Milenki

CONTEXT

Ecovillages are a growing phenomenon in Russia – working professionals are leaving the city to move to the countryside to live in harmony with nature.

Milenki, located in the Kaluga region, 4 hours drive west of Moscow, is an eco-village created 30 years ago on the bank of the Ougra river. 90 families are now living in the ecovillage, each family owns in average 1 ha of land and some community areas are managed by everyone.

People from Milenki are mostly educated families who decided to leave their busy city life. Parents consider Milenki as a safe and healthy place to raise their children. Not all the families live all year round in the eco-village as some of them choose to winter in cities for more comfort.

Farming in Milenki is small scale with gardens, orchards and small size cattle. From their land, villagers produce vegetables, fruits, nuts, goat milk and cheese, honey, tea, eggs…

BENEFITS
Since 2018, PUR Projet is developing a project in Milenki eco village. The main objectives are:

• Support the villagers by generating new incomes through tree planting projects.
• Create diverse edible forests with a minimum of 15 different species planted per site.
• Provide a secure food source to the villagers
• Creating habitats for birds and small mammals thereby effectively restoring lost biodiversity.

The seedlings will be reared in a local nursery by the villagers themselves, providing an additional revenue stream to the village. The tree species will be selected for their historic presence in the area and their suitability to the local environment. The trees planted as part of this project are essential for the eco-villagers to sustainability live off their land, in harmony with the environment and the people around them.