“We’ve spent the last week flailing around a bit, putting out fires here and there, getting involved in the latest game shows, enjoying a chance to see a lot of folks for Easter. So far, this feels like the routine. We have definitely begun to talk about how to really get the ball rolling on the epic future we have in store for this place, but honestly at this point I am also enjoying the opportunity to bang on some things, cuddle the new kids, and prepare for some visitors!” (from our first post on April 3rd, 2013 https://borgobasino.org/2013/04/03/first-week/ )

When our journey first began at Borgo Basino over a decade ago, you can see from our very first post we had both lofty and simple ambitions for this place. We saw incredible potential in creating an ecovillage, bringing together our global connections and living in a way that could be a model for a more interconnected, peaceful world. We also had time to watch game shows, cuddle four-legged kids, and spend quality time with friends and family. Over the years, our ambitions have changed in some ways but also remained remarkably resilient to the emergent “fires” and a “routine” which has been anything but predictable.

Our posts are just a small window onto the rich, blessed, and incredible journey we’ve been on with hundreds of visitors, community members and even new two-legged kids together over these years. It has felt epic at times, but also remarkably simple and humble at others.

“For me, admitting my weaknesses is important. It helps me know my limits and opens me up to great connection with people around me.  Entrusting all of myself to the people I love and care about, even and especially when I’m not feeling good, is the important thing for me about building interdependence. I dream of creating networks of mutual support, because in practice self-sufficiency doesn’t exist in nature. (from the post on May 19th, 2021 –https://borgobasino.org/2021/05/19/interdependence/ )”

In that spirit, it is time to share that Borgo Basino will close as a project at the end of this month. We have navigated these years together in great wonder, disappointment and interdependence. As the climate, community and our family have changed in these years, we still believe in the power of mutual support and connectedness. We recognize that this power has helped us adapt to changing community members, COVID lockdowns, devastating landslides, machiavellian bureaucracy, and ultimately an economic system hell-bent on exploitation. But we have reached the end of what we can sustain.

After a very painful process of discernment, we have decided that we can no longer keep this project going. We have decided that despite the many wonders we have shared and experienced, permanence at all costs is not a measure of success at the expense of our well-being. While there could be no way to completely summarize here all the factors that lead to this decision, we want each of you to know that we are deeply grateful for the support and encouragement you have given us over the years.  It is a wonder and has made this process even more challenging, as we feel so torn about letting go of all of the beauty we’ve built together. We are challenged by the words of Langston Hughes: “Hold fast to dreams/For when dreams go/Life is a barren field/frozen with snow.” We have tried to hold off the barrenness, keep it at bay. If we have learned anything from the turning seasons though, it must be that even after a barren winter, the fallen leaves that no human hand can hold on the autumnal branches inevitably compost into the possibility of a new spring. This summer we will return to the United States, to Olympia where we first hatched our plans for Borgo Basino, and we will see what comes next.

We have struggled about how to share this news publicly, unsure about how it might impact our business, our relationships and our future.  But it is time to remind ourselves again to entrust ourselves to each of you, share what we are really feeling.

“I do know we are the kind of farmers willing to take lessons from what we observe. This appearance of lone wolves can be taken as an invitation to raise questions about their expertise in the interplay between individual and collective goals and needs.” (from the post on February 1st, 2022  –https://borgobasino.org/2022/02/01/we-are-with-the-wolf/ )

So we admit that what we have observed in these last years, in particular, is that we are not experts in building our pack while taking care of our individual needs.  We have observed enormous strain on our family as we meet unexpected setbacks and cannot always find a way to stay united and autonomous in our goals and needs. We will leave this place with tremendous sadness for all the things we’d hoped to achieve.

Last week we hosted a group from a US university, the first tour of its kind with a North American group since COVID, and we were reminded that not everything works on the timeline or strategic plan you dreamed about. A big part of what we’d imagined for this place was just this kind of integration of our two cultures into this project. As painful as it felt to finally do one part of the many goals we’d had for this place, we know the dream hasn’t died but just needs to change form. We are still alive and blessed and walking out into what’s next in the best way we can.

We are so appreciative of each of you that have encouraged us, visited us, supported us, dreamed about us, and shared in some part of this journey together. We hope that you will stay a part of our pack as we venture out into familiar but new territory, older and hopefully a little wiser, together. We invite you to share in the comments or directly with us any ways you’ve been touched by Borgo Basino.