From EcoReality

Big Changes Ahead!

It's been quite a year at EcoReality. Has it really been a year since we've done a newsletter? Well, nearly eleven months!

Although we haven't been very communicative, we've continued meeting, planning, working... toward what? Sometimes we weren't sure. Sometimes the goal was so abstract and the daily grind so concrete, that we just couldn't see the steps in between. We endured health problems, distance problems, weather problems, harvest problems, neighbour problems. We were stuck in a "catch-22": we needed more people with resources in order to pursue the bigger dream, but people with resources wanted something more concrete than a dream to pursue. Author and Advisory Council member Diana Leafe Christian said it seems we were "stuck between floors on the ecovillage elevator."

Then in March, opportunity struck. Shannon had started an internship program for her agroecology students at University of British Columbia, and one of her students was selected by Gavin Johnston to help on his heritage cattle farm. He happened to be right next to 100 acres that was in the process of being subdivided, with 63 acres to be donated for community farmland. To make a long story short, we made an offer on the remaining 37 acres, which was accepted. Closing is 1 August, with a rental beginning 1 June, just a bit over two weeks from now!

There's nothing like the promise of land to inspire people. Everyone we walked the land with became smitten, and it seems we may have five or seven new members joining us at the next meeting, on 31 May. The larger Salt Spring Island community is abuzz, as well, with various people wanting to put a fruit processing facility and an aquaponics facility on our site, and with prominent people in the local farming community giving us their public blessing.

What lies ahead is, thankfully, more clear than the recent murky past. We will begin a Permaculture design for the site, and will begin a series of educational programs, starting with a talk by Mike Nickerson, author of Life, Money & Illusion, a book about sustainable economics. Mike will be with us on June 28th — watch our site for details.

For more information, check out our press release, and consider coming to one of our meetings!

— Jan Steinman, Communication steward