Sunday March 6th, 2016

The exercise:

Write about: the gated community.

Had the whole farm family out this afternoon, getting started on cleaning up the blackberry bushes and raspberry canes. Max and Natalie did some good raking before deciding it was time to go to their grandparents house for snack time. Becky came by with Emersyn in a stroller. The dogs were out and about.

Good times. The first section of blackberries is now cleared out and pruned and ready for mulching. The longest section of raspberries is pruned but still needs to be thinned out some more, and then it's mulch time for that area as well.

We still have the upper section of blackberries and raspberries to take care of, but it was a good start. So nice to not be the only one working on this stuff this year.

Mine:

Although we don't have locks on the gates (yet), the farm now feels like a gated community. The deer fence was finished on Wednesday, I think, and the guys returned yesterday to install the four gates (we get one, there's one at the end of the driveway for Kat's parents, another for Kat's brother's place, and the last one at the access point by the horse pasture).

So the deer are fenced out. The fruit trees and vegetable gardens will hopefully be able to grow without losing leaves or branches to marauding deer. We're in here with two dogs, a cat, two horses (in their already fenced pasture), one infant, two toddlers, four parents, and two grandparents. With one more infant arriving in the coming weeks.

I like it already. There's a comfort in knowing that Max can walk out the front door to play on his own in the yard and he has zero access to the road. Stray dogs and wandering wildlife cannot get to him. Well, I suppose he could stick his hands through the fence and get himself into some trouble, but I'm pretty confident that he wouldn't do that.

I don't think we ever felt unsafe here, but it's nice to have the extra security. Though I did notice an interesting change in my thinking this morning. I'd parked the car outside the fence because I was going to be driving somewhere relatively soon and didn't want to bother with the stop the car, open the gate, get in the car, drive through the gate, park the car, close the gate routine. I didn't notice it at first, but there was a feeling nibbling at the back of my mind that I eventually identified.

Suddenly, now that there is a fence and a gate where there was not before, outside the fence didn't feel like a safe place to park the car. There was a part of me that wanted to go out and bring the car inside. And there isn't even a lock on the gate!

I don't believe this is a sensation that is unique to me or this situation. But I find it fascinating how quickly it happened. And I wonder how it will feel a month, or a year, or years from now.

Sunday September 11th, 2011

The exercise:

Today we write about: community.

It's looking like it'll be a quick harvest tomorrow morning for our local orders, which is all right - because it'll give us more time to work on the house.

Mine:

This evening Kat and I hosted the first Prana Farm BBQ. Though it will be the only one this year, we're hoping to make it a regular event, likely a three per summer sort of thing.

We invited friends, family, and local customers - some of whom I'd like to consider friends by this point in the year - and had seventeen people come out to enjoy hamburgers, salads, and a tour of the garden. It was a better turnout than we expected, but I think we might have underestimated the power of free food :P

It did make for a long day for both of us. Kat spent the entire afternoon making a huge potato salad, putting together fruit bowls, and slicing up a monstrous tomato and cucumber salad. And I was kept busy setting up the location next to the garden with our market tent and tables, all the chairs I could get my hands on, and fetching last minute things from town. Plus doing the barbequing once things actually got underway.

Overall I'd say it went great - people seemed to enjoy the food, conversation was flowing all evening, and the garden tours went over well too. As a community building exercise, which was what it was intended to be, I think it was a definite success.

And now Osoyoos feels a little more like home.