(re)Cycling Ideas into Action

Alternative Routes
Blog posting #6
BriarpatchMagazine.com

by Shayna Stock, with photography by Dominique Fenton

Touring the Waldegrave farm with participants from the Otesha Project

For me, this trip is largely about matching our behaviours to our words; about putting our philosophies and theories and complaints aside, and replacing them with tangible, authentic action.

One community we visited, a place called Waldegrave Farm, outside of Tatmagouche, Nova Scotia, fully embodies this spirit of action.

We had heard about this group of “young people” near Tatamagouche both from the Belzers, the first couple we stayed with, and from Julie and her family, whose farm we visited outside of Antigonish.

We arrived to a dance party in the kitchen of the large farm house. We happened to be visiting at the same time as an Otesha bike tour, an intentional (if temporary) community of its own. The Otesha Project consists of several 2-month-long bike tours in different regions of Canada. Participants perform skits throughout their journey to educate people about sustainable living, and demonstrate the power of our daily choices in determining the future of our planet.

As we circled through the dance party, and into the dining room, we ran into a couple familiar faces — one woman we knew from Toronto, and a guy from my hometown, Sarnia — reminding us of our profound interconnectedness.

The people at the Waldegrave farm have a special connection with the Otesha participants; it was during a similar bike tour that the seven of them met, and that the idea for the community was born.

In 2001, the seven adults who live at the Waldegrave farm now, as well as several others who supported the initial formation of the community, were part of a cross-country bike trip called the Climate Change Caravan. After four and a half months of cycling together, and bringing the issue of climate change to the attention of people across Canada, they decided to put some of their talk into action.

So, they bought a farm.

Now, all in their late 20s, they aim to live as environmentally sustainably as possible, in a community environment. With the help of chickens, pigs, cows, ducks, and 100 acres of land, they are able to produce a lot of their own food and animal feed. What they don’t produce themselves, they mainly buy locally, or in bulk from an organic food supplier. They share cooking and chores.

Farmer Yuill gives us a tour

Signs in the bathrooms direct visitors to the barn if they have to poo, where there is a compostable toilet. They are also building two straw bale cabins on their land.

But the most exciting aspect of this community for me is an annual educational event that they host. “Free School” is just what its name implies, a series of seminars or workshops, offered for free. Anyone is free to offer a workshop on any topic, and the workshops are open to everyone, completely free of charge.

In the past they’ve had around 100 participants in workshops in such diverse subjects as straw bale building, swing dancing, passive solar design, parenting, politics, wildcrafting, bookbinding, bike maintenance, etc. Participants usually camp out around the large barn where the event is hosted.

Spending time with all of these creative and inspired individuals — both the Otesha participants, and the residents of Waldegrave farm — reminds me of something someone told Dominique and me before our departure:

“It’s just so great to see people doing something,” Stewart, our neighbour in Kensington Market, told us.

It’s true. It’s one thing to recognize the problems around us, and to study, analyze, theorize, philosophize, and complain about them; but to put your words into action, to actually be a part of the solution to these problems by living the way you speak, is a whole different story.

It’s not easy work, but as someone said over dinner one evening at the Waldegrave farm, “Work around here is equivalent to pleasure.” (someone else then added, “Well, it depends on what type of work”)

To learn more about Free School, visit http://freeschool.fairtrademedia.com/

Read about the Otesha Maritimes Tour’s experience at the Waldegrave farm here: http://www.otesha.ca/journals/tours+2007/maritime.en.html

Shayna and Dominique are traveling across Canada in search of community, and sharing what they find with Briarpatch readers. Read their introduction to the project here.