Downshifting Romanian Way - Alunișu

We, Lars from the Netherlands and Robyn from the USA, started our sustainable living project in the village of Alunișu/ Magyarókeókereke, because after 5 years of searching for a place to settle, we fell in love at first sight with this village! It's set against the backdrop of the domed foothills of the Apuseni Mountains and faces the rising sun. Surrounding the village are fields where grass full of wildflowers is mown for hay, and other crops of potatoes or cereals can be obtained for the subsistence of people and animals. The village gardens and orchards are full of apple, plum and pear trees as well as vines. Each house has a stable for livestock, and the system of grazing cows, goats and sheep during the summer months still prevails on the common pasture. Coming from countries where the richness in the quality of life has been destroyed, we were eager to come here and enjoy this plenitude and learn the skills that the people living in the village still have so that we can help this way of life to continue. We wanted to make our neighbors aware that everything they have and everything they do, although in the common mentality of society they are 'poor', is in fact very valuable, although all too often taken for granted. When people asked us why we came there, we answered very simply: "Fresh air and mountain water". We were also able to experience an intact community life and we were thinking about what it would be like to live close to natural systems and in a house made entirely of natural, local materials.

Our personal experiment was to try to emulate, as much as we could, given all the differences through time and culture, the life led by the original owners of the house. Especially in the area of "Food Sovereignty", which means that we cut down on buying food from supermarkets as much as possible. Now, seven years since we bought the house in 2009, we grow our own cereals (triticale) from which we bake our own bread, make our own porridge from our own maize, grow all our own vegetables, and also keep rabbits, chickens and goats. In the summer we make goat cheese and also sell with other producers in the village. We continue to buy only rice, oats, some feed grain, salt, sugar, tea and cooking oil (although we have a press and are keen to produce our own). Lars is working with some designers of horse-drawn equipment so that we can replicate it in Romania and continue the beautiful practice of using horse power for hay and farm. He has horse and cart and often provides transportation services with this equipment for local goods.

Read the full text in issue 1 / 2016 of Architecture Magazine

Read more at www.provisiontransylvania.com

Downshifting Romanian Way - Six stories about green communities