On a stinking hot, packed and slightly funky smelling skytrain ride home yesterday, I read this article (http://www.straight.com/node/223383) about this 30-something couple living the urban lifestyle who decided to move themselves from the hustle and bustle of the city to a half acre plot north of Pemberton to grow vegetables and live off the land. Nice. That was all I could think. I was completely mesmerized by the story.
The quote from the article " Urbanization is over, she told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview from Pemberton. At 32 and 35, the couple represent Canada’s ruralization pioneers: an economically and environmentally driven movement away from big urban centres" sent me into a fuzzy daydream about life beyond the city.
Not only have I always been secretly obsessed with people who leave everything behind to live with little, I have always had an idea that part of me really is a country mamma who would love to live a much simpler life. Growing up, I watched and read anything I could find about families who left their city life behind to build their own home, grow their own food and enjoy the company of their loved ones with gusto. My favourite books and movies (as a youngster) included Wilderness Family, Swiss Family Robinson, Born Free, Grizzly Adams all the Little House on the Praire books and a number of others that I cannot recall titles for (Disney did a lot of films in the late 70's early 80's around family units changing their lives by coming together and moving to rural settings). The theme that was consistent with all of these books and films was enjoying and being fuelled by ones surroundings, nature and simple pleasures.
Although I am not about to pick up my family and move them into a hand built homestead without electricity, running water or plumbing (don't worry Mum and whomever else may read this!), I do know that it feels important to me to have experiences that remind us of what it is like to live simply. Growing our vegetable garden has been a huge pleasure for me and since the girls are getting a bit older it is becoming more important to me to show them what we are cabable of growing and how good things taste when they come from the ground in our back yard. I get such pleasure in the summer months when I can gather everything we need for a gourmet dinner from our yard and garden including both fruits and vegetables. I get gidddy over my thriving and lush herb garden!
Being invited (how thankful are we!) to our friends island cabin to enjoy the rustic setting and the work that goes into daily activities like meal preparation, bathtime (in the kitchen sink for the children) or bedtime with light thrown from the gas lanterns in the sleeping cabins is always a treat. There is something so empowering about "hunting and gathering" even if it is not quite as rudimentary as it would have been years ago. When the boys row out in their little boat with their crab traps, those of us on shore, watch and feel a sense of anticipation for what we may be eating later that evening. Nothing tastes better than fresh caught crab. OR maybe it is just because we caught it. We did the work. We prepared it. Maybe.
In the end, I just know that reading about a return to a simple, rural lifestyle gives me a little wave of yearning, and a little space in my "bucket" that I will continue to try to fill in my own simple ways.
