Camping Updates from lollybloggers

Hello World!

There is a term out there in the "Blog" world called lollyblogging. It's used to describe people who only occasionally take the time to blog.

I think that might be me! It might well be all of us at the ecovillage that blog. I popped in to see where we were at for website hits after our SECOND airing of the "Behind the Beaded Curtain" radio show on CBC and am not at all surprised to see that our last post was July 25th. Our apologies- it's just way too much fun to live here to always get online to brag about it!

Truthfully we're all enjoying our summer right now. I am only a neighbour-in-waiting (waiting for my home to be built) and my normal home is still in Edmonton but I'm here camping for three weeks with my three kids. So let me tell you what has been going on around here!

Let's Move!

Five (count them FIVE) families are in the final stages of moving into their homes. Beverly and Mathew have been installing flooring, Yonas and Julia have been seen packing. Maureen and Ken carried ceiling fans into their place the other day. Beverly made a great analogy last week... She's 9 months pregnant with her house! So ready to move in- but not quite there yet and sick of everyone asking when it will happen.

Speaking of babies,

Linda and Jamie are now officially past their due date and ... no news yet.

Tent City Weekend

We had an amazingly fun camping trip with neighbours in waiting, neighbours considering, and residents. Even some of the people with houses onsight surprised me by setting up tents and sleeping in them. Next year if that happens I'm going to sneak into their houses and sleep in their empty beds!

Camping highlights include;

-Every Meal we had.
-Midnight Laughter coming from the group playing adult pictionary over beers. (The boys lost and still owe the Women a dip in the creek!)
-The night the kids got to make supper- stone soup cooked over the camp fire and then served to the adults as though they were in a restaurant
-Leo's birthday party, which took place in the air conditioned gym at the community school
-Jumbo Marshmellows on the camp fire
-The kids playing the Red Paper Clip game; each started with a gold pin and traded for hours until we were all trading random things from our houses.
-Quiet cups of tea and lemonade in our makeshift barn kitchen.

Potential New Neighbours:

We've been giving very successful tours lately. It seems that the radio program was well heard this time by people who really understand what we're doing. I had the extreme pleasure of touring two of the families myself. (Families with little girls my own daughters age! YAY!) and I enjoyed them both. How much fun I have walking through the farm, telling the stories of this place, showing the floorplans and introducing neighbours.

I love being the one to answer the question I once came here with. "We have normal jobs is that okay?" (yes.) "Do we have to farm" (no.) "Is there a religious affiliation?" (no- but most of us believe in something.) "Can we own our home?" (yes.) "Can I dry my clothes outside on a clothes line" (sure can!) "I still want to be able to shop at Superstore would that be okay?" (yes) I see in the people that come here the same awe and excitement Paul and I had when we realized that this place was real. Real and normal people just like us who wanted a better sense of community and a lighter footprint when possible. I would say both families I toured around would be a great fit here. I'm excited by their excitement all over again!

I'm here until August 20th. I'd love to tour you around too. After that I'll hand the tours back to Ann and Beverly and drive sadly back to Edmonton until my house is finished.