The Place
A three-sided farmstead — Dreiseitenhof — in the village of Dobritz, Anhalt, Eastern Germany. Built in 1884 during the Wilhelmine period, with additions from the GDR era. Acquired in November 2020.
The property sits in a landscape of open fields, small villages, and abandoned estates. One hour southwest of Berlin by regional train, then twelve kilometers by bicycle through hamlets with names like Ragösen, Krakow, Bärenthoren, Polenzko, and Mühro. Wolf country. Very little traffic. Very dark at night.
The Buildings
The Farmhouse
The heart of the property. A cellar under one part, sand under the floorboards in another. Doors from 1884 with coffered panels and mounted key boxes. Three tiled stoves — the yellow one is heavenly on frigid days, though it needs six to eight hours to warm up and constant feeding with firewood. A small bathroom was added during the GDR years.
The first winter was spent camping in sleeping bags on foam mats, as close to the stoves as possible. Some nights the temperature inside dropped to minus five degrees.
The Barn
Spacious, once used as a chicken coop. The upper levels held a century’s worth of objects: animal traps, cages, old beds, chests of drawers, mystifying tools. Historical windows from the Wilhelmine period were found wedged behind beams and have been reinstalled.
The barn now hosts informal seminars, discussions about biographies and communities of the future, and explorations of emotional and social geographies in Polish literature.
The Workshop
Cleaned of decades of debris, keeping only the anvil and workbench. Received a new roof of sandwich panels — built by Paweł, the itinerant carpenter from the Carpathians, wearing his black vest with silver chains and a wide-brimmed hat against the sun.
The Stable Building
The largest ongoing construction project. Completely gutted and excavated. Plans drawn up with local architect Uwe Kelling: a commercial space on the street side, an accessible apartment, a kitchen and living room, and four guest rooms with bathrooms upstairs. Building permit granted.
The renovation spans from 2021 to the present — a story of bureaucratic navigation, ecological ambition, and the collision of trades. The old garage floor was lowered by 40 centimeters by hand, with shovels and buckets. Triple-glazed windows with anthracite frames now contrast the historical masonry. A high-performance heat pump replaced the idea of a central fireplace — ecological honesty over sentiment, with a small atmospheric stove kept for the soul.
The Land
The Farmyard
The central courtyard, paved with fieldstones under a century of soil, animal droppings, and grass. A cherry tree in full bloom draws starlings in June. Lavender in a planter swarms with yellow butterflies on summer days.
The South Field & Wooden Deck
An oblong wooden deck built by Philipp and Tomasz, coated with red fir oil. For listening to music, reading, learning languages through a headset, or just watching the clouds. In winter, a brazier of flaming firewood is placed beside it.
The Garden
Behind the barn. Small horticultural experiments. Straw from the renovation — removed from the crawl space above the bathroom, steaming and medieval-looking — was spread along the garden paths.
The Pastures
Currently lying fallow, and that serves a purpose: insects, birds, and many small creatures make their home here. The biodiversity is visible and audible.
Trees & Growing Things
Cherry, plum, apple, pear, and peach trees came with the property. Surplus fruit is shared with neighbors and the village. Ecological production of jam, fruit cake, and juice has begun.
A walnut tree, planted by Philipp, was gnawed down to a stub by a hare or deer. It was nursed back with balsam and a protective cage of reinforcing fabric — a meditative act of patience documented across a dozen photographs in the second volume.
The Neighbors
Cooperation developed naturally. A village farmer helps with his tractor; in return, he cultivates fields on the property. Depending on the season, he shares fresh vegetables. A neighboring family receives firewood for their support services. These are old patterns, renewed.
