About

I’m a teacher and writer living in the Cowichan Valley, on Vancouver Island, B.C.  I’m exploring what it means to live a sustainable life in these muddy and confusing Transition times.  How can we live as much a part of our ecosystem as possible, while still needing to live in the realities of the industrialized world that inherently destroy it?

We moved to our small home on a half-acre in the country from a 667 square foot condo in the city in August 2009.  For more on how we came to this place in our lives, see my posts On Self Sufficiency.  Five years on, we grow most of our fruits and vegetables, eat local dairy and grains, raise chickens, occasionally fish, crab, and forage, and nurture relationships with our local food producing community to meet other food needs.  Our adventures have transformed our lives, but there are so many contradictions to make peace with yet.

Hub has chosen the moniker “Skipper” –as in “in charge of everything” on a boat (not in the kitchen :)).  I was hoping he’d go with “Captain”, as in “O Captain my captain!” but he says Skipper is a step above.  Who am I to argue?

The Skipper is also the photographer in the family, and most of the photos on the blog are his.  Click on them for full size images, if you like.  The photos in the header are all taken in our garden, and they will rotate periodically.

Hope you enjoy the blog, and do leave comments whenever the spirit moves you!

–Toni