Berlin’s Wagendorf Lohmühle is a Hidden Self-Sufficient Caravan Village

Biking on the margins of a beautiful canal between the Kreuzberg and Treptow areas of Berlin, we stumbled upon a magical place called <a title="Berlin's Wagendorf Lohmühle is a Caravan Village for People Seeking to be Self-Sufficient" href="http://www.lohmuehle-berlin.de/" target="_blank">Wagendorf Lohmühle</a> (Caravan Village). This artistic community transformed an area that was once a wasteland into a self-sufficient community that produces all of its own energy and food!

Wagendorf Lohmühle's recycled and hand-made <a title="http://inhabitat.com/mobile-urban-agriculture-blooms-in-berlins-prinzessinnengarten/" href="http://inhabitat.com/mobile-urban-agriculture-blooms-in-berlins-prinzessinnengarten/" target="_blank">mobile</a> shelters use solar panels to transform the sun's energy into free electricity.

Some wagons, like this geometrical wooden one, were built on-site from a wide variety of found materials.

Some other wagons have been restored, but all of them have one thing in common: an outdoors area for enjoying nature while chatting over a cup of bio-coffee.

These cute wagons, <a title="Berlin's Wagendorf Lohmühle is a Caravan Village for People Seeking to be Self-Sufficient" href="Berlin's Wagendorf Lohmühle is a Caravan Village for People Seeking to be Self-Sufficient" target="_blank">caravans</a>, and self-made experimental living shelters aim to promote cultural and artistic self-initiated projects all-year-round.

All grey water is treated using <a title="Berlin's Wagendorf Lohmühle is a Caravan Village for People Seeking to be Self-Sufficient" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_bed" target="_blank">beds of reeds</a>.

Cats, dogs, rabbits, birds and a couple of tortoises with their own home share their lives with kids and adults seeking a more natural way of living.

The residents enjoy participating in open monthly events like concerts, workshops, readings, performances, cinema and exhibitions - all powered by wind and solar energy. 

There is also a shared vermicompost -- or worm compost -- system enhanced by <a title="Berlin's Wagendorf Lohmühle is a Caravan Village for People Seeking to be Self-Sufficient" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_microorganism" target="_blank">'Effective Microorganisms' </a>(EM) - a Japanese composting technique that uses 80 species of 'friendly microorganisms" to balance the soil.

There is no running water in the community, but they reuse rainwater through simple mechanisms.

A 'Free Box' with clothes, shoes and toys is the community’s recycling stop for outgrown stuff.

Living anonymous and away from apartment blocks inside not-so-well <a title="Berlin's Wagendorf Lohmühle is a Caravan Village for People Seeking to be Self-Sufficient" href="http://inhabitat.com/spains-first-certified-passive-house-cuts-energy-use-by-90/" target="_blank">insulated</a> trailers and wagons can be great in summer, but is very tough during snowy winters.

Whether you see it as a political statement, an experimental architectural village, a hippie settlement, or just a group of people living an environmentally conscious life under their own ethics, Berlin's Wagendorf Lohmühle makes us reconsider the way we live.