From City Soldiers To Gardening Pirates
Both of us were born in Berlin and we grew up and met there. But even though we would never want to miss the time we had there, it also drew us to the countryside, especially with little children. Together we managed to make that step in 2019. Even though it was not yet as we dreamed... For over a year we moved into the caravan we only used as a weekend refuge before. A very trying time with an infant, without running water, but regular power breakdowns instead. But our living room was the garden, the compost toilet stood at the edge of the forest and the godmother of our first child was a hornet that came by every morning and evening to check on us. Absolutely nothing could have made us move back to the colorful greys of the capital. With the birth of our second child we decided to rent a flat again after all. But that only intensified the wish for one place, one property where we can create, garden and work just as we wish.
Oskar
Oskar is the creative dreamer and energetic man of action. He is responsible for designing our castles in the air and also construct them in the end. A main strength of him is to connect and network. That goes equally for people, things, works or facts. Where he is, alliances are forged and the problem of one is soon be transferred into the solution of another.
He grew up on building playgrounds and with social youth work in Berlin. He was engaged there and in other projects (such as “Kinder in Luft und Sonne”, tr. kids in air and sun and “Die essbare Stadt”- Kassel, tr. the edible town) in terms of outdoor education. He became a cabinet maker first, but then decided to make a career as a shoemaker instead and is self-employed since 2013.
In 2011 he first encountered permaculture and works, helps, learns and experiments on the permaculture project of his friends “grün und mehr” (tr. green and more) ever since.
Furthermore he has a great interest in the old handcrafts and artisanry and really wants to collect and keep the knowledge for future generations. To achieve that he works on a concept called “Haus des Handwerks” (tr. House of handcrafts).
Toni
Where Oskar is the wind that blows our ship onward, Toni is the sea that carries it. Also when it’ s threatening to capsize in stormy weather and even in a calm the soft ocean current drives the barge on and holds the course.
Toni is a passionate speech therapist. In the seven years between her graduation and maternal leave she worked mainly in a private clinic where she mainly treated children and for a time in a senior residence to keep the balance. Over time she developed an own concept of an effective therapy, using groups for a natural form of communication. If you’ re interested, you can read more about it here.
On the other hand a completely different topic started to draw more and more of her attention: self-sufficiency. Therefore she started studying agricultural sciences at the HU (Humboldt-University) Berlin. She did learn quite a bit of the basics there, but since commercial agriculture was not really her aim, she quit university again and concentrated on her self-studies concerning mainly permaculture. She participated in a course in Latvia, started an internship at the Café Botanico in Berlin- Neukölln (which has an attached permaculture garden, she did not learn cooking) and only went to university still for courses like Apidology (about bees) and habitat ecology (sorry, don’ t really know about the correct English terms, tell me, if you do!).
These days Toni is devoted to the most difficult but also most fulfilling task of her life so far, the care and education of her children. Finding space to pursue the permaculture dream is difficult, takes much longer and is only possible with the help of family and friends. But the sea is patient.