In balance on the border

Hi everyone, we're back on the web!

We are currently in Den Haag (La Haye) in the western part of the Netherlands. We are leaving our dear hosts Annette and Olaf tomorrow morning, heading towards the North.

Annette and Olaf have hosted us a good week and we discovered many initiatives very nice in and around of the seaside city! We were as well very happy to face the sea for the first time of our trip.

Our article today: our experience at Astrids, in Lemiers, it was many weeks ago. And also we tell you about our month spent in the farm/community Vier Linden.

AT ASTRID'S:

Just after Christmas we arrived at Astrid's where we stayed for two weeks.

The project:

Few years ago, Astrid was buying a land she named De Wij. It was a fine game word because De Wij means ''us'' but also ''the grassland'' when pronounced. Some times later, she moved in a house not so far from her nice grassland. Through the years, De Wij has changed quite a bit. Now stands there six sheeps, an area to chill and gather with a fire pit, a permaculture garden, a compost toilet, a water pump and a food forest. A food forest is an area recreating the natural ecosystem of the forest where big fruit trees live with bay bushes. Another way to use permaculture where each tree help it's neighor. In De Wij flows a river as well, wich is very usefull, it also happens to be the border with Germany.

For not so long, Astrid has created a fundation with three friends to make De Wij a community place. The idea is to buy the land to Astrid and to help this place grow all together. In the future, their wish would be to have livable buildings so that a community spirit could take place. Astrid's head is full of projects for the future of De Wij and if you want to give a hand you will be welcomed every wednesday afternoon where she will for sure be!

All this time spent on this place is nice for her, even though she works during the week, like most of the people. It's her project which carries her every day, without being able to say why, she feels it's good and logical for her and the world.

We spent a lot of time to share with her, with discussions, laughs, cries, dances, songs, yoga, meditations, hikes,...

We had the chance to meet her friends and spend new year's eve with them, we also were amazed by the amount of non-stop fireworks, all night long until 1am! We didn't miss the tradition on this particular date: board games, pulling cards (tarot) and preparation/eating of Oliballs ( traditional pastry). Around the fire we have let our bad 2016 things when we burned papers in the fire on which were written the bad things. And because it's the Netherlans, we got to taste a homemade cannabis tea. It was a nice evening which got us far in the night !

The morning after, we all went, on a full stomach, to the little chapel of old Lemiers to sing with people from around. This moment was splendid, it was beautiful and joyful.

Thanks Astrid for these warm moments.

Thanks as well for this soft transition from French to English/Dutch.

The 8th of January, we took our backpack and left, walking, to Vier Linden, few kilometers from Astrid's.

VIER LINDEN:

Vier Linden (four linden, lime tree) is a 38 years old community place. The origin of the name, the linden was a place to gather in Village, back in the days. Andres and his family landed on an almost empty land, and started their project with almost nothing. Years after years, Andreas, architect, has build this all place with his hands, with ecological and recycled materials. Houses made of straw, wood, and clay borned as the land was expanding. Today it's a mix of houses, trailers, grasslands, and gardens wich make this place welcoming and lively.

The farm hosts three donkeys, sheeps, three goats, chickens, a cat named Catapluche, two dogs, a duck and its pond. These animals, except the chickens who gives eggs, have a pedagogic aim.

The inhabitants of Vier Linden come from all around. A family just settled, Andreas and woofers like us are part of the community. A Bagdad refugee, a Moldavian waiting for her papers, two Romanian working in the surroundings, a german doctor working at the hospital nearby, are living in Vier Linden but are less involved in the community life. Other persons from outside come once in a while give a hand and create projects, the community is also alive thanks to them.

Our trailer:

The community structure follows three diagrams which are suppose to help it work. A first one shows the individual and it's ideal balance between spiritual and physical life, a second one is a resume of the twelve most important points for a community balance, a third one shows the four main activities of Vier Linden: the farm, the RB&B, the entertainment on the spot, and the outside projects (seminar, african projects...).

These diagrams when we first met Andreas sounded exciting. But, as we were there we noticed a lack of transparancy and communication. The commitment to the diagrams were not so visible.

How do they financially live ?

Some inhabitants pay a rent, they sell their production (herbs, apple juice, schnaps,...), they rent rooms with RB&B, run seminars (massages, ceramic, landart,...), they offer birthday for the kids with a donkey carriage trip. They also work with woofers who aren't paid but are given food and shelter.

And to feed everyone ?

They have a partnership with a bio shop of Aachen, which, several times a week, hand them their unsold products.

Everyday, we would have breakfast with the community members then, until 1pm everyone does his things before meeting again for lunch (wich we often prepared). In the evening, everyone eats when and what it feels. This rythme was nice because their was time for oneself and community time. The only schedule was the two eating times. We were very free on how we wanted to make our day, we loved it.

There, we mostly chopped wood, we became pros in trimming trees and bundling ! It took us the whole month. Meanwhile we also fed the animals, made some chestnut cream, skated on the pond, built snowmen, walked through the fields, saved the farm for the donkeys and goat's escapes, slept in a trailer, taught the word ''jambon'' (ham) to Nadja who is five; and survived to one week without heating nor warm water under the snow (so, no showers).