The end of July is approaching, and the biketour 2015 has been on the road for about 6 weeks already! This weekend we have been staying at a private family farm near Alingsås, south-central Sweden (http://ostangsgard.se/)
This family moved from a nearby town to the countryside 8 months ago, and bought a farm. Their farm is part of the transitive initiatives network (http://alingsås.omställning.net/) – a network of groups that are working to make communities more sustainable and resilient through self-organisation and learning.
The local network here was formed in 2009 by 9 people, and have created a range of projects – such as a flea market every Saturday in summer where people can sell what they want, this is based on the idea that people buy second hand they don’t need to produce new things. It also has the purpose of being a good place to socialise and talk to more people. The transition group also started a bike kitchen where they get old bikes from municipality, a people can build and fix bikes there, but also getting bikes free from the municipality means they can give them to people who cant afford to buy one.
The group also holds social events where people sit together, make friends, and talk, based on the idea that when you talk, you start to come up with ideas. They choose a different subject each meet – such as farming, building with straw materials, inner journeys and values relating to transition, norms and how society thinks we should live and how we can challenge these norms and discourses.