Gerhard Dekker

Our namesake, Gerhard E. Dekker, was a lover of nature, community leader, dear friend to many and a founding member of the Northern Sun Farm Co-op, established in 1984. Northern Sun was the first Ecovillage of its kind in Manitoba, and is still a thriving community today.

Gerhard was a natural architect with a focus on conserving energy and creating beautiful, functional spaces, including the Co-op's beautiful circular community center and straw bale and passive solar homes. He designed and built a root cellar made from a buried shipping container, cold rooms, and greenhouses.

Born in the Netherlands in 1947, Gerhard traveled the world and then chose to put roots down in Manitoba in 1978. He was an inventor from an early age and became an innovative electrician and designer of new models of harnessing and utilizing energy from the Sun and wind, designing and building windmills, and re-purposing materials from other machines, such as windshield wipers from old cars becoming the pumps for hand-dug sand-point wells.

He created lighting systems that respond to touch and turn themselves off to conserve precious solar electricity in the early days of solar and battery storage capacity. He utilized a box to keep food cool underground with an electric pulley system, and many other unique gadgets.

Gerhard was fiercely independent and committed to his values, whilst also being truly devoted to community, and taking everybody's perspectives and needs deeply into consideration. He lived his beliefs: a minimalistic approach to personal possessions and ambitions which allowed for freedom, joy, and a natural pace to life. He accomplished a lot with minimal strain, a model we can all learn from! 

Gerhard was a lover of nature and a life-long learner who shared his vast stores of knowledge freely. He was very aware of the many issues with our current operating systems and the ways humans have harmed our planet and one another, and truly lived the solutions, including supporting, learning from and walking with Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island in support and solidarity.

Gerhard's legacy lives on in GEDREC's founders' hearts, and in the philosophies that inspire us to remain committed to our communities, taking care of each other and living in harmony with the Earth as much as possible.

Gerhard had a uniquely soothing effect on his friends, helping them to feel accepted for who they were (flaws and all), and always seemed to have a philosophical and/or practical solution to offer for life's many conundrums. Nobody is perfect, and part of his legacy is also in understanding this, embracing who we are holistically, learning from our flaws, and growing together as people.

"Love each other. Take care of each other."

- Gerhard Dekker