I met Arturo through a community network of people who wanted to live in contact with nature in a spirit of solidarity. I visited his El Quiñon eco-village in Cordoba.
Just outside the city, in a rural area facing the mountains, very close to the city. Even though everyone had their own little house or individual building, there was a collective spirit of sharing. And the desire to ‘do good’ too. Everyone could count on everyone else. It was like living in a big hameau where everyone cared about your well-being and showed you kindness and tolerance on a daily basis.
Today, he would like to live in another part of Spain in a more intimate circle, more in love, with his new partner… He considers that he has already made a huge contribution to the community. And he will soon be selling El Quiñon to an attractive alternative educational project within the Waldorf education system.
He plans to grow crops in his new home and on his plots close to El Quiñon. I could only offer him the beautiful seeds from fine seed companies such as La Semence Bio and Le potager de Santé. I asked him why he was so attached to nature and what was important to him. Like a transplanted plant, here’s what he told me with sincerity:
“I love nature, trees and vegetation in general, and I know how important it is for the balance of the planet, of human beings and of all creation. I was born in a small village in Castilla Leon and lived there for the first ten years of my life. When I was uprooted and transplanted to a city, it took me several years to adapt to the new ecosystem. So I’ve always needed contact with nature, which soothes me and connects me to the deep harmony that emanates from the soul. I think that, in a way, El Quiñon is an eco-village, at least for me. Living as a community, respecting each other and collaborating in daily life.
My fundamental values are compassion, forgiveness and humility.
We are living in a very delicate time. I fear that human beings have lost their link with nature and with God, which means losing the most important thing of all, the awareness of transcendence. So they feel lost, clinging to the material, the sentimental, the illusory, to what doesn’t prevail.
In my opinion, the beauty of seeds is that they bring us back to our primary essence, which is to be life and creation; to give, respect, protect and cultivate life. In the end, cultivating good seeds is a bit like ‘transcending your consciousness’. And the seeds themselves, endowed with a conscience, will also know how to transcend. I’m aware of that. Arturo too.
