Newsletters

Dear friends!

Fall has passed and winter has arrived, and with that a natural slowing down of the pace. Yes, we have been busy here at Eotopia since the last newsletter in August. It is not always easy to practice a life of a slower pace when there are so many motivating things happening around us, so many interesting people that are coming to visit us and so many projects we want to be involved in! But that is why winter is here, to remind us to also take time to relax and put some of our projects on hold – while other projects, such as lactofermentations, little inside construction works and strengthening our social bonds take over. 

The drought this summer was tough for us and for our garden. Our well dried out early in summer and not a lot of our vegetables were able to survive the lack of water. At some point, however, we noticed one particular part of our garden that seemed to be flourishing with flowers, seeds and vegetables. This was around our newly created phytopurification system. The system, as we had designed it, had not survived a week of drought with very few residents (and little water flow) which actually just meant that the greywater from the house now became more available to the plants and vegetables we had planted around the spot. This gave hope in the middle of the drought and we have spent many hours on planning and redesigning other parts of our garden to have more water retention, to harvest and store more rainwater and to release this when needed, next summer. In the midst of this tough period, it gave hope to see just how adaptable nature is when we work together with her! We also held a little ceremony to welcome water on our land – and we have definitely not been missing water since then..! 

During the long dry period, Loona and Thor managed to put up their yurt, which they have bought second hand. Recently, they also finished their poelito, a little rocket mass stove, and they can now pass winter with comfort! The pallet cabin of Ben, Yazmin and Ada has also moved well forward and is now ready to be covered with clay when the spring comes, very exciting as well. We are very grateful for all the help we’ve had moving these construction projects forward! The common house has also seen some changes, we have made a quiet office space upstairs and we have moved a bit forward with creating a yoga/music/contemplation room next to this – this room has already housed its first concert with our very own Elsa Fôret! However, with the arrival of winter and the departure of the cats with Vincent and Juliette we currently have a bit of a discussion with the rats living in the house, and we don’t seem to agree on the standard of tidiness with the little creatures… Hopefully, and animal communicator can help us on this. 

But this is not all on the house front! Our association, Vert de Terre, is now the owner of two houses! The one we’re living in and now also another one we have acquired in the middle of Cronat. This house used to be a meeting place for the locals, a place where you could have your coffee while reading the newspaper or chatting with your neighbours. Our aim is to make this place a space for welcoming people from near or far, for cyclists needing a stop on their way through the Eurovelo 6, for locals to come and hang out, take part in a workshop or sharing in other ways, for visitors to sleep over and for many other things. But we have also promised each other to take it slow with this project, because we do still have many other things we would like to progress on around and in our current living space!

And one final note for all those of you who have already contacted us or are considering contacting us for a visit: We really hope to be able to find ways of meeting you all! We will continue our open door days in 2020 as well as our different visit periods. Please check back here on our website and/or on our Facebook page in February for news and specifics regarding this. 

Until then, and to all of you out there, we wish you a pleasant, peaceful and harmonious winter with time for reflections and introspections whenever needed!

With love,

The Eotopia family

Hello dear friends from all over the world,

We haven’t given so many news in the last months, yet things have happened in Eotopia! Between the garden, the preparation of the festival, the construction of a hut in palette, the implementation of our system of phytopurification, the redefinition of our visions, missions and objectives and all the endless meetings that go with it, difficult to take a step back on what we are experiencing.

Fortunately, summer has suddenly settled in, and with him great warmth that invites us to spend a good part of the day in the house, cooler. We take advantage of it to take a well deserved rest!

The garden is flourishing… it is rotting under the more or less desired plants and the drought that is coming is not the most reassuring. Our methods are suitable enough, semi-shaded cultivation, consistent mulching, invasive wild flora… we hope however that there will be some storms from time to time to water all this!

Yazmin, Ada and Benjamin’s pallet hut is progressing well, the roof is laid, all that remains is to fill all this with straw soaked in dab. We look forward to welcome our volunteers for our participative construction! The yourts of Elsa and Liri are already settled into the forest. We thanks our visitors friend for helping us bulding this chaming inhabitat for our new residents!

The pytoepuration pond is off to a good start, it’s a big step!

The Eofest went very well, magical moments shared by a little more than seventy participants and we are already looking forward to organising the next one. We let you make an idea by consulting the photos on this album: link.

But the big news is the reorganisation of the Eotopia project, which is taking place gradually and augurs great things, thanks in large part to our brand new residents, Elsa, Liri, Thor and Loona!  Together, we have taken each pillar and redefined it, rewritten our vision, redefined our personal and collective goals, and refined aspects of our daily lives.

These salutary integrations are contrasted by the rather sudden announcement of the departure of Juliette and Vincent who prefer to change course. This brings us therefore to 8 residents in total including two aged 4 years old. So there’s still room to join us…

On this subject, news there too: we have decided to change our organization of visits to respond on the one hand to the more and more numerous requests and on the other to our constantly changing needs! We are planning open doors so that more people can visit us for a day, we keep 10-day visitation periods and we open up the possibility of hosting 1 or 2 people for a longer period if there is consent! We would also like to open the space to thematic meetings in collaborative self-management. Please consult the page of our website during August to see the updates on this subject

We wish you beautiful sunny days, shade, plenty of water and beautiful harvests!

With love,

The Eotopia family

Dear friends of the world,

Vive l’hiver!Viva el invierno !

Long live the winter! Long live the cold, long live the changing seasons which allow us to see the world with new eyes! The countryside wrapped in a white blanket gives us the possibility of breathing fresh air and inspirations. OK, it’s a bit cold outside… and still also inside. Our stove is able to heat one room where we are passing the majority of our time… we reach 16 degrees, and we’re making it through. Seen from the positive side, we are not at all regretting not having a fridge since the kitchen doesn’t get above 5 degrees..!

In relation to activities, we’re evolving slowly with loads of discussions particularly preparing for our three days of family gathering in early March, where we will be working on the basis of our project. We’re also doing a little bit of gardening, mulching, planning, clearing, some work on insulation (and big puzzle-solving to try and find the most ecological and sustainable solutions with the lowest costs…) as well as a lot of reading.

We’ve finalized our overall agenda for the first part of 2019. There are two visiting periods open from the 1^st until the 15^th of April and from the 1^st until the 15^th of May, respectively. We are however already almost full… but there are a few spaces left for the month of May. And, for those who would still really like to discover Eotopia, we will also be welcoming visitors from the 1^st to the 15th of September plus the 1^st to the 15^th of October, and the Eofest 2019 will also be a great opportunity! For this, we will be welcoming you all from the 13^th to 17^th of June at Eotopia to celebrate living together.

For Eofest 2019, we’re inviting you all to join us in our current reflections on what it means to live together, and which tools are useful to find harmony with oneself and those one is surrounded by, as well as with all other beings!

Just like last year, we’re inviting you to arrive from Thursday to pitch your tent and be ready from Friday morning to start the sessions and workshops. On the programme (which is still under development) there are loads of ideas (please add more, if you like): empathic communication, meditation sessions, sociocracy, how (and why) to create an ecovillage, speaking circles, artistic mending workshop, sweat lodge, landart, yoga, wild kitchen workshop etc.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have a specific idea, a workshops to propose or other things!

We’re full !!!

And here is a little video from the festival last year:

In the meantime, may the winter be a source of peace and introspection to allow all to jump into the spring in the most fruitful way.

A wonderful new year to all,

The Eotopia family

Dear you,

Earth seems to be heating as never… is the end of the world finally coming ? Is it time for the big collapse ?

At Eotopia, talks are going on and on about it. Even if we are trying to remain as much as possible in the present, we can’t help ourselves to project in a possible future without electricity, transportation and supermarkets… what will we do ?

Our conclusion : whatever happens in the coming years, better to be prepared from now to an autonomous way of life ( before being forced into it) and, more importantly, enjoy fully what life can offer today.

Free and daily pleasures which exist since the beginning of times and will never disappear : a walk in the forest in the moonlight, a starry sky, a dive in the delicious water of the Loire, a gaspacho with the abondant tomatoes of the garden, an animated discussion (Viva la NVC!) around a friendly table, some music under a tree…

Therefore, fo celebrate the heat, we invite you warmly to quit your job if you have one to live fully your life, become a self-employed person or just leave money away, start a garden, in your place or anywhere, share, as much as you can, understanding the others around you, laugh, as loud as never and love what’s surround you.

In eotopia, it’s what we’re trying to do. We also take adventage of the heat to rest after the festival which was great… no words to really talk about it… but a video ! Maybe it’ll motivate you to come next year.

We chose to close the place for august to spend some time among us and have important redefining reunions. We also changed our visitor’s routine. From now on, we’ll welcome people from two weeks for the first 15 days of september and october. We’re already full…

We’re sending a lot of good vibes for the summer, some freshness in your heart and a lot of hope for a smoother world !

Sisterly,

The Eotopia family

Good day everyone,

It’s a big pleasure to give you some news after a rainy (and sometimes snowy) but happy winter ! The communal house has been quiet for the brave resident who stayed with a collection of butternuts and the cats Osiris and Ramsès who finally became friends. Juliette and Vincent have appreciated each day and are proud to say they are fully enjoying this life changing step.

We are now all back or almost on the land for the eternal rebirth of nature. On schedule, for the main activities : planting trees, apple and prune trees ; plant as much seeds as possible (we’ve done already hundreds in our new veranda/greenhouse ; finish the phytodepuration bassin started in February ; isolate the greenhouse in front of the house with some clay and straw ; prepare the garden ; finish the isolation of the roof ; install the solar heat system and prepare the festival coming in June 2018 !

About the festival, some news. We have already 19 people who subscribed, hurry ! The theme will honor the name Eotopia which means on the way towards utopia. We invite you to take part in the creation of a small ecovillage with the construction of dry toilets, a kitchen with rocket stove, the preparation of a garden et the buildings of small chalets with palettes. A good training for when you’ll get your land ! On side of that, many other things : yoga, meditation, confection of dental paste, wooden tools, tawashis, paper masks and cooking lessons with wild plants. You are also invited to offer a workshop or an activity of your own !

Until then, we re-open our doors to everyone from the 2nd of april 2018. Here the visiting time :

Du 2 au 8 april

Du 16 au 22 april

Du 28 avril au 5 may

Du 11 au 18 may

Du 24 au 30 may

Du 5 au 12 june

Du 20 au 27 june (preparation for the festival)

Du 28 june au 2 july : the festival !

You’re welcome for a week or just some days, food is shared between each other, lodging in tent or inside the house if we have some place left. Please read attentively our website and especially the pages under : « participate »

If you want to come, write to contact@eotopia.org

Hoping to see you (again), we wish to you a wonderful spring !

The Eotopia family

Dear earthlings,

Winter has come and eotopia is more than ever in hibernation. Only a few activities will be organized during that time by the guardians of the temple : Juliette and Vincent. They are ready to brave the cold and loneliness while winter will gently prepare the soil for the spring. Where will be the others ? Some have cowarldy flewed towards Mexico, some others are working in Paris, write their thesis or just spend some quality time between lovers.

Just before we officially close our doors, we finished the structure of our futur Greenhouse/veranda in front of the house. It’s not too big, about 10 m2, but it should help tomatoes and other plants giving fruits earlier and heat a little bit the house. We’ve used only reused materials, palets, windows, doors et some planks gathered here and there. We’re waiting for the spring to isolate with dirt and straw. If it works the way we hope, we might extend it in the future.

Garden is resting and besides some kale, cabbages, arugula and chards, there is not much. Some beans grow in the greenhouse and the berries are hibernating.

We haven’t defined yet precise dates for the opening of the place for visitors. What we know is that we will keep receiving people two weeks per month. It worked fine until now. We’ll let you know in march for the next visitor’s periods.

However, we have some dates to give you, and not the least ones ! We will organise our first Eotopia festival this summer. It will take place from the wednesday 27^th of June to the monday 2^nd of july. Places are limited since we want to keep this first festival quite small with no more than 70 attendees. So please, if you are interested, let us know !

This festival will be a gathering where everyone will be able to offer a workshop or an activity (please let us know in advance), meals will be taken together with the food everyone will bring or that will be rescued around, the event will be completely self-organised to celebrate gift economy, trust and consciousness. We will communicate more about this festival, the different activities in the future.

But it’s still a bit far ahead, in the meantime, have a wonderful winter !

With love,

The Eotopia family

Good morning, afternoon or evening !

Some news before winter comes. If the sun is less present everyday in our blue blue sky and the tomatoes hardly getting red anymore, the temperatures are quite mild .

We have lived some very nice moments with the visitors of September and October (as always actually) and we are now starting a quieter period to deepen the relationships and seriously consider the integration of newcomers. Three people are indeed actively into the process of integrating Eotopia : Pierre, Juliette and Vincent, and some others are on way. Sandrine also left the project for different reasons, one of them being extremely positive ! We feel a lot fo gratitude for all she’s been giving to the project.

On site, some significant progresses :

1. The isolation of the roof continues, it’s a long and hard work, we have to take out the planks from the palets, nail them again to the roof, put some straw in between, and all of that in equilibrium ! Some little mathematical problems come to spice up the process since the planks vary in size and thickness. Overall, it is an easy process and we won’t give more details because it might not be that efficient – we will tell you after the winter ! – but it’s completely free…

2. The greenhouse is done ! Some windows scavenged from the carpenter screwed together, tiles gotten from the place, a seal made out of lime and a combinaison of dirt, sand, straw and sweat to plug the wholes. We hope this will help to start the season earlier next year !

3. The garden is also getting a new look. This main activity of those weeks might not appear like essential, but i’ts actually quite refreshing for the eye and it helps get a clearer picture of what’s planted and what’s not. We just love it !

4. Besides all that, we keep mowing and mowing…

We won’t organise any participative workshops in november and we don’t have official visit’s week. We want to take a little time for ourselves. Visits will start again next year, around April probably.

Until then, we wish you a wonderfull fall and a good harvest !

The Eotopia family