O.U.R. Eco Adventure

Well we’ve been here at O.U.R. Ecovillage for a week now. On Thursday many from our group went into Victoria for a fun event called Pecha Kucha an event started in Japan that challenges the speaker to get an exciting idea across in 6 minutes with 20 slides. It was an interesting evening for sure with 10 local speakers. There were certainly some criticisms coming from our permaculture group, not the least of which was the fact that the event was focussed on local food and not one grower or farmer spoke. Plenty of photographers and food stylists though which is sad and really does speak to the commodification of food and the many people who make money off of it before it hits our plates.

I attended the event while Bruce headed home to rest and fight off his sore back (we did so much sitting last week) and a sore throat (he is currently fighting it with rosemary tea and oil of oregano – our time here has really opened our eyes up to the world of herbalism and natural healing).

We enjoyed a wonderful sleep in our own bed and slept in too! We enjoyed eggs for breakfast and took our time getting ready for our day of touring around with our group to different permaculture gardens in Victoria. We met in a Fernwood park and it was a wonderful reunion with everyone even though it had only been less than 12 hours since we had last seen each other.

It was a lovely warm day and we toured around with Geoff Johnson who has an incredible permaculture garden and nursery on his city lot - including a green house, treating grey water through a 3-bathtub system, saving rainwater and growing incredible edible things like strawberries, tea, figs and so much more!

Bruce in the incredible bounty of Geoff's permaculture paradise!

Geoff's home made dehydrator - he grows and dehydrates his own gogi berries!

Our typical day starts around 6:45am when the first horn blows to let us know breakfast is served – usually fermented oatmeal, fruit and yummy toppings like flax seeds and coconut and honey. Then we start class at 8am and go until 12noon (15 min snack & break in between).

Bruce feeding some effective microorganisms to really get the garden going!

Mapping out terraces with Yan using several techniques. Chicken coop and run off to the right in the background.

Erica, Tim, Bruce, Nica and Becky using an A-Frame to stake an elevation line for the bottom terrace.

Brandy staking out the edges of our terraces.

Just one of the concepts we are learning - air flow patterns in valleys.

Lunch is usually yummy things like soups and there is usually a giant bowl of fresh salad greens from on site. Then we are back in class from 1-5pm (with a 15 min break and snack too) and then have time to work on our group design projects 5-6pm. Dinner is always yummy and varied – vegetarian selections, locally raised meat, giant salads and yummy desserts.

The line up for dinner.

Salmon & salad & buckwheat free bread for dinner - rice pudding for dessert!

Indian style dinner complete with chutney, curry and pampadams!

Desserts!

At the beginning of lunch and dinner we all join hands in a big gratitude circle and share something we are grateful for. This really makes you stop and think and be mindful – so important.

O.U.R. gratitude circle

After dinner we typically have an evening session (sometimes mandatory, sometimes not) from 7:30-9:30 or so. Then it is off to our tent to try to get a good night’s sleep so we can learn so much more again the next day. Our tent is holding up well esp. in the few days of rain we had!

In the community there are also duties everyone takes on to make things run more smoothly. This week I was on dinner clean up and Bruce was on the Credit Union. The Credit Union on site is the humanure toilet system – one bucket for urine & sawdust and one bucket for #2 and saw dust, this pile decomposes over time and after several years is used as compost on the site.

The Credit Union - made from many re-used materials.

The sign in the Credit Union

Today is our day off. We came back up from Victoria last night in time for dinner despite some traffic leaving Victoria. It felt so nice to turn off the highway and drive through the sweet smell of the trees as we turned towards the EcoVillage. We have really felt welcomed here and our group of 30 is really starting to get to know each other – we’ve taken some time to feel comfortable but now it feels like home – good thing because we’ve got another week!

Thinking of you all, Love Brandy & Bruce