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The «Almaray» settlement is located near the capital of Kazakhstan. We've already told you about this beautiful place a few years ago. How is the community doing now?
Every year, new families join «Almaray», and there are very few free plots left. Recently married couples, families with children, and even large families consisting of several generations move here: parents, children, and grandparents. All the inhabitants of the settlement came up with the idea of creating their own Space of Love after reading the books of the Ringing Cedars, so they are united by the same ideals: they strive to live more harmoniously, close to nature, and implement their ideas on environmentally friendly construction, natural farming, and a healthy lifestyle in practice. However, they are not afraid of difficulties along the way. The arid steppe climate did not prevent residents from making their dreams come true: for example, one of the old-timers, Klara Gruzdeva, grew a flowering garden on her hectare in 10 years, planting hundreds of plants carefully selected taking into account the characteristics of the soil and climatic zone. Dmitry Maksimov created a unique plant nursery in which branded grapes, ornamental shrubs, lilac, spruce, pine, larch, thuja, fir, birch, linden, oak, mountain ash, and many other trees grow... Saplings from the nursery are purchased by residents of Kin's settlements around Kazakhstan. Dmitry also has his own fish farm.
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Among the biggest problems the settlers faced, they note:
- Long-term arrangement of life. Arranging your own domain in the place without infrastructure is a complex and lengthy process, so it is important to be patient.
- Restructuring the rhythm and way of life. Even if living in nature was your dream, it take some time to get accustomed to it.
- Long distances to the city. This problem is easily solved: if you create your own autonomous business outside the city, you do not need to go there. Most settlers today have a small eco-friendly business: a seedling nursery, wooden furniture making, selling organic vegetables and fruits, making eco-bags, a dairy farm, and much more.
- Development of relations and cooperation with neighbors of the settlement. Residents themselves admit that this process is not always easy. Sometimes it is difficult to find a common language, but the settlers are happy and open-hearted to talk about their ideals and their lives to both neighbors and local authorities — and they have already become known in their region.
Guest tourism is very developed in «Almaray». Here is what one of the families says: «We are very glad that our creativity on Earth (building a house from environmentally friendly materials, planting plants according to the principles of permaculture, and creative activities with children) can bring satisfaction not only to us, but also to other people visiting our family farm.» It is the willingness to receive guests and share the fruits of their labor with them that is the way to spread the ideas of the Ringing Cedars.
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Residents also participate in socially significant initiatives: for example, they helped their neighbors get government grants for unemployed women in the countryside to create their own sustainable business. Settlers themselves received a grant for the development of a project on joint creativity for children and parents. As part of this initiative, creative meetings and master classes are regularly held in the settlement. They are based on the methods of humane pedagogy, according to which the child is given complete freedom of creativity, and an atmosphere of trust and love reigns around. Every year, these meetings are attended by hundreds of people from Kazakhstan and neighboring countries.
We will follow the news about the development of the «Almaray» settlement and will definitely tell you about it in the future.
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