Principles of organizing ecovillages

In various ecological settlements, there are various environmental (environmental) restrictions and self-restrictions on the production and circulation of goods, the use of certain materials or technologies, and lifestyles. The most common examples include:

• Sustainable farming is the use of sustainable land cultivation technologies (for example, the principles of permaculture). As a rule, the use of toxic chemicals and pesticides on the territory of an ecovillage is also prohibited.
• Sustainable forest management and multicultural reforestation - careful use of forests and planting of different tree species to form sustainable ecosystems in forests, in contrast to monoculture plantings (prone to diseases and pests), actively practiced by forest industry organizations.
• Minimizing energy consumption is a fairly common practice, manifested in the construction of energy-efficient housing (see energy-efficient house), use, and minimization of household energy consumption.
• Smoking, drinking alcohol and obscene language are often discouraged on the territory of eco-villages, up to their complete ban.
• Among residents of eco-villages, certain natural nutrition systems are common practice, for example, vegetarianism, raw food diet, veganism, etc. In some cases, eating meat or raising livestock for meat is prohibited on the territory of eco-villages.
• Most residents of eco-villages usually adhere to a healthy lifestyle, which includes hardening, visiting the bathhouse, active physical activity, and a positive attitude towards life.

Often there is a desire for autonomy and independence from external supplies, for a certain self-sufficiency. In most rural and suburban eco-villages, their residents strive to grow their own organic food using organic farming technologies. In some (usually larger) eco-villages, it is possible to create their own production of clothing, shoes, dishes and other things necessary for the inhabitants of the eco-village and (or) exchange of goods with outside world. In general, products must be made from local renewable natural materials or waste/recyclables, using environmentally friendly technologies, and be used and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. (In practice, it is not always possible to achieve all the goals set.)

A number of eco-villages use autonomous small-scale alternative energy.

The number of people in eco-settlements can vary between 50-150 inhabitants, since in this case, according to sociological and anthropological data, all the infrastructure necessary for such a settlement will be provided. However, large eco-villages (up to 2000 inhabitants) can also exist.

History of ecovillages

In the West, the ecovillage movement began in the early 1960s. In Russia, the first ecovillages appeared in the early 1990s, when materials on many environmental problems. Russian network ecovillages was created in 2005.

Organization of ecovillages

Residents of an ecovillage are usually united by common environmental or spiritual interests. Many of them see the technogenic way of life as unacceptable, destroying nature and leading to a global catastrophe. As an alternative to technogenic civilization, they offer life in small settlements with minimal impact on nature. Ecological settlements often cooperate with each other, in particular many of them are united in Settlement Networks (for example, the Global Ecovillage Network).

To some extent, the principles of ecovillages can be applied to existing villages and hamlets. A prerequisite for such settlements is harmonious interaction with nature and minimal Negative influence at her.

A sociological study of ecovillages was conducted by R. Gilman and presented in his book “Ecovillages and Ecovillages.”

Notes

see also

Links

Wikimedia Foundation.

2010.

See what “Ecological settlement” is in other dictionaries: Ecological settlement (ecovillage) a settlement created to organize an ecologically clean space for the life of a group of people, usually based on the concept sustainable development

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ecovillage - ecological settlement … Dictionary of abbreviations and abbreviations

We are located near the city of Novosibirsk, outside the village of Baryshevo, in a beautiful picturesque location on a field with a slight southern slope. More than ten years ago, the field was cultivated as arable land, then it was abandoned and used several times for mowing. Now the field is a pleasant variety of herbs, slightly overgrown with young trees (birch, pine). Nearby there is a sanatorium and health camp and several gardening societies with a developed network of roads. The planned size of the settlement will be from one hundred families.
The distance to the Inya River is 500m, and in the forests around the field there are natural springs with very tasty water.

More detailed information is available on the website of the settlement of Atrika, Novosibirsk region, where the design part and photo gallery are also available.

Settlement

Good glades

Our settlement "Dobrye Polyanka" was created as an alternative to the urban lifestyle. Here the Slavs set up their family estates, inspired by the ideas presented in the series of books by V. Maigret “Anastasia”. We all have different worldviews, but we are united by the desire to live with our families on earth, provide ourselves with healthy foods, and in the future create and develop a common business.
At 9.5 km (the village of Nagorye) there is comprehensive school, there is a school bus.
The settlement is surrounded by forest, rich in both flora and fauna. There are many animals in the forest, including hares, foxes, wild boars, and moose. There are also a lot of mushrooms and berries. Two rivers flow near the settlement: Kubr and Nerl.
Our lands are agricultural lands on which flax and potatoes were grown 15 years ago. Currently, the lands are overgrown with self-seeding - pine, birch, aspen, willow and other pioneer trees, as well as various grasses.

Commonwealth of Family Estates

Location

• 56.861557°, 38.308303°

Natural

Welcome to Boris and Elena, 40 and 32 years old, living in St. Petersburg. Having been married for seven years, we cannot have a child for no apparent reason. Being very skeptical about medicine, we try to solve this problem using “natural methods”. We want to change the climate, switch to a raw food diet, go to Sochi and establish a settlement of family estates there.

According to statistics, in St. Petersburg, every fifth couple has difficulties similar to ours. Among more than half a million couples, we want to find several like-minded couples with similar views on their decision. These may be married couples from other countries, but major cities(this is important from the point of view of the economic model). Among other things, the economy requires future participants to be or have the desire to become raw foodists.

Settlement of family estates

village Otvazhnaya, Krasnodar region

The village is located in the most picturesque places of the Krasnodar Territory, in the foothill zone of the northern slope of the Main Caucasus Range. In general, the territory is very rugged and sharply intersected by gently sloping beams and hollows. In good sunny weather, snow-white mountain peaks touching the azure sky are clearly visible. The village of Brave is rich in its forests and fields.
Spring is the most beautiful time of the year in our area. Fruit trees begin to bloom abundantly and the warm spring air is filled with a wonderful aroma. In the distance, endless meadows are green, on which dandelions bloom like a huge yellow blanket. The trees are covered with greenery, and everything around becomes emerald green. Far in the forest there is a rock from under which clear spring water flows out - this is where the Okard River originates. This is one of the most beautiful places in St. Brave. Few of the villagers know the exact route to the source of the river.

Commonwealth of Family Estates

Ecovillage in the subtropics of Sochi

We invite good, kind, sensible neighbors to the vacant lots nearby.
Plots can be purchased as your own (!)
The warm climate of Sochi without snowy winters and sub-zero temperatures.
A unique beautiful place in the low mountains. Borders with a national park.
A few kilometers away is a beautiful waterfall.

Requirements for neighbors: healthy image lives that do not consume alcohol, cigarettes or drugs at all, preferably vegetarians, not fanatically inclined towards any teachings, without raising livestock, chickens, pigs on the site, respect for other neighbors, maintaining order in noisy work.

We will welcome like-minded people for communication and friendship.

A small dacha partnership. There are plots starting from 5 acres. Price from 300,000 per plot. There are no hectares. A hectare in Sochi can only be purchased for rent. Or for tens of millions.
7 km from the sea.
30 km from the center of Sochi
There is a small river and a spring on the river.
Third sanitary zone.

Ecovillage

Zvezdnoe

Village of Family Estates

Zvezdnoe

The village of Family Estates was founded with the goal of uniting like-minded people who care and think about the well-being of the Earth and the health of future generations.

We want to improve the area and turn everything around into a blooming garden. This is the first village in which we will not drive cars (As it turned out, the gravel road greatly spoils life in the village, it is dust, the whole view is spoiled, it is noise, it is very difficult for children to walk on such a road, and also the annual repair work is draining huge sums from the wallets of residents, instead of roads there are paths and a dirt road suitable for throwing construction materials and emergency transport access in dry times)

Village of Family Estates

Location

Smolenskaya

Kudykina Gora

“Kudykina Gora” is an eco-cluster created to delight its guests with environmentally friendly products and create new jobs in the region. Operating peasant farm.
We use only natural food. You will not find antibiotics or hormonal drugs in meat and poultry from Kudykina Gora.
We have not forgotten about the most valuable gift of nature - honey. Not every farm can boast of its own apiary, but we have it!
It is here that you can feel the long-forgotten taste of truly high-quality products - the true taste of health, the taste of life.

We are looking for like-minded people! We will provide land and housing for people ready to work on the land.

• 56.239583°, 30.136584°

Davydovo

Good day, friends!

I invite the family to create their own Family Estate on the basis of the village “Davydovo”, Ryazan region, Pronsky district, village “Davydovo”.
The area of ​​the plot provided for 1 family is 1 hectare.

Currently, 5 plots (5 hectares) are being developed. 3 families permanently reside (winter).
Description of the land:

1. According to the Pension Fund of Russia, the land is not (and has never been) a Chernobyl zone!
2. Vacant plots are leased from the administration of the Pronsky district.
Purchase of land on preferential terms. (Subject to connected electricity
and a built registered house) Produced according to the law of the Russian Federation by the administration of the Pronsky district.
3. Construction right – yes
4. Provo registration – yes
5. Davydovo village project

Water:
1. There are water veins, you can dig wells and drill wells. The water is very tasty.
2. 50 meters from the village border there is a Cascade of ponds.
3. There are many springs nearby.
4. A kilometer from the village is the Pronya River (Fig. 1)

Settlement of family estates

Korsakovka

Our settlement is located on the very edge of the active village of Alferovka, recognized as the best village in the Voronezh region in 2017! The village has about 500 residential buildings, in the center there is a store, a post office, a new medical post building, high school, kindergarten, recreation center, park with a playground, church. The village has an excellent beach with fine white sand. The Khoper River, considered one of the cleanest rivers in Europe. The river is deep and navigable in the past. An excellent place for relaxation and fishing. On the other side of the river is the Khopersky Nature Reserve. The places are very picturesque! Excellent climate with hot summers and snowy winters.
There are no statutes or special rules in our settlement; we live in good neighborhood with the local population.

Good neighborhood

Ogonyok

The settlement “Ogonyok” is a newborn mini-village of family estates, organized in 2019 in the Kaluga region, Dzerzhinsky district, near the village of Kartsovo (2 km) six kilometers from the city of Kondrovo.

Territory of the settlement:

12.9 hectares, of which:
- 11 hectares are allocated for family estates measuring 1 hectare; in total - only 11 plots for family estates. Of these, 5 plots already have owners, and 6 are waiting for them.
- 1.9 hectares - a public area in the center of the settlement, including a fire pit, a small pond and a sacred grove.
Settlement land- plot former field, surrounded on two sides by forest, and on the other two by birch copses and meadows. It is meadows, it is important that there is no industrial farming in the area, therefore, the fields are not sown with GMO plants, which means that you can grow healthy vegetables and fruits, as well as keep bees.

Village of Family Estates

Vedunitsa

Good afternoon We invite you to our new settlement.
The settlement is still being organized. Located near the village of Fedotkovo. The village is residential, with a school and a shop, a sawmill. There are farms from whom you can buy milk and honey, until you get your own)) Our field is surrounded on all sides by forest with gifts of nature and wild animals))) Nearby is the cleanest river Ugra, there is a sandy beach. Spring. District center Temkino (everything is there) - 16 km. Electric trains and trains run from it. The nearest large cities are Vyazma and Gagarin.
Plots of 50 hundred and about 1-2 hectares. LAND OF SETTLED AREAS, i.e. You can immediately build and register, provide electricity and a home telephone.
The entrance is year-round.
The cost is 6 thousand rubles per hundred square meters, but if the area is more than 1 hectare, the price can be reduced.
We bought land for ourselves, we wanted to engage in farming, but this requires a lot of effort. Therefore, we decided to sell to good people:))) To be good, friendly neighbors.
We lead a healthy lifestyle. We love animals and do not harm them.

Ancestral settlement

Family estates "Cradle"

Family estates "Cradle" are based on the ideas and images presented in the books of the "Ringing Cedars of Russia" series by Vladimir Megre.
The cradle is located in a picturesque valley, rich in springs, next to a forest, on the site of the abandoned village of Malaya Bekshanka at that time.
Year of foundation – 2010. Beginning of construction – 2011. Beginning of permanent living and wintering – 2011.
As of January 2019 We have registered a lease of 56 hectares of land, on which there are plots with the category of land of a settlement (permitted type of use “for personal subsidiary farming”) and agricultural land (permitted type of use “for gardening”).

There are free areas.

In 2016, on the initiative of the head of the administration of our district, Kochetkov S.V., a new embankment crushed stone road was built from the village of Novaya Bekshanka to Kolybeli.
Our children go to school in the neighboring village of Novaya Bekshanka, 3 km away. We are regularly transported by a school bus.

Commonwealth of Family Estates

Is there an alternative to city life? Why is the quality of life in eco-villages considered better than in cities? What might a family estate look like, what are its main features? What is the difference between an ecovillage and a family estate? Read about this in our article.

More and more people are coming to the conclusion that city life worsens a person’s physical and emotional health. Living in harmony with the world around us is the answer to many simple but serious questions that a person begins to ask himself at different periods of life. These answers were found for themselves by those who decided to leave the city and live in nature.

What is an ecovillage

Ecovillage is a conventional general designation of a populated area with people permanently staying there. They are also called communities. As a rule, these are families who live there permanently, with the exception of trips as necessary - to medical and government agencies, the shops. They lead a collective lifestyle, cultivating the land and using the crops. Animal husbandry, beekeeping, etc. are the source of nutrition and exchange resource for the settlement.

Distinctive features of organizing an ecovillage:

1. Non-commercial use of land. Harvest and other products are sold to purchase basic necessities - fuel, batteries, communications equipment, or directly exchanged for them. The surplus is often distributed to the needy at open fairs.
2. Respect for nature. In eco-villages, pesticides, chemicals and industrial fertilizers are not used under any pretext. The same applies to animals - growth catalysts and other drugs that affect metabolism are not added to the feed.
3. Lack of desire for accumulation and enrichment. Settlers do not create excess production. The volume of the planned harvest is limited by the needs of the community.
4. Lack of a strict management system. The settlements are small - from 30 to 250 people, so the “government bodies” are conditional - these are trusted people, elders, whom the community can replace at any time. In another version, this is the Community Council, which includes heads of families and elders. They do not cooperate with representatives of the state or any other authorities, but, if necessary, represent the interests of the settlers.
5. Autonomy. Each community strives to provide itself with everything it needs, helping others whenever possible.
6. Freedom of conscience. The principle of the internal structure, the distribution of roles in the household and the way of life - everything is determined by the members of the community. Many settlements have religious basis- often pagan - and use the customs of their ancestors from the pre-Christian period.

What is the difference between a community and an ordinary village?

In ecovillages there is no concept of division into “us” and “alien”. Fences, or rather hedges, protect gardens and yards from forest animals, but not from neighbors. Due to the lack of desire for enrichment and superiority over others, the following phenomena do not exist:

1. Theft. There is no point - all things are created by collective labor and there are no “extra” things that are not used.
2. Hired labor. There is no commodity-money turnover within the community. The ecovillage spends money only through external contacts. Spending is strictly discussed and carefully planned.
3. Property as such. The community develops its own rules, but in the vast majority of cases, the land and property of an eco-village cannot belong to individual individuals. Land is purchased or rented from the state by several like-minded families using their own funds. The heads of families make up the Community Council.
4. Drinking, smoking, lust, swearing. In all eco-villages, these character defects are prohibited. The difference from society’s traditional approach to these personal problems is that the team helps a person get rid of them, rather than isolating him.

Tribal communities have absorbed the best traditions of villages and villages. One of them is the transfer of knowledge and experience from old masters to young ones. Achieving perfection in his work - be it blacksmithing or carpentry, farming - a person teaches this to his children, and this is how labor (professional) dynasties are born. The union of people of different professions makes a remote settlement viable - it has its own agronomists, biologists, teachers, doctors, technicians and specialists in many other professions.

What is a family estate

A family estate is a community consisting of members of one family, which is replenished by establishing kinship ties with representatives of other families, clans and communities. Several family estates can unite into a family community. This is usually done at the “project development” stage, when like-minded people meet in ordinary life and discuss common plans for the future. If two, three or more families come to the conclusion that living together in nature will benefit them, they purchase plots of land nearby.

As a rule, the territory of a community is chosen in such a way that there is a river or a large lake nearby (or along the border) and necessarily a forest. Community members are actively planting new trees, while carrying out preventive maintenance of the existing forest - they take away old and fallen trunks for firewood. By deeply studying the ecosystem of the region, they enrich Natural resources by breeding fish and feeding forest animals.

How is a family estate organized?

There are no specific schemes for such settlements - everything is determined by the terrain and landscape. However, there are elements by which one can distinguish a family estate (RA) from an ordinary village:

1. Arbitrary layout of buildings. In terms of the location of its parts, the RP resembles a remote farm. There are no streets in them, and houses with outbuildings are not located where there is space, but where it is convenient for the owners. The remoteness from civilization provides a certain amount of space that allows one to manage the land in such a way.
2. Hedge . Refusal of any type of fence, or rather, replacing it with rows of living plants and shrubs. The explanation is simple - the service life of a wooden fence and a growing tree are not comparable (in favor of the tree).
3. A body of water, sometimes an irrigation system. If there is no reservoir nearby, the settlers arrange it themselves. Sometimes you can see man-made canals and water towers.
4. Forest area. If there is no forest, it is planted on the north and north-west sides. This is done to create a barrier to cold winds.
5. Vegetable garden and garden. Without this it is unthinkable autonomous existence. The sizes of these plots are based on the number of family members. The vegetable garden occupies 10-15 acres, and the garden 15-20 acres of land. If there is a need to grow and prepare animal feed in large quantities(on collective farms), common fields are allocated for this.
6. Wind turbines or mini-hydroelectric power plants. Eco-villages also need energy, just like cities, but stretching a cable over 200 km is unrealistic and unnecessary. Using the forces of nature, residents provide themselves with electricity.
7. Orientation of the house according to the sun. The house in the Republic of Poland is not located for best view from the window, and for reasons of insolation, it should be optimal.

A few words about the house itself. One of the ideas of settlements is to maintain the flow of life with its changes and transformations. In other words, they recognize that things are changing. Therefore, large capital houses are rarely found there. This is done for two reasons. Firstly, the walls of the house (even if they are made of natural material) separate people from nature. The settlers view the house itself more as a night and winter shelter. Secondly, children who grew up on the estate will still want to arrange the house in their own way, and it will be easier for them to carry out reconstruction.

How to painlessly break away from civilization

Remote settlements are not as wild as they might seem. Modern technologies allow you to have any type of communication even in the remote taiga. 30-40% of settlers continue to work via the Internet, engaging in increasingly popular freelancing, analytics or journalism. Since life in the lap of nature does not require constant expenses and the availability of money, the funds earned go to the development of the community (purchase of necessary devices and materials) and charity.

Ecovillages are happy to welcome guests - those who want to learn more about their life or join later. Foreign ecotourists have the opportunity to look with their own eyes at that part of Russian culture that cannot be conveyed from the pages of a book or theater stage. Such settlements are rarely located closer than 200 km to large cities, but this does not stop (wealthy) city dwellers from striving to purchase natural products - honey, propolis, oil and much more. There is also a developed production with elements folk art— recreation of ancient weaving looms, forges, architecture. This is not demonstrative in nature, but contributes to the creative realization of the individual.

How to make your dreams come true

The project “Family Estates of Russia” is gaining momentum. Thousands of residents of cities and towns every year consciously choose a harmonious life in nature and leave cramped apartments. What’s interesting is that they are being replaced by “new city dwellers” who came from the periphery and villages in an attempt to improve their standard of living. In this way, mutual interest is observed and a “rotation” of the population occurs in the cities, which receive fresh forces. This is an absolute plus for decongesting megacities and deconcentrating the population in a country with such a vast territory.

The long-awaited Law “On Family Estates” has already been adopted in the Belgorod and Vladimir regions and a federal bill is currently being considered. According to the idea of ​​the project, every citizen of Russia will have the right to a land plot of 1-1.5 hectares for living and cultivating the land in order to obtain a crop. Land is the basis of the family estate; this term has already been introduced into document circulation. In addition, the bill provides for the organization of settlements on united areas of estates (family settlements) with fully responsible self-organization. This means that the right of settlements to choose their leaders is confirmed by the Law.

The largest and most successful eco-villages in Russia

The very concept of “successful” here lies only in the fact that people do not leave the place they once occupied, but, on the contrary, are increasingly arriving and settling there. Therefore, “successful” means “growing and developing.”

Ancestral eco-settlements always increase in width - the arrival of new settlers does not lead to densification of buildings or living space. Each family immediately builds its own farmstead and house. All family settlements and individual estates always have a sonorous name, which speaks of the attitude of the founders, who are usually called the creators of the estate.

Settlement of family estates Raiskoe

Founded in 2006. Place - Tyumen region, village. Metelevo (2 km). Area - 260 hectares.

Nature - mixed forest, hills, ponds and the Tura and Olkhovka rivers, suitable for swimming. More than 100 types of medicinal herbs.

Population: a total of 180 families (780 people), of which 70 families (180 people) spend the winter.

Image of the settlement. Residents of Raisky are members of the voluntary non-profit partnership (VNP) “Ringing Cedars of Tyumen”. This form of organization allows:

• legally own land and use it to produce crops;
• put buildings into operation and assign them addresses for registration;
• elect an existing collegial governing body with a seal and the right to sign;
• regulate the rights of family inheritance of estates in accordance with the laws of the country;
• build roads, establish communications.

This is a completely modern settlement that has all the advantages of civilization - gas, running water, constant voltage, cellular communications, wired Internet. The main continent of settlers are urban entrepreneurs, like-minded people. Paradise rather resembles an elite suburban village, but in reality it is a family eco-village high level communications.

The cost of 1 hectare is 7.5 million rubles.

Settlement Tribal

Founded in 2008. Place - Tula region, Leninsky and Dubensky district, Aleshinsky rural district, village. Borschevka and Baboshino. The 1st, 3-7 fields are located in the Leninsky district, the 2nd field - in the Dubensky district.The total area is about 600 hectares.

Nature - in the areas there is 5-7 year old forest, in the area there is coniferous, deciduous and mixed forest. Reservoirs suitable for swimming.

Population: 150 families (380 people), including 49 wintering families (140 people).

Infrastructure:

• private kindergarten;
• school and shop in the village (6 km);
• There is a cellular connection;
• Some people have electricity;
• There is no gas and there are no plans.

Image of the settlement. There are no charter or internal rules. The settlement is actively developing, land has been allocated for the construction of its own school and general needs. New fields are being explored.

The cost of 1 hectare is from 100 to 160 thousand rubles.

Commonwealth of Family Estates Denevo

Founded in 2004. Location: Pskov region, Loknyansky district.The area is 220 hectares, another 40 hectares are being developed.

Nature - many different areas with forest, copse, clean fields, coniferous, deciduous and mixed forest. The Lovat and Loknya rivers are suitable for swimming.

Population: 120 families (470 people), of which 47 families (130 people) spend the winter.

Infrastructure: there is cellular communication, public springs, shops and a school in the nearest settlements. The settlement is developing, a school is being built.

Image of the settlement. The internal order is oral laws that are based on universal morality, tolerance and mutual respect. For an applicant for a place for his own family estate in Denevo, much depends on communication with the families already living there. The main idea (besides the harmonization of life) is the development of relations between like-minded people from other countries.

The settlement has developed eco- and agrotourism. Denevo families try to decentralize and minimize the element of managing their own society - each family decides for itself what and how to do on its own plot. The cost of 1 hectare is from 8,500 to 15,000 rubles.

As can be seen from a quick review, ecovillages can be different - from high-tech and expensive to as close as possible to natural conditions accommodation. But the main factor in the success of a settlement will always be unanimity. Today, in Russia alone there are about 120 eco-villages, 90 of which spend the winter. There are about 100 more settlements under construction. And, finally, about 50 settlements are in the planning stage, that is, a team of like-minded people is selecting or is already looking for a suitable site. Ukraine, Belarus and other countries with fertile lands are also actively developing in this direction.

Autonomy and minimization of resources for life become a decisive factor in the conditions of complex relations between participants in the global economy. Ecovillages and family estates can become a way out and even salvation for hundreds of thousands of people.

Where we live? What are “family estate settlements” (“kin settlements”) and “eco-villages”? Are these just names of localities? Or are these words hiding a deep difference in meanings and ideologies of lifestyles?

There are bearded ancestors in the clouds,
The bells ring in the frost.
Anatoly Alexandrov.

What an ecovillage is has long been widely known. The impetus for their creation was a protest against meaningless city life with all the ensuing consequences. In fact, it is an escape from the city lifestyle. Ecovillages exist all over the world.
In the late 90s, the idea of ​​“family estates” arose in Russia. A family estate is a plot of land measuring 1 hectare where a family lives, creating their own paradise on earth. Currently, the idea of ​​family estates is rapidly developing in Russia and is of great interest in Europe, America, and many countries around the world.
What is the difference between these two forms of leaving the urban environment? And is there a fundamental difference? After all, moving to land is good in any case.
Having lived for 14 years in our family estate in the village of Kovcheg, Kaluga region, Maloyaroslavets district, we came to the conclusion that these are completely different paths, different goals and different futures.
In ecovillages, everything is common; the family has nothing of its own, and often there are no families themselves. The entire life and activity of an eco-village is based on the powerful authority of the creator, leader, and ideologist.
The family estate is a self-sufficient unit in which there is self-sufficiency, etc. Of course, it is better when there is a community of family estates in the form of a settlement, but even one estate for one family is self-sufficient. This is a kind of indivisible unit in which the whole world, the whole Universe, is concentrated, everything is.
The best ecovillages are known for large public projects to creatively transform nature. Settlements from family estates also have such projects. There is no difference here.
Many talented people live in eco-villages; there are great achievements in the field of alternative energy, permaculture, and ecological construction. Residents of family estates have a lot to learn here. This is a topic of possible cooperation.
The most important key issue is the question of family composition. Traditional families live in tribal settlements; children are born at home and are mostly raised at home. In ecovillages, same-sex marriages, polyamory families (when several men and women live in the same house and give birth to children in arbitrary combinations), and in general anything else on this issue are common. Children from the age of two are sent to kindergarten. To the question “why?” - they usually answer “so that they don’t see the dirty life of adults.”
In 2015, the world ideologist of the eco-settlement movement, Diana Christian, came to us. It’s very good that she came and we learned everything first hand. When she was asked the question “Do you have any homosexuals?” - she replied: “Of course there is.” This answer caused murmurs and indignation in the hall. There was a heavy pause in the hall. Residents of the family estates spent half an hour trying to explain to Dayana that homosexuals in the settlement of the family estates were unacceptable, since this phenomenon in no way contributed to the birth of healthy offspring. She, in turn, asked in bewilderment: “What exactly do you not like - this is allowed by law.” Mutual understanding never emerged. This is how we learned first-hand what the ideology and philosophy of ecovillages is on this important issue.
The next point: the so-called issue of planned population rotation. Imagine that a peasant family lives, well, let’s say our ancestors. They built a house, planted a vegetable garden, planted a garden, settled down and are enjoying their lives. And then, after 5 years, they come to them and say: “Well, get out of here - we have a planned population rotation!” The men will take up the pitchforks, right? And this is exactly what happens in ecovillages. The very stay of living and working in an eco-village is considered as a certain stage, but you should not linger.
Of course, historically our ancestors did not always live in one place. They went to waste trades and developed new territories. However, the concept of “Motherland” has always been present in the soul of the Russian person as the most fundamental concept. If a person has arms, legs, a head, then that means he has a homeland. This was implied, self-evident. Even if a person was not in his homeland for 10, 20 or more years, and then returned, for everyone this was a completely normal, ordinary and necessary action. To be more precise, the right to have a homeland is an inalienable human right, just like the right to life.
After living for several years in a family settlement (a settlement from family estates), many come to an understanding of the Family and experience a living feeling of the need to gather their Family. To do this, they invite living relatives, celebrate solar holidays, and plant trees on their property in honor of departed relatives.
This is out of the question in ecovillages. It turns out that in ecovillages, by default, there is a ban on considering and rethinking the main ideological issues, such as the Motherland, family, and clan.
If you walk through the settlement on a warm summer evening, you will feel that a gigantic vital force emanates from the estates where people live permanently. And the character of this power is similar to the character of the owner. Trees, plantings, location of buildings - everything speaks about the owner of the estate. We can say that each person paints his own self-portrait on living earth with living colors. In the near future, the village will look like this: from a bird's eye view, it will be a gallery of beautiful self-portraits of the creators of family estates. But the areas where people rarely visit appear to be sad; such optimistic vitality does not emanate from them.
In our opinion, one of the aspects of the genius of the family estates project is that it contains a precise balance of public and personal.
Ask a question - what is the best plot in our settlement? - Of course, mine. And I will prove it in 10 pages of printed text. small print. And the best plot for my neighbor is his plot. And the most amazing thing is that there is no contradiction in this. Go to some estate and politely ask the owners to show them their plot. You can be sure that you won't be leaving soon. Until they show you everything, down to the last bush, they won’t let you go. And then, of course, there will be teas, conversations, conversations, and so on... Now imagine a commonwealth when the entire village consists of family estates.
Let's keep it very simple. Where is it better to live in an eco-village or a family estate settlement? Of course, in a settlement from family estates. “Fish looks for where it is deeper, and man looks for where it is better.”
If residents of family estates can easily be perceived best achievements eco-settlers, which were written about above (permaculture, ecological construction, alternative energy, that is, those positions on improving the environment that are acceptable and desirable), then in order to accept the idea of ​​family estates, eco-settlers will have to abandon homosexuality and polyamory families, that is, to reconsider the very foundations of your life. In an ecovillage, the main environmental issue has not been resolved - the issue of the ecology of man himself.
For us, there is no doubt that living in a settlement from family estates is better, but at the same time it is more difficult. And we are, of course, not talking about material difficulties. According to our observations, for every resident of the ancestral settlement who begins to take at least small steps towards understanding the Divine program of life, streams of information begin to literally pour out, as if from a huge bowl. Apparently, the hope of our righteous ancestors in each resident of the settlement is so great that each resident of the family estates is now precious to the Universe, great hopes are placed on each.
Diana Christian's visit coincided with the “Improving the Environment” seminar. Nobody specifically planned this. One group was in charge of conducting the seminar, and another was in charge of Diana’s arrival. In addition, Diana Christian - old man in poor health, so until the last moment it was not clear whether she would even be able to get to the Ark. However, by an amazing coincidence, these two events took place in our country at the same time. Two American women of Russian origin came to the seminar “Improving the Environment.” It became really bad and boring in America, and they came to Russia to look for land to develop a family estate. When they saw Diana Christian, they were very surprised, and one of the women, who had lived in the USA for 25 years, said the following word for word: “What is Diana Christian doing here? What can she teach you? After all, you have gone far ahead."

We are old-timers of the Ark, and we remember very well that when creating the Ark, a group of pioneers was inspired by the ideas of Anastasia, set out in the books of V.N. Maigret series “Ringing Cedars of Russia”. These people managed to create a very bright creative image of the future have a wonderful life on family estates. And the image works in an incomprehensible way, despite all the temptations to deviate from it that arise in the minds of some of our residents.
Our mother planet Earth is rushing at great speed in outer space, finding yourself in a different place every second of time. Thus, every day the entire Universe, every person, literally every cell in him is already different. In order to hold the image of the Divine dream in yourself, you need to confirm this image in yourself every day in the most literal, concrete sense. Not everyone and not always succeeds in this. Initial beautiful image For some people it starts to blur. They have the illusion “that I have already built an estate, and now (I’m smart) I will move on.” The range of opinions on how to live in an entire village is enormous.
Some say: “I want everything to be cool here, like in a cottage community,” and try to convince others that we don’t need any family estates, but need to build a cottage community.
Others say: “The idea of ​​family estates is morally outdated, has outlived its usefulness, we need to join the global community of eco-villages, because this is the only way we will be recognized and we will be given Western grants.” At the same time, people who continue to think in line with Anastasiev’s ideas come to exactly the opposite conclusions. They come to the realization that the family estate is a powerful living device for the materialization of any creative dream of a person. We have only just begun to feel and understand the functions and limitless possibilities of this living device; some have already begun to consciously use it.
Still others say: “We live in a village, we don’t need any self-government, we need to give all powers to the municipality - the municipality will do better.”
The fourth sing: “Only Krishna will save us.”
Still others declare: “I will build a hotel complex here and will serve foreigners at an expensive price.”
At first you are amazed that this is being said by the same people who, when speaking before the general meeting, publicly voiced their intention to build a family estate and nothing else. How much they were blown away from their own dreams, their own own idea! And how to explain that the grace accumulated in space is a spiritual product of the life of all of us here living according to the laws new civilization and this grace is for everyone, but it cannot be an object of trade? What to do with all this?
Those who staunchly adhere to Anastasian ideas sometimes find themselves in the minority in the settlement. How can you not quarrel, not quarrel, not say - “why, dear neighbor, you said one thing at the general meeting when you were received, and now you say something else, sing completely different songs”? And what to do with all this? Moreover, all these people are your neighbors who have helped you out more than once, and you have helped them out more than once, and with whom you will live for many, many years. If anyone has a ready-made recipe, please tell me!
In fact, we now see that the image of the Anastasievsky settlement is still stronger: people hold on to their plots, make plantings, no matter what momentary ideas and hobbies they are captured at the moment. To complete the picture and in fairness, it should be noted that some of our residents, who for some time were strongly interested in the idea of ​​eco-villages, currently are reconsidering their views, returning to the original image of the Anastasievsky settlement, and talking about it openly and honestly. And even people who initially came as consumers, and not creators, are forced over time to admit that the Ark is still an Anastasian settlement.
In 2016, we also observed in conversations with local and federal officials that they, the officials, experienced a decisive change in the perception of the very words “family estate”, “village of family estates” (“family settlement”). If earlier officials often tensed up and twitched on the topic “Are sectarians coming to me?”, now this is not the case at all.
Now, in the overwhelming majority of cases, there is benevolent interest and support on the part of officials. Something elusive, imperceptible, but has changed a lot. The promotion of the idea of ​​family estates reached new stage, one might say the state stage.
The efforts of the Government and the President to promote the idea of ​​family estates are already clearly visible. The number of Kin settlements, consisting of family estates, is growing. More and more people are finding their homeland and learning the divine meaning of life.

A. Gornaev, academician of the Academy of Family Estates, E. Katkova.
Settlement consisting of family estates, Kovcheg, March 2016.

15.11.2016

A question that is no less important than the question of life itself in the settlement. Already at this stage, the majority have a fairly large information gap, and the arguments “against” or “for” in 99% of cases lie outside the scope of the real state of affairs.

First of all, it is worth noting that I have never been fanatical about the topic of settlements. No, I never had the opinion: “I read the books of V. Maigret and learned the truth! You can only live this way and no other way!” I don’t have a chest with Slavic shirts, I don’t listen to bards all day long, I don’t eat the sun, I don’t hug bears and hares... Maybe just for now)))))

I have absolutely no fanaticism or going to extremes, which is simply a given and is in no way assessed from the point of view of whether it is good or bad.

Probably, over many years of studying psychology, various religions, philosophies, esotericism, I admired new knowledge so many times, saw so many people who fanatically rushed into new religious or philosophical movements, and then after a couple of years completely changed their opinion, that I formed a certain a picture of the world that cannot be attributed to any specific direction.

View from our site to the neighbors' house.

It is important. It’s one thing when you go to a settlement to build “Gardens of Eden” with a fanatical attitude, euphoria, under the impression of new emotions or new knowledge, and another thing when you take this step deliberately, consciously and even a little pragmatically. In the context of this article, it is important for me that you understand from what bell tower I look at everything that is happening.

It was an extremely difficult decision

For about 1.5 years I studied the topic of settlements, went to see how people lived there, talked about this topic with those who had already received this life experience. The main problem for my pragmatic mind and the experience of past similar decisions was and is that in this case there is no “return”.

Let's say I decide to live in Spain. I bought a house there, lived there, and when I realized that it was not for me, I sold the house. We lived in Sochi for a year, rented houses and apartments, then just left. In a settlement, such a number may not work.

If it suddenly turns out that life in a settlement is not for us, then selling/renting it out is not so easy. It’s one thing to sell/rent an apartment in St. Petersburg, Sochi or Spain, and another thing in a settlement... The question of how to get out of this game remains open even now.

Many will say: how can this be? What kind of thoughts are these! Such thoughts are unacceptable when creating your own “family estate”!

Life experience says that today it is like this, but tomorrow it may be completely different. How many people who dreamed of their family estate ended up going to live in apartments... Life is very changeable. Today you are in Moscow, tomorrow - in the family estate, and the day after tomorrow - in Cyprus... This is normal, this is life! It changes, your thoughts change, circumstances change, so it is wise to look at things objectively and with an eye to the future, really understanding what you are doing.

It may not be a very good comparison to a business, but when you start a business (especially in a partnership), you first need to figure out how to get out of it.

As a result, the question arises of what to do if suddenly:

• The settlement collapsed (this happens too).
• Force majeure circumstances force you to leave the settlement (there are many options).
• You gained experience and found out that this is simply not for you.

In reality, it all comes down to the cost of a possible “mistake” if something suddenly goes wrong. I was and remain of the opinion that the decision to live in a settlement is a certain risk, even a gamble. On the other hand, if everything goes well, you can get a LOT.

• Are you ready to take risks for your dreams?
• How strong is your desire?
• How valuable is this experience for you?

I believe that with a certain and careful approach, the game is worth the candle, because life in an eco-village can really become a paradise for you and your children, you will get an experience that cannot be bought for any money, no training, you will change inside, your priorities and values ​​will change, you will begin to look at the world, a global internal transformation will occur, you will no longer be the same as before... With all this, this is clearly not for everyone...

10 days that changed our lives

It so happened that by chance we managed to live fully in the settlement for 10 days, after which we seriously thought that maybe the game was worth the candle. Before this, we had not seriously considered this idea, but then 10 days in September in an eco-village seemed better to us than at any resort in the world.

After 10 days in the settlement, we returned to our beloved Sochi, which began to be seen in a completely different light. It’s cramped, you can’t breathe, the passion of the big city, the smell of cars, cigarettes, lack of goodness...

Returning to Sochi, we realized that the issue of living in a settlement cannot be solved mentally, in our heads, sitting in an apartment or in a country mansion. This issue can only be resolved at the level of the heart, desire, and intuition.

At the same time, the plot with the house in which we lived was put up for sale. And we decided...

The advantages that we see in living in a settlement after the first month of staying there:

Like-minded people.

It’s, of course, very cool when there are people around you who don’t swear, don’t litter, don’t eat meat, don’t drink alcohol, don’t smoke, smile and rejoice at you, and sincerely hug you when you meet.

You can safely go on a visit or invite guests to your place and discuss common topics, talk about things that are really interesting. Real peace of mind. There is no place for mental stress, no tension within. There is no need to fight with anyone, defend your position, fight for your uniqueness, or prove something to anyone.

Freedom for children.

Within a week, my daughter began visiting new friends, walking alone without supervision, and she was still only 4 years old. She certainly could never have had such freedom in the city.

Our settlement has its own Primary School, children study according to the Zhokhov system. This is naturally a plus. In addition, the settlers are interested in giving their children an education outside the walls. regular school, but at the same time that all formalities are observed and the child has a full-fledged school diploma of secondary education.

Fresh air.

In almost any big city the air leaves much to be desired, and in a number of cities it is simply hazardous to health. I can describe the condition in a separate article air environment within the city limits, consider various chemical compounds, MPC norms in different variations. Even in the most favorable cities from this point of view, near streets with heavy traffic, you simply can’t breathe; this is especially felt when you get used to breathing air that has no odor 24 hours a day.

Movement!

In the city I worked a lot on the computer. Of course, I tried to control this moment, but it’s difficult to be on the move if you do all your work on the computer. The entire change in activity is artificial in essence, but physical inactivity is a global problem modern man. Here, the change of activity occurs naturally: after working, you go out into the street, where you do some work on the site, around the house, or just take a walk to catch inspiration.

Health in nutrition.

There are no shops selling junk food in the settlement, no restaurants, although you can order something tasty from your neighbors. You really eat less harmful, more healthy. And, of course, your own vegetables and fruits, which will definitely appear on your own land - it couldn’t be more useful. Much is purchased in bulk from trusted suppliers.

Silence.

In the morning, birds sing, not car engines in the parking lot. At night you can only hear mice if they suddenly snuck into the house. You won’t hear drunken fights under the windows or loud music. Complete sound comfort.

Weather in Krasnodar Krai

23 in November, sunshine, minimal amount gray cold days, and there is also snow, but not for long...

Space.

We have more than a hectare of land, no fences. A delight for the eyes. You can grow not only your own vegetables and fruits, but also create your own park or forest.

A special state of the body, soul, mind, psyche, consciousness, thoughts.

This point cannot be described in words, you can only feel it. This is probably exactly the point for which we came here. Silence, clean air, fruits, vegetables - all this can be obtained without settling, and you can only get a certain state within yourself, which is formed thanks to the people around, the landscape, the peculiarities of life in this place.

Disadvantages and questions that, of course, exist

Since I am not an idealist, but more of a skeptic, it is much easier for me to see disadvantages than advantages (this is part of my nature: to see what is wrong and how to fix it), then, of course, I see the disadvantages, which, of course, exist. On the other hand, where are there no disadvantages? There is no ideal place, and in the end we make choices based only on some of our own priorities. Some advantages are more important to us than certain disadvantages and vice versa.

Infrastructure that doesn't exist.

It is clear that this is not the end of the earth, that Magnit and Pyaterochka are 5 minutes away, Krasnodar is 40 minutes away, IKEA is 35 minutes away... Many can only dream of such a lack of infrastructure, but still the settlement is located locally among the villages where low level education, health care and so on. Sberbank in the nearest village - you need to see it... And this is what the post office looks like:

People outside the settlement.

If inside the settlement there are intellectually developed, interesting, good, kind, wonderful people, then in the villages around the level of education, intelligence, responsiveness, kindness and self-awareness is extremely low. If we add to this the special Kuban mentality and the low level of wages, then the picture is not very rosy. A typical picture of places remote from large cities.

People are really good, but most bad habits. The locals have not heard about vegetarianism, training, etc., or rather, they have heard, but only that there are sectarians living in an eco-village somewhere in a field. I wouldn’t like to put everyone under the same brush, there are very nice people I’ve met here, everyone is different, but in general there is a tendency that is determined by the environment, landscape, and traditions.

A misunderstood question about how to exit the game.

I have already written about this. The cadastral and market value of a hectare of agricultural land is from 20,000 to 150,000 rubles. In other words, it is worth nothing unless it is the land of a developed settlement. It will not be possible to sell a plot of land with a house to an “ordinary person”, since “ a common person“(note that there are quotation marks) this simply won’t be bought, and according to the rules you can’t sell it to anyone. Finding someone as abnormal as you is not so easy... This is a fact, I think it’s stupid to turn a blind eye to it.

Children's life.

This point was in favor, but now it is on the other side of the barricades. This is not even a minus, but rather a question, since it will be possible to say something specific only after 5-10-20 years... The question is how children will study at school, how to receive further education, how they will be able to realize themselves in such a life, whether they will even want to live like this, whether they will have enough communication and socialization, how they will be able to adapt later in the life of the big cities, if they want to move there... Such, in general, a slippery point. There are a lot of questions here.

On the other hand, life in a big city also leaves a certain imprint on the child’s consciousness, habits, and behavior. Some of my good friends moved to an apartment in a large residential complex; before that they lived in their own house.
A week later, they were shocked by what habits their daughter had picked up on the playground near the house among smoking moms, dads with beer, children who brought chips, soda, and potatoes from McDonald's to the playground. Children smoking hookah near school, school and kindergarten education itself are many things that we would not like to see in the lives of our children.

A question of law.

Almost all settlements are located on agricultural land, and the type of use can also be different; however, they want to abolish this point. According to the law, houses can only be built on individual housing construction. There are nuances, loopholes in the legislation, subtleties. I won’t talk about this now - this is a topic for a separate conversation. So, most of the houses in the settlements are illegal construction. This issue needs to be resolved, fortunately there are solutions. In “Zdravoy” this issue is being resolved; there are already those who have even registered in their home.

Our life

There were many questions about amenities and life. This is an interesting question, because for some, convenience is that there is a toilet in the house, but for others, a dishwasher is a must, and if there is no dishwasher, there are no conveniences.

Electricity.

In most settlements there is no electricity and there never will be. In our settlement this issue has been resolved. There are already poles at the house, in the coming months the cable will be extended, after which 15 kW will be ours. This is very good, it means there will be enough not only for the needs of the house, but also for greenhouses, a vegetarian garden and even charging an electric car! For now, we make do with a generator and a system that stores and distributes the electricity that the generator produces. 3 hours of generator operation per day is enough for all the needs of the house. In terms of money - 700 rubles a week for gasoline.

Water.

Well water good quality, but requires purification, of course, from various impurities, so far the most simple system. I bring drinking water in large bottles. The electric pump pumps water, turned on the tap - and here you have water.

Toilet, bathroom.

The most interesting question is where is your toilet. On the street? There are both on the street and at home - choose which one you want. A question from the same opera: where to wash? There is a bath in the house, but you can also go to the bathhouse, no problem here either.

Internet.

Internet is normal. Keeps Skype calm and downloads perfectly. True, there is an amplifier. Without it, there is no Internet at all... And it works fine 100 meters from the house.

There is no main gas and there never will be, but it’s normal here without it, since the climate is very warm.

Heating

At the moment it is stove, but once the electricity is connected, it will be electric and combined. Luckily the climate is warm. Someone in the settlement installs a boiler and wiring for the house, there are no special problems with this.

Roads.

400-500 meters on excellent quality gravel to asphalt.

We don’t have any problems with amenities; as soon as the electricity is connected, there will be no reason to even talk about this topic. If a normal house is built, then everything inside the house will be the same as in a regular apartment. You shouldn’t think that in an eco-village everyone lives in dugouts, the toilet is only on the street, and they wash themselves once a month, of course not. Everything is very civilized.

The area needs attention. Mow the grass, plant trees, pave the road.... There are a lot of things to do, but they are pleasant.

Building an ideal life for yourself and your children is not easy.

I made this point separately. Many people consider an eco-village from the point of view of a ready-made solution for heavenly life; they want an eco-result:

• It was already populated so that at least 50 families, or better yet 200, lived in it. Few people are ready to be the first, even the second, even the twentieth.…
• Everything should already be landscaped, the gardens should be blooming, the roads should be perfect... I don’t want to come to the field and dig up virgin soil.
• There must be its own school, clinic, kindergarten, and store.

In the eyes of many ordinary people, an ecovillage is seen as a finished product in the form of a cottage village, but with good people. Unfortunately or fortunately, this is not possible at the moment. The settlement is built and developed due to the competent leadership and strength of the residents. It is not simple. There are financial, social, and legislative difficulties. There are a number of issues that need to be resolved, but no one will solve them for you. This is work of body and heart.

It’s not so easy to decide, not everyone can catch this subtle smell of freedom and not drown in everyday life, this requires courage or recklessness, it’s not easy...

What is the name of our settlement and some summary.

Our settlement is called “Zdravoe”, here it is link to VKontakte group.

Of all the settlements, I would also note the settlement “Rayskoye” in Tyumen, where not only fiber-optic Internet was installed, but also main gas! Here is the link This settlement breaks all the templates.

These are the thoughts I have after 1.5 years of choice and a month of living in a settlement. Ask your questions in the comments, tell us how interesting it will be for you to receive information about how we settle here, what insights come, how thinking changes when you live on your own land in a settlement.

Comments:

Elena 11/16/2016

Mikhail, good afternoon! Very interesting! Thanks a lot. Some time ago, probably more than a year, I came across information about this settlement. I was so inspired then, but my husband quickly criticized everything. I didn't argue with him. And according to the age limit, we are not suitable for living in an eco-village.
But I am happy to read about all the news from Zdravoy in the VKontakte group.
I am very happy for you that you have finally decided to take this step! It seems to me for some reason that this way of life is close to you. Quite a bit of time will pass, spring will come, and then no amount of gingerbread can get you out of there. A feeling of ownership will appear: the owner of the house, the plot, your life. It doesn’t matter that your children will grow up far from the city; you have the opportunity to come and visit St. Petersburg, for example. And then, just imagine how many children all over Russia come to big cities study after school from small towns, villages. You understand perfectly well that it is in your power to raise your children so that they have a stable psyche and a correct understanding of the world. This is much more important than going from the opposite (seeing all the ugliness of relationships, humiliation, insults - what is easy to meet on the streets of our cities).
With all my heart I wish you harmony and prosperity! You are doing a very great thing for your future and the future of your children.
I look forward to hearing news from you in your New Life.

Answer

Admin 11/16/2016

Tatyana 11/16/2016

Thank you for sharing this experience. I myself have been considering the issue of an eco-village for five years now. But something is missing courage... As a result, three years ago we bought a plot in a cottage village with all the amenities))) (gas, central sewerage, water, internet, security...) But they never started building... It’s possible that they just didn’t fit in...

I will watch your experiences and impressions with interest. It will be interesting to find out how a city dweller will become familiar with life on earth once the first impressions have passed...

Good luck to you. I'm really looking forward to the continuation...

Answer

Anna 11/16/2016

Good afternoon
To be honest, I even envy you a little. It's great to be able to live like this! And you have an eco-village with almost all living conditions: shops, a post office, a bank are nearby! Everything is nearby weather good ones! And all other issues can be resolved. For example, about teaching children - the settlers can unite and create a school together, you can find teachers or teach yourself, there is generally a lot of scope for creativity... Especially for you, Mikhail, with your teaching skills...

Answer

Anna 11/16/2016

The nature is modest, somehow there are no mountains, lakes, rivers, or sea. There are much more beautiful places to live. But try it, if you don’t like it you can always leave, I think this is not the best option for life. It’s better to earn some money, buy land in a beautiful place with wealthy neighbors and build your own garden and park; infrastructure is very important.

Answer

Admin 11/16/2016

Anna, I've lived many places. In Europe, Asia, in different cities of Russia, here I wrote about it in detail: It’s not about money, it’s not about a beautiful place and wealthy neighbors, if you choose based on the principle of beauty and comfort, then I would just stay in Spain and not return in Russia. Or I would have stayed in Sochi - one of the best cities in Russia in terms of comfort, weather, views, nature.

Answer

Julia 11/16/2016

Good afternoon, Mikhail!
After independently building a house and living in the village for 4 years, there is no fear of developing the land and organizing everyday life.
Your experience inspires and inspires the idea to join you, the only question is finding a job. Not everyone is ready or able to work remotely.
Please tell us in more detail what people in the settlement do for a living?

Best regards, Yulia

Answer

Admin 11/16/2016

In our settlement, a couple of people work remotely, so it is not necessary to work remotely to live in the settlement. As in any place in our country, here you can work for hire or for yourself. There are those who go to work in Krasnodar, someone works for themselves as a “jack of all trades”, someone breeds bees and sells honey, someone sells eco-products.. Someone solves the problem on the spot, and someone in advance.

Answer

Marina 11/16/2016

Many people, having lived in a rhythm that exceeds the norm for the human body, having worked extremely intensively in business, come to this decision. They retire from business. Sometimes for a while, sometimes forever. A logical result of an overly hectic life. I don't think this is the right decision. It would be better to slow down in time.

Answer

Admin 11/16/2016

Marina, this cannot be a wrong decision, since the end result does not matter. Whether we stay here or go again in search of our place, this experience has already changed us and will change us even more, the experience itself is important. I’ve been experimenting with the rhythm of life for many years, the motivation is completely different, it’s not a matter of fuss, which I haven’t had at all for 2 years, since everything was built exactly so that there was a minimum of stress. I have not retired from business, my business is always with me: in St. Petersburg, in Spain, on the island of Koh Samui or in a settlement.

Answer

Natalya 11/16/2016

Admin 11/16/2016

Lyudmila 11/16/2016

Good afternoon, Mikhail! You did the right thing, what a wonderful choice! My family and I have been living on a farm in the Rostov region for 8 years and we don’t regret it at all. We lived for many years in the capital cities of Tashkent, and then in Moscow, New York. At first it was difficult to get used to the silence, but now when you wake up to the singing of birds, it is such a pleasure. We bought a house, installed gas, all the conditions in the house, a bathhouse, 30 acres of land, and the city is 7 km away, we have indescribable beauty.
AND EVERYTHING WILL BE EXCELLENT FOR YOU, I AM SURE OF THIS! GOOD LUCK TO YOU! Over time, you will appreciate LIVING OUTSIDE THE CITY even more!

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Admin 11/16/2016

Maria 11/16/2016

Very happy about you!
I also dream of living in a settlement, after I was at the festival in Vedrussia in 2015!
In 2014 I tried to open an online store with your “your start” program... Just as I opened it, I closed it... My husband told me to take care of the child)
Since then I have been reading your articles and news with pleasure!

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Admin 11/16/2016

Irina 11/16/2016

Mikhail, thank you for sharing your experience - it is very interesting and relevant for me. If it’s not difficult, please tell us more about your electricity supply system. Last year we bought a plot and built a house, but they only promised electricity. Experts calculated that the generator would cost 30,000 rubles. per month. Therefore, your experience is very interesting. I will be very grateful if you answer.

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Admin 11/16/2016

Irina, experts believed that the generator would work around the clock, but it needs to work through the charging-batteries-inverter system, then it’s a different matter. If you heat your house with electricity from a generator, then of course this won’t work, but the light, computers, and pump will last for the whole day, after 2-3 hours of running the generator to charge. The washing machine and water heating are the main serious consumers. To heat 100 liters of water in a boiler, you will need 2-3 hours of generator operation. When the washing machine is running, the generator will also need to be turned on at this time. The generator consumes up to 1 liter of gasoline per hour, you can make a calculation. 19 liters of gasoline is enough for us for a week, but a generator is still a temporary option for us.

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Yaroslav 11/16/2016

Yes, Mikhail! For some reason everything throws you out of the frying pan and into the fire. Now, I just don’t understand how your settlement differs from my dacha in the south of the Moscow region. Judging by the pictures, it's the same. And when your child grows up, you will need to study in a good school. And you will have to look again for a new place for your reality. Although this is not a problem for you. You are easy going. But there will be a good dacha in a settlement with clean air.

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Admin 11/16/2016

What’s different is that there are dozens of families around you who live the same lifestyle as you. There are no cigarettes, garbage, alcohol, or the smell of barbecue. In any other place around us there will be people who live with completely different interests. I’m not writing about how I went to live outside the city, but how I went to live in a SETTLEMENT - these are different things.

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Evgeniya 11/16/2016

Good afternoon.
I'm glad for you that you found a great place to live. I myself have been in this ZKR movement since 2001 and am one of the founders of this movement here in the Nizhny Novgorod region. During this time I have seen enough different people inside it. Yes, I agree that there are big advantages and no less big disadvantages for living in such settlements. Considerable friction arises within the settlement, between its neighbors (in some cases it even comes to the courts). It so happened that we organized an almost standard settlement for today with an area of ​​170 hectares. But due to the distance from big cities and due to the fact that today supply exceeds demand, we have a rather small number of people. The constantly increasing cost of renting land was already difficult to bear. Last year’s epic about fines for misuse of land came to a head. As a result, we abandoned the field, but not the idea. And I'm very happy about it. It so happened that almost the entire initiative group settled in a village very close to this field. We decided to go through the development and restoration of this village. Now everyone is, as it were, for himself - all issues are resolved in accordance with the law, everyone is responsible to the state for their actions. But at the same time, we are all like-minded people, i.e. in the main issues of life we ​​provide each other with mutual assistance. If we need some common things to do, we get together and do them together. With this approach, we don’t have such acute conflicts within like-minded people as in other settlements, and I’m very happy about that. The village is dying - there are only 3 houses left for local residents, and we have built friendly neighborly relations with them. Yes, their level of development is extremely low. But you need to be able to accept all kinds of people and try not to side with the conflict with local residents.
The settlement of Zdravoye, it seems to me, is quite large, at least that’s the impression I got. I don’t think your children have any questions about communicating with their peers. And I don’t see a big problem in the adaptation of children from settlements to the city. There are the same people in the city who have different views for life. It’s no wonder that groups with different interests will form in the city—there are many of them. I think that a child from a settlement will easily find exactly the group that suits him. Provided, of course, that he is open to communication. There are also city children who cannot settle in life. I think that the issue of children’s adaptation to life depends, first of all, not on where he grew up, but on how he perceives life, how he treats people, on the ability to build his relationships with society, the ability to show himself as a person who commands respect.
I was surprised at Elena’s statement: “And according to the age limit, we are not suitable for living in an eco-village.” Are there really any age limits in your settlement? - this is very strange for me.

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Admin 11/16/2016

Tatyana 11/16/2016

Good day, Evgenia. I myself am from the Nizhny Novgorod region and am interested in country life. The villages were unattractive for me, because... There’s drunkenness and a purposeless existence (everyone has moved away more or less with a purpose), but I’m very interested in your village. I think it is very important to have like-minded people. Please tell me what kind of village this is and in what area... Does your village have gas, electricity and other “benefits” of civilization?

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Tatyana 11/16/2016

Admin 11/16/2016

If the sun is shining, then the energy from solar panels enough even in excess, the problem is that batteries cost money, and the main problem is how to store this energy. Batteries do not last long, and when there is no sun, there is no energy. In the summer - no problem, but in the winter... I chose a generator because in the coming months there will be electricity and it will remain just in case, the need for batteries, a generator and other things will disappear.

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Tatyana 11/16/2016

Mikhail, I understand you very much! My husband and I also moved 15 years ago, no, not to an eco-village, but simply to a village. However, here too many of the advantages you described are presented in full. I especially like that our house is on the edge and behind it there are continuous fields and space. Now, when I come to our former city apartment, where my daughter now lives with her family, I so keenly feel the crowding and the presence of a huge number of people in the neighboring compartments that there is a real feeling of squeezing walls. And, of course, waking up in the morning in the village to the singing of birds is such a charge of cheerfulness every day!

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Admin 11/16/2016

The tightness of the walls and even the whole CITY can be felt if you live in open space, nature and have a penchant for country life. It’s cramped in traffic jams, between buildings where you can’t see the sky, in stairwells and elevators... There is such a thing, but not everyone feels it, not everyone needs it. For some people it’s great to live in the city and that’s good

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Alexander Grigorievich 16.11.2016

Mikhail, good afternoon! I have known you for a long time from the first Startups, and now I see your attempts to build or arrange your life. All these settlements are breeding grounds for rural life. There used to be family estates. There was a landowner and peasants. They lived not because they loved living there, there was hopelessness and slave labor. You won’t create or build anything there. Children will not live in this wilderness, and the peasants have long been gone there. And the earth, like any woman, loves care and respect and really doesn’t like nudity, pay attention, as soon as the “Body of the Earth” opens, she tries to cover herself in any way (weed), she doesn’t like asphalt, you see how difficult it is to break through it . But not many people know and ask themselves why, as soon as the harvest begins, it rains. Here's a question for dialogue. I'm happy for you.

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Admin 11/16/2016

Alexander 11/16/2016

Mikhail, your newsletter (your letters) is the most interesting thing that comes to me by mail. And about the settlement - it’s absolutely a plague! I read them in one sitting, like some kind of adventure book. You have only one disadvantage with the newsletter - you write very rarely :) I would like to receive such letters much more often (1-2 times a week). Although, of course, I understand that you have enough trouble right now. In general, I wish you with all my heart that the idea of ​​an eco-village will meet all your hopes, that all your dreams will come true. Thank you very much)

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Admin 11/16/2016

Alexander, thank you for your kind words addressed to me. Lately I haven’t been able to write often; I don’t want to write in the “it will do” format or just to write something, so the process of writing letters and articles is not a quick task)))

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Elena 11/16/2016

Evgenia! This is just my personal opinion regarding the age limit. The fact is that, as it seems to me, there are more young people, young families in the settlement. They are more promising, they have more strength to build the Family Nest.
We are already at retirement age. Of course, I think that we could also be useful in such a settlement. But building only for yourself is a question. Our children don’t even think about this topic; they are all adults now. The decision about where to live should come from themselves. We will build up in our old age and then what?
Young children will grow up in this atmosphere, they will have something to compare with, they will make their choice, but it will be part of their life.

That’s why I wrote that it’s too late for us.

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Natalya 11/16/2016

Hello, Mikhail! Very interesting article!!! I support Evgenia in her thoughts about the possibilities of a child’s adaptation to the city if he decides to leave. My husband and I grew up and studied in a “dying” village in the Rostov region (now only pensioners remain there, the school, hospital and even all administrative points are closed and moved to a larger settlement). We are also familiar with the experience of “giving up a house because there is no one to sell it to.” The experience is traumatic, but quite survivable. Not only my husband and I, but also dozens of our fellow villagers moved to cities and lead ordinary lives (with varying levels of success and development), the level of adaptation to which depends not on the place of birth and growing up, but on the values ​​and traditions in the family in which we grew up . There is only one significant difference between us and the natives of the city - we know another life - on earth, we know the pros and cons) Good luck to you, Mikhail!!! I wish that difficulties are resolved, and that the new experience is rich and joyful.

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Love 11/16/2016

Ekaterina 11/16/2016

Hello, Mikhail. On the topic of work, a question arose: we have our own ceramic workshop in St. Petersburg. Such a workshop can be created wherever there is clay, electricity or gas. Well, and the premises, of course. The question concerns the possibility of building such a workshop in an ecovillage. After all, if you can only build residential buildings, then, apparently, they are unlikely to allow you to build a workshop, since this is already an industrial building, albeit a small one?

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Admin 11/17/2016

Ekaterina 11/17/2016

Admin 11/17/2016

Elena 11/16/2016

Mikhail, the construction of houses is allowed not only on lands with the type of permitted use of individual housing construction, but also for personal subsidiary plots. True, the size of a land plot for private household plots should not exceed half a hectare. I think that you need to study the Land Code and contact the land committee of the district administration in the city of Krasnodar. If you have more than a hectare of land, then the plot must be divided into two land plots. One of which will remain for agricultural purposes. For the second plot, you can change the type of permitted use to private plots. But there is one thing. Land for private household plots can be field or household. If the plot is in a field, then you cannot build, but if it is a personal plot, then it must be within the boundaries settlement. Multifunctional centers have now been created to facilitate paperwork. They really make life easier in many cases, but in difficult situations I would contact the land committee of the district administration directly. At least for a consultation. And before going to the administration, I would talk to neighbors who are already registering in their houses and study their experience.
I wish you good luck and be sure to write about how you live in the settlement. It is very interesting.

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Marie 11/16/2016

Thanks for your articles! We live just outside the city on our own plot of 12 acres, we have been moving towards our goal for a long time, we have been living in our house for a year now, there is nature all around, a lot of fresh air, a lot of housework to do. But there are also problems, for example, all sports sections, clubs for children and adults are located in the city. There is a school and a kindergarten in the village, the problem is kindergarten I don't care, but that's when the child reaches school age, most likely you will also have to take it to the city. Even if it is different from general education program school, there is a 100% guarantee that you can only find one in the city. There are no children in the neighborhood, the child has no one to go out with, no one to invite over or go on his own. These are the moments. It’s difficult to decide to move, because we built the house for ourselves, and we quite like the area and nature. But the infrastructure suffers, after all. It is somehow easier for adults to decide on silence and solitude, but it is difficult to decide for a child and he will still have to meet with real world, and not with a separate settlement. I’m monitoring the topic of settlements, and recently I came across this site http://derevnyamira.ru/ it looks like they will be closely developing the infrastructure, but there are requirements for settlers not to drink or smoke, and there are no restrictions on the type of food. Although there is also a bias towards eco-products. For me, the only negative is the big difference in climate. Now we live in the Rostov region, and this Village of Peace is near Novosibirsk)))

Mikhail, thank you very much for not being lazy to write articles when you find yourself in pristine conditions. I wish you and your family a pleasant experience and a joyful life in the settlement!

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Tatyana 11/16/2016

~ATTENTION!: FROM JANUARY 01, 2017, OWNERS MAY LOSE THEIR LAND!~
Came into force on December 1, 2015 the federal law RF dated July 13, 2015 No. 251-FZ. Land owners must register with the Unified State Register of Rights to Real Estate (USRE) before January 1, 2017. Then the plots that were not included in the Unified State Register will become municipal and can be sold. Currently, from 70 to 80% of owners in Russia are not registered in the Unified State Register.
According to the new law, if five years have passed since the land was registered for cadastral registration and it was not included in the Unified State Register, then it is removed from cadastral registration.
After this, the land becomes municipal ownership. First of all, ordinary summer residents may suffer. Many of them received plots 20-50 years ago, and they were not registered.
In addition, according to Law 251, if the summer resident is not in the Unified State Register and has not been registered in the cadastral register for the last 5 years, then the plot is recognized as ownerless and again transferred to the municipal authorities. The summer resident remains unaware that he has lost his land. He won’t even be invited to court, because the claim will say: the land is ownerless. If there is a house on the site where a person lives, then he will have to move out or buy the land from the new owner.
And from 2018, those registered with the Unified State Register will also need to do land surveying (shown graphically on the public cadastral map). Otherwise, summer residents will not be able to dispose of their land: sell it, donate it, pass it on by inheritance.
Thus, friends, from January 1, 2017, if your land plots are not registered in the cadastral register, then you will lose your land plot without knowing it.
Hurry up, because New Year not far away!

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Admin 11/17/2016

Ivan 11/17/2016

Admin 11/17/2016

Oksana 11/17/2016

Mikhail, I read the article with interest and tried to try on your experience. In my opinion, such changes are possible while children are small or not at all. With teenagers everything is much more complicated.
For example, we are now planning to move to another apartment and we have to take into account the opinion of each family member, including our 14-year-old daughter.
For my husband and I, perhaps, society is not so important, but for her.....
The issue of education will also be quite relevant for parents of schoolchildren. Of course, now you can study outside of school, but not every parent is ready for this.
To summarize, I don’t see much difference between living outside the city on your own plot (even if it’s not 1 hectare) and living in an eco-village.

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Admin 11/17/2016

Stanislav 11/17/2016

From the beginning of the “chapter”... “The question of how to get out of this game remains open even now.” There is always only one way out of any game - it’s just quitting the game. Who else should know more consciously than Mikhail Gavrilov that all life is a set of games. Games of the Lord. What else can He do when everything is done and everything is working? Play. Sometimes to participate, sometimes just to observe. There are interesting stories when the game is played according to the rules, and everyone knows their place and plays their role. Although... any game is interesting, except destructive ones. I, too, have long been disgusted by the pathetic “hurray” for family estates, we, yes we, we are ours, we new world etc. A hundred years ago, when this was just beginning here in Kurgan, I was at one meeting where they “divided and distributed” the land of the collective farm share. I saw and heard little worthy and reasonable there. Or rather, that’s exactly what I didn’t encounter. Pack and bark. Several years later I visited “that” land. The picture is depressing. Abandoned land. So, regarding fanaticism, you, Mikhail, are certainly right.
After several years of my life with my wife “in the field”, one day I arrived in the city by train, and stepped out onto the platform... almost AT THE SAME TIME... stepping onto the platform, I felt a huge, wild FATIGUE. I was born, studied, lived in the city, worked, read, visited friends and went hiking. At one time, I went to China every month for two and a half years, wandered around the country, seemingly adapting to the diversity of life, and then suddenly...
I felt wild urban depression, meaninglessness, unnecessary unreasonable fuss. Out of cowardice, continuing to work as I did when I was in the city, I have to come to the city “to earn money.” And in the evenings I drink. Because. Even those people who are the same in the city are not the same.
I want to live at home. Two daughters now. Same question. The eldest in all directions: dancing, drawing, singing, cooking, knitting, etc., etc. What will she get here “in the field”? Who will teach her? So he takes everything from life, but receives little. Dad is at work, mom Yanka is little, she “has no time for me.” Although, of course, her mother studies with her, and reads, and taught her how to knit, and showed her how to embroider... Despite the fact that she also does laundry. It draws water from the pump and washes it away. You need eight buckets to wash. I’m remembering now, and I don’t remember something about how we lived when we didn’t have a speaker here? Three years ago? And the nearest well is ten kilometers away? Is the water in the wells salty? The lake is true fresh, but not clean at all. Cows, geese, ducks, of course, contribute to the cycle of substances in nature, but somehow I don’t want to drink water after this cycle. I remember in winter they melted snow and drank it, it was... And there was no car then. How did we live?.. I remember as soon as we arrived here, electricity was not connected to the house, and we lived for two months without it. We cooked on bricks, sat by candlelight, talked, I played the guitar, composed something, romance... One huge plus covered everything - MY HOME.
Eleven years have passed since then. This is where we made our money. Don't go visit and no one comes. Children NEED communication, but there is none. I cannot harm the earth with its wild, unbridled weedy plant capacity. I ate all the beauties of Old Slavonic folk wisdom, maybe not enough, but enough to understand that there are only two directions of development: breadth and upward. The cross, by the way, is a symbol of this. Hands - abilities - earthly - to the sides and nailed. Feet down - to the ground - and also - with nails. One head is free.
We, Mikhail, do not have such a problem as leaving the game. We have reached the point where it is no longer possible. The people here are also different, and their qualities are different, to put it mildly.
The wife talks to her mother for an hour. At first I was outraged by this, until I realized that SHE SIMPLY HAD NO OTHER COMMUNICATION. To talk to a husband, it is absolutely necessary that the husband be a husband, and understand that a wife is a woman, and a woman is a completely different type of living being, and differs from you by far from gender characteristics. This is how we lived for many years. My wife was looking for complicity, and I offered her “solutions to her problems.” Thank God, Khakimov, Torsunov, Serebryakov, Narushevich, Satya Das met... So, with common efforts we are slowly finding a family. I encouraged her to come to your training. I saw the training banner, went to the website, read the articles of the author, Mikhail Gavrilov, and saw what we had with him shared values, asked his wife “will you go”, she looked, smiled, said “I don’t know”, I felt something come to life in her, got excited, went into the office, paid for the course, said “go”. She went. The first days I was nervous, I didn’t have enough time, my daughter was small, there was a lot to do around the house, she called, asked for advice, this and that, then she became quiet. Has changed. Changed myself. The changes are wonderful. Thank you, Mikhail.
As for living or not living on your own land, it’s like Omar Khayyam:
To live your life wisely, you need to know a lot,
Remember two true rules to begin with:
It's better to starve than to eat anything,
And it’s better to be alone than with just anyone.
I think a good travel companion cuts the journey in half.
I thought about this today, that when you sing, time stretches.
I thought that time, after all, is the energy of the Lord, and when He likes the way you sing, He just takes it and stops it, well, to prolong the pleasure.
And when your neighbors are so nice, you live every minute consciously. And awareness is a state that is completely timeless. This is generally one of the qualities of God.
Often we ask ourselves questions that do not arise in our minds, but which should IN IDEA arise in our minds. Who even said that children MUST receive some kind of SUPER education? Who said that the abilities inherent in a child need to be DEVELOPED, and what does it mean to develop: remake, adjust, frame, narrow? Templates. Often. Many questions. A certain awareness is coming, thank God...
I signed up for something, I’ll go to bed... Thank you, Mikhail, for your open smile.
Become alive - you will live until death.
Goodbye. All the best to you and your loved ones.
Fair wind.