswerf community living in the old storage house included more than 15 volunteers from different parts of the world that had initiated several projects (including children playing groups, regular networking meetings of a local self sufficiency networks and project development initiatives, art courses, cooperative games, design workshops & planning of an entire neighbourhood based on the Werf principle, events for local school classes, etc.). On the 4th of December a fire broke out in the complex were the community lived. Since there was no permission for some of the buildings of the complex and security standards were not met by the constructions, the city government decided to tare down parts of the buildings. Although the original project continued and was completed in summer 2006 and some of the above mentioned initiatives are run until today (Care4Real), the Stationswerf community had to leave the buildings and due to a lack of living space individual volunteers had to leave the project.

Below a number of interviews with the volunteers that had to leave the farm:

C. USA:
What were you looking for when you came here and what did you find?
A cross of cultures, a cross of languages and the harmony that happens when people meet from all around the world. Ever have there been some weird people that were just so
close to being crazy that it was perfectly genius. These people from all over the world, that have come and gone, brought just a little taste of the rest of the world here. They are coming together to form a community and to create a unique culture.

What has happened here in the last days?
Everyone is torn apart. But now that we have spend so much time building on our relationships, building on this community and building structurally, it is still going to resonate and everyone is going to take this part of the Stationswerf with them – wherever they go.

What will happen in the future and what have you learned?
We are all from around the world and we going to take this around the world with us so that the idea will be growing somewhere as a seed. These kind of things are going to
continue, to explode and they will be created again. The result may not be what everyone has in mind. It will be not what we want but what we need at the time.
2. M. (USA)
What were you looking for when you came here and what did you find?
I had no expectations when I came here. I was completely surprised from the first day and I asked myself: How can this be possible? It always had this surreal feeling for me.
Especially now where everything that is happening feels like a dream. I have learned a lot here. I’ve learned living with people that were honest to their emotions. It was a very strong community and this group dynamic has been really amazing. I’ve personally learned a lot about balancing my needs and the needs of others.

What has happened here in the last days?
This people are the creation that matters. It’s like a really good movie. Don’t know how it
will end, but it is a good movie.

What will happen in the future and what have you learned?
Going to the authorities first before they come to us. Because we were really not trying to do anything illegal. We were really just trying to stay warm and really just trying to cook dinner. Create more community outreach to make it not an ‘us versus them’ but an ‘us’ project.

3. J. (Poland)
What were you looking for when you came here and what did you find?
I found this place by accident. I was a student looking for work. Another way of living, a family. I found work, not for money but for the fun of doing it. That was what I believed in. We wanted to show the life that we were practicing here. Living in line with your ideals and not against them – as ecological as possible while sharing responsibilities. Besides, as I am a single child, this was the perfect opportunity for me personally to learn how to live in a group.

What has happened here in the last days?
From a happy living community within only three days we have been made homeless
refugees. We were finishing building our own infrastructure and starting to share it. We
have invited people over for dinner and other events without charging them. However,
this town rejected us in a way which is a loss for both sides.

What will happen in the future and what have you learned?
The way of life has not been destroyed by the bulldozers and we can take that with us.

4. P.2 (Holland)

What were you looking for when you came here and what did you find?
I was looking for stability. An active community. I wanted to find my own drive; to inspire people and to get inspired. I came here and saw that there was something blooming. I felt that people were actively intending to create a space for themselves. A place where you cannot just put un the stove to heat up water but where you have to consciously cut wood. This makes you appreciate every cup of tea in a different way.

What has happened here in the last days?
We try to find our own way of being ecological. We create new things. In this world you have to throw away things because standards are too high. This was a step towards creating an even bigger space. We didn’t calculate the risks properly. We will do that the next time.

What will happen in the future and what have you learned?
We want to create an eco-village that is totally independent. We won’t let each other go. That is simply impossible. The bulldozers won’t break our bonding.

5. R. (Holland)

What were you looking for when you came here and what did you find?

I came here with the wish to find people to create a space for freedom with. What I found were people that are ready for living this freedom and fighting for it. We are busy with what we find important and that is the essence of freedom. We have explored how it is possible to create this freedom by creating the physical and social space people need. There is also a positive focus on group process: People here are looking for what they have in common and give personal meaning to these goals. We share emotions and thoughts to create meaning between people. When you live in one space with others, there is a natural need in understanding each other. It is not visible for everyone how normal it is to be together with the idea of a interactive process. I see this process as a societal trend that is evolving in many different places. If you can see each other you can understand and deal with each other. What is here is not happening in most parts of the world.