I have a special interest in this book. As a young man in the 1980s I’d read Julius Nyerere’s Ujamaa (Swahili for “togetherness”, “unity” or “familyhood”). I was inspired by his vision of a co-operative, non-hierarchical society based on sustainable villages Read more

As a new generation of aspiring land stewards, we wish to minimise dependence on fossil fuels whilst learning to meet our basic needs of food, shelter, energy and livelihood, from the land.  This has been entirely possible for millennia. However, in a 21st century Read more

Landmatters co-op is a low impact community in Devon. We’re seeking letters of support for a new round of planning application. Letters of support are invaluable commendations and hugely boosting for a project’s prospects – and morale.  Read more

A week ago, we posted about a large, 50-room Victorian mansion with lodge house, stable block, the largest walled garden we’ve ever seen, and 21 acres of woodland that was up for sale on the Worcestershire / Shropshire border. Read more

Not far from Worcester is a stunning Grade II mansion house, 50+ rooms, stable blocks, 2-bed detatched gatehouse, 21 acres of woodland plus huge walled garden. Lowimpact.org, plus other like-minded organisations, would like to secure it as an intentional community Read more

This is the publication that inspired me to visit intentional communities, eventually join one – Redfield Community in Buckinghamshire, where Lowimpact.org was founded. It’s a handy directory of communities / communes / co-operative living in the UK and elsewhere Read more

This is a book that I discovered in my twenties, and it impressed me so much that I ended up making my way to Tanzania in 1991, and staying for a couple of months on two ujamaa villages. Ujamaa means ‘familyhood’, a concept that Nyerere wanted to extend to encompass the whole of humanity, Read more

In the 1990s I visited the headquarters of the Yamagishi Association in Mie-ken in Japan. It’s a federation of intentional communities that is still going strong – but even then it comprised 3000 people in 30 villages all over Japan Read more

The Tyranny of Structurelessness is a seminal essay by Joreen Freeman (above), written in 1970. I read it for the first time recently, but I’ve known about it for many years, and in fact, I lived in an intentional community where it was regularly mentioned, and at least some of us lived by its main… Continue reading ‘The Tyranny of Structurelessness’: some thoughts Read more

You are invited to Ffynnon Teilo Farm Activity Weekend, to explore creating a co-operative farm – Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th of September. Activities will include: pond clearing, footpath and step renovation, fire making, campsite cooking and farm tour. Camping space available Saturday night. Read more

I joined Redfield Community in Buckinghamshire in 1996 and lived there for 13 years. It’s a Victorian mansion in 18 acres of woodland, fields, gardens and orchards – a registered housing co-op with around 15 adults and 8 kids on average, although people come and go. Read more

This is an account of my visit to two ujamaa villages in Tanzania in the early 1990s, plus a lot more background information on the system itself. The ujamaa system has since been dismantled after pressure from the World Bank, but at its height, 20 million people out of a total population of 24 million… Continue reading More details of the ujamaa collective village system in Tanzania (from first-hand experience) Read more

Today we part company with both WWOOF and Redfield Community. Here’s a bit of history, including why we’re splitting, plus an advert for both WWOOF and Redfield. Read more

On Wednesday evening I attended the AGM of the Ecological Land Co-op at Freightliners City Farm in London. I was standing for election to the board after being invited to apply by Shaun Chamberlin of Dark Optimism Read more

We used to get people on our straw-bale building courses who were amazed at how simple and quick a technique it is. They’d sometimes say ‘wow, I’m going to get a few acres and build my own home!’ and we’d have to inform them that they might have to do it in another country. Read more

In 1991, I spent a couple of months in two Ujamaa villages in Tanzania. The Ujamaa system was introduced by Julius Nyerere in the early 1960s, and the World Bank effectively killed it as a system in the late 80s, although a few independent Ujamaa villages survived into the 90s. I’m going to briefly describe… Continue reading How Julius Nyerere’s Ujamaa idea could form the basis of a new global political system Read more

‘When a university becomes a business the whole of student life is transformed. When a university is more concerned with its image, its marketability and the ‘added value’ of its degrees, the student is no longer a student – they become a commodity and education becomes a service.’ Read more

NB: the Ecological Land Co-op set a precedent in England (following the success of Lammas Ecovillage in Wales) by gaining planning permission for homes on smallholdings outside the development zone (in Devon), by agreeing to abide by strict ecological criteria Read more

The Agroecological Land Initiative is an new organisation founded to advocate and implement agroecological methods in the UK to help secure food sovereignty, energy independence, and environmental regeneration in a way that is financially viable and socially just. Read more

Here’s an opportunity to you potential smallholders / rat-race escapees: A thirty acre field next to the Lammas ecovillage has come up for sale.  Read more