About us

We are Stanislav and Diana, a family with four kids Radosveta, Darimir, Svetozara and Eleyadara - ages 10, 8,  4 and 2, and we've created this site in the hope of finding like-minded families and individuals to join us in co-creating a community of environmentally conscious people who walk gently on Earth and take ownership of our lives, health, education and the planet's well-being, who have fun and grow together, who share food, work, learning, resources and life's bounties to the level each one feels appropriate.

We are based in Bulgaria, an hour South-West of the capital Sofia, in a 'suburb' of a village with a lot of abandoned houses, suitable for purchasing and populating to form a community within the same physical area.

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From Diana:

My mission is to help bring us closer to a peaceful co-existence with all life on our beautiful planet. I aspire to empower people to take responsibility for their own well-being and that of our children -  by taking health, birth, learning and the care for our environment into our own hands and restoring our connection with Mother Earth.

I took part in the Ecovillage Design program at Findhorn (EDE) in 2009 and got my permaculture design certificate in 2011 from Treeyo Permaculture (with Doug Crouch and Sara Wuerstle). I've been dreaming about helping create a multicultural community here in Bulgaria since 2006 and in the summer of 2013 we finally found a suitable place, which we were able to purchase before year's end. We are in the process of renovating the house and are hoping to move there permanently this Autumn.

We would love it if like minded families and individuals join us! We have many ideas for developing the place in environmentally and financially sustainable ways.

A little more about me. I went to a very international university in the USA with people from over 80 countries and I thrived in this global environment. I would love to have a small part of it here in our community. I’ve lived in California and Connecticut for 10 years, and in Australia for 2 years. I did my three Bachelor’s degrees in CT, majoring in Marketing; Mass Communications (with a concentration in PR and Advertising); and International Political Economy and Diplomacy. After graduating, I worked in an advertising agency for three years as an account manager, but got tired of this profit-thirsty industry and became a volunteer for an international non-profit called Service For Peace (SFP) that organizes international volunteer and leadership development programs in developing countries. After a few months volunteering, in 2005 I got offered a job at SFP as an International Communications Director and stayed with SFP for 7 years until I went on a long maternity leave, in the process moving back to my home country Bulgaria in 2006. In 2006, I founded a non-profit organization here in Bulgaria called Volunteer Bulgaria, doing similar work to SFPs but with a more local and regional focus, and in environmentally friendly ways.

In 2007, I became very involved with the natural birth movement in Bulgaria. I became certified as a birth preparation facilitator by ENCA, received training as a doula by DONA International and I am also a BOLD birth facilitator helping women prepare for birth. I gave birth to both my kids at home. I started leading yoga for Mums and babies until my second child turned 1. I occasionally lead yoga for pregnant women as well and I am open to leading yoga classes at the ecovillage if there are interested individuals.

I am now about to graduate with a master's degree in Environmental Engineering and working for my Master's thesis on an interesting project - implementing permaculture and sustainable principles in the management of  public parks.

From Stanislav: