Life on the farm

So I've arrived on Linnaea farm...

It's beautiful, right on the lake with forest around it and a rich farm life. There are pigs, chickens, cows, sheep (yes, those are baby sheep) and lots of area to grow veggies. Linnaea itself is a non-profit organization and the farm is protected by a land trust. There are several stewards that live on the farm along with their partners/children. They take care of farm and most of them teach us farm students about gardening/farming and alternative ways of being.

I live in a big house with 9 of my classmates. This is great because everyone is so passionate and interested in gardening, but it also means that we do everything TOGETHER... I mean we go to class together, we eat together, we sleep in the same house... Which means that there is always someone to do activities with, or someone to talk with, but it also means that you have to deal with group momentum... or antimomentum...

I've been pretty busy so far adjusting to island life, learning about gardens, setting up a communal household with 9 roomates and keeping on top of homework and garden planning! I will write more about what I've been learning in subsequent blogs.


But so far everything is pretty awesome- you can go play in the muck, go for a walk, go canoeing, biking etc... And there's lots of things that you can go do on Cortes as well, lots of drop in sports, dance, yoga, community fundraising events, music... I probably don't even know about 90% of what goes on here. There are lots of people here that are really interested in building community, sustainability and living off the land. Also, there are lots of graduates of the garden program that stick around here. I guess they fall in love with the island, and try to make a go of it here. People told us that at least one student per year ends up staying. Who will it be this year?..