We have been half-heartedly looking for a place for Amber to move to. It has been clear for some time that Amber is ready and needs to move away from home, to begin to create her own life outside of the life she has with me, her mum. I stumbled upon a wonderful place on Vancouver Island. We visited it this weekend.
The farm is part of the Camphill Movement, a worldwide organization of schools, training colleges and adult villages where care givers and people with developmental disabilities live, learn and work together, sharing in a culturally rich and productive environment. We went to the farm on a cold Sunday morning. We were met and had a tour by Katrin, the herb garden specialist, who also seems to be a “support worker”. She has lived at the farm for 10 or so years, and her goal is to see the farm make homeopathic tinctures. More on that later….
We toured the main house first. It is a very large structure that is home to about 15 people. There is a large great room with a couple of dining tables and a big fireplace with several comfy sofas around it. The only thing that doesn’t look like “home” is the industrial gas stove and large range fan. Everything else looks exactly like a regular household, albeit a large one.
In one wing of the house, shaped like an “L”, there are bedrooms, which each share a bathroom. The bedrooms are large and airy with big windows and very simple furnishings. There was an office as well. Down the other wing was another “household”; “Welcome to Chinatown!” The grinning face of a young Asian father having breakfast with several children and his wife greeted us in broken English. I took him to be a farm worker. This wing appeared to be the area that he and his family lived.
Upstairs in the house there were more sleeping rooms and a large room that was used for singing practice, hand bell practice, and country folk dancing.
Downstairs we saw a room with 6 large freezers, a laundry room, and another small kitchen leading out to the yard and fields beyond, and two work rooms.
One was the herb room, obviously Katrin’s pride and joy. There is a large herb garden outside, and this room is the laboratory where herbs are made into teas, lotions, cooking salts, and more. Everything is certified organic. It is Katrin’s goal to see the farm create homeopathic tinctures as organic ones are getting harder to find…
The other workroom was the candle making room. There is a real production line of candle making there, dipped beeswax candles in various stages of development. The room was obviously cramped and Katrin said they were working on relocating the candle making to another building so she could expand her herb room.Tucked in a corner was an amazing piece of machinery. Handmade, completely out of wood, was a grinder used to make flour. The farm is part of a network of farms and bakeries that are introducing new “old” strains of wheat to the island. There were once several kinds of grain grown on the island, and these have all but been forgotten. So the grain is grown and ground and used at the bakery at Cowichan Bay.
We left the main house to walk a path through the forest. On the left was a small log cabin. Katrin told us that a retired doctor lives there. He lives there and contributes to the farm as everyone does. I asked if he did “doctoring” and Katrin said he does whatever needs doing that he can do, which seems to be the theme of the farm.
We followed the path, which was made of sawdust, through the woods and came upon a clearing. This area consisted of a small meadow, a pond, and two cement “footprints” for housing. One was bare but for wires and hoses, and the other had a three story post and beam structure. This is the site of the two new homes that will house a total of 6 companions (as the folks with disabilities are called) and others that will live and work on the farm.
The house was designed by one of the board members who is an architect. The plan was then sent to an environmentalist, who made a few modifications for energy conservation. Then a healer who works with electrical energy came out and aligned the house with the electrical paths of the earth, as well as paying mind to the location of large electrical transmission lines that are nearby. She also worked with the electrician to design the electrical plan within the house. The house is heated geothermally; there is a geothermal web under the pond just outside. At the front of the house is a large pile of clay, another of hay and sawdust. The house is insulated with these products, mixed into clay and stuck between the studs. The interior of the house is lathe, and the upper floors are insulated with the clay/hay mixture. A boat builder from Port Alberni One part of the main floor will be a small suite so companions that are learning independent living will have a place to transition. There was also a wheelchair accessible room as one of the folks will soon be in a wheelchair. Nearby, outside, stands a garage sized utility building that will soon house the laundry and other household facilities. was part of the building team. The attention to detail on the corners and exposed beams was amazing. This house, which would be the one that Amber would live in, will be completed in June. It is a beautiful and peaceful site. This house has a kitchen, living area, office/staff area, and bedrooms on three floors.
We continued out tour outside. We saw the kitchen garden, the herb garden and the vegetable garden. They used to sell some of the produce at the farmer’s market, but now find that there are so many people living and working at the farm that they use all that they grow.
We walked over to the barns where we saw highland steers, both mothers and babes. One of the calves is white. We also saw one of the llamas. A further walk along the road took us to the edge of the neighbouring farm. This family sold some of their land to Glenora Farms, and has realized their dream of having a horse farm. The view of the large horse barn was partially obscured by the construction of a foaling barn. These are very expensive horses!! The other horses are ridden by folks from Glenora Farm. Off to the right of the hay field we could see some rustic benches under some trees; Katrin told us that they staged plays under the trees in the summer! Every opportunity for a celebration is taken; birthdays, saint’s days, solstice, harvesting, and more. While this is not an “organized religion” community, it is very spiritual and respectful Christian community.
As we walked back to the main house Katrin told us some of the things about the farm. In no particular order, as I remember them:
There is no public transit out to and from the farm, but people come and go all the time into and from town. Some of the farm workers live in town. There are plans to have a companion live in town as “not everyone wants to live at the farm”. (Katrin was puzzled by this; she loves the farm and told us that she often goes more than a week before going in to town, which is about 10 minutes away)
Therapeutic riding is nearby and several people go riding there.
The society and the farm have been there for many years; the society started in Vancouver and moved to Vancouver Island.
We went in to the house for tea. While we were there we met three companions who were on their way out to repot plants. One of the guys is growing some plants to sell; he wants to make some money to go to Holland as there is a conference there that Katrin and some of the companions are going to. She showed us the dishtowels that one of the men makes on the loom; he decided that he wanted to make towels, really nice ones, and he does. He has won several awards and competitions with his weaving. We had a discussion about the weavery and the store, which are located some ways from the farm at a rural intersection. The store has a small café, basic groceries, gas, and farm products (candles etc) for sale. Next door we peeked into the weavery; there are several looms set up with cloth in various stages of construction. The store is what intrigued Amber (and us) as she loves retail so much.
While there we met one of the founding people. Her name is Adola; she is a wonderful white haired woman who had a cup of tea with us. She asked Amber what she had done so far, and amber answered her without looking at me, which is very unusual for amber given the ambiguity of the question. She told us that if Amber came to live at the farm it is where Amber would “uncover her life’s purpose”. It was a very touching moment. When we left she said that she hoped she would see Amber again.
Katrin said that often, when companions are thinking about moving to the farm, they come and spend a week there to see how it goes. I think this will be the next stage for Amber. We have some time, as the house she would be in is not ready for a few months.
Amber and I have a lot to process! We have been talking off an on about her moving for some time. I heard Amber talking about the visit to her sisters, and one of the first things she talked about was “they have a llama”. Of all the things I thought would impact her, it wasn’t the llama!! I am trying to NOT ask her leading questions as I want her to come to her own conclusions about what she saw and experienced in the visit.
My heart knows that I can keep looking for a place for Amber, but I don't know if I will find anything as safe and wonderful as this place.
