It’s real… We must leave the villa…

For 3 years we have been searching for the security to allow Vila Flora to stay in its place. Although the property owner was gradually attuning to our idea, the contract extended by law only for two years. We wanted to live in an uplifting environment, so we took due care of the place every day. We wanted the whole villa to bloom like Vila Flora, to show the world that it is possible to live in simplicity and abundance, to prove that when people work together, beautiful things that benefit the earth are created.

We made a lot of smaller and larger investments in all rooms and spaces; it was hundreds of hours of work in the garden. But we wished for more. We wanted to build, transform, refine, and embed in the villa our vision of Vila Flora, blooming, boasting a cycle of energy, water and which is an example of a non-violent home. It could not continue with the original “office” kitchen any more, so we completely renovated it. It took a long time because we acted in the rhythm of maximum recycling. Everything went well. The new kitchen made us happy for half a year, when we all of the sudden got to know that the villa had a new owner.

For some time it had been clearer & clearer to us that Vila Flora is not a house, but what lives in it, what it contains. We realized that Vila Flora is about people, community, ideas, products and especially a project of an open, creative home, which we managed to bring to life.

We were negotiating another two years of lease. The borders closed, guests could not come to us, no rentals, only quarantine. And – that made us start focusing on what we had been talking about but we had no spare time to act – move our activities & know-how to the online world, make an eco-home manual, to share a vision of healthy living, without being a burden to our planet. The videos have borne fruit. As soon as it was possible to organize events, we followed up with dozens of successful workshops & events. One evening we received news that the owners want to move in 10 days. But we were on the way to festivals, so we arranged to hand over an empty villa in 30 days.

12 rooms, 12 inhabitants, hostel, equipment from three projects, new kitchen, studio, craft room, permaculture garden, hundreds of indispensable, thousands of dispensable things.

However, these intense challenging periods bring something interesting. The perception of what we live in changes. There is no time for details, to immerse in the past, paint the future; there is no time for suppressing emotions. Everything goes out, everything old flies out of the windows; we won’t be here in a week. Sometimes changes are even faster, even more unexpected. We all know what our only certainty is.

So, where do we go next? Where to move it all? Does it make sense to continue all of this? All the full & empty jars? All of the chairs, cabinets, books, paintings, towels, flowers & pots?

We had a lot of small strokes of luck and a big one. From the beginning, we had dreamed of an ecovillage. And, for two years it was not just a vision. We were looking for a place where we could live and create with people who used to live in the villa, or we met on projects of a similar focus. A year before we found the place. We started to work there, some moved there, we initiated a team. But more on that in the next blog.

We knew where to go. 50 miles South. 2 Ivecos, 12 transits, 7 family cars, 4 backpacks, one bicycle. But first we had to finish what we started here, document all the most important things we created, how the project worked. And, a proper goodbye. We had to have two more big parties to nourish ourselves and all friends.

If we had hired a moving company for all this, it would have cost us around 5 thousands of Euros, a production company another five. And it would be just a flat memory. Thanks to the community and supportive spirit, we may thank many people. We were supported by our families, friends with cars; people just came to help us, taking away unnecessary things. And most importantly it strengthened our confidence, our belief that it makes sense, that it’s worth doing things well, that it’s worth sticking to our crazy ideas, our belief that people are great and desire a world full of joy & abundance.

Three days to go and there were only 3 of us, a ton of waste and things for 3 big cars. The daily deadlines helped us not to overthink, carry, pack, drive, have tea, inhale & exhale. To sit in the evening by the fire that turns an old chair & shelves into ashes, and have our last villa dinner together on a tropical night.

We had to get up early in the morning. We wanted to clean the fireplace, cover the compost, sweep the garden, vacuum the last rooms and leave a few small talismans for good luck & inspiration for the next generations. We have been valuing the property for seven years, now we see it empty, but blooming; so much more flashy than when we entered for the first time. Now a family with children comes in, we give them a bunch of keys, we eat breakfast together in the garden among a dozen bunches of herbs, by the lush shrubs & trees that have just begun to bear fruit. Everything will pass away, even the tomatoes & cucumbers in the greenhouse.

We move on with our spines straight. We hop on a bike, take our backpacks and head along the city path to the next realms. We’ll only stop for an ice cream.