Raising the Roof

I have never done a barn raising before. Truth be told there are all sorts of things I hadn't done before moving to an ecovillage.

I've done some research now. And I can't wait to raise a barn!

The idea of a whole community coming together to bring alive something as big as a barn astounds me. To assemble walls- and then raise them into place? To support people in such an integral way as making a barn! I'll spare the rewrite- there is a good 10 minutes of wiki should you be interested in the olden day way of raising a barn. My favorite part is when they talk about how it was unheard of to skip a barn raising. The idea that every single person was expected to support their neighbour, their town, their community. Is that what is missing? Now days it is hardly taboo to skip voting, never mind helping a neighbour. What a different world we live in "nowadays".

We laughed today about the food it took to feed a barn raising.

Food for a Barn Raising

115 lemon pies

500 fat cakes (doughnuts)

15 large cakes

3 gallons applesauce

3 gallons rice pudding

3 gallons cornstarch pudding

16 chickens

3 hams

60 pounds roast beef

300 light rolls

16 loaves of bread

Red beet pickle and pickled eggs

Cucumber pickles

6 pounds dried prunes, stewed

I large crock stewed raisins

5 gallon stone jar white potatoes and the same amount of sweet potatoes

(Enough food for 175 men).

The reality is that I would never have even thought about a "barn raising" if it weren't for my neighbour Tam.

Let me tell you about Tam. (and then I pause for a good 15 minutes trying to find words for my amazing neighbour)

Tam is one of our farmers. She turns 30 in a few weeks. She has two beautiful sons, and a darn tootin' neat husband. The trick about Tam is that she is so versatile. The first time you meet her she'll probably be hauling a load of dirt, or sawing a piece of wood. The next time you see her she'll making that thrift store dress she found last week look beautiful. Two weeks later you'll learn she's also artistic AND she can use photo shop AND she can slop around in a stream looking at Tadpoles.

Truthfully I don't know very many people as versatile as Tam. She is a hard working, smiling, endeavourous creature. She is thoughtful. She is kind. She is a joy to have in our neighbourhood.

Speaking of endeavours... Tam really wants the community farm to have a barn. I don't know where she has found the time to put this little number together but here it is! A barn-raise-fund-raiser! I hope you'll be able to help us. Every penny counts. Every forward of the URL counts. Whatever you can do will be a string pulling up our barn!

Thankyou for reading!

(wiki post on barn raising linked below)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_raising

Garden Tips from Nevin

Hello aspiring green thumbs!

This time of year is perfect for those early seeds and early transplants. With low temperatures overnight now hovering above 6 degrees, most flowers, herbs etc can be transplanted into your garden. This is also a good time to start some early vegetables (direct seed) such as : Lettuce, Radish, Kale, Carrots, Beets, Arugula. Wildflower patches can be seeded directly now as well. Check the west coast seeds info sheet for planting this time of year, and you will notice the doors are opening for great possibilities!

Also as a note, with such a beautiful spring upon us, we are actually getting some dry periods! This is wonderful, but dont forget about those tiny seedlings you may have already planted, if they haven't sent out a root to get water, and the surface is dry as a bone, they are going to have a rough start! So just keep an eye on the weather and give them some h2o when you see them panting in the sun. Remember watering usages this time of year should be minimal, but a few sprinkles here and there can make all the difference early season, however we might also go back to rain and not need to think of that again till late May, only time will tell :) Also remember to consider mulching your surface areas after transplanting to retain moisture and make your garden lower maintenance!

Lastly, look at starting some seeds indoors in preparation for May, things such as : Summer squash, broccoli, cucumbers, winter squash, etc. These things can be started anytime between April 15th and the end of the month, for transplant mid to late may to your garden!

Nevin

Make your own Bow!

Easter for a Mom of four

I was asked to post the message below by Julia; one of the super moms of the ecovillage. Hope to have Easter pics to share. It was a wonderful day!

Well, as many of my neighbours know, my dearest husband is often away on business. He happend to be away for Easter this year as well, allowing me some joyful one on four time with our young family. (Yeah, the youngest is 5 months.) It has been a little hectic with a series of meetings for our village, having the easter bunny drop by for a visit and then finding out that the Tooth Fairy is also visiting tonight. (How does one keep up?) I have had many neighbours help me out today from offering me a cup of tea and a brief rest to hiding the kids eggs for our community Egg hunt.

After a full day of chocolate eating and tooth-knocking-out-trampolining(it was loose already), I adventurously went to a play at the Cultural Centre with all four kids. After that belly busting and smile inducing fun, as part of our Easter Celebration we went out to dinner. On the way home after a both grueling and enjoyable adventure, I was cringing at the thought of my messy home and wondering if my in-laws had arrived yet. As we pull into a parking spot, I see a number of kids playing and sent the oldest two off to play until called. About ten steps later, I am offered help carrying the baby into the house where I am greeted by Auntie B and another neighbour cleaning my home. My neighbour also takes my garbage up to the curb (a 300 foot trip) and Auntie V assists in folding a mound of laundry. Forty minutes later, baby is sleeping (Thanks Auntie B), beds are made, kids are chatting happily and I am having a cup of tea. What a wonderful way to be greeted as I come home. My gratitude to all.

Nutshells and Niblets Community Bulletin # 35 April 2012

Nutshells and Niblets Community Bulletin # 35 April 2012

Vivian's highjacked, highly biased, and totally unedited version of Ann's Newsletter.

April is the Month of Fools... and Showers.... Then do clowns fall from the sky?

How has Spring come so soon? Is someone playing my life in fast forward these days? Watching out for the good parts? Slowing down only when I sit at the community camp fire our creek? Tea seems to slow things. Holding a hot cup while watching out the window for boys chasing each other with sticks, and wheel barrows pulling hopeful neighbours down our freshly mulched pathways. Some days it seems like it is taking forever to build this village. Other days it feels like it is happening too fast.

I should drink more tea. Perhaps if you were to come for a visit we could drink tea and watch this fast paced sleepy village whiz by.

(Welcomes have been moved to the end of the Newsletter. There are simply too many of them this month.) The picture attached is of my "sales" chart. All blue stickies are sold. Yellow are on their way to sold. Pink are interested and wanting to come but working out how to get here. Green would like to share in another Quad style home, and the light yellow are interested in Seniors cohousing. What a pretty map!

Flowing Forward (Fire Flow attained here comes Strata!)

For those following closely you may know we've had a doozy of a time getting our fire flow permit. Truthfully I don't even know if it was a permit we needed, or an allowance? We needed something anyways, and the city....was.... taking.... a .... long....time.... to.... get.... it..............done.

Well its done. Now all that is left is a submission for the boundary adjustment and we will finally have our Strata! TA DA!!!! (This is very big because it means we can now build out our new units and the common house!)

EVENTS:

Face Painters Wanted for Earth Day Chilliwack. (April 21) Wonder what its really like to be a villager? Come out and paint faces with us at the Chilliwack Earth Day! April 21st. Interested? email welcome@yarrowecovillage.ca and we'll give you the details!

Compost Workshop (April 23 12:00-2:00) Come on out and learn how to make the coolest compost system ever. We'll be working with Shauna to create the cohousing compost system. Bring mud boots and drills! We'll have a great time getting ready to rot our scraps together!

Open Houses, Open Hearts. (April 29)

Once again the entire village welcomes you to spend the day at the village. Farm tours, cohousing presentations, face painting, walk throughs of homes and floor plans will be available. This is a big day for us. It seems as though every year that we do it we end up finding a new neighbour or two. It is also a ton of work and so we appreciate all the help we can get. Are you a friend of the village? Would you be willing to volunteer an hour or two to help us with our big day? Boy that would be great! email welcome@yarrowecovillage.ca

Chilliwack's Garage Sale Day (May 12th)

Got Junk? The Village Matures will be hosting our second annual Junk Show (aka garage sale) Donate, book a free table for your own stuff, or volunteer to buy sell junk for Hope international. We love supporting Hope International because our neighbour Mathew works for them. We know the money we earn for them goes to important work. Mathew can tell you first hand about the work that happens as he actually visits countries and follows up on their progress. Ask me- I'll introduce you.

Drummmmm roll for welcomes please!

dehdededededededededrdrdrdrdrdtdehdededededededededrdrdrdrdrdtdehdededededededededrdrdrdrdrdtdehdededededededededrdrdrdrdrdt

ting!

Welcome Walter!

Okay. He's not moving here.... he was born here! 12:45 am March 31 to loving parents Beverly and Mathew, brothers Leo and Isaac. His birth story will forever be one of community. Some of us ladies at the village had decided to abandon the village for a night of dancing. I- being a former face painter- decided to liven things up with a little body art in the early evening. Beverly was feeling a little too pregnant for a night of dancing- but she let us paint her beautiful belly before we all left. After an almost magical night of painting, laughing, and community in the Quad (thank you Quad!) Twelve of us headed out to dance. We danced... while Beverly brought a new life into the world. A new neighbour to our village. When Linda got the text message that she had a new nephew we rejoiced! All twelve of us hugging and laughing at the miracle of it. As we tip toed through the village the temptation was too great. We stood on the front step and sang "Happy Birthday" for Walter. Its a memory I will always treasure.

Welcome Caitlin and Scott! Welcome to Miles, Deagan, Lex, and Quin too!

Caitlin read the article in the progress about us in January and jumped into her van with four young boys. Linda found her wondering around and Ann asked her in for tea. On her way down she ended up in my place, and then Yonas and Julia dropped in. We invited her to stay for an impromtu dinner. Her boys, Jongkind's, and us. It was... loud. But she liked us anyways! Now how's that for a first day at the village!

Caitlin and Scott plan on having us all over for tea in the castle house they've been living again soon.

Welcome to Christine and son Jonathan!

Christine home schools her son Jonathan. He's nine. They've just come to us from Mission and will be renting the small farm house until the new homes go up. Christine will always stand out for me because she is one of the few people who actually called me on the marketing number rather than email. She asked thoughtful questions and while she had caught me at a chaotic time (which times aren't around here) I found she drew me to sit a talk. Her first tour was followed by a second. She came for dinner. She joined us for the Focus group. Then the kichen's group. She has already brought me home groceries (THANKS SO MUCH CHRISTINE) and she regularly comes armed with contributions to meals. I am looking forward to more time getting to know her now that she's here!

Welcome Devorah and David

Devorah and David have been talking about creating a community like ours for a long time. Imagine Devorah's surprise when she heard about us on CBC Shiral Tobin's "Pinched". When our January presentation was snowed out it was an email from Devorah that gave me hope. A whole group of them! Interested! From Maple Ridge! She made it to Ingrid's Senior's cohousing presentation and she and David signed up on the spot. The next time we saw them was at the Ten Mile Tour with some other friends who were just as nice as Devorah and David. They were all so content, so happy and easy to be around. And now they are going to be OUR NEW NEIGHBOURS!

Welcome Natalie!

Ok...Natalie has been here for awhile. She actually moved in in January but somehow it went under the radar. I suppose it's because Natalie jumped in to life in the village with both feet on day one. She's been running a Yoga class, doing childcare for Julia, working on cohousing facilitation. It sort of feels like she's been here from the beginning. We appreciate her energy and her willingness. Natalie moved into the Quad shortly after realizing her mother Ingrid was living in the best place in the world! And now she does too.

8 eight units left folks. (I already know who the next two welcomes will be so that leaves six.)

(Watch out for falling clowns!)

Raise the BARN!

COMING APRIL 21

Take Part in a Good Old Fashioned Barn Raising

In the past, when a barn was needed, communities came together in a fun and frantic weekend to build it. Now, you can take part in a barn raising yourself, at the Yarrow Ecovillage Community Farm in the Fraser Valley. The farmers at this Community Farm need a barn, and are using this need as an opportunity to invite everyone to take part in an amazing, community building event. All people, young and old, are invited to participate – the handiest people will be given the difficult jobs, and children and anyone uncomfortable with a hammer can pick fresh vegetables from the farm, and prepare a lunch for the crew.

So how can you take part? Well, before the actual barn raising, the Yarrow Ecovillage Community Farmers need to do some barn fundraising. They will be launching a peerbackers.com campaign from April 21^th to May 31st, and anyone who donates, even if it is just one penny, will be invited to take part in the barn raising fun. Those who donate more are eligible for all sorts of amazing rewards, such as organic produce, an invitation to a pumpkin picking party, or a fancy local food dinner for two. You can help by encouraging you friend network to donate when the time comes. Please email us at welcome@yarrowecovillage to be put on our campaign list.

The Yarrow Ecovillage Community Farm provides farmland to farmers who are committed to growing organic food for local markets. If you have shopped at a Vancouver Farmer’s Market, chances are you have bought something grown by one of the Community Farmers! Some of the produce grown by the different farms include salad mix, sweet baby carrots, heirloom tomatoes, and deluxe asian vegetables. The Community Farm is also expanding as a hub for local food and agriculture events, such as gardening workshops, local food dinners, and of course, barn dances once our barn is built!

For more information, a tour of the farm, or an interview, please contact

Tamara Bonnemaison,

Farm Manager, Yarrow Ecovillage Community Farm

Tamara.bonnemaison@gmail.com

778 374-0321