NutShell Niblets #22- - November 4th, 2010

Ann's very personal, highly biased and incomplete guide to the ecovillage ... in a nutshell.
　
　
How much does it cost to live here?

Beverly has finished and finessed identifying each home-unit on the plan, that're still available to buy, attaching an appropriate price for its lease and approximating reasonable construction costs. If you're interested in seeing how you'd fit in here, please let us know by replying to welcome@yarrowecovillage.ca and Beverly will take you through the available homes on her site plan.

At this weekend's Community Meeting, the group of current and soon-to-be residents will decide the first steps of figuring out our strata fees. ( The monthly fee homeowners will pay for shared expenses - regular maintenance, insurance, contingency fund etc) Will we count a fair share by household? by number of people in each household? by assessment of home value ? ..... or .... might we try a combination? -- to mitigate for those on fixed incomes, with families, spreadout in larger/squeezed in smaller units?

If you were here right now, we'd expect that you would join us in tussling this out. It might not even be very easy ... consensus takes effort and practice. But you'd be part of the decision-making that affects your everyday life. And you wouldn't be paying your fees to some mysterious, remote management company. We'd be figuring it all out together, for our own benefit.

Same thing with creating this village by building homes... we're doing it ourselves, for our own benefit.

Now, that's a good deal of the good deal!
　
　
Shark Sighting

I walk along the north side of our stretch of Stewart Creek, coming back from a morning walk with the black dog. The fall rye that's planted for ground cover is poking spears through the straw that was laid on top, making a strong matrix to protect the soil. The growth happens so quickly, you could be fooled into thinking it's spring. But there's snow on the cap of Mt. Cheam to the east. It's winter coming, not anything warm!

We're moving ahead, with Dept of Fisheries' help, to stabilise and plant the newly cleared north bank. Joe' has been rooting Osier Dogwood cuttings so they take hold this winter and coming spring. The next steps are to bring in nurse logs that provide good habitat for young trees and keep whacking back any blackberry canes. Vigilance is required.

On the days after rain, the stream swells and rushes through the channel, making many varied whorls and eddies as it floods into the swim-hole. In one quick glance, I see a large dorsal fin rise from the water and surge forward. A fin as large as my hand! Joe and Shayne say there are seven kinds of fish in Stewart Creek and salmon make it as far as the next road over, swimming through channels in the stream-grass that the otters have kept open.

As we replant and restore this stretch, we hope to be able to inspire our neighbours to make changes to their sections of creek too, and bring back the species of flora and fauna that thrive in and around healthy, productive waters. Perhaps this is where the learning centre we want to create is; with the rush of water under the shade of evergreen trees, the birds singing in the bushes and fish returning to spawn.
　
Our Next Door Neighbours
- first in a series to introduce you to the interesting people who live in Yarrow

Shelley White.
Shelley is the hard-working nurse, doting new grandmother, friendly,cheerful community member and talented potter who lives next door. You can slide through the hedge at the end of our row of houses and into the glory of dahlias that is her garden. They're fading now with recent cool nights , but they have been leaning their brilliantly colourful faces over the fence, our way, for months now.

They're a riot of colours that make me dance inside. Shelley tells me she has at least a hundred varieties. "It's one of my passions", she says.

One? There are more ... besides being a full-time nurse?

Yes! Creating elegant, wearable jewelry rings Shelley's bells. And making functional, everyday, beautiful pottery is another passion.

Shelley is talented with her glazes and hand-wrought shapes. Her firing technique is raku, an ancient Japanese art that produces unique and remarkable finishes. Take a look at how Shelley uses horsehair to make startling lines. Truly!

Stroll through her showroom chock full with easily buyable bowls, mugs, plates, and pots and try to come out empty handed!. It's a treat to visit- these are pottery pieces to treasure and use in daily life.

Let the beauty we love, be what we do. (Rumi)

And the beauty of Shelley is what she does, and who she is, in our village.

Visit her and her studio on Erkert Street , one block to the west of us. Open many weekends and at the Chilliwack Christmas Craft sale- November 19th to 21st http://www.chilliwackartscouncil.com/index.php?id=51
　
My Life Here...
　
I have noticed for the very first time, that the glory of leaf's fall colour extends in a long sliver up the stem too. A crimson leaf has a crimson stem.

At dusk, when I stand in quiet on the bridge over the stream, ducks in loose flocks wheel in circles and peep to each other as they settle for the night into the hazelnut groves.

A small boy with guileless stealth opens my front door and slides unannounced into my spare bedroom to find the PlayMobil. My house is within his familiar realm; he will learn to knock before he is four. In the minute before I call his parents, I revel in a special feeling of his belonging, and mine.
　
http://www.stopandenjoyyarrow.com/

Consuelo is creating a website for businesses in Yarrow to buy in and promote their wares and services. She is building relationships between our eco-community and the village of Yarrow. Working together, we'll flourish together
　
Julia says....
I was surfing the web over at Moosewood Restaurant, and found this paragraph. I think it defines Consensus really well and I wanted to share that with you....

Consensus is a widely misunderstood process, and we're still learning how to best use it. It's not just another word for unanimity. The discussions that happen on the way to consensus raise lots of alternatives and disagreement. People have to keep paying attention. Someone has to summarize once in a while to keep ideas alive and available. When someone objects to a proposal, it's not always easy or popular to say so or explain why. We're constantly learning the importance of dissent, listening to each other, and being patient. When we reach agreement, we may not have found the ideal solution, but we believe it's the best we can do for the time being. And when the decision doesn't reflect our personal opinion, the hard part is having the self-discipline to support the group decision and to consciously avoid undermining it. This is a more challenging lesson.

Keep in mind, they have been doing this since 1973...... Julia

read more at http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/collective.html

Blog-happy!

Happiness is a website with blog that reflects how we are... a great team of folks, working at our best and creating the village we all want to live in and share.
Thank you , thank you, website team!