With pupils of the Elisabethstift scool in Hermsdorf, Berlin, we built on academy territory a house made of bales of straw.
More than 100 years ago and shortly after the invention of the horse powered straw baler, the technology had been developed in Nebraska, a region without much timber. It was brought to Germany in the 1990s by US-pioneers that held workshops here. Nowadays, straw is legally accepted as a construction material, it has passed tests in fire prevention and in statics. A professional association works on the further development of the technology. Meanwhile, even multi-story-buildings with a wooden frame have been erected. In the academy though, we went back to the roots and built with load-bearing walls. The demonstration building can be visited on appointment.

 Christoph Meyer directed the building camp, the purpose was learning and demonstrating the technology of building with straw and adoby as locally available resources. The project was made possible by a state of Brandenburg grant in the programme “action healthy environment”.                                    

Come around to the Good Live!, was the motto of the weeks of change (Wandelwochen) 2016. Ideas and projects for a different life and for an economy beyond growth and exploitation of humans, animals and natural resources do already exist. The intention of the weeks of change is to give such projects more public visibility, to discuss their ideas in public, in short, to disseminate ecological ideas of life and economy.

On this day, the WanderBAR war guest in the academy. Every month, another project or initiative volunteers to organise a get-together in the Prignitz.

IThe highlight in in this WanderBAR was the newly built sauna.

Friday19. to Sunday 21. August at Akademie für Suffizienz

We look forward to celebrate with you!

There will again be a cool surprise and as always we provide fire, music, food, drinks, dancing, playing and anything else that is fun...

Let us know in advance if you need a bed. There is also room for tents.

See you soon! Dieter, Matthias & Corinna

Eine Produktion von Masa Hilcisin & Cazim Dervisevic, radoxx studio

Anlässlich des Sommerfests 2015 haben Masa und Cazim einen Fortsetzungsfilm gedreht, der die Entwicklungen in der Akademie für Suffizienz zeigt. Außerdem fängt ihr neuer Film wieder wunderschön die Stimmung ein und macht Lust auf einen Besuch. Ganz vielen Dank für die tolle Arbeit! Thanks Masa & Cazim!!

Der neue Film ist 4 min lang und kann hier auf dem vimeo-Profil von Masa ang eschaut werden: Link zum Video 2015

Hier kann man den ersten Film der beiden über die Akademie von 2014 sehen: Link zum Video

Together with volunteers of the organisation Internationaler Bauorden we will build a solar shower

The infrastructure of the Academy for Sufficiency will be further developed. During the work camp we will build in addition to our wood run shower a shower directly powered by the sun. This includes an insulated water tank, in order to make best use of the heated water. Currently, we are gathering used materials for the project. During the second week of the camp, we want to build a professional kitchen. Then we can make even better use of our growing harvest and feed all our guests with regional specialties! 

We are greatful that the Internationale Bauorden supports our project and collaborates in organising the work camp. The organisation adresses volunteers interested in construction work and brings them together with social organisations in need of help. More informationen on the project webseite.

Saturday 2. & sunday 3. of July

Cherries and red currants are ripe and we will start the first wine for this year! Everybody interested is invited to join the wine making and to pick up the basics. We can share six years of experience and we also have a winemaking book (Kitzinger-Weinbuch) with recipies and general advice. 

In shot, this will be the steps: Harvesting, sorting, mashing / extracting juice, making the starter, cleaning the barrels and filling them.

After work, we can sample wines from 2015 together with a shared meal!

The Akademie für Suffizienz now has a biological grey water treatment. That way it is determined that we will not produce black water. Instead, we use dry toilets exclusively. Now we are curious how everyday use of this toilet system will work out. But freshwater toilets do not make sense at all, and we do not want to get on this path.

Design and plannig of the treatment installation ELSA was made by NaturBauHof in Neustadt (Dosse). We have done the digging and assisted with the technical installations and the planting. The water treatment plant consists of pipings, filter, pump, the reed bed, and a seepage bed. We are proud that we are now able to use water on the premised in a circular flow.

 

Thanks to all the helping hands!

6. May 2016 we started our experimental soya bed.

Seeds and documents had arrived in the mail. Now, we are excited whether the soy beans will thrive in our garden. We will document their development in a blog on the project website, according to the project's criteria. With this, the experiment's results become comparable.

Our bed is part of a cultivation experiment of Life Food GmbH/Taifun-Tofuprodukte in co-operation with the Landessaatzuchtanstalt of Uni Hohenheim. The experiment aims at adapting soy for human consumption to the climatic conditions of the Northern Hemisphere. This way, transportation and the competition for land elsewhere can be reduced. Gardeners from all over Germany are participating, in oder to test the adapted soy plants in different locations. 

project website (in German)

Saturday, the 30th of April we will create our soya testing area.

This season we are growing soya in Reckenthin.

We participate in the experiment initiated the Life Food GmbH/Taifun-Tofuprodukte with the University of Hohenheim. The aim of the project is to adapt soya for human consumption to the climatic conditions of our latitudes. This would shorten transport, and ease the pressure on land world wide, for example in South America.

Link to the project website