Hey. Sorry I haven't been updating this. My time on the internet is difficult to get and limited so I had to prioritize and blogging got dropped. I'm having the time of my life and I know limiting my use of electronics out here is good for me. My cell phone jumped in Nanaimo river with me last weekend so it's out of commission too.
Here's the link to my Ecovillage photo collection where I add recent pictures somewhat often. They'll give you a good idea of what I've been up to. I'll let pictures tell the thousands of words that I don't have time to write. It's all worth it and because I'm learning in stead of spending time writing recaps, I'll have much more to give when I leave this place so please accept my apology and reason if you are saddened by my lack of posting. Love.
Forgive me for it has been 2 weeks since I last blogged
Wow. Two weeks since I last updated. It's been so busy here and my computer finally came back from the dead on Monday. It's still not connecting to the internet here though which is so frustrating and causing me to get behind in my commitments back East. I feel like my car ran out of gas on a trip to far away and now I'm arriving late to everything. It's an awful feeling.
So since I don't have time to describe everything we did, I'm going to list it and some day if I stumble across the mythical creature called Spare Time, I will elaborate on them.
* 2 Day workshop on Council - I intend to use this tool which combines speaking and listening from a place of truth and heart for creating community and stronger relationships wherever I am.
* 5 Days of Curvalinear Foundations with Gord Baird. We set up the forms for the curvalinear fabric which will be filled with concrete and serve as a water barrier. Cob walls are stronger when they're curved so this makes sense for cob walls of the house. So much fun and we got it all done in about 3 days. Go team.
* Visited Gord and Ann Baird's natural home they designed and built that blew me away. I took pictures and recordings that I'm so excited to pass on. Here's their website: www.eco-sense.ca
* Weekend (Mon/Tues) Stayed in a hostel in Victoria for two nights. Got some wicked stuff at the Sunday market. Talked for a few hours with a 13 year old girl skipping school. We talked about so many things: climate change, the government, detrimental social norms, feminism, sexism, being a hermit. I was so much like her at that age.
* 5 Days of Brown Coating the interior of the Art Studio - brown coat goes between the cob structure and the finishing plaster. It's where all the detail, smooth walls, and/or sculpture are put on. I was tasked with fixing an odd window to look good. I went into the woods and picked some fiddlehead ferns then brown coat sculpted two of them above the window on the outside of the East wall. You'll see pictures eventually I'm sure.
* Stayed at Elke's house then picked up my computer from the repair shop. They replaced my hard drive but I still needed to buy an XP disc. So that cost me almost as much as I payed for the computer. Now the power on it goes from 100% to 0% in about 5 minutes. Ugh.
* Started timberframing with Randy, a master timberframer. We'll go until Sunday. We're building a trellus to grow haning food from. Should be monolithic and be able to bear about 500 times the weight we're puting on it. Good learning project though and a timberframe structure can be moved to another location in the future.
When I finally get my computer issues sorted out there will be pictures, I promise. Love and light.
So since I don't have time to describe everything we did, I'm going to list it and some day if I stumble across the mythical creature called Spare Time, I will elaborate on them.
* 2 Day workshop on Council - I intend to use this tool which combines speaking and listening from a place of truth and heart for creating community and stronger relationships wherever I am.
* 5 Days of Curvalinear Foundations with Gord Baird. We set up the forms for the curvalinear fabric which will be filled with concrete and serve as a water barrier. Cob walls are stronger when they're curved so this makes sense for cob walls of the house. So much fun and we got it all done in about 3 days. Go team.
* Visited Gord and Ann Baird's natural home they designed and built that blew me away. I took pictures and recordings that I'm so excited to pass on. Here's their website: www.eco-sense.ca
* Weekend (Mon/Tues) Stayed in a hostel in Victoria for two nights. Got some wicked stuff at the Sunday market. Talked for a few hours with a 13 year old girl skipping school. We talked about so many things: climate change, the government, detrimental social norms, feminism, sexism, being a hermit. I was so much like her at that age.
* 5 Days of Brown Coating the interior of the Art Studio - brown coat goes between the cob structure and the finishing plaster. It's where all the detail, smooth walls, and/or sculpture are put on. I was tasked with fixing an odd window to look good. I went into the woods and picked some fiddlehead ferns then brown coat sculpted two of them above the window on the outside of the East wall. You'll see pictures eventually I'm sure.
* Stayed at Elke's house then picked up my computer from the repair shop. They replaced my hard drive but I still needed to buy an XP disc. So that cost me almost as much as I payed for the computer. Now the power on it goes from 100% to 0% in about 5 minutes. Ugh.
* Started timberframing with Randy, a master timberframer. We'll go until Sunday. We're building a trellus to grow haning food from. Should be monolithic and be able to bear about 500 times the weight we're puting on it. Good learning project though and a timberframe structure can be moved to another location in the future.
When I finally get my computer issues sorted out there will be pictures, I promise. Love and light.
Anti-Viral Herbs and Fasting Healed Me Fast
On Wednesday morning, I was preparing a ride to go to a walk in clinic since I wasn't getting better. Fortunately, I spoke with Rebecca before taking off. She's the wife of John, a fellow natural building intern, and parenting their little son Osha. Rebecca trained with an herbal guru so we decided to talk about my sickness and see what the best path to healing would likely be. Since I was fairly certain it was a virus and she agreed, a doctor wouldn't have been able to do anything for me. Even anti-biotics aren't effective against viruses, to my understanding, plus they can really mess you up. Thankfully, there are many anti-viral herbs grown around the property. For the next two days, I picked, dried and brewed myself many teas of oregano, thyme, and lemon balm, with honey and fresh ginger. My intuition had been telling me to fast (not eat) so we agreed that I would fast all Thursday.
It's really hard to fast when there's the yummiest super-healthy food prepared for you by a wonderful woman after all our hearts named Jan. And I did it! ...along with about 4 litres of the herbal brew. The next day, I was a bit weak but knew that I had been healed and have been since. Now I'm filled with energy and joy of being well again. Thanks everyone for your concern and support. Love.
It's really hard to fast when there's the yummiest super-healthy food prepared for you by a wonderful woman after all our hearts named Jan. And I did it! ...along with about 4 litres of the herbal brew. The next day, I was a bit weak but knew that I had been healed and have been since. Now I'm filled with energy and joy of being well again. Thanks everyone for your concern and support. Love.
Freya's Curvalinear Foundation
Last week we were in the dug foundation of Freya's house, the first of nine residences being built here. I totally geeked out when we were helping Gord calculate and position the rebar and forms for the foundation footings. There are two kinds of structure going on, timberframe and cob, plus 5 different kinds of footing designs. This is the kind of math I loved so much in high school that I went and majored in math in university. But since we didn't do any geometry and not even one application in university, I left that program after two years. The timberframing footings need to be accurate within 1/64 an inch. Cob is more forgiving so you can be within 1/4 an inch and still be fine. We used trigonometry, string, laser levels, and neat tricks to line things up.
We're teaching curvalinear foundation, which allows us to create a curved foundation for curved walls. The technique involves posting rebar, lining with curved wood forms and laying fabric to pour the concrete. Geeky fun times were followed by sledge hammering rebar into the ground. It's good for building confidence in your own power and motor skills.
We're teaching curvalinear foundation, which allows us to create a curved foundation for curved walls. The technique involves posting rebar, lining with curved wood forms and laying fabric to pour the concrete. Geeky fun times were followed by sledge hammering rebar into the ground. It's good for building confidence in your own power and motor skills.
My Computer and I Are Sick
Sorry I haven't updated in a week. My laptop died on Friday night with a hal.dll error preventing Windows from launching. So either I buy a copy of XP for as much money as I payed for the computer or I install Linux...hmmmm free stable operating system or $230 to a ginormous stinking rich corporation. hmmmm.
My body is under siege as well. Two weeks ago, this illness started as aches and a cold. For the past two days, I've spent several hours in the afternoon unable to stay awake. Other people on the ecovillage and in the surrounding area are sick with what seems to be the same thing. There are rumours that some end up with pneumonia. I feel like I have mono in waves throughout the day and I'm only healthy feeling in the morning. Anyways, if you have any idea what this is or what healing method I should attempt, please advise. So far, I'm drinking lots of lemon balm (an herb we grow here) and fresh ginger tea to boost my thyroid and immune systems. Maybe it's time to visit a doctor.
My body is under siege as well. Two weeks ago, this illness started as aches and a cold. For the past two days, I've spent several hours in the afternoon unable to stay awake. Other people on the ecovillage and in the surrounding area are sick with what seems to be the same thing. There are rumours that some end up with pneumonia. I feel like I have mono in waves throughout the day and I'm only healthy feeling in the morning. Anyways, if you have any idea what this is or what healing method I should attempt, please advise. So far, I'm drinking lots of lemon balm (an herb we grow here) and fresh ginger tea to boost my thyroid and immune systems. Maybe it's time to visit a doctor.
May 8: Solar Gain in Victoria
We spent Thursday visiting three different places in Victoria. First we visited Solar Crest, a booming solar hot water system company. Solar hot water is my second favorite solar heating technique. It's currently the most viable alternative technology out there. The system that Solar Crest installs is inexpensive, there aren't many links in the energy transfer chain, it saves so much money since heating water and space is the biggest drain on your energy bill, there's only one moving part, each tube costs only $10 to replace, the broken tube material can be recycled, the energy source never doesn't need to be transported to your building, water is used as a battery instead of toxic materials, the environmental cost of producing the system can be offset withing 2 months of operation, paying for the system takes around 7 years and after 30 years of operation, the tubes are still heating water for free. The system gets put on your roof and hooked into your existing hot water tank. The way it's hooked up, you're never short of hot water and the system only uses the panels if it can get enough solar gain so you're not cooling the water.
We also visited Burnside Community Centre and got a tour of their LEED Gold building. Neat place and I love what they do for Victoria but almost the entire building was cement, which made all of us rather skeptical of the LEED system. Natural builders could pursue LEED certification and get it fairly easily but I don't know any of our buildings that have. It's an improvement on conventional building but sometimes the bigger picture gets disregarded. I'm glad it exists but it doesn't appeal to us all that much.
Last on our tour was Energy Alternatives who install mostly solar panels and wind turbines but do delve into other alternative technologies such as composting toilets.
We also visited Burnside Community Centre and got a tour of their LEED Gold building. Neat place and I love what they do for Victoria but almost the entire building was cement, which made all of us rather skeptical of the LEED system. Natural builders could pursue LEED certification and get it fairly easily but I don't know any of our buildings that have. It's an improvement on conventional building but sometimes the bigger picture gets disregarded. I'm glad it exists but it doesn't appeal to us all that much.
Last on our tour was Energy Alternatives who install mostly solar panels and wind turbines but do delve into other alternative technologies such as composting toilets.
May 3-4: A Hundred People at the Ecovillage Convergence
As part of the natural building interns' escape from the Ecovillage Convergence, we had an 8am to 4pm workshop on Project Management for Homeowners with Randy on Saturday and Sunday. He gave us a great intro to what and who is involved in the building of a house. It can be overwhelming and intimidating when one learns just how many blocks are presently in the way of natural building. We talked about what makes a good site manager, who is good to have as your architect if you want/need one, what papers do you need an architect or engineer's signature on, how to schedule the critical path of a project, insurance, budget, and some other stuff.
I hopped out of the workshop from 2-4pm to lead a cob mixing workshop for the Convergence participants with Dawn. Cob is a mix of roughly and quite variantly 1 part clay to 2 parts sand, some water and some straw or other fiber, like hemp stock. It was fun. A couple folks took off their boots and socks and got right in the mud to mix it up real good then we started building a cob bench and garden wall on the stone foundation the Convergence folks built together under Elke's instruction.
I expected myself to get really excited about having so many interesting people here and would get to know the visitors. But almost all the interns, including myself, retreated into hiding from it all. I guess 100 people in your living space can be a little overwhelming, especially when they're not used to living communally. The Convergence actually went really great. Check out the call out for participants here, if you're interested in what it was all about. There will be another one in September.
I hopped out of the workshop from 2-4pm to lead a cob mixing workshop for the Convergence participants with Dawn. Cob is a mix of roughly and quite variantly 1 part clay to 2 parts sand, some water and some straw or other fiber, like hemp stock. It was fun. A couple folks took off their boots and socks and got right in the mud to mix it up real good then we started building a cob bench and garden wall on the stone foundation the Convergence folks built together under Elke's instruction.
I expected myself to get really excited about having so many interesting people here and would get to know the visitors. But almost all the interns, including myself, retreated into hiding from it all. I guess 100 people in your living space can be a little overwhelming, especially when they're not used to living communally. The Convergence actually went really great. Check out the call out for participants here, if you're interested in what it was all about. There will be another one in September.
May 2: Alcove Awakening Alder
Randy, one of our instructors who specializes in timber framing, gave us a safety run-through on the art studio work site. After a thorough discussion, we all got back to work. Dawn taught me how to operate the cordless circular saw and I cut her some pieces to frame in the rear art studio room windows. Fun fun. Earlier in the day, some alder saplings were cut down to make way for vehicle access to Freya's house which just had the foundation dug last week. In spirit of salvaging materials, I'm using a draw knife to skin the bark off the saplings to be used in a shelf John and I are building into the cob wall above the sleeping cove bed in the art studio. I'll have pictures when it's done, I'm sure. I really loved using the draw knife as it felt like a part of my body and was very meditative to use. It's an old school hand tool with two handles that you pull towards yourself to carve off strips of wood or bark. I was exhausted from the day but even late that night when I closed my eyes I could see myself still doing it and wanted to go back for more. I'm actually going to go do some right now as a break from typing. Hehe...Okay, 3 hours and a bowl of vegan chili later, I'm back. On Wednesday, Elke, John and I designed and started fabricating the bed, and loft storage shelf to build into the cob alcove in the front room of the art studio.
People from many parts of BC but mostly Vancouver and Victoria started arriving for the Ecovillage Convergence happening Saturday and Sunday. By tomorrow afternoon, there should be an extra 70 people on site staying for two days of some yummy back to nature and community goodness.
People from many parts of BC but mostly Vancouver and Victoria started arriving for the Ecovillage Convergence happening Saturday and Sunday. By tomorrow afternoon, there should be an extra 70 people on site staying for two days of some yummy back to nature and community goodness.
May 1: Dreamcatcher
Each One Teach One is what we're calling the workshops that each intern will create and give all on their own. This week was Kata's workshop. She taught us how to make our own dreamcatcher from cedar branches, string, slices of shells, and feathers that she collected herself. I brought some rain forest jasper stones and a piece of cedar "leaf" to add to mine. It's delicate and strong hand work, meditative and tense, real world meets dream world. I'm so glad I can make these now and pass on the gift onto my friends.
April 30: Design, Moziro cafe and Elkington Living Forest
In the morning, we got talking about what group design projects we want to commit to. Ideas include:
Gathering station/chalet design for the Living Forest Community's Elkington eco-forestry housing development;
Moziro coffee shop improvement design;
Eco-four-plex in Yarrow (Brian's project);
Majlis Community Art Centre (a project I'm working on in Toronto);
and within O.U.R. Ecovillage:
Bicycle shed
Meditation/hermitage space
Yoga/library space above art studio
Natural renovation/expansion of office and main house
We need to each choose one to help design. It's so hard to decide. They all sound so cool
Later, we visited Moziro, a coffee shop close by in Shawnigan Lake who are sponsoring some the internship. In return of their support, we visited the cafe, had amazing mochas bean roasted behind the counter, and discussed what design project they'd like us to work on for them. There was some brain storming around replacing their back deck with something, maybe making a rocket-stove seating area, more patio space, more bean roasting and packaging area, flowers and/or berry growing, and some way to celebrate and encourage the compostable cups they use for take-out coffee. It's such a cute space and a really nice couple running the place with their kids often hanging out there.
After heading back to the ecovillage for yet another super-healthy meal prepared by the one and only Jan, we piled back into the carpool and drove 25 minutes up into the mountain range to visit the Living Forest Community development called Elkington Forest. For many, this was our first time seeing first-hand the devastation of old-growth logging. My eyes teared up as we were driving up an otherwise pristine mountain that was being turned into 5 acre house lots and subdivisions. It went on and on with pavement, logging, street lamps, and dump trucks. Terribly sad. Our saving grace was the Living Forest group of environmental developers that are setting up their 1000 acre area to regrow the old growth and regulate the building practices of new residents. Almost all of the old growth forest on the mountain range that was hundreds of years old had been devastated in the 20s and so the 2nd growth forest is now about 80 years old. In the 90s, loggers had cleared many areas throughout the range, leaving about 50% of the trees dead in it's wake so they could only take the cream of the crop and leave the rest to off-gas it's fuel uselessly through decomposition. It had been explained that although decomposition is good for topsoil, an optimal amount of fell trees is about 25 square metres per hectare whereas most loggers leave 200-300 metres, which also creates a fire hazard. We hiked up to the top of the mountain range and enjoyed the view. Eleven kilometres later, were back at the cars, enjoyed some coffee and vegan baked goods then went home to storm up some design ideas for the Living Forest Community.
Gathering station/chalet design for the Living Forest Community's Elkington eco-forestry housing development;
Moziro coffee shop improvement design;
Eco-four-plex in Yarrow (Brian's project);
Majlis Community Art Centre (a project I'm working on in Toronto);
and within O.U.R. Ecovillage:
Bicycle shed
Meditation/hermitage space
Yoga/library space above art studio
Natural renovation/expansion of office and main house
We need to each choose one to help design. It's so hard to decide. They all sound so cool
Later, we visited Moziro, a coffee shop close by in Shawnigan Lake who are sponsoring some the internship. In return of their support, we visited the cafe, had amazing mochas bean roasted behind the counter, and discussed what design project they'd like us to work on for them. There was some brain storming around replacing their back deck with something, maybe making a rocket-stove seating area, more patio space, more bean roasting and packaging area, flowers and/or berry growing, and some way to celebrate and encourage the compostable cups they use for take-out coffee. It's such a cute space and a really nice couple running the place with their kids often hanging out there.
After heading back to the ecovillage for yet another super-healthy meal prepared by the one and only Jan, we piled back into the carpool and drove 25 minutes up into the mountain range to visit the Living Forest Community development called Elkington Forest. For many, this was our first time seeing first-hand the devastation of old-growth logging. My eyes teared up as we were driving up an otherwise pristine mountain that was being turned into 5 acre house lots and subdivisions. It went on and on with pavement, logging, street lamps, and dump trucks. Terribly sad. Our saving grace was the Living Forest group of environmental developers that are setting up their 1000 acre area to regrow the old growth and regulate the building practices of new residents. Almost all of the old growth forest on the mountain range that was hundreds of years old had been devastated in the 20s and so the 2nd growth forest is now about 80 years old. In the 90s, loggers had cleared many areas throughout the range, leaving about 50% of the trees dead in it's wake so they could only take the cream of the crop and leave the rest to off-gas it's fuel uselessly through decomposition. It had been explained that although decomposition is good for topsoil, an optimal amount of fell trees is about 25 square metres per hectare whereas most loggers leave 200-300 metres, which also creates a fire hazard. We hiked up to the top of the mountain range and enjoyed the view. Eleven kilometres later, were back at the cars, enjoyed some coffee and vegan baked goods then went home to storm up some design ideas for the Living Forest Community.
April 27: Critical Path
After our bow-in ritual, which I'll explain in a later post, the intern crew started hammering out our critical path, which is a fancy project management term for schedule. Turns out, to meet the workshop deadlines and complete the art studio, we need to do in about 9 work days what should take a building crew a month. We're going to frame the walls, infill them with a light clay mix, frame the roof, build scaffolding, a bench, closet, bed, storage, take care of an over-extended beam, design a yoga studio slash library upstairs, install electrical, prepare for the brown (base) coat of earth plaster by roughing in the windows and doors, and fix some cob areas built last year. We're really feeling deadlines now but we all know we'll bang, bang, bang, get it done (inside joke) easy because we're an awesome team.
Over the course of about two days, I had been rather freaked out by my commitments made as a board member of the New University Cooperative before I knew I was coming here in March. Due dates were coming fast and I could barely even find 20 minutes to check my emails in days. After working it out in my head, I needed to let my board members know that by reducing my current work load, I would be benefiting them in the long run since everything I learn here is applicable and very useful to our future plans to create grassroots ecological, affordable, accessible, alternative universities across Canada. One of my tasks that I kept is to improve our website www.newuniversity.ca. Check it out. My request was well received by my fellow board members and as a result, I am de-stressed, more productive and back to being present in my growing and building here. In that time of worry though, my immune system weakened and I received the illness that had been passed around to a few people. Thankfully, since I took care of the source of my weakness, I got over it in a matter of days with the help of oil of oregano and a tonic of ecchinecia (sp?) that really kicks you in the face. Heheh. Yay.
Over the course of about two days, I had been rather freaked out by my commitments made as a board member of the New University Cooperative before I knew I was coming here in March. Due dates were coming fast and I could barely even find 20 minutes to check my emails in days. After working it out in my head, I needed to let my board members know that by reducing my current work load, I would be benefiting them in the long run since everything I learn here is applicable and very useful to our future plans to create grassroots ecological, affordable, accessible, alternative universities across Canada. One of my tasks that I kept is to improve our website www.newuniversity.ca. Check it out. My request was well received by my fellow board members and as a result, I am de-stressed, more productive and back to being present in my growing and building here. In that time of worry though, my immune system weakened and I received the illness that had been passed around to a few people. Thankfully, since I took care of the source of my weakness, I got over it in a matter of days with the help of oil of oregano and a tonic of ecchinecia (sp?) that really kicks you in the face. Heheh. Yay.
April 26: Earth Day in Duncan
We gathered into vehicles at ten to 8am and took off for Duncan's Earth Day celebration. Duncan is a town near the ecovillage called the town of totems and there were plenty of them to enjoy. We arrived and set up the tent for O.U.R. Ecovillage. There was an area we set up to build a demonstration natural building model out of cob, sticks, and stones – ancient building materials with durability, solar thermal mass and breathable walls with a skylight doubling as a smoke escape hole, of course to be closed up temporarily during rain. The booth explained what the Ecovillage is and does, who lives there, what progress has been made and what the plans are for the coming years. Every time you looked at the tent, people were talking, local people, other environmentally concerned people and just anyone curious enough to ask. All outside, many tents were set up to present locally made goods, food, campaigns, and teachings. I visited one woman, Rommy, selling her handmade “heart song” flutes from all different types of wood. She played one for me and as much as I was drawn, I intuited that it's not my time to play this instrument, that this is something for when I'm a bit older and wiser. My time will come.
On the main stage, people played drums of many kinds, played guitars, and sang. Kata, Brian, Jacob, myself and William, our yoga instructor and part-time builder on site at the ecovillage, got up on stage and performed yoga in a way that I doubt many have ever even thought of. It was a performance of rythmic Iyengar, painted faces, draping clothing, bows, sticks and a mask worn by William to transform him into a magical being. We danced our yoga, chanted, hollered when we felt it and flowed in the energy exuded by William, echoing his freedom and expression of harmony in the four quadrants of the native medicine wheel. As we were warming up, I got a feel for the first time of the sticks that William created to assist poses. I felt the flow of my yoga more than ever before. I felt my asanas were finally complete and I knew exactly what my body and spirit needed next. In bare feet and a painted face, I moved in new ways that felt more me than I ever felt following a yoga instructor or book. The crowd was entranced, from what I was told and we had a blast. After the gratitude circle before dinner that evening, William heard my appreciation of the yoga sticks and gave me his. One is darker wood than the other, to express the balance of light and dark, yin and yang, something I have been integrating more and more into my being. I give thanks.
After packing up, some of us went over to a much loved place called the Garage which is a cafe, bookstore, and healthy goods store in one. I bought some awesome biodegradable soap and conditioner. Kata was deal-making with a local jewelry store owner to buy her gorgeous handcrafted jewelry made of rare stones and silver. When we went to collect her, I stumbled upon a nautilus shell for meditation and abalone shell to burn incense and smudge with, both of which are so beautiful. Everyone was pretty pooped and joyful when we got back to the ecovillage. What a special day. I'm glad we got to share O.U.R. spirit with the local community.
On the main stage, people played drums of many kinds, played guitars, and sang. Kata, Brian, Jacob, myself and William, our yoga instructor and part-time builder on site at the ecovillage, got up on stage and performed yoga in a way that I doubt many have ever even thought of. It was a performance of rythmic Iyengar, painted faces, draping clothing, bows, sticks and a mask worn by William to transform him into a magical being. We danced our yoga, chanted, hollered when we felt it and flowed in the energy exuded by William, echoing his freedom and expression of harmony in the four quadrants of the native medicine wheel. As we were warming up, I got a feel for the first time of the sticks that William created to assist poses. I felt the flow of my yoga more than ever before. I felt my asanas were finally complete and I knew exactly what my body and spirit needed next. In bare feet and a painted face, I moved in new ways that felt more me than I ever felt following a yoga instructor or book. The crowd was entranced, from what I was told and we had a blast. After the gratitude circle before dinner that evening, William heard my appreciation of the yoga sticks and gave me his. One is darker wood than the other, to express the balance of light and dark, yin and yang, something I have been integrating more and more into my being. I give thanks.
After packing up, some of us went over to a much loved place called the Garage which is a cafe, bookstore, and healthy goods store in one. I bought some awesome biodegradable soap and conditioner. Kata was deal-making with a local jewelry store owner to buy her gorgeous handcrafted jewelry made of rare stones and silver. When we went to collect her, I stumbled upon a nautilus shell for meditation and abalone shell to burn incense and smudge with, both of which are so beautiful. Everyone was pretty pooped and joyful when we got back to the ecovillage. What a special day. I'm glad we got to share O.U.R. spirit with the local community.
April 25: Gord Foundation and Roger Woodworking
Gord Baird of EcoSense came by and worked with us to start setting up Freya's house foundation for the natural building course he's teaching here called Curvilinear Foundations for Sustainable Building. Freya is Brandy's little daughter (see pictures) and their house is the first of 9 residence buildings going up. One of the buildings is a commons house and the rest are live-in buildings. After Gord showed the bobcat operator where to dig, we went over to Roger's woodworking shop. Roger, described by my friend Jadis as a white-bearded bon-vivant, lives here and spends most of his time in the shop making furniture and similar things when he's not sipping Earl Grey or teasing someone. It's his birthday on Beltane, May 1st. They've got so many cool tools in the shop. Almost everything you could ask for. Gotta watch our fingers so they don't go missing, though. Respect the tools and they'll respect your anatomy.
April 24: Art Studio, Solar Guys, and Skills Inventory
We restarted construction on the art studio after its winter slumber. What an gorgeous building it's going to be. It's intended for one artist to sleep and create in during the warm seasons. The front room is for living, office work, sleeping, eating and socializing. It has a wood bench, desk, shelves, and patterns of glass bottles sculpted in the earthen interior walls. There are big wooden beams lining the ceiling. A bed is being built into a little sleeping nook with storage underneath. A task assigned to me and John is to build a wooden shelf above the bed. We've got a radiant design in mind, using alder saplings, that will be beautiful to look up at as you fall asleep or wake up there. Then the back room is a 20' ceiling art studio with tall windows, looking into the woods but still exposed to plenty of sunlight. There's talk of building a kiln in there. Eric, one of the interns, having been a pottery maker for ten years has experience in this. We got right to work with efficiency, joy and ease, singing songs as we shoveled, hauled, hammered, and sawed. I'm so excited to work with these wonderful people.
Then after lunch, Colin Bernard and John Bowers (the “Solar guys”) from Solar Crest Innovation arrived to help us out with our solar hot water panels that got blown off in the snow storm we had last week and also to talk to us about solar heating (not solar power). That's where we learned about the efficiency and general awesomeness of using the sun to heat water and space, of course with an on-demand backup system in place. They were really nice and knowledgeable dudes. Colin took out one of the vacuum solar tubes for demo. In 10 minutes, the copper tip was too hot to touch, but perfect for heating up a cup of java, as they often do on work sites. Using the sun's radiation directly avoids losing energy through conversion. Heating masses, such as water or stone to store and radiate the heat slowly is one of Gaia and Sun's technologies that we should be so thankful for. No solar panels, no wasted electricity, no loss of energy in powering a heating device and storing, inexpensive and few materials, super low maintenance (one moving part), and hardly any waste at end of life. What more could you ask for? I'll talk more about the benefits of radiant heating in other posts.
We finished the day with taking inventory of everyone's skills. Along with many having experience in conventional building, such as carpentry, electrical and plumbing work, there was quite a range of more rare trades skills. I mentioned Eric who can make kilns. Kata makes most of her living by working with metals for stone jewelry, which took my breath when I saw them. So beautiful. There are people who are good with knots, welding, metal fabrication, artistic design, etc. Then there's the more 'natural building' skills. Many here have experience in cob building, plastering, stone work, masonry, woodworking, weaving, salvage, sculpture, straw bale building, and alternative systems such as rainwater collection, in floor heating, solar heating. I put myself down as having experience in woodworking, cob, welding, earthbag structures, green roof design and install, and lime plastering.
Then after lunch, Colin Bernard and John Bowers (the “Solar guys”) from Solar Crest Innovation arrived to help us out with our solar hot water panels that got blown off in the snow storm we had last week and also to talk to us about solar heating (not solar power). That's where we learned about the efficiency and general awesomeness of using the sun to heat water and space, of course with an on-demand backup system in place. They were really nice and knowledgeable dudes. Colin took out one of the vacuum solar tubes for demo. In 10 minutes, the copper tip was too hot to touch, but perfect for heating up a cup of java, as they often do on work sites. Using the sun's radiation directly avoids losing energy through conversion. Heating masses, such as water or stone to store and radiate the heat slowly is one of Gaia and Sun's technologies that we should be so thankful for. No solar panels, no wasted electricity, no loss of energy in powering a heating device and storing, inexpensive and few materials, super low maintenance (one moving part), and hardly any waste at end of life. What more could you ask for? I'll talk more about the benefits of radiant heating in other posts.
We finished the day with taking inventory of everyone's skills. Along with many having experience in conventional building, such as carpentry, electrical and plumbing work, there was quite a range of more rare trades skills. I mentioned Eric who can make kilns. Kata makes most of her living by working with metals for stone jewelry, which took my breath when I saw them. So beautiful. There are people who are good with knots, welding, metal fabrication, artistic design, etc. Then there's the more 'natural building' skills. Many here have experience in cob building, plastering, stone work, masonry, woodworking, weaving, salvage, sculpture, straw bale building, and alternative systems such as rainwater collection, in floor heating, solar heating. I put myself down as having experience in woodworking, cob, welding, earthbag structures, green roof design and install, and lime plastering.
April 23: Intern Project and Morocco Rebuilding
After our first Monday/Tuesday weekend and a sweet 6am yoga session to get our juices going, we huddled together in the yurt and discussed what we want to take on for our intern group project. We haven't decided yet but some ideas are to organize the 2009 Natural Building Colloquium being hosted by O.U.R. Ecovillage. Another idea was to help Elke coordinate her building project in Morocco. There are many villages there that were struck by a terribly flood in October 2007, leaving many homes demolished. They're goal is to have 100 homes built in a season. They think what they'll do is design a simple structure of local vernacular that suits the climate and culture of each village, taking into account that there will likely be more floods to come. Then after building a few with local builders and workers, enough knowledge will be passed on for the villagers to construct the rest. What needs to happen at this stage is to coordinate funding, accommodation, organizational structure and staff, including a screening process to get the right skills and personalities on board, and, of course, plan some fun for when it's done...maybe some camel riding in the Sahara desert nearby.
Rocket Mass Heaters Rocket Me
I woke up this morning and started reading a book called Rocket Mass Heaters, Superefficient Woodstoves You Can Build (and Snuggle up to) by Ianto Evans and Leslie Jackson of the Cob Cottage company. I wanted to share this as a follow up to my last post regarding thermal mass and better ways to heat space. Rocket stoves rock! The interns at Yestermorrow built one while I was there for a course last summer. Mmmmmm, cheap, efficient heaters. Here's a quote right from the book. My instructor Elke used to build with Ianto and Linda Smiley so the book I was reading from had Ianto's signature.
“We live in a surprising time. Every so often one can wake up to a societal myth that one has accepted all one's life. The myths that houses need to be heated permeates North America and society has encapsulated this obvious fable in law. Building regulations have demanded that whether you're home or not, every single corner of the interior of your house should be heatable to an equal 70°F. Let's be clear. Provided you don't let the water freeze, your house could not care less whether it's heated. The inhabitants are the only beings who count. We want to heat people, not houses. Once we understand this, the situation gets much easier.
Humans, like all mammals, are self-heating. We have our own internal stoves, burning food to make heat. But as we become less physically active and spend more time indoors, we have become used to wearing clothes to slow the loss of our autonomously generated heat. In an unheated building we can adjust our comfort by adding clothes or through activity or by surrounding ourselves with warmth or through all three.
Houses heated by forced air or furnaces depend upon our bodies being on contact only with the warmed air inside the house. A house can contain an awful lot of warm air, of which only a very small proportion ever comes in contact with us. All of the other heat is effectively wasted. Air, being one of the best insulants, certainly isn't a fast or efficient way to warm up, and escapes easily.”
Rocket Mass Heaters
Superefficient Woodstoves You Can Build (and Snuggle up to)
Ianto Evans and Leslie Jackson, Cob Cottage Publications
“We live in a surprising time. Every so often one can wake up to a societal myth that one has accepted all one's life. The myths that houses need to be heated permeates North America and society has encapsulated this obvious fable in law. Building regulations have demanded that whether you're home or not, every single corner of the interior of your house should be heatable to an equal 70°F. Let's be clear. Provided you don't let the water freeze, your house could not care less whether it's heated. The inhabitants are the only beings who count. We want to heat people, not houses. Once we understand this, the situation gets much easier.
Humans, like all mammals, are self-heating. We have our own internal stoves, burning food to make heat. But as we become less physically active and spend more time indoors, we have become used to wearing clothes to slow the loss of our autonomously generated heat. In an unheated building we can adjust our comfort by adding clothes or through activity or by surrounding ourselves with warmth or through all three.
Houses heated by forced air or furnaces depend upon our bodies being on contact only with the warmed air inside the house. A house can contain an awful lot of warm air, of which only a very small proportion ever comes in contact with us. All of the other heat is effectively wasted. Air, being one of the best insulants, certainly isn't a fast or efficient way to warm up, and escapes easily.”
Rocket Mass Heaters
Superefficient Woodstoves You Can Build (and Snuggle up to)
Ianto Evans and Leslie Jackson, Cob Cottage Publications
Photo Volaics and Solar Thermal Mass
I wrote this in response to my dad emailing me about peak oil/energy and the rise in oil price but I decided to share it here since he reads this anyways. Please do ask if you need me to explain anything here in more depth. Yesterday, there was brief discussion here about the actual cost of PV (photo-voltaic) power. A few people had heard of a study that calculated PV power as being more costly to our planet than it's worth in terms of resources and end-of-life waste. It's better than what we're using now and certainly PV has it's use and needs to be adopted as an alternative but in terms of global sustainability, we all need to reduce our energy use. We need to eliminate the heavy hitters like heaters, coolers, and industrial mass-production of unnecessary polluting crap. Technology, oil, and metals aren't going to solve our problems, they created them. Here at the Ecovillage, we are learning how to directly utilize the sun to heat our water and space. And the opposite of that is using wind and night-time temperature to cool. I learned yesterday that all the effort we put into making a building air-tight is to keep hot or cold air in and to circulate that air and this method can be reduced and possibly eliminated if we manage temperature with radiant energy via thermal mass heated by the sun and cooled by the lack of sun. Natural wall systems "breath", they don't have a membrane and this has many health benefits for people and the planet. I keep learning more and more benefits of natural building. We're all a bunch of nature loving geeky builders and designers. I'm loving every minute.
April 22: Earth Day = Snow Day
Haha, General Mow, the white cat here is wiping his drool on my pants after the massage I gave him. Aren't cats wonderful. There's also another cat, two dogs, one with three legs that was mauled by a bear years ago, about 15 baby chicks that hatched a few days before I arrived, 6 chickens, 10 black ducks, 7 sheep, 3 goats, and we had a llama for a few days but it took off and has been gone for four days now. We'll also be getting pigs to speed up the composting process.
I just had the most wonderful shower in the green house in a cedar wood shower stall with on-demand hot water so the temperature is perfect and constant without having to heat a tank 24/7. Also, It was about 8 Celsius outside and 20 in the green house with nothing but the sun heating the space. I can only imagine how dreamy it will be when all the fruit and veggies are growing in there.
There was a 4 day snow storm here on the Island. Yesterday, Shawnigan Lake where we're located was on the CBC news because of our freak weather. We're the southern most part of Canada but it feels like we're in December in mid April. One intern's tent collapsed on him in the night. I must admit though, it has been majestically gorgeous experiencing this place covered in white powder. It is important for us to experience this so that we can design the buildings to be ready for winter with our memories. It can be easy to forget the cold seasons when you're only here for the Spring and Summer. Mother Nature is using Earth Day as an opportunity to yell for change. This is both a warning and cry for help. Fortunately, that's what we're doing here. Hold on great Mother, we're on our way!
Most of us interns have been sleeping huddled around the fireplace in the yurt and wake up with the sun to do yoga. For the last 3 years of my life, I've stayed up late and slept in every day. This change in sleep pattern is really shifting my experience of life. I'm generally less groggy and more present. A few nights ago, I automatically awoke whenever the fireplace needed a new big log put on so we had the fire burning until the morning. As a Leo fire sign and having kept a fireplace going every Winter at my parent's house, I love keeping the fire here. Since we're experiencing Winter in Spring on the island, everywhere we go we use a fire to keep us warm. We eat, tent, clean and relieve ourselves outside. Everyone's excited for warmth, I assure you.
I just had the most wonderful shower in the green house in a cedar wood shower stall with on-demand hot water so the temperature is perfect and constant without having to heat a tank 24/7. Also, It was about 8 Celsius outside and 20 in the green house with nothing but the sun heating the space. I can only imagine how dreamy it will be when all the fruit and veggies are growing in there.
There was a 4 day snow storm here on the Island. Yesterday, Shawnigan Lake where we're located was on the CBC news because of our freak weather. We're the southern most part of Canada but it feels like we're in December in mid April. One intern's tent collapsed on him in the night. I must admit though, it has been majestically gorgeous experiencing this place covered in white powder. It is important for us to experience this so that we can design the buildings to be ready for winter with our memories. It can be easy to forget the cold seasons when you're only here for the Spring and Summer. Mother Nature is using Earth Day as an opportunity to yell for change. This is both a warning and cry for help. Fortunately, that's what we're doing here. Hold on great Mother, we're on our way!
Most of us interns have been sleeping huddled around the fireplace in the yurt and wake up with the sun to do yoga. For the last 3 years of my life, I've stayed up late and slept in every day. This change in sleep pattern is really shifting my experience of life. I'm generally less groggy and more present. A few nights ago, I automatically awoke whenever the fireplace needed a new big log put on so we had the fire burning until the morning. As a Leo fire sign and having kept a fireplace going every Winter at my parent's house, I love keeping the fire here. Since we're experiencing Winter in Spring on the island, everywhere we go we use a fire to keep us warm. We eat, tent, clean and relieve ourselves outside. Everyone's excited for warmth, I assure you.
April 17: Relationship to Group
After breakfast, we all gathered in the 40' diametre yurt to discuss our group's ethics, values, and vision. We got out the markers and a long wide strip of paper. Every member added what they wanted to remain at the core of our group. Trust, acceptance, non-violent communication, spirit, growth, understanding, fun, health, etc. were spread all over the page. It was so wonderful because even though I've only known these souls for a few days, I trust that each one of use is consciously striving to maintain these ethics. I don't think any of us knew that relationships, community, inner-development, and conflict-resolution are some of the major skills and lessons that we are continuously going to be honing here. This is going to be such a life changing growth experience for all of us, through good times and challenges.
Next we listed our group agreements, things that we commit to throughout the program.
Here are our agreements to each other:
We commit our best effort to being here
We start with check in, daily intention, space/silence, and bow in
We do our best to communicate compassionately and honestly
We let people own their own problems and ask for help when needed.
We offer help respectfully
We commit to being aware and mindful
We let someone know if we leave the site (buddy system)
We know our limits
We regroup after lunch
We leave a clean site at the end of the day
We give our best
We end the day with debrief and next day preview followed by thanks giving and bow out
We work in a spirit of joyful accomplishment
We hold space for everyone’s voice to be heard and respect other’s requests
We welcome non-interns as peers
After dinner, two folks from Nanaimo lead us through team building games and exercises, which is what their small business is all about. It was unbelievable how much we learned about ourselves, each other and our group dynamics just using a little ball, a hoola hoop, and a string. Patterns start to show who is more loud and take-charge versus who is more of an observer. We saw group behaviour shift drastically when competition or time limits were imposed. We all have gifts to offer and things to work on but ultimately, we need to weave together in the most functional and fair way to accomplish our collective and individual goals this summer.
Next we listed our group agreements, things that we commit to throughout the program.
Here are our agreements to each other:
We commit our best effort to being here
We start with check in, daily intention, space/silence, and bow in
We do our best to communicate compassionately and honestly
We let people own their own problems and ask for help when needed.
We offer help respectfully
We commit to being aware and mindful
We let someone know if we leave the site (buddy system)
We know our limits
We regroup after lunch
We leave a clean site at the end of the day
We give our best
We end the day with debrief and next day preview followed by thanks giving and bow out
We work in a spirit of joyful accomplishment
We hold space for everyone’s voice to be heard and respect other’s requests
We welcome non-interns as peers
After dinner, two folks from Nanaimo lead us through team building games and exercises, which is what their small business is all about. It was unbelievable how much we learned about ourselves, each other and our group dynamics just using a little ball, a hoola hoop, and a string. Patterns start to show who is more loud and take-charge versus who is more of an observer. We saw group behaviour shift drastically when competition or time limits were imposed. We all have gifts to offer and things to work on but ultimately, we need to weave together in the most functional and fair way to accomplish our collective and individual goals this summer.
April 16: Our Preconceptions of An Ecovillage
The intern group was asked "What Are Your Preconceptions of An Ecovillage?" and here are our answers:
Off-grid, Clean, Hard work, Appropriate technology, Diversity (plants/people/animals), Networked, Communication, Economic sustainability, Group effort, Goal oriented, Process oriented, Education, Spirit, Growth, Creativity, Sharing, Celebration, Interconnectedness, Integrated systems, Learning, Dirty hippies, Organic food, Natural shelter, Intergenerational people, Support, Fun and humour, Birth, Vision, Imagination, Love and respect, Local, Helping, Healthy, Co-creation, Peace, Culture, Courage, Exploration, United resources, Integration, Compromise, Breaking down barriers, Intention, Life, Circles and spirals, Indefinitely sustaining life
This is super idealistic and in reality, no ecovillage has achieved a harmony of all these elements but it wonderful to aim for because ultimately it is possible to include all of these and more. Personally, I can see all of the components already here, from seedlings to grown up.
Off-grid, Clean, Hard work, Appropriate technology, Diversity (plants/people/animals), Networked, Communication, Economic sustainability, Group effort, Goal oriented, Process oriented, Education, Spirit, Growth, Creativity, Sharing, Celebration, Interconnectedness, Integrated systems, Learning, Dirty hippies, Organic food, Natural shelter, Intergenerational people, Support, Fun and humour, Birth, Vision, Imagination, Love and respect, Local, Helping, Healthy, Co-creation, Peace, Culture, Courage, Exploration, United resources, Integration, Compromise, Breaking down barriers, Intention, Life, Circles and spirals, Indefinitely sustaining life
This is super idealistic and in reality, no ecovillage has achieved a harmony of all these elements but it wonderful to aim for because ultimately it is possible to include all of these and more. Personally, I can see all of the components already here, from seedlings to grown up.
April 16: The Story of OUR Ecovillage
The day began before the sun rose with the starting of the fire in the yurt. Just as the sun peeked over the horizon, William showed up and the yoga began. Willam's style is his own, combining Iyengar yoga, personal experimentation, and the native medicine wheel. The body's circular sections are balanced in every motion, every asana, every breath. The last time I had been up for a sunrise was when I had been up partying all night. I've been sleeping in for many years but this morning of yoga with a sunrise shining on the lake awoke so much more than my body. The whole day, I felt fresh and energized in my solar plexus, especially because of the root locks that he includes in a few asanas. Thankfully, he has agreed to bless us with leading 6am yoga many days of the week.
Brandy spoke for a few hours on the history of O.U.R. Ecovillage. O.U.R. stands for One United Resource. What a gauntlet these people have run to get to where they are. It all started with the dreams of a group of naive, idealistic, wonderful social health workers who wanted to start an ecovillage. They encountered so much adversity and outright hostility from the locals and government who were worried that it was some sort of cult or degenerate hippy commune, because anyone who wants to live that way must be crazy, right? Then there were the zoning and building codes to deal with. At one point after having their lofty proposal rejected by the government officials and receiving all the building and zoning code jargon of why it couldn't happen, Brandy said in an honest, sweet, disappointed tone, "you mean we can't live sustainably?" The relationship between government and the ecovillage trailblazers slowly and painstakingly became a partnership. Together, they created a whole new zone for the ecovillage to include bylaw elements of residential, educational, agricultural, environment protection, and commercial zones. That's truly groundbreaking. I am so inspired by the people who have been raising this place and community for almost a decade now. Also, in partnership, they built a hybrid natural building with half straw bale walls, half cob walls, a green roof, radiant floor heating, and rain water collection with $100 000 funding contribution from the government. Officially it's called the Climate Change Demonstration Building but we all call it the Healing Santuary. It's the most beautiful building I've experienced and the only building to actually give me tears of joy.
After our morning tea break, Elke Cole talked to the group about learning and teaching methods of the ecovillage, and specifically her own teaching method. Though Elke doesn't have any formal teaching education, she's one of the best teachers I've ever had. I feel like a peer learning from her. She gives us a lot of participation exercises, to the point where we talk more than she does but all the lessons gets learned. It's very engaging. I think it helps that she doesn't like lecturing. Since Elke is our main instructor for the program, I couldn't be happier and the group has been giving the same feedback as well. She expressed that if we are missing something or need to learn it in another way or method, to just ask. Imagine if all of our teachers were so open and trusting. We've been flying through the material and it never feels like a chore or obligation, it feels like engaging fun, growth and participation in something really awesome.
After lunch, we walked to and hiked up Mount Baldy, the mountain closest to the site. The hike was filled with learning about local flora and breathtaking views of the surrounding villages, valleys, lake Shawnigan and the Pacific Ocean. The mountain has a medicine circle set up by native people from the Cowichan tribe that correlates to the medicine circle that is about 50 feet from where I'm writing this in the ecovillage Yurt. With the friendship that the people of the ecovillage have formed with the native tribe, many ceremonies take place here lead by visitors from the Cowichan tribe. When one of the elders came to visit, we asked if she would lead a pipe ceremony with us and she gladly agreed. There also might be an Amazonian shaman coming to hold ceremony here as well. I'm sure we'll have many surprise visitors and events to fit into the already packed schedule.
That night, after supper, we watched Topia, a documentary on ecovillages that Brandy created for her masters thesis. Most of the film covered some existing ecovillages from around the world that Brandy visited. I highly recommend it as an eye opener of what's possible and successfully existing under the model of communal, intentional, ecological living.
During the film, a massive bonfire was lit for Katie's last night here. She had been living and working on the gardens and livestock for a month prior to our arrival. She's from Toronto too and had to return for a work commitment. She was so sad to leave and even though we only knew her for a few day, we were all pretty sad as too. When I get back to Toronto, we're going to get together and make waves.
Brandy spoke for a few hours on the history of O.U.R. Ecovillage. O.U.R. stands for One United Resource. What a gauntlet these people have run to get to where they are. It all started with the dreams of a group of naive, idealistic, wonderful social health workers who wanted to start an ecovillage. They encountered so much adversity and outright hostility from the locals and government who were worried that it was some sort of cult or degenerate hippy commune, because anyone who wants to live that way must be crazy, right? Then there were the zoning and building codes to deal with. At one point after having their lofty proposal rejected by the government officials and receiving all the building and zoning code jargon of why it couldn't happen, Brandy said in an honest, sweet, disappointed tone, "you mean we can't live sustainably?" The relationship between government and the ecovillage trailblazers slowly and painstakingly became a partnership. Together, they created a whole new zone for the ecovillage to include bylaw elements of residential, educational, agricultural, environment protection, and commercial zones. That's truly groundbreaking. I am so inspired by the people who have been raising this place and community for almost a decade now. Also, in partnership, they built a hybrid natural building with half straw bale walls, half cob walls, a green roof, radiant floor heating, and rain water collection with $100 000 funding contribution from the government. Officially it's called the Climate Change Demonstration Building but we all call it the Healing Santuary. It's the most beautiful building I've experienced and the only building to actually give me tears of joy.
After our morning tea break, Elke Cole talked to the group about learning and teaching methods of the ecovillage, and specifically her own teaching method. Though Elke doesn't have any formal teaching education, she's one of the best teachers I've ever had. I feel like a peer learning from her. She gives us a lot of participation exercises, to the point where we talk more than she does but all the lessons gets learned. It's very engaging. I think it helps that she doesn't like lecturing. Since Elke is our main instructor for the program, I couldn't be happier and the group has been giving the same feedback as well. She expressed that if we are missing something or need to learn it in another way or method, to just ask. Imagine if all of our teachers were so open and trusting. We've been flying through the material and it never feels like a chore or obligation, it feels like engaging fun, growth and participation in something really awesome.
After lunch, we walked to and hiked up Mount Baldy, the mountain closest to the site. The hike was filled with learning about local flora and breathtaking views of the surrounding villages, valleys, lake Shawnigan and the Pacific Ocean. The mountain has a medicine circle set up by native people from the Cowichan tribe that correlates to the medicine circle that is about 50 feet from where I'm writing this in the ecovillage Yurt. With the friendship that the people of the ecovillage have formed with the native tribe, many ceremonies take place here lead by visitors from the Cowichan tribe. When one of the elders came to visit, we asked if she would lead a pipe ceremony with us and she gladly agreed. There also might be an Amazonian shaman coming to hold ceremony here as well. I'm sure we'll have many surprise visitors and events to fit into the already packed schedule.
That night, after supper, we watched Topia, a documentary on ecovillages that Brandy created for her masters thesis. Most of the film covered some existing ecovillages from around the world that Brandy visited. I highly recommend it as an eye opener of what's possible and successfully existing under the model of communal, intentional, ecological living.
During the film, a massive bonfire was lit for Katie's last night here. She had been living and working on the gardens and livestock for a month prior to our arrival. She's from Toronto too and had to return for a work commitment. She was so sad to leave and even though we only knew her for a few day, we were all pretty sad as too. When I get back to Toronto, we're going to get together and make waves.
Transit, Arrival, and Celebration Dinner
So I'm finally here at O.U.R Ecovillage, endlessly smiling. Saturday night, I hauled my 35 Lb hiking pack, 25 Lb duffel bag, 15 Lb backpack, and a 10 Lb bag onto the subway to make it to Kipling station, the furthest subway stop East to catch the last bus going to the airport. Upon arriving at the airport around 2:30am EST, I laid down my stuff and attempted to sleep for 3 hours while people passed chatting which opened and closed the automatics doors...attempt failed. Passed on buying food at the post-security stores because I was told cheaper sandwiches would be available on the flight...however, none of them were vegetarian so I had a very hungry stomach to accompany my tired head during my travels. Stopping over in Edmonton was decent, even if it was 2 hours.
Flying over BC, I began gasping at all the wonder as soon as the mountains started to show through the clouds. This province is astonishingly gorgeous and nothing has changed my mind on that yet. Everyone is so friendly too! Okay, I'll admit I have had one bummer on my commute from my flat in Toronto to O.U.R. ecovillage on Shawnigan Lake, BC. The bus drove right by! I was waiting at the airport and it didn't even stop. I couldn't believe it. So instead of paying $2.25, I payed a taxi driver $25 to get to the ferry. Luckily, I met a sweet couple that were just taking a visit from their beach home that they're lived in for 35 years. They helped me carry my stuff and even payed my ferry fair after hearing about the bus tragedy. We sat in front of the captain and talked about so many things in such a short time. Then Dolphins started jumping along side and in front of the ferry! What a warm welcome I felt from them. There were also some seals playing along the way.
Kristian from the ecovillage was waiting to pick me up when we docked. He loaded me into his Japanese right-hand-drive truck as we found out I knew his partner Blaire from the ecovillage Morning Glory in Killaloe. I met her at a women's full moon circle last Summer with my partner-at-the-time, Jay Haney. We also know many of the same people in Toronto, mostly from the Mud House, which is interesting because he's from Germany and hasn't lived in Canada very long. I set up my tent under a tree which should give me great shelter when it has leaves and warming sunshine without the leaves. I'm so glad arrived early to help set up and meet instructors and residents here before it got busy. I felt a bond forming with them very quickly in a way I'm not sure would have happened if I arrived with the crowd but it's only day 2 so in the grand scheme of things, probably won't make a difference. I got to see the newly hatched chicks from the incubator. One egg was almost 4 days later than the rest and normally the mother would have given up after 2 days but the incubator and our faith held out for its hatching. I sang it a song I made up before it even made the first crack through the shell. It chirped enthusiastically in response and began hatching later that afternoon. We're still not sure if it's going to survive but at least it hatched and got to spend some time with siblings.
Since I commuted from 11pm to 3:30pm BC time the next day. I slept from 6pm, which made me miss supper, but allowed me to sleep 16 hours until 10am. I had such a cold night, I woke up about 10 times from coldness. I remember one part of my dream which involved catching a wild black rabbit with my hand. It surrendered then I let it go. Not sure what it means yet but I think it will have relevance for me here somehow.
Today, the other sustainable food (gardening) interns and fellow natural building interns arrived. We had a welcome feast of celebration. So many wonderful people have come from all over, each with an interesting tale of how they came to love permaculture/sustainable living. There's a thread of spirituality that runs through the group here that I find very comforting and freeing. I can't wait to share the pictures and stories. I'm a few days behind on this blog but there hasn't been much time to sit with a laptop here with so many things to learn and people to form introductory bonds with. There's a professional African djembe drum and dance troupe that just started playing in the yurt. This place is a dream and it gets better every day. Love you, my loved ones. Miss you and hope you're doing well. I decided not to change my cell number since I won't get the same number when I return and I fear I'll lose contact with too many important folks. So, I'll make calls from the phone here when I have the time and the 3 hour time difference isn't ridiculous.
Flying over BC, I began gasping at all the wonder as soon as the mountains started to show through the clouds. This province is astonishingly gorgeous and nothing has changed my mind on that yet. Everyone is so friendly too! Okay, I'll admit I have had one bummer on my commute from my flat in Toronto to O.U.R. ecovillage on Shawnigan Lake, BC. The bus drove right by! I was waiting at the airport and it didn't even stop. I couldn't believe it. So instead of paying $2.25, I payed a taxi driver $25 to get to the ferry. Luckily, I met a sweet couple that were just taking a visit from their beach home that they're lived in for 35 years. They helped me carry my stuff and even payed my ferry fair after hearing about the bus tragedy. We sat in front of the captain and talked about so many things in such a short time. Then Dolphins started jumping along side and in front of the ferry! What a warm welcome I felt from them. There were also some seals playing along the way.
Kristian from the ecovillage was waiting to pick me up when we docked. He loaded me into his Japanese right-hand-drive truck as we found out I knew his partner Blaire from the ecovillage Morning Glory in Killaloe. I met her at a women's full moon circle last Summer with my partner-at-the-time, Jay Haney. We also know many of the same people in Toronto, mostly from the Mud House, which is interesting because he's from Germany and hasn't lived in Canada very long. I set up my tent under a tree which should give me great shelter when it has leaves and warming sunshine without the leaves. I'm so glad arrived early to help set up and meet instructors and residents here before it got busy. I felt a bond forming with them very quickly in a way I'm not sure would have happened if I arrived with the crowd but it's only day 2 so in the grand scheme of things, probably won't make a difference. I got to see the newly hatched chicks from the incubator. One egg was almost 4 days later than the rest and normally the mother would have given up after 2 days but the incubator and our faith held out for its hatching. I sang it a song I made up before it even made the first crack through the shell. It chirped enthusiastically in response and began hatching later that afternoon. We're still not sure if it's going to survive but at least it hatched and got to spend some time with siblings.
Since I commuted from 11pm to 3:30pm BC time the next day. I slept from 6pm, which made me miss supper, but allowed me to sleep 16 hours until 10am. I had such a cold night, I woke up about 10 times from coldness. I remember one part of my dream which involved catching a wild black rabbit with my hand. It surrendered then I let it go. Not sure what it means yet but I think it will have relevance for me here somehow.
Today, the other sustainable food (gardening) interns and fellow natural building interns arrived. We had a welcome feast of celebration. So many wonderful people have come from all over, each with an interesting tale of how they came to love permaculture/sustainable living. There's a thread of spirituality that runs through the group here that I find very comforting and freeing. I can't wait to share the pictures and stories. I'm a few days behind on this blog but there hasn't been much time to sit with a laptop here with so many things to learn and people to form introductory bonds with. There's a professional African djembe drum and dance troupe that just started playing in the yurt. This place is a dream and it gets better every day. Love you, my loved ones. Miss you and hope you're doing well. I decided not to change my cell number since I won't get the same number when I return and I fear I'll lose contact with too many important folks. So, I'll make calls from the phone here when I have the time and the 3 hour time difference isn't ridiculous.
Leaving Toronto Home
I did it! I'm sitting in my cleared, cleaned, sublet-ready room, bags all packed, groceries eaten, plane ticket in pocket. This is such an odd state of excitement, anxiousness, sadness, and pure joy that I'm in. I want to run around outside in the rain, yelling with joy. I want to be with my loved ones one last time. I want to be there already! In a few hours, I need to haul my bags to the airport where I plan to sleep on the airport floor overnight waiting for my 5:30am check-in. That, unfortunately, is the easy part. The hard part is landing, getting myself and luggage onto a bus, then onto a ferry across Brentwood Bay to be picked up by an ecovillager around 3pm. Once I'm there, I'll have plenty of time to setup my tent and meet the people I'll be living, playing, eating and working with. Monday evening is the intern greeting dinner. I can't believe it's so soon, so sudden. Less than three weeks ago, I applied. In less than 18 hours, I'll be there!
I'm really going to miss the people in my life and fully intend to keep in contact while I'm here. I got a laptop for $299 to use with the wireless here. I'll also switch my cell number to a local number then use a calling card. Of course, I need to stay in contact with my fellow New University Cooperative board of directors, because we're rolling along quickly these days. It's going to be difficult to juggle the internship, blogging, doing work on the New U projects, personal transformation, staying in contact with loved ones, and enjoying leisure time. Challenges make us grow and the bigger the better, so I'm feeling ready to take this on...we'll see how it pans out though.
So many people have given me well wishes. I feel so blessed. Namaste.
I'm really going to miss the people in my life and fully intend to keep in contact while I'm here. I got a laptop for $299 to use with the wireless here. I'll also switch my cell number to a local number then use a calling card. Of course, I need to stay in contact with my fellow New University Cooperative board of directors, because we're rolling along quickly these days. It's going to be difficult to juggle the internship, blogging, doing work on the New U projects, personal transformation, staying in contact with loved ones, and enjoying leisure time. Challenges make us grow and the bigger the better, so I'm feeling ready to take this on...we'll see how it pans out though.
So many people have given me well wishes. I feel so blessed. Namaste.
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