A Typical Day at the Ecovillage of My Dreams

In last week's QOTW @ecotrain has discussed the three aspects we considered most important for the ecovillage of our dreams. There were many interesting posts published to answer this question, inspiring each other with great ideas. If you've missed it, take a look at the wrap-up post!

This week we're staying with ecovillages, as i this week's QOTW they are asking us how we would spend our typical day. Or was a perfect day? Ideally the two should be one and the same, since I think an important aspect of perfection would be that it's not just a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but something normal, occurring on a usual basis. So let's see... what's my favorite way of spending my days?

How Can I answer That?

At first I thought I might skip out on the question this time. It's really not easy to come up with anything specific, since it all depends on so many factors. Where are we located, and what is the local geography like? What projects are we involved in? Who are the people living in and around the community? What are the most urgent needs?

I had to smile at the phrase in the question post: "Once it is built, what would life look like?" because I don't believe something like an ecovillage (like most living and organic things) can ever be completed. There's always going to be room to develop, which doesn't have to mean unilinear progression, but change is always inevitable. And ideally it is the people in the ecovillage who make this change happen. So even though the ecovillage has been built, we are going to continue building it. But how...? That all depends.

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Staying General

To attempt to reach a reasonable answer, I want to stay away from specifics as much as I can. Instead, I'd like to continue focusing on the things that are important for me, which could take many practical forms depending on the details. It's kinda like the modular salad recipe I once posted long ago. Instead of saying red beets and tomatoes I listed the category: something crunchy and something juicy. So in case you're allergic to tomatoes and can't get your hands on beets, you could use radishes and cucumbers.

Balancing Physical and Mental Activities

One thing I consider essential for my well being is a healthy balance between using my brain, versus engaging the rest of my body. And I made sure not to use the word work here, because I consider writing this post just as productive (if not more so) as teaching a language class, which pays me a living (of sorts), while this post is more like an investment into the future. On the other hand, I never saw the point in going to the gym, riding on a stationary bike or pushing weights, if I could be pedaling up actual mountain tops, or swing a sledgehammer to build something awesome. So yeah, I want my activities to be productive for something, while keeping me fit, both physically and mentally.

Normally I enjoy the hard labor in the mornings, while I prefer to sit down and look at a screen in the afternoon... but that also depends on the climate, and many other things. However, if I've done something in both areas in a day, I tend to look back at it with pride, knowing that it has not been wasted.

Balancing Group Projects and Those of My Own

Another spectrum where I like either sides, but only as long as it's not at the cost of the opposite one, is working by myself or with others. Group activities are great: you get to interact with others, come up with a strategic plan together, motivate each other in its implementation, and finally amaze yourself (again) how fast things progress if there's a group effort behind it. These communal projects tend to have a direct benefit for all, which is why massive participation is to be expected.

On the other hand, there has to be some time, preferably daily, that you dedicate to your own projects. These are only yours, where you make your own decisions about them on how you are going to go about them, when, with how much intensity. You can pursue them to the fullest, or abandon them if you feel like it. Either way, you are the one who their results are going to impact directly.

Balancing Action and Inaction

Finally, I also want to emphasize keeping a good balance on the spectrum of activities. On one extreme would be the physically strenuous, communal "mountain moving" activities, where you may literally sacrifice sweat, blood, and tears, in order to get something huge (but equally important) accomplished. On the other would be doing nothing, meaning just sitting in peace, looking at the landscape in silence, or closing my eyes to simply feel my presence.

Of course, most daily activities fall somewhere in between these two extremes. Washing dishes or sharpening knives can also be very meditative activities, while doing research online can be equally tiring as digging holes or carrying things on the physical end. Another important thing I want to point out, are all the wonderful benefits of inaction. Just going for a walk in your surroundings is important to constantly re-assess the area, gathering important information on which way things are progressing, which falls into the first principle of Permaculture: Observe and Interact. And yes, even taking a nap in your hammock one afternoon may be an important part to keeping yourself healthy.

Examples Please!

Okay, after so much general blah-blah-blah, let me just list a couple of specific activities, as they may just as well coincide in one typical and perfect day:

Waking up at dawn, as always. Bodily hygiene, coffee, and my morning round around our own place. I check on the garden and the animals, make sure everyone's taken care of. Then I'm ready to greet the rising sun in a moment of gratitude, stretching my limbs in the early sun rays.
After breakfast I go over to the communal pasture for a fencing project. It's actually cactus propagation, to gradually replace the barbed wire with a living fence. Fortunately there are many of us here today, so under the guidance of my neighbor the cactus expert, we can cover a nice long stretch of distance. Then, before we break for lunch, we cut more pieces to prepare for the next time.
Under the shady canopy of one of the large trees on the pasture, we enjoy our lunch together, talking about how soon this entire area will be fenced in, and how little time it will take until we can take off the barbed wire. Some of my neighbors want to go fishing this afternoon, and invite me, but I decide that there is something else I should get done.
There is a project of my own at home that I've been working on for a while. It's a biomechanical multi machine. A pedal powered blender, and a bike driven washing machine I already have. But I want to combine them, and make it also an electric generator. I have a few videos and website marked just for this, which I should look into, and try to implement them in practice.
After a few hours of productivity, I end up running into the same wall. That's to be expected when learning, but before I get too frustrated I should take a walk to get my mind off of things. I go up to the top of the nearby hill, and get a view of my friends in the boat at sea. On the way back I pick up some wild grass I know my rabbits like. It is tall and has gone into seed, but this way I can get some of it in my garden too, so I won't have to go too far for it the next time.
Back at home I do my evening round, a bit of feeding, a bit of weeding, a bit of watering, so everyone is happy at the end of the day. Then I sit down to watch the sunset, while composing a bit in my journal (and post it on STEEM!).
Before going to bed, we like to go over to the social hub and hang out for a bit with our neighbors. Party every evening? Sure, as long as it's not out of bounds. (Those can be fun too, by the way, just not every day.) But it's nice to enjoy a meal together, maybe a drink or a smoke, a few songs and stories, sharing dreams and plans, some good laughs and maybe even tears. Then it's time for bed, because the next day is promising to become yet another perfect one.