new home for ID22, institute for creative sustainability

As a symbolic new start, Berlin's institute for creative sustainability celebrated it's new home in Prenzlauer Berg on Chinese New Year, introducing the year of the rat. Moving from it's former base in the cultural community UfaFabrik, the institute now found it's place within an innovative living community (WG) in Prenzlauerberg. It looked like an inspiring place to continue, and I hope the institute will keep the network of alternative communities in Berlin alive from their new home.

ID22, institute for creative sustainability, is in Berlin for all know for it's project Experimentcity, a model project for Berlin's local Agenda 21. They are supporting and developing alternative build and living concepts, thereby balancing between a network of subcultural, creative and often anarchist communities, housing companies and politics. Goal is to support participative and sustainable use of Berlins many empty spaces and buildings. Experimentcity offers innovative housing- and cultural projects a platform for exchange and cooperation.

Until recently the ID22 was based in the UfaFabrik, a cooperative residential community of about 30 to manage a large range of cultural, social and ecological projects: international culture center, children’s circus, cogeneration systems & renewable energy production, including one of Berlin's largest solar energy systems, local re-use of rainwater, greening of buildings, a natural foods store & organic bakery, guest house, alternative school, children's farm, one of Berlin's most successful internet communications initiatives, and a neighborhood & self-help center. It must be quite a change to leave such a place to go living on yourself...

Image: experimentdays 07

Tout, autour de la Terre

We were flying between the clouds. The lights of our van disappeared just in front of us. A dreamland of mists and fogs. Small, turning roads. A red fox crossing our path. Old, abandoned stonehouses with a glimpse of ancient, celtic times. Turns and turns and turns. We had to find an old phoneboot in a village called Ars. We entered another world.

Tout, autour de la Terre is the name of a project in La Creuse, a small, rural region in middle France. Cecilia had been wwoofing here years ago, and now we came for a visit. One woman is living at this place over years, other people come and go, transforming the place with their presence.
The garden was designed according to principles of permaculture, with bees and fruit trees, vegetables and flowers merely growing together, and a lot to weed ass well. This place was also a pottery with beautiful art work, exposed in a handmade greenhouse in the garthen. Next to the old farmhouse a large, gracious tower was built the last years in the old style of the region. The woman who lived here built her own house with recycled materials, old car tires, glass bottles and wood, half underground, but with a great view over the surrounding hills.

We helped with weeding the garden and insolating the roof of the house with kley and hay. We enjoyed the music making and singing, the sweatlodge and the lovely home made pies, cakes, chutneys and strawberry icecreams. There was a good atmosphere and it was very learnsome, though it was not easy for us to adjust to the working and living rithm here. Long working days, late dinners, and a sleepy Gaya, somehow we did not succeed finding the right balance here. After almost a week we had enough of it. We wanted to have time for our own projects, and focus on these. One evening we left for The Netherlands, our last destination before going back (or forth) to Berlin.

Torri Superiore

The omens where not too good. A low bridge with a roadsign saying 2.20 max. while our bus counts 2.60 high was a first warning, though we managed to get across. Just behind the bridge we were stopped by a road construction, not allowing cars to pass untill six p.m. After some hours of waiting, we took the mountain road to Torri Superiore, an ecovillage made in an old, abandoned mountain village. Arriving there, thunderstorms welcomed there and we had to wait in the van until the weather allowed us.

The village is built steeply against the mountain rocks and coming from the valley it looks untakable. We had contacted the ecovillage longer in advance and were welcomed to come as volunteers. As we did not succeed phoning them, just left a message to announce our arrival. When we came there, they told us that they did not needed volunteers, but we could stay in their guest room and pay about 100 Euro per night. Allright.
The woman managing these matters had a very unwelcome attitude towards us, totally misplaced and not suiting a beautifull ecovillage like this. We realized how lucky we have been with all projects we visited so far, with all the hospitality, their relaxed way of coordinating their volunteers, all these good, inspiring visits. Now we found ourselves to be on a same kind of place, but with a totally different attitude, where people with fancy new cars could stay a night and eat with the ecocommunity. A strange matter of difference within a community we did not feel right about. A power difference one can trace back to its name?
On the other hand we met nice and friendly people, there was an open and welcoming athmosphere, and it was a beautiful village surrounded by steep mountains. In other circumstances it could have been just perfect.

Ecovillages

Mostly they hide in places far from civilization, close to nature and basicly every place is different. We have been visiting some projects that we found through the Global Ecovillage Network. It is an interesting way of travelling, visiting alternative forms of living and community forming. Not every place was really a village, often projects did not exist anymore or it was the wrong time to visit them. We discovered that it is better to visit a few places and have more time there so one has really the time getting to k now the place and the people, often it needs time also to find out what one can help with. So better stay a week minimum. Also most places want to hear from you in advance, and the best way is phoning them.

Communards of Urupia

One day you wake up, you realize the world suffers a lot from egoism, selfishness and materialism and you decide to change your life. Well, people now and then do these things and some of them create communes, exchanging their personal possessions for a common property.

In the picturesque area of Puglia, South Italy, we found the lively commune Urupia. Between old, abandoned houses, whine fields, olive trees, palms and cactuses a white stone house rises up on the horizon. On the right time one can find the communards under a long veranda with rounded bows, discussing and chatting, eating their lovely meals, drinking their own produced wine, laughing or just in silence enjoying the last sunshine. On all the other times one will wonder where everyone is. At least we did until we found out that there is a lot of whine yards and lands where the people of Urupia work on. And working they do! The moment we visited there was a lot of work to do and too less hands, and the work is done with dedication and care. After the work there waits a good Italian meal and nothing is more rewarding after working in the whine fields than drinking a glass of their own whine!
Living in such a commune sounds like a romantic dream and for guests it can quite be like that, but for the communards it is not an easy live. We have great respect for these people, dedicating themselves to this dream, living it in daily life. And off course if you want to find clichés you can find them, but to be honest we did not find any flower power but normal people searching for a good way to live together. In this time of self centered behavior it is interesting to see a different perspective being practiced.

Urupia has Berlin vibes. Starting as an initiative of German and Italian anarchists, many traces lead to Berlin and back. We got to know about Urupia drinking their whine in the restaurant where we had our wedding party, and that is not only a coincidence. Berliners come to here as guests, communards go to Berlin with wine and olive oil.
It is amazing to see how much different projects are done by people on Urupia. They produce whine with their own whine yards and whine laboratory. They produce grains and bake breads in a olive wood oven. They produce olive oil from their own trees. They grow herbs, fruits and vegetables and mainly live from their own production. A few communards work outside the commune, but most people work on these things daily. And not to forget they cook twice a day a respectable dish for everyone.
Frans worked in the whine yard and learned a little bit about it. He had to bind up the whine strings piece by piece in a large field of waving whine strings, a never ending job what has to be done every year. The binding has to be done because they need to be able to keep away the grass with machines in order to prevent the plants from illnesses. Conventional farmers use pesticides and such instead which saves a lot of work. Here they work according to ecological principles, though their products are not labeled as such. They had done this earlier, but stopped it because getting the label costs money and time so for ‘small’ projects this is not always an option.
One week is definitely too short to get a good impression of this place. We felt more and more at home and it was hard to choose a moment to leave. Sometimes they have forty guests and that would be definitely a different atmosphere. But we happened to experience the Urupia struggling for it’s survival, see the daily life of the communards, and enjoy the special, serene atmosphere of this place. Maybe not Utopia as the name suggests, but at least the practice of people realizing their dreams.

Making soap and other projects

One day we visited an alternative beach resort nearby. Between the olive trees, small holiday houses lead you to the beach. In between there is small pieces of land where all kinds of vegetables are grown organic. Just before the beach there is a bicycle with a car battery, when you bike for some time there is enough for the beach lamp to glow.

Here we met the two artists who were supposed to decorate the Dedetepe farm instead of us. They were decorating the place and painting mandalas on the small houses. They had a lot of troubles with their bus (imagine a big, old Mercedes van without handbrake or fourth gear, driving through the mountains…) and had to work for their fuel to be bale to drive, we hope they find their way to Italy as well!

Last day in Turkey we spent in a village nearby, our hosts bringing olive oil to make soap with on a fire, Cecilia to paint flowers on a balcony of one of the villagers. Meanwhile Gaya and Frans spent the time on the stairs of the soapmakers house, where the women where baking börek in the outdoor fire oven, and playing with Gaya all the time. The soap is made from olvieoil, which is put on a hot fire, some natural ingredients are added, then this is stirred and heated for a few hours, and then put into the frames to become stif. Wait a few days and you have natural oliveoil based soap!

On the way back from soap making we visited the centre of the environmental organization Bugday, which is still under construction. They choose a great spot for this centre: up in the mountains, with a fantastic view over the olive fields and the sea. The building is half round, but with the terraces it is going to be built in a circle. The building is made with natural materials, with help of old stone masters; as concrete there is used stone pulp and for the roof soil and shells. When it is finished we are sure it will be a very wonderful place for making people more aware of the preciousness of nature.

Painting flowers eating olives

A small container house with sea view, bamboo roofed terrace, colorful hammock, surrounded by olive trees, and nothing to hear than the waterfall deep down, the wind generator zooming, the frogs, birds, and sometimes a donkey passing by on the sand road. In the evening the old, black Turk down at the river side playing his clarinet, a magical athmosphere. The night birds singing when the moon shines. Sometimes a lost tourist asking the way to the waterfall. Olive farmers passing by on their donkeys. That´s our spot.

After our frightening tourist adventures we arrived at the Dedetepe Farm, an organic olive farm close to the beach. We are located on the hill, a small path goes up to the top, where one can find a tipi, some house constructions, and a Sufi grave. Some ten minutes walking down from us one is the farm with around it growing of aubergines, beans, salad and herbs. Here is the house of Tamahine, Erkan and Nahir, the farming family, and more down a newly built tipi. For living at this wonderful place we pay with painting flowers on the houses. We came to volunteer, and got the honor to make the place look even more beautiful.
We like the way of living here and choose to stay a bit longer. The place we live is comfortably primitive; we cook and live on the ground, and eat what there is from the farm and seasonal vegetables from the local bazaar. Sometimes they do yoga camps on top of the hill, although now they are too busy with a lot of other things. Next to taking care of their daughter, she is also making creative earrings and all kinds of creams and herbal medicines on olive oil base. Also they are invlolved in Bugday, an organization working on ecoligcal awareness in Turkey.
Tomorrow we go to paint flowers on a house in a village nearby, and also make soap from their olive oil. It has been nice to live here for a while and get to experience the way of living on this place!

Close to paradise

From Rakitni we traveled to the south of Istria, Kroatia, and visited the Eco Art Centar EIA,
which is located close to the village Bale. We arrived around sunset and we were immediately amazed by the place. You can really see how much energy and care they have put in here. Next day we had a walk in the forest behind the place, which is like a fairytale, with flowers, low trees, big white stones and cliffs. The people from the centar, Igor and Lilly, call it a holy place. In the forest one can find a natural formed stone circle, surrounded by older oak trees, where they also do meditations. Nice to have these miraculous places so close to your home!

Gaya had a lot of encounters with the animals, with the ducks and the chickens, which we got fresh eggs from; the old, blind donkey, who shouted us goodbye when we left; and the ill sheep and her lambs. The sheep was doing not well and couldn’t give milk to her lambs, and the lambs where fed with bottle. Cecilia and Gaya had a special moment feeding them, just before the lambs where brought away to be with other sheep on an ecological farm close by.

It was interesting to see how they made their house and living, with solar panels, catching rain for water, building an outside shower on solar power, etc. During our time there we helped with arranging a volunteer sleeping place, Cecilia painted a road sign for the centar, and Frans picked stones from the land and fixed a part of the road with it.

Just when we were to go we realized our time here was way too short and we wished we could have stayed longer and work and learn more here. But it was also great to be able to visit so short, and still be able to help with things. We would like to go back and then stay for a longer time here!

earth ships

We would like to learn more about earth ships. They are ecological houses made of recycled materials made with simple, low tech methods. The houses look great and it is cheap to make them. But they are different then normal houses and so in most countries people have a hard time convincing their governments that this is also a proper way of building a house. Ok, we need rules to prevent us from evil and ugly buildings, but mostly the rules cause that all buildings look the same and most buildings are not creative! There is only a few of them still in Europe, but a lot of projects that plan building them. Only that most projects still seam to be pretty expensive and luxurious, while the principle is interesting also for cheap applications For more info on earthships: www.earthship.org, www.owaze.nl

Brothers and sisters of the rainbow

In the morning we climbed the hill to the hippie camp. On top of the hill was a tipi standing, with a little fire still burning, and around it people sleeping or just waking up. In the shades down we found a base camp with tipi´s and yars, surrounded by small tents.
People were sitting around a leek and some were playing music and singing, while others where doing their dishes. Between the trees children run around and climbed in the trees. Some people were cutting wood, others were making coffee and tea on a fire. We had found a little forest community, looking like a nomad tribe.

There were not too much things were going on. There was the care for food and the campsite, and some spontaneous encounters were happening. There was no goals or forwardedness, people were very relaxed and living the time being. For us, having always another idea to realize, this was not easy to accept, though it is quite a sustainable way of living, not using more of your energy than you really need. The question for us was, is this then a ´good way of living´? We missed creativity and real dedication. We both were also too tired to give a really inspiring input, so decided it was better to go for more silence. It was nice to experience the atmosphere, and we enjoyed the fire in the night, with music, singing and dancing, and a still round moon shining upon us. And it is a nice idea that real hippies are still gathering around in nature all over Europe. We will see if we find more of them on our way…