These aims are an attempt to articulate the principles we intend to exemplify in our actions and the qualities and values that inform those principles.

Agroecology: 

We will apply the principles of Agroecology in our proposed development of the land. Agroecology is defined as the use of ecological concepts and principles to study, design, and manage agricultural systems. The five main principles are: recycling of nutrients, building of soil organic matter; minimising losses from the system; maximising biodiversity and geneticdiversity; and enhancing biological interactions.

Food Sovereignty:

Food sovereignty can be understood as food autonomy or the desire to have direct control and responsibility for our food. self sufficiency in meeting our food needs is an aspiration that is central to our understanding of freedom. We aim to create food sovereignty by working to grow our own food and through local trade and exchange of goods and services. Any food we buy should be done so responsibly and sustainably to live and work towards upholding the 6 principles of food sovereignty.

Water:

We aim to have clean safe drinking water sourced as locally as possible. Water should be retained on the land through rain water harvesting. Waste water should be channeled appropriate to serve other productive or beneficial systems on the land.

Woodland and forestry:

We will create sustainable systems of agro forestry to meet our needs for fuel, food, fibre and construction materials. While ensuring the regenerative capactity of our woodlands to encourage increasingly bio diverse ecology.

Home:

We will work towards designing sustainable and low impact environmentally friendly dwellings to house people who work on the land. All material should be source locally and any dwelling must be planned according the principles of agroecology.

Renewable energy:

We will generate our own electricity and disseminate knowledge of the required technology and capacity to maintain such technology.

Self Sufficiency/Reliance:

We will actively build the capacity to be completely independent for any external economic system. We want to be able to choose the economic systems we interact with in order to live according to our principles and beliefs. We need an alternative to the current neo-liberal techno-industrial capitalist model of organisation where the accumulation of finance is the determining factor of wealth. Oppressive and authoritarian systems of domination arise through the creation of dependency. We have only to render these systems irrelevant through re-organising our society with the development of co-operative, self sufficient human scale economies.

Access to information:

We seek to ensure continual opportunities to learn and develop, and therefore must find ways to guarantee access to telecommunication tools such as the internet, and a comprehensive network libraries or other learning resources.

Building skills and knowledge:

We encourage continuation of traditional knowledge and skills to facilitate self reliance and sustainability; to develop and share local skills and knowledge. We will work towards creating the capacity to research and develop advanced engineering technology and work with outside organisations to facilitate our technological needs.

Regeneration:

We will restore and renovate the existing structures and infrastructure with traditional building techniques and ecological design methods. We will maintain roads and paths across the land and restore hedgerows. We will work to prevent further erosion and degradation of the soil.

Co-operation:

A co operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. We seek develop co-operative models of organisation that allow for flexibility and can be adapted to different group dynamic. We believe that the farm would best facilitate a large potential work force through operating a a co-operative consortia.

We fully adhere to the ICA statement on co-operative values and principles.

Health and well-being:

To promote a holistic approach to health well-being in relation to the land and a connection to place. Maintaining health is of utmost importance.

Spirituality:

We will develop awareness of our interconnected nature to create a spiritual commonality.

We will actively create and sustain peaceful and harmonious relations to all other beings. It is important to honour and be grateful for source and origins of life. We will do this by recognising and encouraging seasonal celebrations and festivities.

Trust:

We will act with kindness and conviviality to make trust and solidarity a practice of our daily life. We will create a model of communal ownership and responsibility founded upon the understanding of trust. Any forms of governance required to ensure a just society must be based on trust and mutual respect.

Freedom of expression:

We aim to maintain an environment that is open and inclusive and allows for freedom of expression. However, to enable this there must be limits. We refuse any form of authoritarianism and hierarchy and will neither accept nor tolerate any form of discrimination, be it based on religion, gender, nationality sexual orientation or social status. This forms the basis of our Agreement of Respect.

Inter-generational community:

We work to create the conditions that nourish inter-generational sharing, learning and living environments.