Hiking along a mountain ridge in the beautiful Kootenays
our temporary home on the lake So off we went to Nelson BC to start a new adventure. We spent the first night camped out at Cottonwood Lake since we hadn't been very good at keeping in touch with the farms or couchsurfer hosts that we had contacted prior to arriving - normally they like to have a few days notice but our plans changed too often to stick to one. It was nice though, a peaceful little lake with some picnic tables. There were a few groups of people enjoying the sunny day who were all very interested in chatting with us. The next day we found a place with internet and noticed that we got a response from someone who could host us that night in her spare bedroom. We were so happy to meet Gabrielle who cooked us up a delicious dinner and told us about the many hiking trails around Nelson. We were expecting to stay for only a day or two before heading out to Chuckleberry Farm to volunteer for a week or two before my yoga course started, but in the morning Gabrielle informed us that there was a family emergency and she had to take off for a few days. Unfortunate news, but we were very happy to stick around and look after her beautiful little place while she was away.
On a stroll with our new friends Jenna, Flo & Peter
Before Gabrielle left she put us in contact with her daughter, Vida, and a friend who couch sat with her a year earlier, Peter, who is also a mechanical engineer and now lives in Nelson. After meeting Peter a few times Peter mentioned that he had just bought a house and would be moving in soon. He hinted that it had two extra bedrooms and we took the bait, agreeing that after our time at Chuckleberry Farm we would stay in Nelson with him during the yoga course. It was so funny because we had been getting a little worried that we hadn't planned enough for this trip but suddenly, things were falling into place. Gabrielle's neighbours even invited us over for a very lovely potlach Thanksgiving dinner. Nelson was slowly but surely taking us in.
getting our hands dirty at the farm Our week at Chuckleberry Farm, located on Awesome View Road (yup, quite a name!) went by so fast, and yet we experienced so much. While Andrew spent most of the time working on installing a cooling system for the cold cellar, I helped out in the yard harvesting tomatoes, sprouts and peppers, planting garlic, digging and de-weeding a drainage trench behind the building, and a few other random tasks. At first it seemed like it was going to be a very tiring and difficult week, but on the second day of trench work, Jenna, an intern who'd arrived just a week before, was assigned to work with me for some time. She brought a lot of fun to the task and made me realize that I didn't have to be straining myself so much. She reminded me that the farm was named "Chuckleberry" for a reason. And so, for the rest of the week we continued to get a lot of work done, and have a lot of chuckles.
James and Maciej shovelling compost The rest of the volunteers were awesome as well. There was James, a young guy from Australia who had just finished hiking part of the Pacific Crest Trail (awesome!!!!!); Alex from Tasmania who always has something philosophical to discuss and who shares many of my world views and concerns; there were Braydon and Martika, a very cool couple who had just finished some tree planting work over the summer; Alexander and Lisa, basically a mirror of Andrew and I a year ago having just quit their full time careers in search of a new way of life; Robin and Ghislain, interns who have been living at the farm for over a year, focusing on the sprout business as well as trying to find a deeper purpose in their lives after having gone through some very tough times; and Maciej, a free-spirited aspiring photographer and videographer who has been at the farm for something like six months. I haven't been able to get to know Jon, the owner of the farm (though he wouldn't take the credit) as much as I would have liked to, but Andrew has been working with him a lot. Based on the brief encounters that I've had with him and the things I have seen at the farm I have been so inspired by him. Jon has had an incredibly interesting life and has come from some dark places to find where he is now. The farm and the community that he is building really is amazing. He creates an atmosphere of absolute openness and acceptance. We only stayed at Chuckleberry for one week (regretfully) but have been going back to visit regularly, and Andrew has been going back a couple days week to lend his engineering hands while I've been doing yoga. We're thinking about spending more time out there if we have it. Don't worry, moms, it's not a cult. =P
The 200 hour yoga teacher's training was so good! At first I was a little concerned that I might get tired of doing so much yoga every singe day (yep, even weekends) for a month, but the more we got into it, the more I wanted. Joy, the director of the Shanti Yoga studio here in Nelson is a very inspiring person, as well as all of the other instructors at the studio that we all got to know so well. We focused a lot on anatomy and safe alignment in the poses, considering accessibility for different yoga students (prenatal, injured, curious, new), discussed some of the history and mysteries of yoga, philosophy and meditation and even learned a few Sanskrit words. Of course in spending so much time together all of us students got to know and appreciate each other so well. My body feels different, with a new strength and flexibility, and I just feel so darn good! I can definitely see teaching yoga in my future, even just as a hobby. In fact, I have signed up for an extra 50hr add on training this week, as well as a mentorship with the studio for a couple of weeks into December. After that, if we are still in Nelson, I might have to start doing some teaching! Fun fun!
So as of now, we don't have a set plan but we've got ideas. The things we know for sure are that I will continue doing lots of yoga until Shawn arrives in Vernon in mid December (!!!) to spend a couple of weeks with us. Other than that, no idea. We might stay at Pete's for a while since it is awesome here, and I think he likes us, hehe, or maybe we'll head back out to Chuckleberry for a while. For now, we'll keep the details a bit of a mystery, but there's something brewing for our future that might allow us to keep our happy hobo lifestyle going, and yet give us a meaningful project to work on and some security for the future... Will let you know how things play out!
Chilli,
Chels
So as of now, we don't have a set plan but we've got ideas. The things we know for sure are that I will continue doing lots of yoga until Shawn arrives in Vernon in mid December (!!!) to spend a couple of weeks with us. Other than that, no idea. We might stay at Pete's for a while since it is awesome here, and I think he likes us, hehe, or maybe we'll head back out to Chuckleberry for a while. For now, we'll keep the details a bit of a mystery, but there's something brewing for our future that might allow us to keep our happy hobo lifestyle going, and yet give us a meaningful project to work on and some security for the future... Will let you know how things play out!
Chilli,
Chels
Photos from Nelson
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Photos from Chuckleberry Farm
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