Orlovs' family about moving and living in a kin domain 01.03.2019 13:06:35

We will talk about Kin Domain - what kind of place it is. Why did we decide to leave the city and live in nature? How did we move and what did it give us?

We live in the Kin Domain Settlement Solar, that is in 100 km from Samara and 60 km from Togliatti.

Our settlement is not a settlement in fact. This is a land of agricultural destination, acquired by the team for the joint realization of the dream of creating kin domains.

Kin Domain is a plot of 1 ha in size, surrounded by a hedge, with its own forest, garden, lake, vegetable garden, apiary, and buildings necessary for life. Such size is for a reason; with the right approach, on such a piece of land, you can create a self-healing closed ecosystem that does not require much effort to keep it in order.

The main aim of Kin Domain is - the creation of a space of love - living space for family. Imagine, what it is like to live in a place where everything is created, planted, invented with love for you, your children, your family. Where you are surrounded by beauty and nature harmony. And it's much better when your neighbors are those people who have common views on attitudes towards nature and animals, to family values and the children upbringing, to health and the way of life in general.

There are about 400 such settlements throughout Russia, each of them at its own stage of development - from just created to fully populated and prosperous. The history of our settlement began in 2005. This year we have 5 wintering families. In the summer of course people live much more.

8 years ago when we were newly wed, my husband and I lived in the center of Samara, near the Square of Glory. Later, when we thought about the children, we realized that we did not want to live in the city. We became interested in cottage construction and reading articles about frame houses. Then my husband came across information about the settlement. We were interested in it, and found in our region "Sunny", went on a tour and realized that we want to live there. We want our children and us to breathe fresh air, drink clean water and eat environmentally-friendly products. We want to go for a walk in the forest, see the sunrises, sunsets and the starry sky. We want to have our own house with a garden, a pond, a forest.

We chose a plot for our domain in a picturesque place not far from the forest and lake, near the ravines, bought a tent and began to plant trees on weekends, communicate with neighbors, participate in common affairs and holidays. It was so comfortable in this place, we felt at home here - in the field in a tent, even more than in the city in our apartment.

The following year, we gave birth to our daughter Mila, and we immediately began building a house.



3 years ago in September 2015 we moved to our still unfinished, but already warm house, built by our dad's own hands. The heart of this house is a two-story wood-burning stove, created by the hands of our friends, neighbors, professionals in their field.

When we moved there were moments in our life that hadn't been there before, we had to look for answers to completely different tasks: from proper planting of trees to planning a whole plot of 1.3 hectares, from harvesting firewood to building our own house. As well as the creation of remote earnings, the organization for our family and the settlement of an interesting life. All this required us to be completely immersed in the process, there was no time left for boredom. We did not know what to do first and did a lot until the necessary sufficiency. Only now we began to move on to finish what was started to the end. For example, only this year we began to interior decoration of the house. Before that, there were more important issues - for example, to drill a well so that there was its own water; make the 2nd floor of the house suitable for wintering; plant trees so while we are settling here, they will grow; create a steady income away from the city.

It is worth noting domestic difficulties, such as the lack of network electricity, which we replaced, of course, with solar energy, but we also had to reduce electricity consumption sufficiently (it benefited — we stopped spending our time on useless sitting at the computer and on the Internet, everything only in the case). We still don’t have a refrigerator, but it isn’t needed - we use a roomy underground instead of refrigerator, it is cool enough to store food there, even in summer.

Another problem is the road. There is no road during the spring and autumn thaw. This period lasts 2-3 weeks per year. At first, we could not accept this situation either physically or psychologically. Then we tweaked and began to plan the purchase of products, doing business in the city so that at that time they would spend quiet days at home with family, not striving anywhere.

But these are all domestic matters, they are not as important as changes in our lifestyle in general. When we moved, we became more responsible for our lives, we realized that if we want something, we need to create it. We began to pay more attention to our health - more movement and sports appeared in our life, we changed the food for the better, more fresh, grown on our land, the most delicious and healthy products. For example, this year we grew up around 200 kg of melons and less watermelons without any efforts, which were eaten all day for two months. And this year we were  pleased with our new inhabitants - the bees, who provided us with honey, thus we could remove sugar from the diet, and still treat all our close ones.

We should also note such a phenomenon as the annual cycle. The change of seasons in the city is personified by a change in temperature and weather conditions. Here we felt the characteristics of each season. Summer is a time of movement and accomplishment, winter is a time of rest and reflection, a time of learning and planning your life. In such a rhythm there is less fuss and stress, such a rhythm allows us to live more thoughtfully and to create of our future.

You can talk about the pros of life for hours, we have not even felt them fully yet.
During my life in the city, I received a degree in economics from the International Market Institute. After 2 years I worked in a furniture factory as a photographer- designer — photographed furniture and made up labels and catalogs. I was taught by my husband, a professional layout designer who worked in various newspapers and magazines. He is a programmer by education.

When we moved, there was a question about money earning, and since we were both interested in photography at that time for several years, we were engaged in wedding photography and were doing it quite successfully until this autumn. Now we are creating a business that more reflects our values, which directly follows from our way of life. We are launching the production of healthy chocolate-nut pastas and other raw food sweets under the brand name "Delicious and healthy."

We have learned a lot of new things about ourselves during the life in domain - what we really want, what we like to do. It turned out that I, an economist-photographer-designer, in fact, can create with my own hands simply gorgeous things — clothes, accessories, decorations and toys — what I initially did for myself, now I create for connoisseurs of my work and I get incomparable pleasure.







Before the move, I was more aware of life. I did what I used to do, I believed in advertising and listened to my parents and teachers. Of course, this was due to my age. I became a full-fledged person here in domain. This is where my view of life, our values originated. It was here that I met myself, found out what I like, what I need from life and what I dream about. It was here that we had time and a place in my head to think about these questions.

Husband Vitaly Orlov
Looking back today at the domain we have already created, I wonder: what did I do all the time in the city? Did I go to work to print every day newspapers that nobody needs for the next day? What has been created here will remain for years for our children, grandchildren - for our Family. After 30 years, on an oak tree, which we planted near the house, our grandchildren will ride on a swing, eat apples and cherries in the garden, swim in the pond, walk along the cedar and linden alleys planted by our hands with love and care for them. We still have a lot to do for this, but all our efforts here have a deep meaning for us.



In general, the topic of settlements and domains so captured us, and in the future, I think, we will create more than one kin domain in our wonderful country.



Photo - Creative Workshop of Maria Orlova

Maria Orlova
Kin Domain Settlement Sunny, Samara Region

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