Готовый перевод Мы строим деревню / we are building ecovillage: мы все равно не деревенские

Still we are not villagers.

Working for agriculture we don't have weekends.

I. Skoblikov

Once Natasha got worried about our involvement into village's everyday life. "Look at real villagers, - she told me. - Look how they live. They awake with the dawn and up to sunset they work without cease. They plant plenty of vegetables (enough for all relatives, guests and for us) and grow a great variety of cattle (cows, pigs, horses). And as for us - our attitude to country life is too relaxed: we wake up when we've had enough sleep, sometimes read books all day long or take days off anytime we want to".

After a long discussion we decided that even if we live close to nature we're still more "citizens". We don't do anything we can't explain to ourselves. F.e., why should we buy a piglet if we don't eat meat? Ot why should we buy a cow if we just physically aren't able to drink all her milk? And required amount of care isn't very little. We don't get a dog now as we have nothing to guard. Why should we buy a herd of horses if we don't need to sell them as meat like many locals? Do we need a huge vegetable garden? Actually not. But at the same time we dream about a telescope and a library. About a workshop. About a pond. We've begun to produce a line of herbal tea. We travel any time we would like to. Maybe if we grew in the countryside, we could have another way of thinking now. But to all appearance we're still citizens... citizens who decided to live close to nature.

Of course, we would like to buy some cattle, but we approach the issue very thoroughly, weigh all ptos and cons: how much resources are required for keeping an animal, what it demands in return and if we really need this. E.g., we would like to buy several laying hens as they don't demand much care, but lay tasty eggs. We think about a couple of horses, e have enough grass and free space for grazing. Maybe one day we'll keep a dairy goat... Or maybe a couple of families of bees. But not more.

As for me personally - these questions are very important: What do I need? What am I ready to do to satisfy my needs? How could these needs be satisfied with the least effort? What does it give to me: freedom or bonds?

Once I decided that I don't want to make some things automatized just to leave myself a possibility to work physically. E.g., we may bore a hole and pump water from under the ground - but I don't want. I like to carry it in buckets despite the fact it's so hard. And I choose such a work consciously. But such labour doesn't limit me. And as for several cows, f.e. - they really limit. You must milk them. You must feed them with the hay in winter. You can't leave them unattended even for a day. You want to know if I'm eager to work? My answer is "yes". Nowadays I work with hands even more than I had to during all passed life. But such labour which could become a load - I try to avoid it.

Переведено на Нотабеноиде
http://notabenoid.org/book/45942/183489

Переводчики: grechissimo