*This is just an example of what to expect from this course. It is going to be life changing.

There is a home for this! yay yay yay!

Those words kept landing with a thud in my stomach throughout the 2 weeks of Earth Activist Training. They landed like comfort, like warm tea on a cold day. Mmmmm, relax, spread out, there’s a home for this and you’re inside it.

I’ve had a funny hunch that permaculture is an important lens for me. I’ve worktraded on permaculture sites, tried (unsuccessfully… so far) to get permaculture classes started, written articles about queer permaculture (more on that some other time). But honestly it was all a hunch – my own experience was my greatest proof that permaculture and real liberatory social justice are one in the same. We can talk about composting our poop into fertile soil one moment and then discuss effective methods of direct action the next? We can talk about dealing with police brutality in the same breath as rainwater harvesting? oh wow oh wow yes!

Starhawk‘s E.A.T. course, which she taught with Charles Williams, is freaking amazing. As she went over the syllabus each item lodged itself in another nook of my brain, found a fold yearning for exactly that flavor to chew on. There was already space for this knowledge, all I needed was the content to fill in the corners and expand the edges of this now-huge space.

This approach to permaculture constantly examines the human relationships that go down alongside the earth sustainability work. We spent 2 nights talking about non-hierarchical organizing and methods to make a meeting functional fun and effective. We talked about magical activism. We even devised some magical activism.

On the activism front, this training is potent. After so much analysis, heartache and headbreak over the Occupy movement, I came to quite a few conclusions about what makes organizing work. It all aligns with permaculture principles. Observe first. Value the marginal, the edges, those with less power. Form coalitions that can thrive autonomously, not with constant leadership from outside. I could go on. Permaculture extends these ideas into physical realities. It explains through a lens of natural systems that makes these abstract concepts so much more tenable. Diversity isn’t just a cute thing people think they’re supposed to want. It is the core essential necessity of a healthy reality. Blam. If you look at something as if it’s a problem, it will stay a problem. If you look at something as if it’s information, than it’s a solution. Blam.

By Annie Rose London

Come and be inspired by the real life examples of what is being created…and approved, out there in the wider community.  What is really possible for all of us to bring together as resources for local transformation.  If you are in Government, land use planning, ecological design, community development, or anything to do with sustainability planning and project work – this is your night.

Where: Mary Winspear Centre, 2243 Beacon Avenue Sidney, Victoria, BC V8L 1W9

When: Thursday, 7:00pm – 9:30pm

With the likes of: Mark Lakeman CITY REPAIR PROJECT….visionary architect, futurist speaker, Portland OR founder of The Village Building Convergence.

Starhawk – prolific published writer and world earth activist, teacher and guest lecturer of many decades over, with most recent book EMPOWERMENT MANUAL for collaboration within working groups related social and ecological impact.

Transition Town advocate Jack Anderson of ANDERSON GREENPLAN former City Planner, ecological architect, and permaculture community project designer.Moderator:  Brandy Gallagher OUR ECOVILLAGE, Sustainable Living Demonstration Site and Education Center founder, Shawnigan Lake

All this and more.  Come for an evening of inspiration, questions, collaboration, and if you are a PIBC member ask for professional credits!

The event is a fundraiser and your admission donation is approved for a charitable tax receipt at the door.  Please pre-register if possible.

See OUR ECOVILLAGE’s EVENTS page for registration details or phone 250-743-3067

Facebook Event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/490270951001023/

Join the event and please spread the word!

I can’t deny it’s pleasant to be inside a completely dry room with a cosy warm bed tonight. Nonetheless, my week of tenting on the village has been reasonably comfortable despite the drawbacks of fighting off the residue of some weird virus and the rainy weather, both which have invaded Vancouver Island in an untimely and extensive fashion. Anyhoozle… life goes on; especially when living onsite. I arrived Wednesday afternoon and hit the ground running. ‘Nema North’ camp (pretty sure I was pronouncing it wrong all week) got there the same day as me so I jumped into the kitchen that evening with Sara (a wonderful gal) to help out with preparing to feed the new abundance of (musical) mouths. I soon learned that there is always a million things (or as Khaya and Fiamma would say, a billion jillion kadillion… infinity) things going on around here and always room to help out and participate. At dinnertime, I tried to decipher everyone’s mysterious roles. “And what are you doing here?” I asked many times. Gardening, building, learning, teaching, cooking, kid-care, volunteering, administration, marketing, etc. Not to mention an influx of musicians ready to rock out on the marimbas/imbiras in Zimbabwean style for five days. I was a little lost (and still am) but have begun to understand a little better how this whole operation works.

The second realization I had was that I was surrounded by beautiful, passionate and interesting people who have been showing me the ropes and I feel pretty lucky to be spending a good chunk of summer here. Most of my time here has spent doing childcare but I feel as if I’ve dipped my toes into such a diverse range of activities and I’m looking forward to exploring more. (I really want to milk Bossy, the cow!) The week has been filled with challenges and wonderful experiences but I think I’m supposed to keep this short so I won’t go into too much detail for now! I am super excited to be heading back Friday morning with some clean laundry hehe. Hopefully more to come later!

By: Madeleine Dwyer

OUR Amazing kitchen coordinator Marisa

O.U.R brand new kitchen is finally operational and the chef’s couldn’t be happier. Since we’re trying to meet the guidelines of the Living Building Challenge, it has been quite an interesting building process. I think we must have some magician builders on site – the use of recycled materials is quite unique in some cases. As they say, one man’s junk is another person’s treasure. You really do need to come see for yourself and feel the positive energy inside this space. No more will the chefs be battling it out with one measly little stove! We have tons of room, creativity and amazing food – and we’re open to share it with numerous friends and visitors on site. The first weekend that the kitchen was operational, we hosted an event with over 100 people – and to be honest, I’ve never seen the chefs more mellow! It is amazing what a positive change of atmosphere can do.

Many of the builder’s ideas were on the fly and very spontaneous. (Don’t worry – we’ve been meeting building codes as per usual.) It became apparent that the word “deadline” was a little bit too daunting with the amount of work to be done. The building team adequately renamed these as “milestones.” With not much time left until the next milestone, I was asked to execute a large mural project. Sure, it is something that I’d love to orchestrate, but they didn’t want just a simple mural. Every wall was to be tiled. We had a plethora of recycled shards of tile and by organizing them by colour, ideas were born. With the help of a grade nine class from St. Michael’s University, the largest mural started to come together over the course of a weekend. I laid claim to one small area where I created a solo project – “Mama Marisa’s Moon Goddess Mural.” I finished a large portion of the kitchen while happily hanging out with our Merry Builders.
I was grateful to welcome the help of Kathy, Kyle, Ayla, Robin, Josh, SMU’s, Katimavik and the builders. I am sure there were others I have forgotten who also left a piece of their creativity behind. Thanks to everyone who helped out! I can’t believe that we tiled as much as we did in such a short period of time. To any friends in the area – come and check it out and say hello to the chefs! Stay for a meal (or two) and make some new connections with the amazing people we have on site. We look forward to seeing you!

Blog Post and Pictures by Dana Bird

Website: www.danathebird.com

Auren in typical, highly focused pose during some of the many hours he contributed in 2011 to the onsite technical infrastructure.

Here are a few roles seeking passionate people to fill them:

Site and events support

OUR Ecovillage is seeking service minded individuals to support the events team at OUR Ecovillage from immediately till the first week of October. You can come for the whole time, or a minimum of one week.

You will set-up and take down for some exciting events. You will be part of an inspiring and busy environment with opportunity to hang out with diverse and motivated people from across the spectrum of those working for a more sustainable society while expanding your personal capacity in whatever area you are working in. You can count on working hard and knowing that your contribution really counts. You will also experience a full immersion in the magic of sustainable community…

Volunteers cover the costs of their food and lodging which are monthly – $300 camping, $350 food (cooked with love by OUR team, almost all organic).

This could also be a full-time position with considerable responsibility if you are willing to commit to the whole summer. A modest stipend could be discussed.

Social Media and Outreach Intern (with Stipend)

*could be done from your own location, but preferably onsite at OUR ECOVILLAGE.

This position urgently needed for Social Media wiz and particularly someone with crowd-source abilities. We have all the background elements — just need someone with the time and talent. OUR goal is to raise monies with The Land Conservancy of BC through the Protect OUR Ecovillage Forever Campaign and the OUR Sustainers ….to ensure the continuation of this premiere Canadian Permaculture Sustainable Living Demonstration Site and Education Center for future generations. This includes the first North American Green Burial “Commemorative Conservation Scattering Grounds“. Position may include some trades for education programs, events,training. OUR site had 10K folks through last year alone and will be of great interest to the right person for the job.

You?

…love social media and marketing communications. You are passionate about healthy green living and want to helps others live this lifestyle!

Responsibilities

You will be responsible for growing and engaging our community of interns, residents, donors, alumni and friends using social media and blog.

• Drive, respond and monitor engagement on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Blog)

• Develop and execute social media contests

• Create blog content

• Find, take and edit photos

• Do web analysis to optimize and determine the results of your efforts

• Other marketing and communication related tasks as required

Requirements:

• Be enrolled/graduated business degree preferably marketing or communications or similar experience.

• Be able to work independently and in a team.

• Have lots of energy and a “can do” attitude

• Experience in at least 2 of: blog writing, social media, market research, fundraising, web design, environmental activism

Bonus skills: Photoshop or equivalent design software experience, basic html knowledge, google analytics experience, CRM software (Salesforce, etc), WordPress

Logistics:

This position comes with a stipend and can include living costs at OUR Ecovillage.

This internship is 4-6 months in length (depending on the selected intern’s availability). A minimum time commitment of 3 days per week is required and preference is given to full time.

Interested?

Please send your cover letter outlining why you are interested in this role, along with your resume to patrick@ourecovillage.org
Start date is ASAP.

Maarten Dankers

Last Tuesday I said my last round of goodbyes at the ecovillage for the year, hopped on my heavily loaded bicycle and slowly carted away in the crisp December air. Thinking back to my time at the village it’s hard to believe I stayed so long, considering when I showed up in July my plan was to visit for a week or two. Over the course of the last four months I left the site a few times, but for various reasons kept getting pulled back.

For me the main draw was the sense of community that comes from living in an ecovillage, it’s something that so often seems to be lacking in cities. In an intentional community there’s no risk of loneliness, and the daily interactions just seem to be more meaningful. On top of that, the ecovillage has been a great place to gain hands-on experience growing food and to learn about various other aspects of permaculture and sustainable living. These are the types of skills I think will be increasingly important as we transition out of a fossil fuel dependent society.

Spending a longer period of time on-site was a great way to get in touch with the turn of the seasons. After camping and spending almost all of my time outdoors in the summer, the community took on a totally different feel in October after we moved the eating area inside and I started sleeping in the yurt. The last few months were a time of more intimate meals, benefiting from a certain coziness that seems to emanate from spaces heated by wood stoves. I also gained a better understanding of the inner workings of the community, with all its ups and downs.

There have been many highlights over the past months, from marimba lessons in July to experimentation with cheese production in November, but possibly my favourite memory was Thanksgiving. It was really special to see Taj 2 filled to the brim with gratitude for a feast made almost entirely from food we grew and raised on-site. It felt like a culmination of all the efforts of the entire community over the previous months.

Overall, my time at OUR ecovillage has been an amazingly positive experience. I feel like I’ve learned so much and met a ton of great people — knowledge and connections that I’m sure will last a very long time.