The Village from Fresh Eyes- Devorah and David

Devorah and David are soon to officially be our next neighbours, along with Christine who is technically moving in this weekend coming up. Things are really popping around here!

Devorah and David have been thinking about something like this for a long time with friends from their home town of Maple Ridge. They overheard a radio show that we were featured on and right away knew they needed to see what we were about. The snowed out presentation in January was calling to them, but due to icy road conditions they waited and joined Ingrid for the senior's cohousing presentation a week later. They came for the Ten Mile tasty tour. they dove in to Study group One which is a ten week workshop for seniors-to-be that looks closely at aging in place and how cohousing helps that. Last weekend we got the news that they were ready to take the next steps in joining our little village. We are so pleased to have them!

Devorah mentioned she has been writing to her friends about her experiences here and I suggested that she might begin contributing to the Blog. In time I hope to give her a Blog user name and let her share her own experiences with you directly. I love the idea of more voices sharing what is going on here. More voices gives a much rounder voice to the village.

Fo now- I paste on her behalf.

PS. The pictures are hers too. I think it was very respectful of her to block our faces before sending this out to her mailing list- but I will probably ask for copies where we show. None of the people in the pictures are worried about being shared. But the thought is sweet!

The upsides of multigenerational cohousing in Yarrow

After years of discussions, questions, searching, soul-searching, anxiety, and just sitting around on our butts stuck in our unsustainable comfort, I am pleased to say that we are very close to the commitment to move out to Yarrow Ecovillage when the next housing is ready!

We have just spent a very intense weekend there, and we had so many positive moments that we beat our own deadline for decision making. Here are a few of the things we did and observed.( A few pictures are attached, but some faces are blurred to protect anyone who might object to their picture being taken. )

SATURDAY:

We arrived to one of the first gloriously sunny days in a long time, so it seemed the whole village was out on the farmland and garden working at something. Some were stacking firewood or re-mulching paths; we spent most of our time cleaning out the old fire pit, moving it over a bit, and re-constructing it. With so many helping it was both fun and fast. We started at 1, and a fire was going in the new pit by dinner time. At one point I looked out to see a group of people (including my son) tamping down the gravel and dirt by dancing to an Irish jig played on my son's phone. The whole atmosphere was one of fun!

At 3:30 some of us who are interested in the next phase of housing attended a meeting to narrow down the cabinet, counter, and flooring choices. We did a quick tour of about 4-5 kitchens to get an idea of what things looked like, and everyone's voice was heard as the choices were democratically narrowed down to a few. A flooring expert was there to discuss the choices, which in all cases were non-toxic. There were also some "realities" as some of our preferences were too costly to make "standard". However, once you move in, you can make what changes you want.

At 6:00 we took a break to join others at the fire pit. We had brought ingredients for a communal soup which Janice- who loves to cook- had kindly assembled for us. We had also contributed bread or buns, and enjoyed a wonderful meal. Then, those of us in the focus group went back to finish our discussion about kitchen and floor choices.

SUNDAY:

We arrived at 10:30 AM and met with some of the "mature" villagers and interested folk to go for a walkabout and hike for a few hours. The walk took us around the farm fields, along the creek, a little ways up a mountain, and down along the dikes. For the outdoor enthusiasts such as ourselves, the area was a gold mine of biking, hiking, walking, and probably canoeing possibilities, some just a short walk out the door.

Yarrow itself is very charming, with lots of farms, horses, produce. Along the main road, just steps from the ecovillage, are a deli, restaurants, small grocery stores, gas stations, bank, post office, and a library and school mere blocks away. No box stores.

Two of the "matures" hosted a delicious lunch, and we talked of projects that we could do, such as building a sand box for the kids, and building market tables for the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box pick-ups during the summer. We also talked about other gatherings for the people-without-young-kids group, such as hikes, bike rides, pot-luck dinners.

At 1:00 we all attended the monthly community meeting. Not for the first time, we were very impressed with the respect and democracy that were so evident in this meeting, as well as the commitment to keeping things on track and on time. They knew in advance what issues would be dealt with, and when it came to a potentially emotionally charged issue, techniques were called into play to give everyone a respectful voice without shouting or name-calling. (Our politicians could benefit from watching how this works!!) The next steps to deal with the problem were put into place. As a real hater of meetings myself, I was amazed and even hopeful!

It was delightful to see young children, pregnant women, people of a variety of backgrounds, "mature" folks such as ourselves, couples, singles, you name it, all coming together with the intention of making a community work. The synergy is palpable.

Hey, you might wonder, so what are the downsides? Is there any privacy? Yes. People respect your private space, and there is no pressure to constantly participate. Are there people who will irritate you? I suppose so; (we haven't met them yet.) I'm pretty sure sometimes the group dynamics can be exhausting or frustrating. For us, the opportunity for growth is worth the risks.

If you know of anyone who might be looking for a change, or might interested in this vibrant little village in Yarrow, please pass this on! There are still a few housing units left in this phase of development, and the next phase will be the seniors cohousing.

Devorah

www.cohousing.ca/www.yarrowecovillage.ca/

Dialogue Do we? Or Don't we?

I went to my third session of dialogue today. Even as I write this post I wonder if I should even admit that I go. Dialogue is a tool used to discuss potentially complex and even controversial topics in a community. When you attend dialogue, you are meant to shift from our more prevalent conversing mode "discussion" where one is meant to have an opinion, to a more exploratory means of speaking where you sort of give up your opinion in order to bounce ideas off of the common space.

It is sort of like slow motion brainstorming. You allow silence. You suspend judgement. You listen more than you speak. I spend the whole time staring at the candle in the middle of the circle and at the end I sort of feel... light. Air filled. I'm surprised at how the activity enlightens me.

The sadness I feel is that Dialogue is poorly attended in our community. I think it goes without saying, and is even taboo to say, that the reason for this lays at least slightly in how dialogue was first introduced to the community. It is a sad reality when I have to admit that sometimes politics gets the best of our little haven. I feel like it is even Taboo for me to be blogging about it now- but some things move in me and need a voice.

Politics. Dirty word. Its true, and sad that we all seem to play our cards in a calculated sort of way at times. We support things when we want to support the person that it is important to, and we refuse to support things when we want to support people that those things offend.

Did that make sense? I don't know. And I don't want to give off the impression that this place is full of politics. It certainly is a haven from the normal world that is for sure. My neighbours, for the most part, act in an almost enlightened way. But even the Dali Lama has moments where his ego gets the best of him, and I'm reminded of our humanness when it happens here.

Sometimes when I live in community, I witness two sides of very important issue. In each side I can see the right, and the factors that contribute to the conflict that seems to be so prevalent to the rest of us. I see the blinders that a neighbour wears to protect their own version of a truth. I know they aren't easily removed. I know I wear the same blinders about some issues and it haunts me that I don't even know when I'm wearing them.

In the case of "Dialogue" and the conflict that was created around what I believe is causing its low attendance, I am baffled by the irony. The act of dialogue itself seems to be the answer to the very problem that created its low attendance in the first place. Dialogue is a tool to help people explore and see all points of view. Shifts can happen in dialogue that dramatically change the way someone, or even a whole group looks at an issue.

Now I realize people are busy. And certainly some people don't attend because it just doesn't appeal to them. But I have to wonder what the turn out would have been like had Dialogue been introduced by a different person, in a different way. In my heart of hearts I wish for a dialogue with more voices. I know I can't drag anyone to anything. But I miss the sound of the mix of voices. I learn less without the ones who haven't come.

Garden Advice from Nevin

Heads up for the gardeners!

This coming weekend is an important time for your garden, as this will be the 1st sunny stretch of the year, of any good measure, and will be a great time to prepare your site. Many folks will be out creating pathways in the gardens on Saturday as well, so its going to be a great place of activity.

As well with the New Moon on Thursday the 22nd, the days following the new moon are the best time to start seeds, either in trays, or directly in the ground. Direct seeding of hearty green vegetables (arugula, kale, etc), and early flower mixes, along with root vegetables, are things that you can seed directly in the ground this time of year.

Happy Gardening!

Nevin

A Village Tale - Spring tease

The Tease

We’ve been having our regular, crazy Fraser Valley spring weather.  Mother Nature is a tease in March.  Just when we think winter must surely be over, she sends along some reminders, like hail with sunbursts and rainbows, to tell us who is really in charge.  And it isn’t us.

Yesterday, we had a day of plunging and soaring temperatures, sunshowers, gale-gusts and lashing rain.  Ms Nature messed around with some lightening until she was laughing and our power was out.  This happened to coincide with dinner prep time for our community dinner.  Luckily for us, our neighbours with a spacious living room and woodstove were chefs-du-jour, and hearty vegie bean soup was on the menu.  They banked the fires in their stove to finish off the cooking on its top and invited us all into their home, instead of sending us out into the dark corner of the barn where our communal plastic dining room* squats and we regularly eat together. 

Candles were lit and chairs gathered into clusters in cosy corners.  We're a crowd at ease now, for such occasions. About half our current village moved in last summer with the finishing of two more buildings, and the intervening six months have been sufficient for the children and adults to create little compatible gangs of the like-minded.  There are some who want to talk about chickens and how to design suitable coops and flocks.  (All one exclusive breed or several together? … Will they peck each other into an order of colour?)  There are others who want to remark on the magic of seed sprouting in greenhouses ( Is now too early, or too late for tomatoes?) ,  or about the mystery of pregnancy in humans  ( Why don’t women nearing term topple forwards from the unbalanced weight?) .  I even overheard a neighbour with ecovillage-business on her mind, asking others’ opinions of various options of membership dues (A one time only payment, for a lifetime of privileges? … Or a more immediately affordable, pay as you go? ) Topics run a gamut, and groupings of people form and re-form as the subject matter shifts.

I watch and listen.

I have only just returned from a quick weekend trip to my previous home on Salt Spring Island.  I visit family, friends and my old haunts to remind myself of all that I miss, and all that I don’t.  And with aura of Salt Spring still hovering around me, I look around the room at the engrossed faces of my neighbours lit in warm light and deep (or trivial) conversation and feel my good fortune.  I know why I’m here, and not there.

There’s a whirl, loud click and abrupt light as the power comes back on.  Our host, just as rapidly as the lights are back on, turns them off again.  And we complete our meal in our own snug glow.

(Please notice that the ‘n’ in ‘snug’ is not an ‘m’)  … :>) – the difference is gratitude)     

*Communal plastic dining room. 

For those of you who haven’t yet visited for a meal, you’ll need a further explanation of what our plastic dining room is.  Our commonhouse will be coming soon, with the construction of the next buildings, and we miss it, but in the meantime, the imperative for us to gather and break bread together is significant.  Our resourceful carpenters have made us a greenhouse-type structure – wood frame with plastic stretched over it, in one of our handy and capacious barn-buildings  - the ‘bunker silo’ that used to store hay-bales in its dairy farm history. But ‘plastic’ doesn’t describe the companionable ambiance when we’re gathered in it, with heaters blazing, fairy lights twinkling and delicious food waiting to be served out.  It’s magic plastic.   And I think we’ll have to call our commonhouse, ‘The Bunker Silo’ to commemorate its heritage. 

Nutshells and Niblets Community Bulletin # 34 March 2012

No Pie from Ann means I continue to write the Newsletter!

Bwaa Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha HA heh... Heh... (Cough) (Still highly personal and biased view of the village... but now it's Vivian's!)

Welcome to Jeanne and Jonathan

(and Thank you to Cher for her great work finding us such awesome new neighbours!) Jeanne and Jonathan have been living in co op housing for a number of years now. I knew they'd land here when they told me that co op housing just wasn't "enough" community for them! I love it!

They have two home-schooled sons, and Jonathan works at UFV in the Geology department. A long while back Jeanne was actually involved with our Stewart Creek Stream reclamation. Somehow while they were looking for a new home they hadn't considered us. Not sure why exactly. Possibly people think we're too green? Or too expensive? Or too something? In the end Cher had overheard Jonathan talking in their office about his desire for a really cool community and she insisted they come for a visit. They became fully invested members over a cool two weeks. Jeanne makes a mean beet salad and I already *love* them! Welcome neighbours!

More welcomes to come! March 20th to be exact!

Spring Chick

ens!

This is where I miss Ann. I'm trying to be witty here and cross two great stories. One about the new baby chicks that are new to the village, and the other about the "Mature Neighbours" club that seems to have popped up here over the last week or so. No real connection- but it was witty when I thought it up somehow.

Yes! We have spring chicks! Shayne and Cher's have arrived, and Julia and Paul's (my husband) are on the way now that the coop is in place. (That was a riot!) We've been practicing eating eggs by the dozen here. We anticipate abou

t ten eggs a day from our batch of chickens alone. There is something gleeful to me about chickens at an ecovillage. They just scream love me! When Shayne and Cher got their sweet chicks, their house turned into a zoo. People knocking all day long to see the sweet (perhaps slightly sticky) baby chicks! I can't wait to sit with kids all around me and listen to the sweet cluck cluck clucking!

And Ann is happy to announce that the kid-free residents and Neighbours-in-Waiting will not be cooped up by winter any longer! They have tickets to As You Like It and they will be doing more outings. The rules seem to be 1. have fun 2. Don't have young children. 3. Have more fun (I'm too motherly to attend at this time, but they seem to be having fun!)

20/20 Vision. The New Homes come into Focus

I know it seems like we work around here an awful lot. But the truth is that coming together with people is fun. This workshop/focus group was no different. Together, about 16 new potential neighbours got together to look at the houses one final time. Its important you know? To have a home you love. We want to love these homes and so we've given the group most impacted by their final state some say in what happens to them next. The result?

1. We have decided to save money by building all remaining units out at once

2. The Common House will be built at the same time

3. We added front closets, and tweaked doors etc.. to make entrance more suitable

4. We will revisit

the kitchens on March 24th after the work party

5. We can't wait to live together here.

We ended up out at the fire afterwards. Music was played. Wine was consumed. Some N-I-W even spent the night and stayed for pancakes the next day. We looked at the site plan and people put stickies on the units they wanted. Blue for money down, Yellow for seriously interested. The other colours are different meaning to me but belong to people we think could end up here one day. We're filling up! It's so exciting to see it all come together. I can feel people's excitement around me. It isn't a jittery feeling th

e way it used to feel. It feels solid now. It feels assured and relaxed. I see knowing smiles on faces now. It feels good.

The next workshop is March 24th. If you think you might want to live here- talk to us. We'll get you the details.

Our Swimming Hole got a Makover!

On March 10th and 11th, we hosted a bioengineering workshop at our portion of Stewart Creek. O

ver 30 people, some of them ecovillagers, worked through pouring rain to cut down willow, cottonwood, and red osier dogwood stakes at the Vedder River. Then we took those stakes and wove beautiful retaining walls on the steep, eroding bank that f

ormed one edge of our swimming hole. Right now, it looks like someone embroidered our stream.

The real beauty of it, though, is that all of those stakes will grow, and by the end of the summer what was a muddy bank will be a wall of lush green vegetation. Our swimming 'pool' will be so much more beautiful (to us and the fish!).

This a a perfect example of how living here makes us bigger than the sum of our parts. To me, "bioengineering" was just a big funny word. In my business I may never have had the time to really figure out what it meant. Imagine my shock walking down to the creek with my kids to see all this... love.... around the creek. I felt sheepish. I watched all those busy people in the rain with tea in hand from my warm window. I received a gift people were keen to give. Of course it wasn't really done "just for me". It was done out of love and passion for the creek. The gift to me is that I learned, I will learn more, and no judgement was made for my lack of understanding before I saw.

Off to a Tea Party at a castle home of some new Neighbours In Waiting!

Over and Out!

A Well Read Blog. Otherwise known as "Ode to a Neighbour"

Hello Neighbours, Neighbours in Waiting, and Neighbour Wish You Could Be!!

I found out today that at least one person (Hi Taryn!) reads the Blog! Well let me tell you that made me want to Blog more! So here I am...

With an impromptu Blog post with no real aim... just to give my loyal readers (Taryn) something to read.

I'll tell you what today looked like at The Village in the rain.

6:00am Wake up cuddle with all three kids. At heart we know it's "7:00" but it still feels like 6:00 to us.

7:00 am Standard Daddy Pancake Breakfast.

8:00 am (I think I'm making us sound very productive. The truth is it was more like 10:00)

10:00 am A Neighbour calls about moving the chicken coop.

Have I mentioned the coop? SO,.... when we moved here, my husband got right into the farm of things. He and A Neighbour decided they needed to have a mini chicken farm. Over the past couple months they managed- despite having 7 children between them- to build a coop. Only they built it in the barn where they could use power tools. Final location of coop? About 500 meters from where they built it.

10:30 (pooring rain) Operation Move the Coop begins. I know its going comically when I see another Laughing Neighbour racing through the farm with his camera.

10:35 Taryn and Darrel show up. Darrel right away gets whisked away into the coop movement. Taryn comes in. They've come to see what a typical day at the village looks like. They are considering making some serious life changes and we may be one of them.

11:45 We take pity on the poor men, so we whip up a Borcht and fresh bread lunch for them. I now brag about my Farming Neighbours. Almost all the produce in the Borcht is fresh from our farm. While we make and brew we talk about lacto fermenting pickles, and co-parenting, cycling whilst pregnant (her not me!) and other random awesomeness.

12:00 noon. All the while a number of stray children come and go. Some of mine are at This Neighbour's, others belong to That Neighbour. Random Neighbours call to see if I have one of theirs. Its good to have kids that can play. I end up feeding 5 kids- only two are mine. I'm still not sure who fed my son, but he assures me someone did. Thanks to Neighbour Annonymous.

1:30 Bread, Soup and Beer are enjoyed by Some Neighbours while we chat and laugh about what becoming parents did to our realities. More kids come, some go. I'm pretty proud of our parent check in system. I actually always know where mine are, and always call to let other parents know when a new one comes. These are the Sundays I live for. No particular agenda, but a whole lot of coming and going. If you've had enough, you just put a note on the door.

3:30 Taryn and Darrel head home (sad!) and Another Neighbour pops by to collect two of his.

4:00 I watch Those Gardening Neighbours in the pouring rain tend to garden spaces.

4:30 (okay it was more like 5:30) After tea and excellent conversation Another Neighbour and two kids leave to meet other off site friends for supper. (Yes. We all have friends outside the Village.)

5:30 We have 1/2 hour to eat before Hubby takes off to go next door for a night of games with Rowdy Neighbours. A regular biweekly event he really enjoys. We make Fancy Omelettes with our Egg Neighbour's Eggs. Off site friend and neighbour.

6:30 Yet-Another-Neighbour pops by. She's been away for a week with her new baby. Boy I missed my Baby Neighbour! How he grew in a week!

7:30 My kids hit the wall. We crawl in bed to read stories. Out the lights go. I begin to write this Blog post. Knock Knock Knock (Yes. We knock before we enter.) Going Shopping Neighbour pops her head in. She's off to superstore and wonders if I need anything. No need to go in for milk tomorrow! Woopee!

9:30 Finishing the Blog post. Thinking about bed. Wondering what I would have done with a Sunday in my old hood. One thing is for sure. None of my Old Neighbours there would have even noticed a chicken coop driving by. Isn't that sad!

Good Night Taryn! And anyone else that reads- go ahead! Let me know you're out there. It makes me feel good! Maybe one day you'll come on out and be my New Neighbour!

Coop moving pictures to come!