Here we are at the end of week 1 already! The time seems to pass at a different speed here on the farm and it’s certainly been a big adjustment from the chaos that wasa the 10-week practicum. I’ve summarized below what our daily duties include and some of the new information and I’ve acquired so far in my stay.
Arrival: Monday eveninig after a long adventure driving in from Pemberton and racing to catch the ferry! Sam (my beloved partner) and I arrived in a frenzy a bit later than the other CFE visitors. We were greeted by warm and charming cob buildings, chickens goats and many smiling faces. We managed to catch up with the already in progress tour that had begun. Brandy (our organizer) was welcoming and understanding of our delays. She was also very accomodating and allowed Sam to sleepover and join us in meals in exchange for some gaden work which was a refreshing change of pace where everything is still very much a ‘pay cash for your services’ approach.
Tuesday: We woke up in our cozy little tent and joined the rest of the forces for breakfast at 7:30. The food is hearty, delicious and plentiful here. I had understood that they make every effort to eat only products that they produce themselves but understandably that is very difficult to achieve when you’re feeding such great numbers. Post breakfast we joined the building team in their tour of the natural buildings on the propety. Chad, the natural building course facilitator was very thorough and had a great depth of knowledge to share with us. We were shown examples of earth ship (rammed earth), cob, straw bale and light/straw/clay homes and learned the basics of natural building practices. I LOVED it. This has been an area that’s interested me for years now so it’s been really rewarding to get a taste of this style of building. Later int the day we worked in the garden with Kenix, clearing beds and planting lettuce. We are all now in great anticipation of our garden salad! The end of the day was complete with some dormitory snuggles with the rest of the UBC girls, we watched a movie recommended by Brandy called the ‘The Clean Bin Project’. It was inspirational and really gave some insight into how the villagers here at the Ecovillage strives to live their lives.
Wednesday: Had another delightful sleep in my tent, although I was a bit lonely with no Sam. We met with Brandy in the morning and had a really thorough and deep ‘check in’ conversation. Everyone had the opportunity to share how they were feeling and discuss how they were settling in to the village. It was great to connect with the other members of the program and to have Brandy share her wonderful wisdom and insights. Today was my first lunch cooking duty and I worked with Freja and Muktallah to make some soup and salad. It was a success and it felt really good to be in the kitchen again! The afternoon led us to making a schedule for our next two weeks and then into kitchen craft time. We made cilantro chutney and with 6 people in the kitchen – it was a bit too busy! We’re saving it for an Indian themed food night.
Thursday: We had a fantastic morning of games and sharing with the young people on the farm. Mark presented his presentation on the importance of play as well as his proposal for a card game focusing on permaculture and sustainable living. SO COOL! We then just played games and shared resources between one another. I felt like a kid again and loved it! We took part in the morning routine with Freja, Mila and Kade (the 3 children who live and are ‘educated’ her at the ecovillage) We sang many songs and learned a lot through their teacher, Carolyn. Lunch was a great time as we had the chance to chat with two lovely ladies named Leslie and Rose who had some wonderful stories. The afternoon led us to digging trenches with Trent to support the installment of a new irrigation system for the orchard trees.
Friday: Conquered some new fears today! We started the day off with a great stretching and check in with Mark, it felt good to take the time to care for my body and reflect on the past couple of days. We then moved into learning about the compost and assisting Mark with incorporating the new kitchen compost into the big bins. It was incredibly smelly, but I was proud of how I handled in and showed no fear of getting in there and shovelling some rotten food. It was great to see how the fantastic soil they use here comes to fruition. It is such a simple and beautiful process that so many people overlook and assume is too difficult to accomplish on their own. After lunch we carried on working in the trenches with another farm hand, Arthur who was full of laughs and good conversation and helped the time pass quickly. We finished the day of with a pig decoy activity where Krystal and I ran frantically from the pigs to deter them from the person who was delivering their dinner to them. It was exhilarating and a great cardio exercise!
Saturday: Today felt like a Saturday, it was hard to motivate myself to do a whole day of work and luckily Mark was feeling that we had earned an early afternoon which was great. We did a major kitchen overhaul with the rest of the ecovillage in the morning. It was a uniting experience as it really reiterated just how valuable team work is. A huge job like cleaning an entire industrial kitchen and a cold storage room in just one morning! It was really validating and encouraging to work with everyone here and see such a rewarding end product. The afternoon we began working on interviewing all homesteaders on the farm to accumulate a list of skills and talents that people can share with the students. This is to support the learning of the students now that Carolyn has left the ecovillage.
Final thoughts: It was a bit of a struggle to adjust from such a busy life with no extra time to so much freedom and down time. It has been wonderful to have such a supportive community and to get to know people and live in a beautiful and love filled village. I have really started to embrace the conversation and the simple moments that I have with the members of this place each day. I started the week feeling like I had to go from one task to the next and just get something accomplished, but now at the end of the week I am really starting to unwind and realize that some of the biggest accomplishments and most memorable moments come from the simple and wholesome interactions. Photos to come soon!