our newsletter spring 2010

8/9/2019 Our Newsletter Spring 2010

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A Word from Brandy:

This year has continued old and spawned new work that has created fundamental change at O.U.R. ECOVILLAGE.Beyond anyones wildest dreams so much has been nurtured - incredible accounts of how much folks appreciate OURwork, feel transformed by their experience here, and/or are interested in creating community more deeply because ofOUR connection.

Last year over 7700 people participated on site with OUR ECOVILLAGE in some way. We are the premierePermaculture/Sustainable Village Demonstration Site and Education Centre of its kind in Canada. We supported 7different Directed Studies projects and had contracts for 14 courses with Vancouver Island University, the University ofVictoria, and Royal Roads University all teaching with OUR being done both onsite at OUR ECOVILLAGE and at theircampus. We also have a partner agreement with Gaia College and we are now teaching The Organic Master Gardenerhere onsite with them.

We completed one JCP (Job Creation Project) in the spring of 2009 which had a wonderful impact here by creating all thesite and event planning, and media/marketing tools that we have been able to put into play throughout the year. We havesite rental contracts, booking calendars, new systems, a whole new website, we won a life long membership with a anemail marketing company, Emma, and now have all OUR updates, newsletters, and course details going out this way.We also started another JCP for 2009/10 which has had a huge eco-landscaping impact onsite (more on page 4).

We raised over $325,000 in grants/training monies/foundation support. Much of this has come from Skills Training wherewe are able to hire people who have been on Employment Insurance previously. This meant that last fall we actually hadevery person onsite working here under a program (other than CM who traveled to his school and Bill who had justretired). This is an incredible shift to see this many people onsite and not have them commuting all over to get to work.

This past summer there were 36 full time residents on site and the winter heralded in 21 people! With the advent of somany of us as winter residents OUR team moved forward to build a beautiful temporary kitchen in TAJII (OUR 2nd shop)

All of this would never have been dreamt into manifestation without the incredible loving connection of all of you and the100s and 100s of volunteers who came through here again last year. OUR work is a living testimonial to what is possiblein a world of challenge with a somewhat uncertain future. All the efforts become so very worthwhile when it is shared inthe healing connection of community and relationship. May the beginning of this new season bring a spark of newpossibility, a new found energy to work magic, and a peace that is healing for all. And may OUR ECOVILLAGE manifestitself on a whole new level..bringing each of us all of the joy we so richly deserve.

- Brandy Gallagher is co-founder and the Executive Director of O.U.R. Ecovillage


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Hearthkeeper Reflection by Elke Cole: Into The Village

We are all villagers. Most of us have forgotten what that means and all thats left is a yearning for something. What ismy tribe? Where do I belong? What is my purpose?This search brings many people to O.U.R. Ecovillage. Here we have at least expressed the intention to be a village.We practice by working together, sharing meals, sitting in circle. There are seasonal rituals and celebrations, andpeople bring their way of being to the table.This year we can feel that there is a clan of those who have been here and live here with long-term intention. We holdspace for all the new faces that join for our programs and events. Living here is not just a choice- I believe we arecalled to be here together.

What about you? Are you listening to your call? Is it time to take action?All our internships have a core curriculum of skills in personal leadership: communication, setting goals, resolvingchallenges, visioning. These skills enable us to build the safe environment for you to learn the specific working skillsyouve come for. They build the village connection among us for a short period of time and you may find yourself

connected to that tribe for a long time after you leave.

Last years intern group created their motto as: I surrender to my learning. Lets acknowledge here that we are alllearning. And we are all teaching. Hands-on learning has the wonderful power of landing information in the body. Ourhands are touching the earth while our minds expand.What are you waiting for?


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Evolving Landscapes and the Job Creation Program:

OUR 2009 Natural Building Skillbuilder Internship had a full team and worked on the O.U.R. Artists residence and studioand the long awaited first home in OUR Eco-Housing cluster.Freyas House. The Artist studio is finished except for finatrim. The craftsmanship will live on for 100s of years.

OUR 2009 Sustainable Food Production SkillbuilderInternship terraced off a whole new area for Food Production as wellas managing and cultivating OUR extensive gardens and greenhouses:

A new Job Creation Project started on October 19th with10 participants/staff. Many of these folks have moved onsite andso we are full on in relationship together with many of us learning and growing through the deeper connection of living andworking together in community life. Javan began his O.U.R. community experience as one of the Natural BuildingSkillbuilder Interns last June and was joined on site by his partner Tangle Caron in October.


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The JCP created rock works including stone steps in several areas onsite, a beautiful retaining wall beside the HealingSanctuary and created new terraces around the Art Studio for gardens and Tent camping:

An additional 4 acres or so has been cleared for more gardens and grey water systems, irrigation works and a new pondare all nearing completion on the land. On February 18, a sacred dedication ceremony was held for the Labyrinth, nownearly complete beside the Healing Sanctuary. At its conclusion, Brandy and Lara placed the first scoop of earth into thecentre and construction began immediately.


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New Programs:

We are piloting a new Internship in Sustainable Community Buildingfor 2010. This Internship is focused onseeing and creating possibility in order to better for care for the whole. It is a process that welcomes the offerings andstrengths of individuals and combines them into a living fabric of life affirming relationships, a strong sense of personaaccountability, and vibrant well-being in order to increase personal, social and environmental resiliency incommunities. Effort for sustainable community building begins by asking the important transformational question Howcan I/we better serve this whole community?

With the ongoing request to have more accessibility for folks who wish an integrated short term experience in anecovillage we have created O.U.R. Ecovillage Explorer. Details and booking information is available on theWebsite.

OUR Sustainable Energy Workshop This two-day course provides an introduction to the generation, application,management and conservation of energy in the home. Watch for dates on OUR site!

Bits n Bites:

CM Justice & Elke Cole, two wise and wonderful people with a wealth of life to share, have moved forward with their fullcommitment to Hearth Keeper status. They plan to start building their house as soon as can be managed .

Executive Director Brandy Gallagherreceived an Eco-Hero award from British Columbia Sustainable Energy Association

Read about this honour at:http://www.bcsea.org/blog/tom-arnold/2009/11/19/celebrating-local-climate-heroes-


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Intern Reflection by Kailee Hirsche:

Delicate sprouts leaving the safety of seed coats to reach for the sun, cared for by gardeners singing sweet songs ofspring; cozy cottages clustered amid trees connected by well-worn pathways; smiling faces and open arms; stories andmore songs shared around an inviting campfire. To some, community may conjure images of another world - an

idealized vision of a way of life that can only exist in very particular circumstances with just the right type of people. Lastyear I spent most of my last eight months before following my charted path to begin my education in Natural ResourcesConservation at UBC living in community at O.U.R. Eco-Village.

Looking back to the end of my Internship at OUR, its hard to recall what I anticipated regarding university. It wasimpossible for me to fully comprehend the change I was about to experience. I arrived at the University of BritishColumbia in late August, as planned. The inviting and unique curvilinear structures I had grown accustomed to werereplaced by uniformly austere dormitories characterized by right angles. Instead of salads I was used to watering andoften picking myself I got greens I had no relationship with. I observed a strange homogony of those between the ages ofabout eighteen and twenty-five, and felt the lack of children playing in the sun. People didnt automatically hug eachother. A philosophy of abundance was overtaken by one of scarcity. The education I had been receiving in the gardenthat flowed naturally from experience and conversation with interesting and knowledgeable people, and the holisticapproach that was taken in the Permaculture Design Certification Course was replaced. Instead I received an educationimparted by highly specialized individuals who would clearly benefit from chatting with each other over coffee once in a

while; one that seemed to focus on addressing the symptoms, rather than understanding their cause.

As a natural response to the change I began seeking out little pieces of the Eco-Village in and around UBC. The resourcecentre, one of my more recent findings, is home to a few clubs (including the Social Justice Centre) and attracts a wealthof inspiring people. Sprouts, a small restaurant that serves food grown at the UBC Farm for reasonable prices, hostsCommunity Eats every second Friday, an event where lunch is by donation if one brings their own dish. Sometimeshippies stand on Commercial Drive, making smudge sticks and handing them out for donations. Ive even found thatWreck Beach draws a refreshingly diverse group of people one evening I wound up chilling with a local mens circle.

More importantly, Im starting to learn how to find the similarities in less obvious places. Plant Operations haveinconspicuously planted nasturtiums (edible flowers popular in salads at OUR) in planters around campus, which I haveintroduced to friends - I dare you to eat that flower (under cover of darkness, of course). Im realizing that my dorm is acommunity. Aside from the anonymity that leads to frequent food theft from a shared fridge, Ive found creative andintentional ways of sharing: borrowing other peoples printers in exchange for lending out my laundry card, or givingfriends copies of my bike key so they can use my bike while Im away. Ive developed essential self-care skills born out ofpractices I was exposed to at the Eco-Village and I have maintained connections to the people at OUR as well. Simple asthey may be, I find these to be some of the more rewarding experiences Ive had so far this school year.

Im interested in delving deeper into how people act in different environments and why, Maybe living in community isnt

necessarily so much about living in a certain kind of place, with certain kinds of people. Maybe its more of a state ofmind, a way of being in the world that can be achieved many ways; one greatly enhanced by living in a place like O.U.R.Eco-Village. Other environments can make it more challengingbut as Permaculture teaches: the edge is where theaction is.

Coming up this Saturday 27th

March, 12.30-5pm We welcome the surrounding community to celebrate the comingspring with the opening of O.U.R. new labyrinth and a tour of other transformations that have taken place on the land this

winter! RSVP to [email protected]

our newsletter spring 2010

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