ESC: farmer, experimenter, host and/or activist on our permaculture farms

The aim of Boskanter is to facilitate the transition to a society that is fair and is organized in such a way that it is easy or at least possible to live within the limits of the ecosystem. We do this by giving people the opportunity to try something else on our two experiential permaculture farms and to then share this experience. This helps in three ways to reach our aim. First: it is difficult to fight for something you cannot imagine. A lot of people come to Boskanter because they don’t know if they can be happy with fewer things. While living here, they learn they can do without and they discover (subtle) sources of happiness they did not search because they could not imagine before. Armed with this experience, it’s easier to write an empowering blog to inspire others or to convince kids in the school that this life is not that impossible as they think. Second: if people don’t realize there is an alternative, it scares them. Out of fear, they can choose less useful ways of coping, such as blaming it on others or becoming fatalistic. If you see a realistic alternative, even if it’s hard work to reach it, it triggers more effective coping mechanisms such as wanting to fight for it or seeing it as an adventure. And then it’s good to have the blog and the activities we have to reach out to people, to be able to act. Third: visitors learn practical skills and attitudes they can apply for themselves or in their organizations. In this way, they contribute directly to the society we are striving for. We focus on low-tech local solutions because: - it’s too late to wait for the miracle technology that will make current western lifestyle possible for everyone - until now, technological advances led to more consumption, rather than a smaller footprint or a fair share - we have to learn to live with limits anyway, why not starting from what there is already - we believe there is more happiness and satisfaction to be found in small-scale projects in contact with others and natural materials Our activities are organized in two farms in the ‘Vlaamse Ardennen’ with: - soil-building production gardens - diverse wildland with opportunities to harvest natural resources for crafts and raw material for the gardens - place for people to lodge and to organize activities - a website to spread information - use of natural construction methods - workplaces for crafts - stone oven (bread, pizza), rocket stove, ... - … What does this experience look like? It is more real than in an educational farm, as the volunteers really live in it and experience it long-term. It also encopasses almost the whole realm of life, even though it's not complete. We can not completely live the life we would live in the world we are dreaming of, because for that we need others and another organisation in the world, because we have to learn every skill and adapt it to a life with always changing participants and because we don't have all the answers yet. That's also why, next to letting participants experience what there already is, we make time to explore new ways. We try out, evaluate and adapt. Some of this new ways might end up as part of our routines. Others, especially if they need infrastructure that is not yet established or difficult to adapt to the changing participants in the farm, might end up as an inspiring article in the blog. We would like to work (more) together with lokal organisations like LETS, voedselteams, bos 't Ename, ... This is, at the moment, not our strongest point, partly because most volunteers are international. Boskanter means ‘edge of the forest’. In permaculture, edges are seen as the most productive areas because they combine the biodiversity of two worlds. It’s also a symbol for standing on the edge of two worlds. We want at the same time go far in exploring new ways and be very accessible in two ways. first: we want to use a language that everybody understands and start from concrete activities. second: we want to be inclusive. A healthy life in nature is often a privilege of the alternative elite. We want to lower the threshold for disadvantaged people to participate in our activities. We actively use the methodology of ‘experiential learning’. Organized reflection moments help to put the experiences in words, to move them to another level, to feel connection in the group and to come to actions such as a post in the blog. Our target groups are - 'volunteers' that want to experience this life, by staying on the farm; often, but not exclusively, ‘international’ - visitors of our activities (open door, market, café), who search inspiration and connection, mainly local - kids from some local schools - people with fewer opportunities in Ronse - kids needing a ‘time out’ - 'the whole world' trough our blog