Ecovillage Kardokai - village revitalization, spreading sustainable lifestyle ideas
In a disappearing village, we have created a successful eco-settlement that has been in existence for 10 years now. It has a community of neighbors and like-minded people. We are currently the largest straw-bale houses ecovillage in the Baltic States. The community founded an outdoor kindergarten and a school where children from the settlement and the surrounding towns study. The essence of community manifests itself in helping each other in common tasks, exchanging home-made products, fests.
Local
Lithuania
Municipality of Kazlu Ruda.
Mainly rural
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-01-01
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Kardokų bendruomenė Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Gabija Last name of representative: Cepuliene Gender: Female Nationality: Lithuania Function: Member Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Zemuogiu, 5 Town: Kardokai, Kazlų Rūdos sav Postal code: 69386 Country: Lithuania Direct Tel:+370 698 86344 E-mail:gabijavaliukeviciute@gmail.com Website:http://www.kardokai.lt
In a disappearing village, we have created a successful eco-settlement that has been in existence for 10 years now. We have created a strong community of neighbors and like-minded people. The essence of community manifests itself in helping each other in common tasks, exchanging home-made products, fests, trips. Traditional activities and crafts are nurtured in the eco-village: bread baking, bee-keeping, ribbon weaving, candle making, the picking of herbs, forest mushroom and berries. Each family reveals its potential in favorite activities and exchanges the products it creates.
We are currently the largest sustainable straw-bale houses ecovillage in Lithuania and one of the largest in the Baltic States. Permaculture is applied. We use local materials and invite local craftsmen to work in construction. We share our experience of building straw-bale houses with each other and across all Lithuania.
The community founded an outdoor kindergarten and a school where children from the settlement and the surrounding towns study. The school is distinguished by its alternative expeditionary pedagogy. In the school, jobs are created for community members, development projects are carried out, and different generations are involved in education. The school became the main attraction for new settlers.
We share information, our lifestyle and activities on the Facebook platform. We organize events nationwide: e.g., the convention of Lithuanian eco-villages. We have also held an online conference “Idea for a person is life in abundance“. We organize Open Door Days, Crafts Festival, welcome guests from abroad and share experiences on how to establish a community and build sustainable buildings. We inspired by our example and created a new eco-settlement in a neighboring village.
Community
Sustainable buildings
Local exchanges
Permaculture
Forest school
Sustainability revolves around our whole life:
-The houses of our community members are built from natural biodegradable materials.
- We reuse of organic construction waste in permaculture;
- We aim for natural agriculture (permaculture), composting;
- We return food waste to food chains
- Job vacancies are created in the residential environment;
- There is an exchange of self-made products, services, tools and vehicles;
- Facebook chat “Community bus“ is used to find transport, delivery of goods and parcels. Every one joins cooperation for commuting.
- We invest in renewable energy sources (the lighting of public space, building of private solar power plants).
- We give old buildings new purposes.
- We invite ecofriendly families that maintain the same values to settle in our community.
In our community, almost all families have built straw-bale houses. Straw-bales, wood, sand and gravel that are used are local. The walls of the house consist of straw and are plastered with clay, some of the houses are round, even without a frame, reducing the usage of wood. House roofs are covered with natural materials: reeds, shingles, tiles or hvae plants planted on them. Organic construction waste such as straw, wood, clay is not affected by any chemicals, so it all can be restored back to the natural ecosystem - we use what is left in gardens.
Each family has a garden where they grow some vegetables for their food needs using the principles of permaculture. We share the surplus of the harvest with each other. In the school established by the community, the leftover food waste is given to the livestock and poultry raised by the local people.
Some families create jobs for themselves and develop individual activities at their home, so the need to travel to the city for work is reduced. We provide services to each other, we buy products that we create from each other, we share construction tools, we lend vehicles to our neighbors if needed.
- In the abandoned village, we began the creation of new homesteads, the environment of the settlement, roads, public spaces, objects under protection are managed and taken care of.
-The architecture of the houses blends beautifully into the natural environment, with its natural colours, textures and shapes of materials.
- Interior clay decor creates the most appropriate microclimate for a healthy human body and good emotional well-being.
- Houses are decorated with mouldings and elements of traditional Lithuanian decor.
-The community has monthly meetings with shared food, music, and communication. During these meetings, residents have fun and strengthen their relationship. We also celebrate calendar festivals together.
- There are men’s and women’s clubs where residents support each other and share their personal experiences.
- Men like to gather in a traditional Lithuanian sauna, which is very beneficial for health, and share relevant issues.
- Joint trips are organized visiting like-minded people.
-We organize open day events, during which visitors get a real experience of what it feels like to be in a straw-bale house and get to walk around the eco-village.
- We organize annual conventions of Lithuanian eco-villages, during which people from all over Lithuania gather, lectures on natural lifestyle topics, discussion circles, joint lunches are held, dances and musical improvisations take place in the evening.
- A community of conscious people lead to friendly relationships, cooperation, help, sharing of personal health and spirituality practices.
-Building a straw house is an economical solution - straw is a cheap house insulation material compared to conventional building materials.
- The construction is technologically simple, so based on the experience of the neighbors, the new settlers decide to build the house themselves. Thus, it is not necessary to hire craftsmen.
- Buildings of smaller square footage can even be frameless. The houses can be of any shape and size and are very economical, retain heat for a long time, because their walls are about 40-50 cm thick.
- Neighbors who have already settled participate in the construction process of the new settlers, show technological nuances during the the common tasks and with their work help to settle more easily.
- Monthly meetings of members are held when decisions are made by consensus. Each member can be useful: specific groups of members-activists gather periodically, where project ideas turn into results.
- The community participates in local government projects. In this way, it attracts municipal funds and periodically creates jobs for its members.
- Since there is an interest, we try to give people the opportunity to get acquainted with the natural way of living and our accumulated experience. We communicate personally with those who ask, we organize educational events, open-door days, Lithuanian eco-village conventions, where we purposefully share information. We also participate in international level events, we have received guests from Latvia, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia.
- We maintain a close relationship with the old residents of the village. One of the old descendants of the village allowed the use of the buildings and land of her father's homestead for school purposes, which made the development of the school possible.
- The expanding school attracted many young families. With these families, we initiated the purchase of 56 hectares of land 3 km from the school, in another abandoned village, and helped build a new community.
- Conventions, open-door days, Facebook platform, online conferences, international projects – we share everywhere our knowledge and inspire people to build villages, straw bale homes, grow healthy food, create a safe environment for their children and live in the community.
- As the village grew, street names and informative road signs appeared, and environment became more structured.
- New jobs were created.
- The products of the villagers were bought.
- Road renovation was initiated.
- The municipality shows us as an example of the community.
- We encourage young families to move to villages on a local and national scale.
- We established an alternative kindergarten and school in a rural area, where students from the surrounding towns study (meanwhile, in other rural areas in Lithuania, schools and kindergartens are closed due to the small population and lack of funds and staff).
In 1999, after the publication of V. Megre‘s book series “The ringing Cedars“ in Lithuanian, in 2000, inspired by the ideas of living in harmony with nature, readers began to create homesteads and communities lead to the creation of the first eco-settlements in Lithuania. Inspired by this movement, the Kardokai eco-settlement project also began. In 2006, the first family moved to the village of Kardokai and started inviting like-minded people to join, offered to purchase free plots close-by, and helped during construction.
V. Megre‘s readers‘ club formed the basic values of living in harmony with nature, which were transformed into a community when new families joined, but remained as the main aspiration to live in a clean and natural environment, to raise children by forming their connection with nature from an early age, according to the level of everyone‘s personal perception and ability.
During Erasmus exchange project young people were introduced to natural lifestyle, sustainable building construction. As result few young families joined our community.
Forest school of Kardokai take impact in regional level and atracted new families to join the project.
young families gained inspiration, knowledges and contacts In Lithuania Ekovillages gatherings, to join ekovillages, including and our project.
Families have built houses from natural materials, guided by the knowledge of construction from sustainable materials.
The experience of living in harmony with nature, natural agriculture (permaculture): community members respect nature, protect healthy soil structures in gardens, and growing part of their food without chemical fertilizers.
Management, administrative and legal knowledge is important when creating community legal unit, managing documents, and preparing projects.
In 10 years, an active community of residents of the eco-settlement has been created, where people communicate with each other for various purposes: because of children growing up at the same time, because of mutual working relationships, business cooperation, because of ongoing construction, and because of joined community projects, organized events, management and decoration of the environment. The age of adult members of the community ranges from 25 to 52 years old. Currently, 14 families, a total of 50 people, live permanently in the community, and the homesteads cover 40 ha.
Neighbors maintain a close relationship in the community – living among the forests in a village far from the city, one feels the constant support of like-minded people, there is an exchange of help, loan of cars, delivery of goods and products. Relations with the old residents of the village are maintained and they are included in community celebrations.
Within 10 years, the organization of annual Lithuanian eco-village conventions shows results: the number of participants exceeds 200, residents from 6-7 different eco-villages and single-family homes and people living in cities who are interested in this way of life come together. A community of like-minded people has already grown in Lithuania.
Following our example, a new community of Raudonplynis was established in the area of 56 acres at a distance of 3 km from us. We initiated the gathering of these families, informed them about the opportunity to acquire land, and guided their acquisition.
The community founded the Kardokai Nature School, which has been operating for 6 years now. Currently, the school is a strong self-sustaining unit that has become a center of attraction for families looking for alternative education for their children, a community of parents, children, and school staff are gathered within the organization.
Straw bale house construction technology was first used in Lithuania only in 2006. It is currently gaining popularity due to its accessibility and appeal.
Today’s Lithuanian society is strongly alienated, so the communal way of life is new to Lithuanians. The people living in our village can confidently say that they are in contact with all the families living in the village. We also use online means of communication such as Facebook, Telegram, Gmail for quick communication and information transfer. In the Kardokai community, we have already managed to overcome some of the communication barriers prevailing in the country. We are innovators in this field, a role model for others.
We established the first Forest School in Lithuania.
The community makes decisions together. Everyone is invited and accepted to meetings and celebrations.
We accept each other’s different opinions and points of view, we do not constrain personal life, family ideologies. Everyone has the right to freely choose whether or not to participate in community activities.
We promote community through joint activities: whether it is a collective work, charity, a project or a calendar holiday, we look for opportunities to meet and involve each other.
Families already settled and living in the community are benevolent towards the settlers – they share their personal experience not only through stories, but also by showing specific examples.
Based on our unsuccessful experience of the first few years, we came to the decision to carry out selections for new members: free plots of land or homesteads are sold only to those families who are motivated, determined and conscious – we find this out through communication with interested parties. The people who bought plots, but still hesitated to live here, were the weak link of the community, which stopped progress in every sense.
Our model of a successful community can be applied anywhere, because it is based only on human resources, not on geographical location, nationality, etc.
Taking into account the climate of a specific place and the natural materials available in that environment, it is possible to build residential houses with other simple technologies, thus attracting more people, families with children. When young families join, the need for a kindergarten and school would naturally increase, new jobs would be created, the community would expand, it would become an attractive place to live, and it would become known in its region and country.
We reduce pollution by:
- purchasing local building materials;
- creating jobs near the place of residence;
- sharing each other’s transportation means and cars;
- delivering parcels, purchases to a neighbour;
- building houses mostly from natural materials that will eventually compost and return to nature;
- without using chemicals when growing food products, by mulching the gardens with organic matter, we turn organic waste into fertilizer;
- planting trees;
- sorting and recycling waste.
Urbanization:
- We create jobs in rural areas;
- We encourage life in the village;
- We have established a new kindergarten and school in a rural area and it became a center of attraction for young families and a motivation to move to the village;
Alienation of people, loneliness, health problems:
- We create communal ties with each other, we support each other;
- We encourage the creation of communities in Lithuania, we organize events where people meet, communicate and establish new connections;
- We include representatives of all generations in activities and educations;
- We promote a healthy lifestyle – plant-based diet, physical activity, mindfulness practices. We offer our guests to try various activities: starting with yoga, learning about herbs, berries, mushrooms, to forest therapy, hiking or cycling, dancing;
- The alternative educational institution established by our community uses experiential pedagogy in nature and educates an independent, conscious, happy person, who will be guided by the established basic values even as an adult.
