Fleeing the Cities

From the Moscow Times comes word that our family's move to the country isn't so unusual. Even in the former Soviet Union people are leaving city life behind in favor of rural values and relative self-sufficiency. The Sterligov family had much more serious things to flee than we did, though, and they have made a much deeper commitment to rural self-sufficiency. But it sounds like we'd have a lot in common, assuming we could bridge the language barrier.

The financial crisis has cost some tycoons their fortunes, but one of Russia's first multimillionaires says he hasn't lost a kopek.

That's because German Sterligov, a one-time boy wonder of Russia's young market economy, dropped out of the business world years ago and started raising sheep and other livestock on two farms outside Moscow.

"We're in clover compared to the oligarchs," Sterligov said on a recent weekend. "I've got 100 sheep, a horse, a cow, some poultry and goats."

Now Sterligov, 41, is promoting an electronic barter scheme for commodities trading that he claims could save Russia's foundering financial system.

But he has no plans, he said, to return to the traditional capitalist road, saying his luxury-loving former colleagues among the superrich will soon see the virtues of simplicity and self-sufficiency.

At Sterligov's log cabin about 100 kilometers northwest of Moscow one recent afternoon, hens pecked grain from the snow in front of the porch as he scolded his four sons -- aged 4 to 12 -- for neglecting to feed the chickens properly and for "messing up the stove."

Go read the whole thing. It's a wonderful story.

H/T: Laurie