Russian Kin's domains

06.04.24 5 Comments Posted by admin

Kin's Domains (Family Homesteads) is a National Idea of Russia

At the end of the last century Anastasia, the heroine of the "Ringing Cedars of Russia" book series inspired people to create family homesteads in the form of Kin's domains which has turned out into national movement with more than 400 eco-communities of Kin's domains developing now in Russia.

A Kin's domain is a piece of land at least 1 hectare (2.5 acres) in size owned and developed by an individual or a family who prefer living their lives in nature, off the grid, to the hustle and bustle of city life. They provide a sustainable way of living which also helps improve the quality of our planet.

Why one hectare? Because this is a sufficient minimum amount of land sizable enough to sustain the basic life-long and multi-generational needs of each family or domain settler. This is an amount of land that can be stewarded sustainably by the efforts of an individual or family, without becoming too difficult to manage and that can be managed without the need for heavy industrial agricultural machinery or harmful chemicals and fertilizers or pesticides and without the need for reliance on declining fossils fuels.

Each Kin's Domain is created with the specific goal of being a self sufficient area that can support all the basic human needs of the owner including life-long food production, shelter and water supply. Each domain is designed with the specific intent of surrounding the home by a supportive natural eco-system that will additionally support the domain owner by providing the clean air created by oxygen producing plant life, creation of forest land for the optional use of timber for seasonal home heating needs etc and a wide variety of other plant life with a focus on edible perennials as well as plants that can be grown for medicinal purposes.

Each domain settler or family owns their own land. It is not owned by the community. The reason for this is so that they can fully invest in the beautifying of the land by restoring natural systems and commit to making a lifetime long-term investment, first in the initial restoration of the land followed by the lifelong stewardship of their land plot which can then remain in the family and be passed on to successive generations.

A Kin's Domain differs from the eco-village or commune model where each individual is dependent on the collective always functioning and properly working together to meet the basic needs of all its individuals especially in matters of food production. On a Kin Domain each family/settler's goal is to become self sufficient, to stand on their own, with the surrounding domains creating a strong supportive network and community.
Of course, there is a great need for working together in a Kin community, and this vital work must begin before even a single person builds their own unique domain. Much forethought and planning is needed. In each village of Kin's Domains there will most likely be land that is shared by the collective community. This shared land could include such areas as:
* a shared lake or large body of water, * a school, * a community meeting centre, * community agricultural lands or pasture, * a visitor’s centre, * forest lands, * riverside, * roadway access, and more.
For further info and inspiration please watch an excerption of the beautiful documentary of "The Kin's Domains of the Earth" series (in English):

We welcome you visit Russian family homesteads - book your Vedic Russia Ethno-Eco-tour here: https://ecominded.net/vedic-russia-ethno-tour
Also please read below this wonderful reseach about people co-creating their Kin's domains in Russia and how they manage to turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones: "Organizational Challenges for Ringing Cedars Ecovillages". The article divided in 4 parts was published in Space of Love Magazine (please click on the links below to read each part of the article in PDF): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4