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Groups of "Collective Lands"
Members of the group share their experiences to the camera
For me this process of collective lands started
on a beautiful August day, while harvesting wild wheat at the house of a friend
right there we all started thinking
"how do we do to get a field large enough...
to plant our wild wheat to make bread and potatoes
for all year round?"
three monts afterwards we were
already planting at the field
Another voice: We chose Bimenes (Asturias - Spain), already motivated by other groups
We made a call for a first meeting, inviting people
if they would be up to sharing land to cultivate
that was the idea, people came over
as well a person from the collective that was already in progress
to explain us the way they were working
another voice says: in our case
"Collective Lands" is a result of
a group of people that already knew each other
and we needed land to cultivate potatoes
we gathered with others who also needed potatoes and joined resources
it was basically the need that triggered this
keeps explaining: when others became aware that
we were having a nice time apart from being productve
and as we had more necessitiies
we continued getting more lands
because the neighbours liked what we were doing and the offered us more land to work
we started growing, more people from near the valley
became interested and joined the group
Male voice: about barley and wheat
if you do not cultivate it as a collective project
it is difficult to achieve fair results
because of the amount of strenght and energy required to dig and stir up and plant
female: in general,
the conventional market and their publicity
try to drag us to consume certain sorts of products
the ones that we are supposed to eat, and are cultivated massively
and even subsidized in developed countries
in order to make these products competitive in any market
soybean, corn
the so callled "star crops"
hence, agriculture becomes more and more and more
dependent of
all that system, requiring fertilizers, pesticides
machinery
paperwork
another voice: fertile land gets diminished
they are polluting land, eroding the soil
and this is not a sustainable process at all
the previous voice: they tell people that eating meat every day is essential to sustain life
then they start culivating intensively to feed the stock
poor cattle that end up leaving all their life
in 3 squared meters swimming in their own poop
then you go and eat that, because that is what makes you halthy...
and you don't even think of eating the chard that you could grow in your garden
another voice: if you live in a given place, you should adjust
your demand of resources to the actual
capacity of that specific place
what capitalism does is actually the opposite
capitalism generates a demand
throughout industrial agriculture
by bringing commodities from abroad
with policies that are unfeasible at long term
capitalism manages to make this stuff available to you
what really happens
is that capitalism needs that level of consumtion
and such demand to prevail
another voice: self-suficience is a trheat
that life style that used to exist before and that was possible at long term
is not for the best interest of some
male voice: if you are able to grow your own food
near your house or even better at home
you get rid of that energy expenditure that is so exagerated
female voice: it is not just matter of
polluted and polluting foodstuff that destroys the environment
also the labor conditions of the peasants working at intensive agriculture schemes
are really dreadful
male voice: modern life is organized in different "time compartments"
time to work separated from the leisure time and the social life
and all that is currently organized around consumerism
you establish realtionships in a consumerist environment
you enjoy your leisure time in a consumerist framework
by talking to the elder
you will find out that it was about to find a balance in their every day life
having fun and all, also while working
female voice: in general, country side life
has nothing to do with a regular asalariated job
it goes along and follows the timing of the wheather
of the seasons
with the cycles of the moon
sometimes it is difficult to adjust to that rhythm
male voce: it is not so much about working
it s mainly about what you are called to do
therefore the tasks are our duty, not the usual tasks of a job
and that makes the big difference
you do it because you want to
it becomes your will
you enjoy doing it
and the saying "life in the country side is hard" is not true
it is a hard life if you follow the conventional model
you need to break the old paradigm
I get a lot of satisfaction back
more good stuff than hardship
another voice: my personal experience with "Colective Lands"
every time we meet
is not a time only for work
you arrange an appointment with people
to have a good time
we have a great lunch
is a complete experience
female voice: it is a great moment to meet your group
And to me it represents so little amount of job in exchange
for all the good things you get
is amazing!
another voice: the social and playful time is so huge
and you have a great time, and
sometimes is like you only keep that part instead
of the obligation of the work involved
male voice: that moment when someone starts singing
it is a celebration
goes on singing....
female voice: my particular goals are
to provide myself with food
potatoes and cereals basically, and legumes
the other side is the social part fo it
to do activities with the people that
make you grow, and that you enjoy being with
to fill up the need that humans have to stablish bonds
next, is the ideological part, try to live your life in a certain way
you choose to do what you believe is ritght
male says: it is only about 10 to 12 days a year
female replies: sometimes more days
male voice:on one side of it is an agricultural activity
consisting in bringing produce to our households
but at the bottom, what it really is about
is cultivating people
female describes: we cultivate in a tradicional way
back in the old days, vegetables were grown around the house
and then further in the lands the monocultures
grown in a rotative scheme: potatoes, wild wheat, and then beans and corn
each year we learn more
mostly by some mistakes we make (as we learn)
we do not harvest as much as we should be harvesting
another voice: when we decided to grow wild wheat for the first time
This traditional variety was diminished, and it was hard to find
we ended up giving away bagfuls to other people
who started planting wild wheat after we did
male voice: fraternity began in the way that
the wild wheat that we planted was a gift
from the initial group
and this is somethinhg to highlght, supporting the creation of a new group
female voice: the general assembly of "Collective Lands" is celbrated once a year
apart from that, whenever we gather for a food fest
we also discuss this stuff, maybe not in an assambleary way
every body talks at those meetings, pretty much like in a henhut
we are improving, but it seems a bit difficult
to talk in an orderly fashon about farming
another voice: to me it was very paramount
the process of learning to listen to each other
every one bringing in their own ideas about
how to plant, the pace of the work, and more
another voice: for me as a self-critisism
the weakest point of the group
is that responsibility is very diluted within the group
and sometimes we allow "leaderism" to appear
male voice: for me all this is the sort of things
that can be found in any group that is attempting to
self-organize in an non conventional way
there has to be always diversity
different rhythms
but if we work that our in an assseambleary way
is how to take decisions inclusive to all opinions
that seem to be far away from each other
by working out the human part of it, things go smoothly
female speaking: at the time of sharing out what we harvested
the way we work is using "productive unities"
at the beginning every person, or couple or group decides
how much workforce they will provide to the venture
and at the end, the sharing is carried over on that initial agreement
if during the season some one got ill
or maybe suffered and accident
or if the person was not able to come to work, we don't really count the days
whenever we have the chance we try to plow with animals
we used a horse, we also used a tractor
another voice: this is polemic, there is a debate around the use of animals or machinery instead
male speaks: at the end using the cysthe is more efficient: you go faster and better
besides, you have a good time, using the cysthe alows us to talk, to sing
while using machinery the noise is loud
there is no room for people, engines take over
as opposite to when we use the good old tools, we enjoy quality time getting to know each other
human relationships improve when we manage to get rid of machinery
female voice: we grind the corn and the wild wheat in a water mill
in one of the twons where we work the land
another female: we use the mill of a person that gave us land.
there is no money involved in the service
the deal is that we help his family to hasvest the wild wheat that they grow
male voice: what I would love to see
is many more "Collective Lands"
and that they would be even more "local"
and in terms of coherence and organiztion of the work
I would really like to assemble working groups with my geographic neighbours
Groups that work collective lands in Asturias
- Central Mountains - Nava and Bimenes - Cabranes - Grao
more info at:
indistinct chattering
Thanks to those who accepted to participate in this film
This viedo was produced by "nonesense" audiovisual team