das loft

Hey friends,

I'm having a pretty great time in Winlaw. It's a magical place. Here are some things I've written to others about my last couple weeks. Enjoy.

Well, the permaculture course rocks. And it's only been two days. Today we hiked through the mountains and listened to Shanoon, an expert in medicinal herbs and wild edibles, describe how virtually everything we came across not only had a use to humans but was in fact much more nutritious than almost any garden variety crop, explaining why they're much better absorbed by the body than conventional medicines. It really made me rethink the concept of "weeds", and what it means to put a plot of land to "use". Most people begin with the assumption that land must first be cleared before you can make it useful. What I learned today showed me how absurd of a notion that is.

The people taking the course come from all kinds of backgrounds and levels of experience. Yet we're all so in-line with our philosophies; when Gregoire (the teacher) says something that in my mind begs the question "but how do you do it without fossil fuels?" or "but don't tires leach chemicals into the soil?" it seems there's always someone in the group who beats me to it. It's sooo refreshing to be among a group of people - indeed, living in a whole village - where everyone is generally on the same page! Nobody in this valley asks you to explain what permaculture is; they were brought up knowing the answer. Few question why you don't drive; they assume you don't and know why. :)

~

I would say that the soil is very rocky, at least at Ricardo's, but it produces green abundance like crazy. And Gregoire's land is totally easy-breezy to till, as it's lower in the valley flatlands than Ricardo's and probably has been farmed for longer. Everything that grows here is giant-size - the trees, the ferns, the dandelions. Even the people are. I feel like a dwarf sometimes, to be honest. It's like being in Giant World in Super Mario 3. Most of Ricardo's friends are pretty tall. Ricardo himself is 6'6.

Serene and magical. We've been eating a huge salad of wild lettuce and sorrel from the garden every day, Ricardo and I. The organic eggs in the only Winlaw food store are produced in Winlaw, a village of 400 people. Ricardo's hosting a solstice party on his highest clearing where there's a stage and an old school bus. One year 500 people came.

Today we visited an old farmer and his wife. Frank is pretty concerned about peak oil and is basically running his whole farm by hand. He's a metalworker and inventor, but he's pretty anti-technology; he thinks it's mostly to blame for our current predicament. So they're sowing buckwheat and rye and barley and peas and corn and sunflowers all by hand. Growing corn for enough chickens by hand. And their chickens are beautifully healthy looking - 13 eggs per day. They even have mothers incubate their chicks naturally. Pretty good considering all the other food growing and construction projects they've got on the go. They're building lots of cob stuff, and also concrete. He showed us his beautiful concrete root cellar with potatoes and preserves in it. And then we all just hung out at his house for an hour eating home-grown oatcakes and drinking tea. At the end he talked about how he wishes there were more young farmers out here leasing the land of older folk who don't have time to do anything with their land. It reminded me that renting/leasing might be a really good idea for the short term.. maybe even long term. I'm going to be looking into it.

The children I've met are so beautiful. I've met a couple gypsy mothers with the most well adjusted kids. Lots of young couples here with young kids and babies feeding them organic food. There are people with glowing auras and old souls. I'm going to visit a herbalist next week, an older woman named Shemaha with a face worn and weathered. She can be a bit blunt to you at first, but she has the warmest smile, and much wisdom to share.

Not to mention that it's sooo beautiful here and abundant with vegetation and wildlife. It smells incredible - nothing like the prairies or Ontario. It's so in-your-face sweet! I feel so spoiled to be here, eating wild and garden greens for dinner every day, drinking directly from springs and creeks. I've been learning a lot about medicinal plants and wildcrafting. It's amazing how many of the plants in the forest have medicinal or nutritional value. I now look at the forest floor in a completely different way. I see food everywhere!

The general sense I get from the people in Winlaw is bursting positivity. Everyone pretty much knows all about the unfolding world crises; people are just preparing for them by gardening. It seems like everyone has a garden. Almost every friend of Ricardo's that he introduces me to ends up in conversation with Ricardo about something relating to plants or animals. There are so many people who have come to Winlaw for the same reasons you and Chris talk about, too. Many people came here because they simply didn't believe in having "careers".

I haven't even really seen Nelson yet. I got there the first day and Ricardo took me to a cafe and the farmers market. I was already impressed by how interesting the people looked and how beautiful and charming the town was. But then he drove me to Winlaw and I haven't had to visit Nelson since. There are three buses that go between Nelson and Winlaw every day, for $2.75 I think.

Labels: bc, bike trip, eye-opening, farm, gardening, peak oil, winlaw