Follow ilonka's journey along ecovillages and sustainable communities
I stayed one week in Katajamäki community in central Finland. This was a very inspiring place for me and I felt at home in the community which has existed since the early nineties and where many people have contributed to creating a powerful and inspiring community space. Katajamäki is located on the grounds of an … Continue reading Healing at Katajamäki
For two weeks I was welcomed in Vaunumaki community in Southern Finland. This was a valuable experience to me of a young, determined initiative for communal and sustainable living. Vaunumaki is Finnish for wagon hill and it is currently a community of three families. The families knew each other for many years and had been … Continue reading Frontrunners of free, ecological lifestyles in Vaunumaki
To celebrate the longest day of the year, Solbacka community in Southern Finland hosted a midsummer weekend festival, this gave me the opportunity to get to know the community and celebrate together. Solbacka was founded around 2012 by a collective of seven initiators who wanted to live in community, in balance with the nature and … Continue reading Midsummer festival at Solbacka
For over a month I lived in Small Footprint ecovillage, in Estonian called Väike Jalajälg, a community of around 10 adults and some children. The initiators came together around five years ago to live in community with a small ecological footprint and they envisioned to also function as inspiration and training centre for sustainable lifestyles. … Continue reading Small Footprint ecovillage Estonia
I spend a long weekend at Majvik biodynamic farm, just outside of Helsinki and was positively surprised by the beauty of biodynamic farming. Majvik farm is a beautiful place to be with the small patches of vegetable fields surrounded by untouched forests and close to the rocky shoreline of the Baltic sea. Talking with the … Continue reading Majvik biodynamic farm
Spending a lot of hours helping out in the permaculture gardens of Small Footprint ecovillage, Estonia, I learned a bit about their practices for ecological gardening. While weeding, preparing vegetable beds and transplanting tomato’s, I talked with Merili, one of the community inhabitants who runs and plans the gardens. I got reminded of how simple … Continue reading Ecological gardening in Small Footprint ecovillage
Ecovillages can offer their community, their land and their practices to create meaningful experiences for individuals from around the world. A beautiful example of this was the volunteer program hosted last May by Small Footprint ecovillage in Estonia. Funded by the European Solidarity Corps, twelve international youths came to live and participate in the ecovillage … Continue reading ‘Growing people’ in an ecovillage
Connection and understanding in a group can be stimulated using a very simple practice which is often applied in ecovillages. A sharing circle is a practice for expressing your feelings and thoughts to each other. This can be about a specific topic or just in general. Part of the secret of why the practice helps … Continue reading Holding a sharing circle
Do I think that the whole world should look like an ecovillage? Which ecovillage is the perfect example? Aren't ecovillages small, isolated communities with no real impact on the outside world? As I get asked these questions so often, I have set out why I value the ecovillage movement and chose to travel along them … Continue reading Why do I expedition along ecovillages?
It is exciting to witness the brink of new projects. Sitting on bare pieces of land dreaming about all the possibilities there are and drawing the outlines of future houses between the weeds. To imagine the beauty of a future ecovillage filled with flowers, permaculture gardens and self-sufficient houses with smiling people walking through them … Continue reading Pioneering ecological living in Lithuania
Expedition Ecovillage 