Part of the interview with Vladimir Megre for the Russian newspaper Zavtra [Tomorrow]

We are speaking with the writer Vladimir Nikolaevich Megre at his Kin's Domain near the city of Vladimir.

V. N. Megre

ZAVTRA: I am meeting with you at the peak of your literary prominence, success, fame. How did it all start?

MEGRE: I used to be a businessman. In general, I'm like that by nature. Then I had the good fortune to meet people like Agafia Lykova, who live in the taiga, far from any cities. Agafia herself was taken by force from her squatter's holding. She became ill. And went back. Where she continues to live peacefully. People like this interested me very much. But I noticed that everyone, including Vasiliy Peskov, wrote about the difficulties of their way of life. I, on the other hand, decided to write about their philosophy. This excited me so much that I gave up my entire business. I sat down for a year and wrote Anastasia. It was printed by Moscow Printing - House No. 11, which did not have its own distribution network. The manager was an acquaintance of mine. He printed two thousand copies for me as a favour, consider it to be free. "Go ahead, take them away," he said. I took a bundle of them, went out to the Moscow flea markets. People were asking me: "What's it about?" "Well," I'd say, "about people, how they live in nature, their spiritual life." "No one needs that," they'd say. "Unknown author. There's no gilding on the book. Bring us a mystery novel." I went off empty handed. I wondered how I got into this mess! No money. Literally nothing to eat. I stopped at the Taganskaya Metro Station. Decided to sell the books myself. When the militia chased me away, I'd go to another spot. I sold a few that way. About two days later, I'm standing on my "spot," selling. A car suddenly pulls up. Out steps a business man - you can tell right away. I still even remember his name: Nikitin. "How many books do you have left?" "About fifteen hundred." He says: "Let's go! My wife has been driving me crazy." We go to the printing - house. He takes what's left. Sells them all quickly. Asks for more to be printed. This edition again sells out. That's how it went. Soon the St. Petersburg publisher DILYA began to print editions of thirty thousand each. It's being translated in dozens of countries. And it's strange, I don't feel any particular changes in myself. I simply feel like writing more about what I am thinking.

ZAVTRA: Your epic, if we can call it that, involves one family. Mother, father, son, grandfather.... Everything happens around them. They are the main characters in the books. In the last, The New Civilization, I remember the episode where a village boy proposes a brilliantly simple way to bury nuclear waste.

MEGRE: Children who are not riveted to a computer have much stronger thought processes. That is why China and Japan are now on the rise. Because the consciousness of these nations is in many respects childish in comparison to European consciousness. The children there are not cut off from nature. Any computer program is less perfect than a small insect crawling on a leaf. The Chinese and Japanese child always bears this in mind. And because of that, the child is able to operate this same computer incommensurably more effectively.

ZAVTRA: Let us turn to more basic matters. National projects have been adopted here in Russia...

MEGRE: Medvedev said some wonderful things about a one - storied Russia, about the fact that people are returning to abandoned lands. This is a revolution, and a spiritual one as well. But notice how they are dragging this into the mud. Have you read even a single inspired article about this? Neither have I. On the contrary, there is a hidden criticism written between the lines. The press really maliciously ridiculed Medvedev when he came to a village for the opening of a gas pipeline in Bryansk Oblast. Here, they wrote, a event for Russia! I even saw a cartoon where Medvedev is frying eggs on a gas stove for an old woman, and a chicken in the background is reproaching him for breaking the last egg. That creates a negative image for the entire project of reviving the village. Without a positive image, the people will not go to the land. But a wonderful image of the future was created in my "Ringing Cedars." And following that image people without money went to the land. They started to create kin's domains. There are now about three hundred villages like that across Russia. But this is just small - scale marketing. What would happen if they weren't knocked down? If a film were made and released on the main television channel? If "The Year of the Kin's Domain" was announced? You know, I'll say it again, these people would go reclaim abandoned lands without looking to someone for assistance. In ten years, still in our lifetime, Russia, this same Russia of meadows, forests, and provinces, would flourish! Women, young people, have begun to build homes with their own hands. It turns out that you don't have to pay five thousand dollars for a square metre. You can build a good house for a hundred thousand rubles ($4000 USD). That's fantastic!

At a country home, on six ares of land, it is impossible to create an ecosystem. It is impossible to plant a good tree. It will unavoidably cast a shadow on your neighbor's land, the roots will also cross the lot line. It is impossible to dig a pond there. Or plan a meadow with herbaceous vegetation, with medicinal plants. Of course, you won't get a good garden either. On a hectare, on the other hand, you can "hurry" the natural processes in such a way that they will supplement themselves, the expenditures of labour will be minimal. I acquired this plot, where the garden had not been tended for about five years. But it is bearing fruit. I got four hundred and fifty litres of good wine. Why should we import cheap plonk? We must be closer to nature. To the bear and the wolf. Previously, newlyweds were given a puppy, kitten, colt, calf, and a piglet. The newlyweds placed them into one flock. And the animals lived harmoniously in this small space. In contact with humans, animals lose the need to defend their own territory. In Siberia, in remote villages, bears are kept and used for plowing instead of horses.

ZAVTRA: And you are suddenly exchanging the freedom of Siberia for this little hill in Vladimir? What's the reason?

MEGRE: It's related to the publication of my books. You just can't drive from Novosibirsk to Moscow. And the editions are coming out one after another. In addition, I was actively involved, from proof - reading to designing the dust jacket. And in the texts, of course, something changes with time. I began to wonder where I should base myself. I came here - the air is so fresh, and it's so quiet. Moscow is two and a half hours away. St. Petersburg - a night on the train. You couldn't imagine anything better. It's more convenient to live here, more peaceful, less expensive.

I wrote the first book by hand. And I lived very poorly then. My best friends didn't believe that something would work out for me. I even skimped on the subway. I handed the manuscript to a student for typing over the turnstile so I wouldn't spend any money. The friends to whom I showed the first chapters initially laughed. And then, once, one of them says, it would be good if Anastasia came here and peeled some potatoes for us. I realized that the image had come to life. Some student programmers made a model for me as a favour. I am so grateful to them. After a while, when readers' conferences about the books began to gather together, I invited the young people, wanted to put them up on the stage, but they are so modest that they were too shy to go.

ZAVTRA: This summer I vacationed in Gelendzhik for a week. And that's where all of a sudden I heard about you. About your books. It was related to the dolmens - the ancient burial places in the mountains. Conferences about your books are held there as well. A lot of pilgrims show up. To tell the truth, I thought you had some sort of base there.

MEGRE: That's always the way it is. No one believes that I don't organize anything. I don't have a base, other than this house. In general I am inclined to solitude. Sometimes I won't talk to anyone for a month, not even by telephone. To live here on my domain, for me this is the greatest happiness. All those conferences are absolutely spontaneous. I happened to be in many European countries where my books are published. I saw, felt the impassioned response from "civilized" Europeans. I know that Putin recently received a letter from Germany, where 60 of our former countrymen asked for help in acquiring kin's domains, in hastening the adoption of the Kin's Domains Act, then they would move to Russia permanently. I think that there will be floods of settlers from other countries as well. We shall again settle Siberia, the route of the Baikal - Amur Railway. The idea of kin's estates has been tested in practice. It only needs to be written into law, and the demographic situation will be turned around.

STRICT REGIMEN COLLECTIVE FARM

In book seven, The Energy of Life, in the chapter "A security zone of the future," Vladimir Megre proposes an interesting plan to solve the problem of rehabilitating inmates. It will be up to the psychologists and specialists in this field to judge just how effective it is, but the first pieces of news about a similar plan have already come out of Russia today.

The Federal Corrections Service has launched some unusual colonies: ordinary collective farmers work together in the fields with inmates. This unique agricultural prison camp appeared in Saratov Oblast, where the jailers came upon deserted lands and staked out the area. The agricultural enterprise of the Federal Corrections Service was formed on the basis of an old collective farm. Now work is in full swing on the once empty fields. Prison is usually associated with barbed wire and guard towers. For that reason journalists who came here were disappointed: "You could have at least put some barbed wire here, mounted some guards, like this there's nothing to photograph - only combines."

In the future, the prison department intends to widen the network of similar strict regimen collective farms. The goal is not only to feed the inmates, but also to provide inexpensive groceries for ordinary stores.

A Trip to the "Rodnoe" Kin's Settlement.

We offer for your attention a series of photos from the Kin's Settlement, as well as two short video films.

See the full gallery of the trip.

News coverage of Rodnoe Ecovillage
with participation of Vladimir Megre:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjdRxCmPJsk

Download the films:

Life in the Eco - village (9.8 mb):
http://www.ringingcedarsofrussia.org/materials/rodnoe - land.avi

Construction of the adobe house (7.9 mb):
http://www.ringingcedarsofrussia.org/materials/rodnoe - strawclay.avi

PROGRAMME "RUSSIA'S NEW EXPANSE"

Vanteevo - Petrino scientific and practical ecopolis

Attention! Secret war against landowners.

New legislation that is being prepared to pass in the Duma

Draft legislation with an extremely complicated name that has passed its first reading essentially provides for giving the state, and more precisely governmental authorities and agencies of local self - government the legal possibility of confiscating land from citizens without serious compensation. This is called "reserving lands for the needs of government" (and also municipalities, of course). In accordance with this draft legislation, if it becomes law, any authority, including a local authority, may adopt a plan for the development of a region or a district in which lands belonging to cottagers or rural dwellers will be declared "reserved for the appropriate needs," The list of such "needs" may be extremely varied, since it is open.

Anastasia.ru

"Radost" Ecovillage

Happy Family

Vologda Oblast, Vytegry District, 45 km from the district centre of Vytegry (the nearest village is Yezhozero).

The lands are former hayfields and pastures. The ecovillage borders on the village of Yezhozero (4 winter homes). In 2006 the settlers began to construct the common building. One family (three adults, three children) already lives here. Residence registration is possible.

Little one jumps

Type of right of land ownership: private, registered with the organization (approximately 130 ha) - Radost non - commercial partnership. The lands are leased to prospective settlers for a trial period. Following the settlement of 75% of the domains of the settlement, the question will be placed at a general meeting of the settlement about releasing the lands from the ownership of the partnership for private ownership.

Roads: to Belousovo (turn toward Undozero through Yezhozero) - asphalt. To Yezhozero - dirt (sandy), logging road (39 km). From Vologda to Vytegry - 330 km, St.Petersburg - 420 km, Moscow - approximately 850 km, Petrozavodsk - 240 km.

Communications:

a) drinking water - in the lakes.
b) electricity - yes, there is a substation in Yezhozero. It will be necessary to run a branch line to the lands of the settlement.
c) mobile telephone connection in the village (Megafon Severo - Zapad, MTS)

We await like - minded persons who have the ability and, more important, the desire to come, live, and build in Radost.

Telephones in the village: +7 (921) 050 - 53 - 27 - Leonid, Tatiana;
+7 (921) 230 - 58 - 67 - Fokina, Arina (Vologda);
e - mail: radostj@mail.ru mail@eco - joy.ru - Leonid, Tatiana.
Website: http://eco - joy.ru - information, news, pictures, contacts.
http://eco - joy.by.ru (mirror site)

Winter forest

Cheerfulness for the entire day

http://eco - joy.ru

Landowners from Raduga

Rossiyskaya gazeta [Russian newspaper], 4 October 2007, Tatiana Burdakova.

New landowners have appeared in Tyumen Oblast - the owners of kin's domains.

As described by Sergey Shatokhin, the advisor to the Tyumen Oblast Assembly supervising this matter, four years ago several well - off Siberians announced their desire to revive the structure of life that proved its worth in eighteenth and nineteenth century Russia. By kin's domain they understand a large parcel of land where several generations of a family will be able to build their homes at once. Having weighed the pros and cons, the Siberian landowners decided that, for the creation of a genuine country estate, approximately one hectare of land would be required.

Head of the family

Because it is very complicated to create something fundamentally new on one's own, 122 families combined their efforts and bought up 136 hectares of the ruined agricultural enterprise Plodovoe, located near the village of Lugovoe in Tyumen Oblast. True, it didn't go off without a legal hitch. Since a concept such as "kin's domain" does not yet exist in law, the new landowners created "The Ringing Cedars of Tyumen," a non - commercial partnership of country dwellings. As a result, they officially own not estates, but large country dwellings, the area of each reaching up to a hectare.

By the way, the idea of "kin's domains" has already obtained support at the federal level. At one event, Dmitriy Medvedev, the First Deputy Prime Minister of the government of the Russian Federation, announced: "The idea of kin's domains is absolutely positive. It fully meshes with our ideas of a low - story or single - story Russia, in which we are fairly actively involved as a part of a housing project."

While the first Siberian landowners are constructing their homes, their example has attracted another several hundred families. A second association of well - off residents of Tyumen Oblast is acquiring three hundred hectares of land not far from Irbitsky Highway (between the villages of Lugovoe and Kamenskoe). Moreover this association of future landowners has found another way of overcoming the gaps in the Russian legislation. They are registering their properties as lands belonging to the Raduga Agricultural and Consumer Cooperative. However, the newest landowners would be happy to register their own hectares as "kin's domains," and not country dwellings or agricultural properties. They have already been able to find common ground with several deputies of the Tyumen Oblast Assembly, but at the regional level such a noticeable deficiency in the legislation cannot be patched. Until this problem is taken up by the State Duma, the new landowners will officially have to own huge "country dwellings" and "kitchen gardens."

The Siberians use the term "kin's domain" to emphasize the distinction between these estates and the usual cottage settlements. This is not a field that developers have carved up into parts of 10 or 20 ares and begun to build luxury homes to order for city folk, these are not farmers' residences existing solely for the purpose of profit from agriculture, but precisely domains, in which a large family can arrange its way of life according to its own taste.

Anastasia.ru

Russian Land Association.

Land in Russia is one of its basic resources, as well as an inexhaustible resource. And this means that the subject of land relations will never lose its topicality. The lives of an enormous number of people in our country will always be associated with the land.

S. M. Mironov

Yasnye Zori - Over the space of Love

The celebration began with the sunrise. In keeping with ancient Slavic traditions, a beautiful young woman named Vera appealed to the sky, and the sky, which had been covered with clouds, began to clear. Then the sun bathed everyone who was gathered on the shores of Lake Lozovoe in its tender morning rays. The water from the spring where people were drinking became softer, tastier. Everyone rejoiced and laughed like children.

This is not an excerpt from ancient chronicles or a modern fantasy novel. The celebration of the opening of the ecovillage Ustinka took place on the territory of the Yasnozorensky agricultural settlement, located near Belgorod. Thanks to the efforts of the members of the Belgorod District Division of the Russian Land Association, the project for the village, which had been in a partially suspended state since 1993, had been finally implemented.

The ecovillage has an area of 76.4 hectares. The field is divided into 55 parcels - domains. Each villager can count on having his or her own hectare of land, strictly speaking, this is the standard size of a future kin's domain. The central farmstead of the ecovillage occupies an area of about four hectares. You will be able to reach it by two streets - Blagodatnaya and Kedrovaya.

The term "ecovillage" is not accidental. At its basis as the concept for a settlement lie the principles of preserving and improving the ecological situation. As the settlers themselves say, a space for Love and Justice will be created here. They are fulfilling the dream of their entire lives: to live in a worthy manner, on their own land, by the labour of their own hands.

"In our future plans," said one of the new settlers, Anatoliy Ivanovich Tolstov, a colonel in the reserve, "following the capital construction, on the adjoining lands we shall create an agricultural enterprise that will produce ecologically pure products. Now we are regenerating springs with fresh water beside the villages of Ustinka, Lozovoe, Yasnye Zori, and Varezhnin."

At the celebration greetings from S. Mironov, the Chairman of the Russian Land Association were relayed by V. Gololobov, the head of the coordination division of the Association.

Anastasia.ru

Uralska Sloboda

In 2007, a very interesting event occurred, under the sponsorship of Dmitriy Medvedev, the First Deputy Prime Minister of the government of the Russian Federation, the project of the Uralska Sloboda Kin's Settlement will be realized near the city of Yekaterinburg.

This will involve the creation of a working experimental model of a permanent territorial formation of the small settlement of Uralska Sloboda (area of 69.7 hectares), near Yekaterinburg (a 20 minute drive by car) and Lake Tavatuy (6 km), on the eastern slope of Mount Chashchevitaya.

The parcel earmarked for construction has good ecological conditions and the most beautiful natural surroundings. Together with this, the active relief, forested areas, and the necessity of constructing access roads make it imperative to seek rational and esthetically expressive solutions for developing the territory.

Goals and missions of the experiment

The main goal of the programme is to create a new type of populated centre in the Urals, a pioneering, "smart" settlement with elements of sustainable development responding to modern requirements of the economic development, ecological well - being, and spiritual regeneration of small settlements and the land as a whole for the foreseeable future. The settlement in question is a "social experiment," necessary as a stage in working out the social technologies of the planning, building, and functioning of small populated centres in the Urals and Russia as a whole. At the present day, all existing and newly built settlements are organized on the principle of "bedroom" regions, where there is a lack of any elementary social infrastructure, not to mention the presence of places where the settlers can apply their labour.

Among the basic missions:

- the working out of a new highly efficient and ecologically pure economic basis for the formation and development of a small populated centre;
- the ecological rehabilitation and psychological relaxation of the people;
- the reproduction of nature and architecture;
- the demonstration of the newest technologies, principles, and methods of design and construction;
- the determination of the options for the rapid erection of settlements in concrete conditions and for various social groups;
- the creation of a first example of a settlement as a pole of sustainable ecological, economic, and cultural development forming a new image of the Urals that is attractive to investors and inhabitants.

Economic model of "multi - industry production" includes four basic areas:

1) "Revival of technologies and traditions" (production of ecological pure food products and medicines, development of folk crafts);
2) "One's own home and a comfortable surrounding" (production of building structures and materials);
3) "Ecological reproduction" (formation of a wide assortment of services for the restoration of people's vital forces, passing leisure time, and prevention of diseases);
4) "New technologies and production" (production of information, information technologies, realization of "risky" projects).

Stages in the implementation of the experiment:

It is proposed that the experiment be divided into three stages.
The first (1998 - 2002) is related to the development of models, the drafting of a business plan, general plan of the settlement, working drawings/drafts.
The second (2002 - 2010) construction of the basic sites.
Third (2006 - 2015) monitoring, taking into account the economic, ecological, spiritual, normative - legal well - being of the population. Moreover the income level of the least well - off 10% of residents and the most well - off 10% of residents should be kept within the limits of 1:6 (the threshold amount for Sverdlovsk Oblast is 1:15, 1:25, in the countries of the West it is 1:6, 1:8)

Sources of financing the experiment:

"Ecological security of the Urals" (declarant is the Oblast Government); "Guaranteed housing for service personnel and persons released from military service to the reserve or retired" (declarant is the Oblast Government); "Programme of State Support for Small Business" (declarant is the Centre for Business Assistance of Sverdlovsk Oblast); "A Home of Your Own" (declarant is the Oblast Government); Federal Migration Programme (the declarant is the Oblast Migration Service).
Second - oblast funds and programmes in the area of construction, ecology, and economics.
Third - international funds and programmes, for example, demonstration programmes of the Centre for populated centres of the UN (HABITAT), the Ford Fund, and others.
Fourth - private investments, funds from interested firms and companies.

An important role may also be played by tax concessions, the organization of tax and risk credit for long - term developments, expenses for the assimilation of new technologies and techniques, the release of new forms of production.

The significance of the results of the experiment:

Ensuring the proper conditions for the sustainable development of settlements is a major city - planning problem that Sverdlovsk Oblast may take a leadership position in solving. The experience of constructing a "small pole of sustainable development" is especially important for single industry villages in crisis (for example, mining), and also for numerous villages and settlements in the backwoods that are isolated from major population centres.

The creation of Uralskaya Sloboda and similar sustainable settlements may facilitate the resolution of the housing problem, reduce the level of unemployment, increase the population's standard of living, resolve demographic issues, renew the ancestral way of life in the Ural region and in Russia as a whole.

Authors of the project:
Sopernikov, Vladimir Evgenevich
Sopernikova, Marina Viktorovna
http://medvedev - da.ru/rus_biz/detail.php?ID=2206

Editor's note.

Notwithstanding the fact that the project in question in many respects meshes with the project of a Kin's Settlement described by Vladimir Megre, there are significant differences.

But in spite of everything, this project deserves special attention for several reasons:

1. The authors of this project have very thoroughly examined the economic and communication problems that arise in the construction of Kin's Settlements, and offer effective solutions for them.
2. This project is one of the first items that will be implemented at the State level with the participation of the leading figures of the Russian political elite.

In defence of the authors of the project, it may be said that in the world there are no working Kin's Settlements where all problems are resolved. For that reason, the search is ongoing for the ideal system, with the application of modern city - planning and economic technologies.

Today just one thing is clear, that this is one of the first attempts. There will also be others, where people will take into account the mistakes and pluses of projects that have already been implemented, and will create a happy world for the joy of us all.

L. Belov.

Public Belarusian Forum for the Creators of Kin's Domains

Business - it's like a bicycle: if you sit on it, start pedalling.

Greetings to you, friends! The last "Public Belarusian Forum for the Creators of Kin's Domains" showed that the question of earning money in Kin's Domains is of concern to many people. Dozens of settlements are now being created in Belarus, but, for the time being, there are only a handful of people who live on their own domains and earn money there directly, although the harmonious image of development and self - sufficiency provides for the fact that people can live and create in a kin's domain, and in doing so have enough resources for the construction of a house, for essentials, and for travel.

For this reason we decided to begin our movement in this direction, whose first step will be the round table on the subject in question. Landowning businessmen from all Belarus will be invited (as well as those who want to become landowning businessmen).

It is essential that the round table make it possible to achieve the following results for the participants:

1) Elaborate a general strategy of developing business in the conditions of a Kin's Domain, taking into account the influence of money and business on our life, ecology, and the processes occurring in society;
2) Generate and record various ideas for business projects for landowners;
3) Offer a presentation of existing business projects and expert opinions about them from the point of view of society and neighbors;
4) On the conclusion of the round table - institute a business club to establish confidential partnerships and (if desired) to conclude agreements for cooperation.

On the whole, the proposed round table may be viewed as a first step in the creation of an inter - settlement business infrastructure, an infrastructure in which relationships will be formed on the principles of trust, concern, and support.

Do you need this type of seminar? If so, the information you require can be found below. We wish success to everyone!
The cost of participation in the round table is 20 thousand rubles. For practical persons, the fee for the seminar may be viewed as an investment of funds in one's own future - this will be the first contribution to the association of businessmen of Belarus.

To register, call (cell) 766 - 46 - 83 (Ratmir) - ratmir@ecoby.info

ecoby.info

"Gribovshchina"

A new settlement in Brest Oblast!

We are please to report that work is already going on in Baranovichi District to acquire empty houses for the construction of a kin's settlement. A genuine functioning domain already exists, where work is actively being carried out for the fourth year to fit it out (on the site of the old country estate). A vast amount of work has already been accomplished. Approximately 400 fruit trees have been planted, as well as about 500 wild trees, the entire area is enclosed by a hedge. Work has been completed on the renovation of the house. Even decent profits have already been seen from gardening and beekeeping (approximately 700 dollars). The main thing is that ecologically pure products will finally soon appear on the market in large quantities. This is one of the forms of income for those who regularly live on their domains. I will be happy to report that a plowing - free system of farming has been developed. I can say in advance that the Japanese system is taking a break. Yes, of course, the system is good, it was the one that prompted the appearance of the new system. The Japanese model stood us in good stead. Photographs and details will appear next year. We have just purchased a digital camera. And all the work has been completed.

A name has not yet been determined for the new settlement. Its location: Baranovichi District, Village of Gribovshchina and all adjacent villages (a radius of 3 to 5 km). Historically it turned out that these almost empty villages are located beside one another. If someone buys a house in one of these villages, a like - minded person will be living not far away. And if someone buys up all the empty houses, which is also possible, because most of the houses are constructed according to the Polish system. There are a number of excellent scenarios. And the local administration will be happy that people have finally begun to return to the land. They are great guys. We invite all like - minded persons!

ecoby.info

All his life Jaak Joala dreamed of living in the country

"I wake up in the morning, the sun is shining, and I walk out to the yard bare - bottomed. If I want, I can walk bare - bottomed around all day," says former singer Jaak Joala, who is preparing to move to the country permanently. And he says this in such a voice, as if it were summer outside, and he is standing in the yard of a country home, writes the Estonian daily newspaper SL Ohtuleht."

Joala embarked on the first decisive turning point in his life when he said goodbye to singing. He intends to embark on a second decisive turning point next spring - finally to move to live in the country, to fulfill a longstanding dream. He says that there is absolutely nothing for him to do in the city and that he in general doesn't understand why he has been hanging around here for so long. Most of his colleagues left the city long ago. "So I'm one of the last," says the former singer. "I've also been telling my young colleagues for a long time that it's time for them to move to the country!"

Joala says that he found the old farmstead in a birch forest many years ago. And now just a little off to the side from the old building is a new little house. But Joala won't reveal the location of his country house, acquired several years ago. True, he doesn't conceal the fact that the house is not far from Tallinn - only 20 km away.

One thing is clear: Joala is cutting his ties to the capital. Today his luxurious loft apartment with an area of 114 square metres has already been put up for sale. Its price: 3.2 million kroons. In the country house, according to Joala, only the interior work remains to be done. True, he could move there immediately, but he will go in the spring. There is still no decent Internet connection in the country house, but this problem will soon be resolved, and then he will be able to air his broadcast Jaagutaja for Vikerraadio directly from his home.

Jaak Joala - Famous russian singer

Joala says that he has been greatly influenced by the books of the writer Vladimir Megre under the general title of Anastasia - about a person living in the taiga. These books - there are eight all together - were also published in Estonian, and Joala thinks it would be useful if everyone read them. "Last summer I simply devoured them and thought: God, what kind of life have I been living up to now!"

The singer is not afraid of the sombre autumn in the country. Quite the contrary - during the long autumn and winter evenings he plans to build something. He has missed this his entire life, and now he can make up for all of it. "In the country the work never ends!" says Joala.

Does this mean that Joala, who is basically known as a singer, built his new house with his own hands? Joala says that one could say that, because everything that is within his power, he does himself. He simply has a need to perform physical work, because he has worked with his voice his entire life.

Joala does not want to reveal all his cards and say how and on what he will live in the country. He says that life in the country is less expensive, and there are far fewer different temptations. True, Joala is not planning to devote himself to growing potatoes or breeding cows.

"It is such a high when you can go out barefoot into your own yard, and then into your own woods! Last week I gathered a basket of white mushrooms about 20 metres from my house. This is such a high, I wouldn't exchange it for anything!" says Joala. And he's also very happy that it has again become possible to buy milk, butter, and fresh eggs in the village.

SL Ohtuleht Newspaper
http://www.moles.ee/

KIN'S SETTLEMENT

Village of Baranovka

The settlement is located 5 km from the village of Baranovka (district centre), at the edge of a woods. The nearby forest tract is approximately 500 square kilometres. The Sluch River is 500 m away. The land has a fairly good fertile layer with a depth of 30 to 40 cm. There are deposits of red, blue, and white clay. The underground waters are not deep - 1 to 1.5 metres.

The area is used as a hayfield. Initially, it can be leased for five years, and then privatization can be registered.

The area is heterogeneous, willow bushes alternate with marshes, so it is unfit for agriculture. On the other hand, this area is unique from the point of view of animal life: there are many wild boars here, who graze at night in the meadows, making the hayfields useless. There are also foxes, roe deer, and even red deer pass by. In the spring, when there is a lot of water in the marshes, you can hear grey cranes singing their song.

In the winter and early spring in these areas you won't encounter another person, even though a village road runs fifty metres away.

For the time being, I am alone.

I will be happy when like - minded persons join me.
Vasiliy Viktorovich Inatov
31 Kotovskogo Street
Baranovka, Zhitomir Oblast
Cell: 8 - 096 - 858 - 99 - 23

Coordinator - Raisa: 8 - 04144 - 4 - 28 - 05

zku.org.ua

International Year of the Planet Earth

21 October 2007

Decree Respecting the observance of the International Year of the Planet Earth in the Russian Federation in 2008

In relation to the declaration by the General Assembly of the UN of 2008 as the International Year of the Planet Earth, I decree:

1. The government of the Russian Federation shall create a national committee to observe the International Year of the Planet Earth in the Russian Federation in 2008 and confirm its composition.
2. The Ministry of International Affairs of the Russian Federation shall inform UNESCO and other interested international organizations of the creation of a national committee to observe the International Year of the Planet Earth in the Russian Federation in 2008.
3. Executive bodies of subjects of the Russian Federation shall be advised to take part in the preparation and observance of the International Year of the Planet Earth in the Russian Federation in 2008.
4. This Decree comes into force on the day it is signed.

For printing.

V. V. Putin

Anastasia.ru

"Dialogue of Cultures" festival

Greetings, dear Vedrussians!

In March 2008 the city of Murmansk will host the "Dialogue of Cultures" festival, devoted to the culture of everyday life. As part of the festival, we are planning exhibits, material for which we are already now carefully gathering - everywhere and anywhere - and we ask you, especially you, to supplement our collections with your "exhibit items," and also pass along this request to as many good and various people as possible.

Annual festival "Dialogue of Cultures" - 2007

"The Exhibit of Naive Questions" is devoted to many things: clear reason, a child's heart, the great Socrates, zero - by which, for some reason, it is impossible to divide - the question mark, the information basis of the Universe...but essentially, this exhibit is about science, about the science of thinking, naively, but seriously. We will be grateful to you for your questions, and we promise to think about them.

"The Exhibit by Mail" is an exhibition - diary: a collection of secret human thoughts, send us a postcard with what you want to say, what you want to say to many people at the same time: about discovered beauty, about understood regularity, about piercing feelings. Artists participating in the festival will create illustrations for your words, and one day you will find an answer in your mailbox...

Our contacts: info@dialogmurmansk.ru (Russian only)

Masha Vakhmistrova 8 (81531) 9 23 22, +79210363532 (Russian only)
mashkinator@pisem.net
3 - 50 Mira Street
Kirovsk 184250

Murmansk Oblast

Thank you!

Anastasia.ru

The Money Masters

How International Bankers Gained Control of America

Dear friends,

Today's feature film is a 3.5 hour long historical documentary which explains in detail how banks create the world's money. Although some facts in the film may be questionable, we recommend you to watch this documentary for general information.

WATCH THE FILM

Poetry, art, music, photography and anything else that flows from the heart.

Works from "The Ringing Cedars of Russia" Museum

A Book of Kin, given to Vladimir Megre by one of the readers. Cover of the book is carved out of Siberian Cedar.

Paintings sent in by the readers of the series:

See more works in the Museum.

SUNFLOWERS ANASTASIA'S WORDS ARE TRUE ALTHOUGH, OF COURSE, THEY ARE NOT NEW SHE HAS COME TO MAKE US THINK TO WAKE US UP FROM SLEEP AND DRINK A LIFE OF PEACE WE CAN NOW CLAIM IF WE BUT BUILD OUR OWN DOMAIN WE'LL GROW THE FLOWERS OF THE SUN TO YELLOW THE MORN WITH THE COLOUR OF FUN A WONDERFUL WORLD OF JOY AND WONDER IS SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO AND PONDER IF WE BUT LIVE OUR LIFE IN LOVE WITH THE WISDOM WORDS OF THE TAIGA DOVE.

BIRDS The birds of the forest all sing true as they fly around in a sky of blue They shriek the alert at the hint of danger and warn about the approaching stranger Mother Earth provides their food she caters for their every mood Each and every evening their song they give in thanks for the life they have been given to live

Una Wood
Brisbane. Australia

driftwood@uq.net.au

Please visit the forum at Source of Life Association and share your opinions on the books of Vladimir Megre. Discuss Anastasia's ideas about harmonic life, and how you use them for yourself. Share your impressions.

You can now discuss your ideas on the following topics:

• Opinions - Anastasia's ideas in books by V. N. Megre. Share your thoughts.
• Let's get to know each other - A section in which you can create your personal profile for people to see as well as your personal page if you have something to share.
• Get Together People! - Searching for friends in your community.
• Forgotten Knowledge of Our Ancestors - All new, well forgotten old
• Health - Share your experiences.
• About Our Children - Forum that is dedicated to our children, from birth to education.

Let's build a strong community together. Support each other with positive thoughts and create a real plan for making our dreams come true.

Visit the Forum.

Forum Talk

Posted by donannedean in the topic New eco village forming in Mt Shasta area: