In November, 2016, our family moved out of a home where we had spent 52 months living with another family of four. Thirty months in, I wrote about our co-living experience, but didn’t really address how it worked. This post has been a long time coming and I decided to jot down a few thoughts before … [Read more…]
Two books by two men from vastly different backgrounds, though still grounded in Christian tradition, tackle the meaning of society and what it means to live side by side with one another through a collection of their essays. Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community by Wendell Berry Wendell Berry is a giant thinker and wildly counter-cultural. … [Read more…]
A year ago, I tried my first Tool Shed beers: Star Cheek IPA, Red Rage Ale, and People Skills Cream Ale. I was immediately enamoured with the Star Cheek IPA which was a far more local, affordable, and high quality IPA compared to the west coast American IPAs I have learned to appreciate. Graham and … [Read more…]
I attended my first cohousing meeting October 8, 2009, about a year after this project was initiated. Amber and I became equity members on October 14, 2010. So much has happened since (land purchase, development permit), but in the last few months: building documents are being drafted with a building permit application going in in … [Read more…]
We are giving up hour 1200 square foot (plus 600 sq ft unfinished basement) townhouse. In fact we’ve already given it up in that we are renting it out. Our family of 4 is renting half of another house with another family of 4 who has the other half of the house – worthy of … [Read more…]
The media response following the XL Foods in Brooks, AB shutdown over the last couple months has been a dominated by concerns to make food safer: more regulation, more measures to safeguard the quality of the meat. What is remarkable is the silence regarding the state of food production in Canada and the alarming trend … [Read more…]
Perhaps the biggest drag to getting into Dragonfly Cohousing is the sequence of housing that precedes living in the project. When construction is completed – sometime next year – everyone involved needs to purchase their unit within a week of the finish. We won’t know that date exactly until perhaps a couple days prior. So, … [Read more…]
On February 22 I attended my Member of Parliament’s constituency meeting. My MP is Diane Ablonczy. She also serves in the Prime Minister’s cabinet as the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas & Consular Affairs). The meeting took place in a small community centre on a Wednesday evening. Even though I had 4 other … [Read more…]
The only store I would frequent the last 3 years is Roger’s Video, actually a rental store, but I would pick through their previously viewed DVDs and bring them home by the half dozen every month or so. With their reward points system and regular sales, I’d get the usually mint condition movies for about … [Read more…]
I expressed this carnal dilemma on facebook last night: Zaak thinks an iPhone is terrific, found an ideal monthly plan, has his wife’s permission to get one, but still can’t list enough reasons why he “needs” one. He guesses he’ll just keep his money. Not surprisingly, I got 15 comments. I’ll get to those in … [Read more…]