EARTHAVEN ECOVILLAGE

Geni 

Children with Kayla

Recently I attended Bizarre Bazaar (Christmas trade fair and entertainment) event held at Earthaven Ecovillage Council Hall. There many exhibitors selling their handcrafted wares and home made food. The children participated by making a paper chain that was decorated around the hall. Local customers enjoyed the friendship, sharing ideas, food, drinks and music.

I bought a pair of handcrafted ear rings from Seed and Sky  made by Kelcey Loomer, a young lady who is a phenomenal artist.

 Earthaven Ecovillage is a 10 minute walk from Full Circle Family Farm.  It was founded in 1994 and is emerging as a major centre for lifestyle advancement in Western North Carolina. With 320 acres in the beautiful, rugged Blue Ridge Mountains, 39 miles from Ashville. Earthaven 's development mirrors a world movement towards sustainability, planetary responsibility and human evolution. They offer tours; classes and workshops in ecovillage life skills; extended visits and camping; Internships and work-exchange opportunities; special events and a range of membership options.

I also enjoy attending the coffee hour at Earthaven every Wednesday morning with Geni and Kayla. There is so much to learn from the members, young and old.

Until next time

Discover it Live it

Would you like a Goat for a Pet?

A popular animal that is raised on Full Circle Family Farm are Nigerian Dwarf goats. The are easy to take care of, produce milk and are real pets.  

Once consisted at risk, they have been benefited from increase in their popularity as a dairy goat. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy now designated Nigerian as recovering on their Conservation Priority List. The original Nigerian-type goats from Africa were were black but cross-breeding established the breed and gave a variety of colours. When they were first registered as a dairy goat in 1981 they were considered solely as a pet breed . They enjoy people and can become attached to their owner. Because of their small size Nigerians are a favourite with 4-H families.

Kayla has been the main trainer for the Nigerian goats on Full Circle Family Farm. Her love for them show by their attachment to her as she takes them for walks twice a day and has bottle feds them from birth. They were named Missy (tan), Hoagie (white) and Reuben (black & white)

While Kayla was away for a few days, she gave me instructions how to take them for a walk. When I took them out of they pen and called them to follow me as I ran down onto the road, they remained near the pen and just played. No way were they going to follow me, a stranger!!

These goats have a strong desire to stay near their pen and will not wander far. They are bottled fed the first few weeks and are weaned after 16 weeks, then they are ready to be sold. With this training, behaviour, and dairy qualities, they make good pets and are a favourite for families around this area.

Until next time Happy Framing!!!

Unplugged

This past month has been a new experience for me.

We have been in North Carolina since November 15^th where we have set up our Open Range Travel Trailer. We are living off-grid on the Full Circle Family Farm, owned and operated by my son, Leon, his wife, Geni, and daughter, Kayla.

It is situated in a valley in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. To get to the farm one has to travel on I-40 to Black Mountain, west of Ashville, NC, onto a very winding, narrow mountainous road. These roads are not on the general map so a more detailed one is needed. A GPS is a most!

There is plenty to do here as the farm is one of sustainability and environmental renewal, with recycling and composting; organically grown gardens and fruit trees. The farm animals consist of Nigerian dwarf goats, chickens and bees. Solar and Hydro power is the main source of energy.

Along with the farm, there is a ZEN Meditation Centre, to enrich the inner soul. Nature is really felt because of the necessity of being out doors, getting from place to place or taking walks in the forested hills around the farm.  The Zendo is now open to everyone in the area, if they wish to partake during the early morning sessions.

Since coming, I have just walked a short distance to the well- built and inviting Zendo near by. I have felt then benefits of the hour there as well as the volunteer silent-work period during the day.

On Sunday Geni took Kayla and I toGreat Tree Women's Temple near Alexander on the north side of Ashville, an hour's drive from Full Circle Trail Family Farm. The session is for mothers and their family. It is facilitated by Rev Teijo Munnich,  with the youth participating in the Tea Ceremony and the guests acting out a brief story of Buddha's Enlightenment. The Centre is in a quiet hilly area with a view of a valley.

 They offer a full meditation retreats and self-awareness programs.

The Ashville area of North Carolina is known for it's educational studies and alternatives therapies. Esther and Jerry Hick did one of their Abraham talks here in 2006.

Good Things Always Appear

Wow, where has the month gone? And we woke up to snow this morning so a bowl of oatmeal porridge for breakfast was in order. We are all set to go tomorrow morning to the US.

Things have rolled along so quickly for Randal & I as we camped out in Cochrane AB. We certainly feel we are on the wave of our goals and adventure of travelling. We have become very clear with life together.Many  things have showed up in our life that has steered us in that direction.

We viewed  Food Matters which gave us an insight of the importance of good diet and maintaining our health. We also viewed The Living Matrix Movie This is a full length film on The New Science of Healing, which featured some top practitioners and researchers who reveals the scientific theories behind alternative healing and offer their perspectives on how these new concepts may shift the future of healthcare.

Our visits to Calgary were always busy with appointments, suppers with the family, walks, attending volleyball games and violin lessons.

















The Hilderman household is a well scheduled one and now that Kaney has her driver's licence the pressure is taken off Kerry and Lynne with getting everyone at the right place at the right time.

My First Mountain Climb Experience

This past Thanksgiving weekend was a truly exciting one for me, to say the least!

After breakfast on a beautiful October 9^th morning, Randal & I were picked up by Lynne, Kerry along with my granddaughters, Kaney, Lexi and Nikki to spend the day on Mt. John Laurie, commonly known as “Yamnuska”, which is a Stoney Indian word meaning “Mountain with sheer cliffs”.

For a prairie -gal, this was my first time on a 5 hour walk up 775 meters above from where we were we started from. I was encouraged to take part as there were groups of other walkers of all ages, from very young to seniors and dogs.

I walked in a very cautious manner using two walking sticks. Going up on the rocky, root-bound, narrow winding path was challenging at times, but we took time to rest at various stages. As a true mountain climber, I took very slow steps and drink plenty of water.

I brought my Nikken Sports Bottle with me and I had a pair of magsteps insoles in my new walking shoes.

Halfway along the switch-backs we stopped to have a snack and I had to make a decision whether to go further. I was feeling pretty good at this point as long as I did not look up to see how far we needed to climb. I kept my eyes looking down to where my next step would be.

When we reached the area where adventurous climber took the gully to the very top, Randal & I took a rest and just enjoyed the view and sunshine. We watched as Lynne and Nikki, my 9 year old granddaughter, climb through the gully and waved from the ledge above us. Kerry, Kaney and Lexi were not seen as they where far ahead of us by this time and had gone to the top.

I was told the decent was would be much easier and would take less time. I was not sure of this as the path did not look the same and I really had to secure good footing. I tried not to look down to where I was to go. My legs were starting to feel the the previous up-climb. I felt muscles I did not know I had!!

Kerry had suggested a path that would be longer but much easier to do. He lead the way until the path ran out. The way back up added to more agony to my legs. So I limped down the rest of the way and was relieved when the path levelled out on to the parking lot.

My recovery time the next few days was to do plenty of Yoga stretches, drink PiMag water and use the BiAxial Power and rubbing the muscles with CM Cream Of course I got plenty of rest in my sleep system. 

 Thank to all the encouragement from my family and the Nikken products for making this adventure so exciting and healing

New Albertans.

We are well settled in being Albertans.

We have been here since September 18, which has given us time to get all the necessary paper work done to officially be residents here. I now know what an immigrant must feel like when they arrive in Canada! In order to get our driver's license and health insurance we needed proof of Canadian citizenship (pass port and birth certificate), permanent address, an Alberta phone number (that I can see) and an Alberta bank account.

Not only our RAM had to go through a check, we had to get a Saskatchewan driving record abstract before we could get driving insurance. Since Randal had lived in Alberta for 20 years, his record was researched as well.

I guess we passed everything as we were able to put red and white plates on our Open Range Travel Trailer and Dodge RAM Truck. Now we are colour coordinated!!

We have a Calgary address so the government will know where we live. It is amazing how many other campers we have met so far that are full time Rvers and have done the same thing, of using one of their children's address as theirs!!

We are making it a habit to get out every morning walk even in the rainy weather, like it was this morning. Today is a good morning for oatmeal porridge for breakfast.  

On Our Way

So much has happened since my last blog, that I do not know where to start..

The summer went very fast as Randal & I continued to sort, organize, give away and sell our possessions. We are only taking what we need the Open Range Travel Trailer. We were anxiously waiting for the house to sell and had set our plans to leave Buena Vista by September 15^th.

September came and so did customers looking at the house. Jeff, from Sutton Reality, worked hard with the sale of the property. We accepted an offer that came in and we really had to push to finalize everything, as well as pack and empty the house, garage and sheds. We took the remainder to Randal's Mom's garage.

We were out on  September 15^th, our first place to take our trailer was Lumsden Riverside Camp site. We stayed there while we finished with with the packing and eliminating.

 Now was time to hit the road for Calgary, leaving on September 17^th stopping in Medicine Hat where we boon docked in an old Walmart packing lot. There were several other campers and truckers spending the night there, so we were not alone.

We arrived in Calgary on Sunday afternoon and spent the time with Lynne, Kerry and the girls before moving the trailer to Cochrane Bow RiverEdge Camp site. We will be here until October 17^th when we head west.