The Moment I Walked Through the Gate I Knew I Was Home

Details

  • Interviewee: Ayla
  • Role: Community Member
  • Community: ADM
  • Date: 2026-01-14
  • Language: en

Summary

Ayla shares her experiences after arriving at ADM in January 2008, driven by her search for a place to call home. She describes the welcoming atmosphere at ADM, where she quickly integrated by helping in the kitchen and working with a stained-glass artist. Through her experiences, she highlights the community’s structure that fosters support and collaboration among its members, akin to the principles of permaculture. Over five years, Ayla reflects on her personal growth and overcoming fears, emphasizing the importance of embracing possibilities and the communal spirit at ADM.

Key quotes

At the moment I stepped through that gate I knew I was home.

How I see ADM is like permaculture with people because the rule here basically is you can live where all your neighbors agree.

I've learned that experiments can lead you to unknown paths that can be more beautiful than a pre-plan designed.

Everyone who comes here learns something else, but it’s always from the way of possibilities.

Transcript

**Ayla:** My name is Ayla and I came to ADM in January 2008 because I was on a search for a place to live. I was here at a Christmas party and someone asked me if I had a place to live and I said I’m searching for a new place, so he invited me to come to the ADM. With my bike, a blanket and a toothbrush, I arrived here in the middle of a windy night, at the moment I stepped through that gate I knew I was home.

**Ayla:** I started introducing myself to everyone I met on the road, I stepped into the kitchen and saw a woman working in the restaurant kitchen and I suggested to give her a hand and she was surprised by my offer but gave me a chance and I became her kitchen assistant.

**Ayla:** I also connected really well with a stained-glass artist and she allowed me to be her assistant. She taught me all the basics and at the moment I had enough money I bought the tools and started making stuff myself.

**Ayla:** As humans we have a tendency to look at stuff in a fragmented way, in much details but not connected to other fragments that are just as present. How I see ADM is like permaculture with people because the rule here basically is you can live where all your neighbors agree. So just like a garden when you let plants decide where they want to grow rather than making this decision for them, it works very well with humans too, because neighbors look after each other. There’s a big social safety net here because we choose who we want to live next to.

**Ayla:** I've lived here in total 5 years, there were a lot of lessons I’ve learned here… but if anything I think I managed to overcome my fears, not only of spiders, who used to be an issue, they’re friends now… but that went together with my fear of failure, I've learned that experiments can lead you to unknown paths that can be more beautiful than a pre-plan designed. I lost my fear of the experiment and the failure it might represent.

**Ayla:** Everyone who comes here learns something else, but it’s always from the way of possibilities. That is what makes us so strong, the tendency to look at the options and possibilities in a very non-restrictive way and to have that open mind towards things creates a space that vibrates this. People who come here at a festival, they get inspired, they see the options and possibilities and take that back home with them.