Beschreibung der Einrichtung

Vila Flora is a community project based on Gandhi’s philosophy and principles of nonviolence. We believe in the transformative power of nonviolence on both personal and social level. We have 15 years of experience in activism, volunteering and social enterprise. We are together bringing into reality the ideas of a more humane & sustainable world.

Between 2013 and 2020 we established and ran an open home, a community project in Prague, Czechia. Since the beginning we defined the four pillars of our focus to be: sustainability, education, creativity & healthy lifestyle. We were organizing events & workshops, renting spaces for seminars & meetings, hosting guests & volunteers (via workaway.info). We developed three brands of healthy homemade raw vegan products. We gradually designed a permaculture, sustainable, friendly home in the city center. Thanks to our community lifestyle we are practicing as well as inspiring many people with Gandhi’s principles of nonviolence:
- Be the change you wish to see in the world
- Treat others the way you want to be treated
- Keep your feelings, thoughts and actions in harmony
- Hate the sin, not the sinner

In 2019 with our growing community we began to form a base for an eco village. We had to move Vila Flora from the house in Prague during summer 2020 due to new property ownership. Also, the situation with covid made us focus on the bigger vision outside of the city. Now we are settled in a small village surrounded by beautiful woodlands, meadows, ponds & creeks. With a community of 15 people we are making a foundation for a future eco village. We are designing a permaculture plan for the land that one of our member owns; we are gardening, conserving & fermenting food, making herbal tinctures; we are building tiny houses, renting yurts in a yurtcamp, making natural soaps & cosmetics, we recycle old fabric into carpets, etc; we cook vegan meals for groups, we prepare raw vegan products for sale, we organize small events such as festival of self-sufficiency and healthy lifestyle retreats.

Because of the covid situation last year we could not organize events, invite people to the new place, nor go to festivals with our products and workshops, as we were used to in the past. So, we focused on opening an eshop with our raw vegan products; and we are preparing an online-offline educational club.

Our Mission:
- We focus on a healthy lifestyle, both on the individual & social level.
- We begin with ourselves, by living in accordance with our values ​​& ideas.
- We produce raw vegan, organic food & medicine, made from local ingredients.
- We create self-sufficient places – true communities ensuring material & spiritual satisfaction of all members. These places come to life thanks to humanity, creativity, attention, purity, and diversity. We praise the energy of the sun, soil, fermentation, plants, and water.

We bring into our daily lives various aspects of permaculture, and we follow the examples & references of masters who developed a philosophy of active non-violence, on a practical level.

Our intention is to follow the approach designed and implemented by Gandhi and Silo. To be connected with the best that is within us, and to contribute to the humanization of the world.

We inspire people to prevent suffering, how to deal with the situation and to apply energy to long-term development instead of violence and short-term profits.

Our Aims:
- Create a harmonious community of 50+ members focused on personal development, sustainable and healthy lifestyle, in harmony with nature
- Develop a permaculture garden with edible forest and get to a high level of food self-sufficiency
- Become as self-sufficient as possible by applying various sustainable systems (solar & wind power, water recycling, zero waste practices, etc.)
- Learn from various eco villages in the world, find the best practices, apply them to our project, and share this wisdom with other people & communities

Structures we wish to create soon:
-Swimming pond with a deck as a common area for the community
-Living willow structures - kids area, yoga and meditation area, etc.
-Houses from natural materials and Earthships
-Reconstruct existing houses to make them more sustainable (e.g. add greenhouse) and gradually turning the house into an educational center
-Workshops for various crafts and arts (such as carpentry, weaving, painting, ceramics)
-Forest kindergarten and alternative school

Our target groups consist of people who are interested in a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. People who wish to learn a more healthy way of eating, adapting various techniques of fermentation, kombucha brewing and raw vegan cooking. We also aim to serve people interested in community lifestyle, permaculture and personal development. In general, we aim at especially young people searching to live a more meaningful life. With us they will experience a diversity of activities and philosophies to inspire them in their future life.