I ran across this web posting by my friend Michael Wuerfel about Sieben Linden that gives a lot of the details... of the village.
Sieben Linden
Sieben Linden is a founding member of GEN
(Global Ecovillage Network), and currently hosts its headquarters. It
is reputed for the boldness and the richness of its experiments in terms
of sustainable living. It is also supported by the UNESCO as part of
the “decade for sustainable development”. In other words, it is a big
player, perhaps a model of ecological village. To check this out we
enrolled in the “young people experience Sieben Linden” week.The ecovillage is located in the middle of nowhere outskirt of the little village of Poppau, Germany. It is nestled among wheat fields, wild meadows and (mostly) pine forest. We’re on time for check-in, – even though, we would learn it later on, it does not really matter here – the sun is setting, air is warm, wind blowing through the surrounding leaves…it already feels good to be here.
An archetypal day at Sieben Linden could be described as follows: yoga at 7AM, which is a delicate way to wake senses up and share positive energy. After breakfast, people gather in circle at the center of the village, to execute team building exercises. These included: going by trio in the center of the group to execute some dance moves, passing stones to each other by crossing arms and legs, singing, improving a move that everyone should mimic afterwards etc. It feels a bit awkward the first time, but it’s a good ice breaker when you don’t really know the people or are still antisocial/ sleepy. At 9h15, a few residents come to expose the work to do and gather volunteers.
The work did ranged from shoveling ground and clear bushes in future building areas, removing (metallic) fences from protected forest areas, unloading wooden beams, mowing the lawn, collecting wild herbs or stones, making stony pathways in the village, to improving the foundations of the amphitheater. Work goes on till 12h30, with a long break around 10h30, then resumes at 15h and finishes at 18h30, when dinner is served.
In the evening, the young people would usually gather at 20h for a round-table aiming at sharing feedbacks from the day and organizing future works. Furthermore, they would also use this meeting to share deeper feelings, like sadness and fears, joys and hopes, like in a Forum (link to toolbox). After the round-table, people can go back to their activities or to bed, but most of the time they stay together to play music or circus activities around a fire, party, watch a movie, or listen to someone telling a story or reading a book.
At Sieben Linden, community life is seen as the nexus of personal and group well being, as well as the root to connect with nature.
“Life in community is not just something that we practice here in addition to organic life, but the core of a sustainability-oriented life. Only when people learn to get along with each other, they have a future together.” *The emphasis is put on respecting the diversity of people and lifestyles, through consensual decision taking and thematic neighborhoods**.
Individual needs and community objectives are matched in an ongoing process supported by working and living together, celebrations and cultural/artistic activities, but also by innovative communication tools such as the forum, talking sticks rounds, mindfulness and meditation exercises, « Fish Pool Discussion », (a rotating circle of people talk within a larger circle of lister that can step in the inner circle when a place is free), A-B conversations between two people, with each of them speaking for 5 minutes and the other listening, Nonviolent Communication, mediation, coaching, consulting colleagues, deep ecology etc. Such tools are also taught to non-residents during seminars***.
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Decisions making is mostly decentralized in small groups where residents must get involved, topped by a system of councils (residential community, social, Housing, Education Board, food supply), within total transparence and limited possibilities of appeal. There are still a few decisions that are made by the entire community in monthly general assembly, such as influx of people, expenses over 40,000 €, and allocation of land to other neighborhoods. In this assembly a clear 2/3 majority is needed to make a decision.
The residents are committed to improve their decisions processes by focusing more on shared experiences, mutual support and shared personal celebrations, persuaded that the best decision/solution would naturally emerge. Basis for the decision model is the consciousness of their common orientation:
- I serve the living.
- I meet with love and trust.
- I am ready for what I encounter.
- I exercise myself in truth.
- I take responsibility.
- I am committed to a sustainable world.
Sieben Linden’s large permaculture garden produces many fruits and vegetables and manages to fulfill 70% of the village needs. The site is designed around the creation of many retreats for animals and small biotopes to foster biological diversity, for example by converting pine monoculture forests into mixed forest, creating ponds and mixing edible and non-edible plants in their fields. The garden includes a dozen beehives, a horse ranch**** – residents favor hand and horses work to machines – and herbs greenhouses. One day we witnessed a very harmonious scene: two women, one of them carrying a baby African style, horse-plowing. The baby was quiet, the two ladies were talking like friends in a quiet café and the horse knew exactly what to do. The cuisine of the common kitchen is mostly vegan with some vegetarian dishes, and suitable for raw food diet. The cellar is in free access, and wild herbs are served twice a week.
The buildings at Sieben Linden are particularly interesting. Much input has been given to their conception. They have been designed and naturally built – using local straw, wood and clay –by their residents for their residents, and are therefore quite diverse, each of them having its own unique character. In addition, heat and electricity (which consumption in Sieben Linden is ¼ of the national average) are mostly provided by wood, solar panels, geothermal activity, and intelligent design (south oriented houses and large water tanks, air exchangers etc).
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- “Strohpolis” is one of the largest straw bale building in Europe (three storey, 530m²) and was built respecting vegan construction norms.c
- “Brunnenwiese” is designed as a spiral, with a wood, sauna-like,
heating system at its core that diffuses heat through the walls. Its
shape was also thought to favor healing, meditation and wellbeing of
children.
- Club99 (a group of radical ecologists) building (120m², two storey)
was built exclusively by hand (no oil, electricity nor animals involved)
with local materials for 5000€.
- Since 2011, the village boasts its first passive house, the “Libelle”, which rely solely on its solar panels, natural flux and good isolation to provide for its energy needs (of 300 kWh / year).
A stay at Sieben Linden is a good way to realize how connected we are – or should be – to the earth, how much we need it, and how destructive our western social patterns can be. It is also a good place to learn alternative ways of interacting and working with people. Here putting ones emotions forward and trusting are not seen as a sign of weakness but are required to build a healthy community dynamic, and working is done slowly and sharing, often deeply, with others, in a harmless, fun, yet effective manner.
Over 15 years, the Sieben Lindeners have implemented a real holistic sustainable lifestyle, from alternative communication and decision making tools, to cutting-edge ecological construction, passing by education, political action and environmental stewardship in a way that is consistent with the permaculture and deep ecology philosophies.
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QUICK FACTS
- Initiated in 1989, the first residents moved in in 1997.
- Founding member of GEN, it is currently its headquarters for Europe.
- 150 residents organized in neighborhoods with different approaches to green living
- 82ha of land, which comprises 44 ha of forest, 31 hectares gardens and farmland and almost 7 hectares of built-up areas.
- The community practices a holistic sustainable lifestyle strongly inspired by permaculture and deep ecology
D.L.
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FOR MORE INFO:
Check out Sieben Linden’s website: http://www.oekodorf7linden.de/* Read the book from Michael Wurfel, who stayed there for 10 years: “Dorf ohne kirche. Die ganz große Führung durch das ökodorf Sieben Linden“. Eurotopia press.
** http://www.siebenlinden.de/htmcontent2089.html
*** http://www.siebenlinden.de/english2037.html
**** Resorting to animal use has been heavily discussed among the residents. They decided to keep the horses, because they would have gone to a slaughterhouse otherwise.
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(c) Foto credits: Sieben Linden. More pictures: http://siebenlinden.de/bildarchiv/index.php/
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