Launched about four years ago as an “autonomous project of collective initiative” of the Catalan Integral Cooperative (CIC), with the aim of exemplifying a humane and environmentally sustainable model of living, SOM Pujarnol is a small community of people animated by the principles of the integral revolution and agro-ecology, who live and work in a thousand-year-old tower in the Catalan province of Garrotxa.
SOM Pujarnol at night
The tower (which is known as the tower of Pujarnol in Banyoles) and the seventy acres of land surrounding it belong to a Foundation, which has leased it to the CIC for a period of fifteen years in exchange for a thousand euros per month, with the proviso that the cooperative will repair those parts of the tower which have suffered the wear and tear of time. That is, besides, the main reason why the rent of a 600 m2 tower is that low, as the ones responsible for its restoration are the members of the group living here, which is presently made up of nine persons, including two children.
For the purpose of decision making, the group has an assembly once a week, in which its members make decisions about the management of the project based on consensus. As for routine tasks like cooking and cleaning up common spaces, they are assigned through a system of job rotation, so that all members participate equally in carrying them out.
The “wheel” used by SOM Pujarnol members for the purpose of job rotation
SOM Pujarnol’s relationship with the CIC is not a relation of economic dependency, but one of collaboration based on common principles,[1] as the community no longer receives any financial support from the cooperative. Thus, for the economic viability of the project, SOM Pujarnol depends on income from three main sources: it produces and sells products – like falafel, sauces (e.g. ketchup), veggie burgers and humus – through the local eco-network in Girona and CIC’s Catalan Supply Center (CAC); it organizes events, such as jam sessions on Fridays; and it provides “bed & breakfast” accommodation for travelers who wish to spend a few days at the tower.
Music night at SOM Pujarnol
Notes
[1] It is indicative of the nature of that collaboration that SOM Pujarnol performs the function of the CIC committee that is responsible for the recruitment and induction of new CIC members (the so-called “Comissió d’Acollida”) in the province of Garrotxa.