I always wanted to live more ecologically and without having to chase large amounts of money. And I’ve now achieved it. I live in a little wooden cabin I built on a piece of land here in the French Pyrenees. I’m off-grid and live by solar electricity, rainwater harvesting, solar showers, dry toilets… It’s real “low-impact living”.

I got here by WWOOFing. From 1999 to 2005 I lived in a truck (with my then-partner) and was a full-time WWOOFer in France and Spain. We visited a lot of ecovillages, some of which were on the WWOOF list, some of which weren’t. We found them through networks like the Global Ecovillage Network or the Réseau Francais des Ecovillages, and they were generally open to taking visitors like us on a ‘WWOOF-style’ basis.

My partner and I were both very 'handy’ people for building, carpentry, electricity, plumbing etc, and we carried a lot of tools with us, so our WWOOF hosts often offered us some paid work too. That kept some diesel in the tank and got us through the times when we took a break from WWOOFing.

I never did find an intentional community I wanted to be part of long term, but I ended up here on a small patch of land in the mountains, putting into practice what I’d learned through those six years of WWOOFing. It was a perfect apprenticeship. I can recommend it.

If my way of life appeals to you, feel free to come and visit sometime.

Posted by VIKTOR09 on Alternative Ways of Living & Consuming