- Our goal is to create, nurture, and develop a vibrant rural culture.
- Our core values are ecology, sustainable development, community, international and multicultural activities.
- We are developing an open, sustainable lifestyle and diversity center that serves all interested parties.
- We develop and strengthen cooperation between various individuals, groups, actors, and between the city and the countryside.
- We are an active agent in sustainable development and community locally, nationally and internationally.
- The board of directors is always elected at the annual meeting in February-March.
Cherishing diversity
- We have created a biodiversity garden in the ecovillage, where visitors can explore different plants that support biodiversity through different senses. Many of the plants are edible perennials or otherwise beneficial to humans.
- We distribute seeds and seedlings collected from the garden for free to our partners and visitors at our events. Thanks to the European Union Rural Development Fund and Kantri for funding the garden!
Summer Saturdays
- The ecovillage is open to the public on Saturdays in July and August, when we have a summer café, a flea market, and tours of the biodiversity garden with tastings. Members of the association's board are always there to talk about our activities and answer questions.
- Our summer café is now sheltered from the weather, as we renovated the accessible courtyard building for rainy and painfully hot days. There have been musical performances on the café stage and the children also got their own café and play corner there. Pets are also welcome – they have a free water dispenser 🙂
Centre for Sustainable Development
- We are currently renovating an old barn in the village into a sustainable development center. The work has progressed well and we hope to soon open a center that will support the implementation of sustainable development in a variety of ways.
European Solidarity Corps Volunteer Work Programme
- For over 10 years, we have been organizing volunteering opportunities for young Europeans in our ecovillage with funding from the European Union.
- We implement the ESC program in collaboration with local entities, such as Vesilahti Comprehensive School, the Vesilahti branch of the Finnish Red Cross, the Vesilahti youth service, the Virta Cultural Workshop.
- We also act as a support organization that can send young people to European Solidarity Corps volunteering projects.
Strengthening community life and inclusiveness
- We have created an ecovillage as a communal and inclusive place to enable different people to meet.
- We are also involved in activities aimed at increasing community spirit and supporting those in a weaker position. Our ESC youth volunteers participate in the activities of our partners and thus contribute to broader social solidarity work; for example, the Sininauhasäätiö’s open drug treatment unit Suunta supports drug rehabilitation patients and Kulttuuripaja Virta supports young people living with mental health challenges.
Events, trainings and visits
- We organize various events and trainings in the ecovillage and welcome groups of visitors. For example, we organized a quiet day for the staff of the Lempäälä municipality's youth and employment services, spent a wonderful evening with the Marttas of Sääksjärvi, and trained the Kalaleader actives of the Southern Coast. If you are interested in visiting our ecovillage, read more here.
Become a member and join us in our activities!
More information: kurjenekokylayhdistys (at) gmail.com
