White water and tractors!

This past week was a busy one. The first part of the week I took an introduction to white water kayaking course, something that I know I would like and have wanted to get into for years (so I was more than stoked :D ). On the final night of the course it was also a good friends birthday which was very entertaining, but I won't get into details!The first day of the course was done mainly in still water, teaching you different strokes and how to turn and stuff. The final day of the course we headed out east of town and went down the upper Willow river. Your first time going down a pretty fast moving river, it is really exciting and intense. River kayaking up in northern BC is really cool because there are never others out on the river so you are pretty much at your own personal water slide park where there are no rules, line ups, and the odd bear or moose on the shore! Also you get to see the world from the perspective of the river, and see things you would never see, as the rivers, at least up north here go through some really isolated areas. Timing for the course was good because on the weekend the northern paddle club was hosting their annual paddle fest, held out on a property in Loos, BC, a small place of about 40 people in the middle of nowhere in the foothills of the Northern Rockies. Since taking that run down the Willow, I couldn't get my mind of off Kayaking. I grabbed a ride with one of the paddlers heading out to the festival, and went and hung out with a bunch of people I never met before for a day and a half. I am really glad I did because the place we stayed was above a lake and the background had a great view of some really tall snow capped mountains, and I saw a whole bunch of bears and other wildlife throughout the day I was there! Saturday morning after taking to long to figure out shuttles and which rivers to run, my group headed out to the Markole river. The river was bigger, colder and had more rapids then I had done before, which is exactly what I wanted. The run lasted about 3 hours, and had me flip about twice. From Kayaking I was impressed with how much in control you can be with your boat, even in huge rivers that look like they would just eat you. The Markole had some great views of the surrounding mountains, trees and cut banks surrounding it. Everyone at the paddle fest were really interesting people, and were super helpful and supportive of me as a rookie trying to paddle. I’m gonna do my best to get out more this summer with some of them.

View from Paddle fest

The Markole

On Sunday I headed out to a farm about 70km east of town near the community of Giscome, BC. The farm was run my a single mother with three kids. On the farm they have about 20 goats, 11 horses, 2 mob boss turkeys, a bunch of chickens, and some gardens. I didn't know it was illegal in Canada to sell any milk which hasn't been pasteurized, meaning it hasn't been heated briefly above a certain temperature. This family has been drinking there own non pasteurized milk for some time, and so far at least have been doing just fine. I helped them out for the afternoon building a board walk through the mud. Went swimming at the lake with some of the family, and stayed for a dinner that had left over birthday cake, homemade goats milk and cheese. The goats milk was so good and fresh, I wish I could have my own milking goat that followed me around on the road! A 12 year old boy lives on the farm who reminds me of Annikan from Star wars episode 1. He spends all day fixing up his tractor and other machines, and is planning on entering the annual Willow River tractor race this year. You can tell that he loves living on the farm, and especially finding any excuse to ride his tractor, even transporting me around wherever I went. How nice and creative this kid was just strengthens my own beliefs about wanting to live on my own farm where I can grow my own food and be creative with what I do, and really help out some youth (and whoever else) that want to come live out there with me! Anyways I’m off to work for another week, and when I get back I will officially be on the road as I am moved out of my house!

 

Sha Sha's Tractor and homemade trailer

OUR ECO Village overnight- May.24th, 2013 (Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada)

This week I stayed close to home. I did go to Vancouver Island on Wednesday to visit my aunt and then visit my friend at O.U.R Eco Village. It's crazy how I found out about the place. I was talking to my friend over in Germany asking him for tips on how to learn about farming as I want to start my own farm. He sent me a link to this Youtube video, to OUR ECO village, in which people live together in a commune and share resources, labor on the farm, and food. I thought the place was in the Okanagon because it looked hot and dry. About a month later I see a picture posted on my friends wall of her outside her new trailer at some ECO village. I message her asking her where she is and she happens to be at the same Eco village I heard about online, and it was 30 minutes away from Victoria where I was going to visit. So I went to visit her and another friend who was there with her as well. She let me stay in her triangle trailer, which she didn't think was that cool, but I rather have a triangle than a square any day!; and its way less boring than a box shaped stucco house! There were about 25 people at the farm registered for a 1 month course studying permaculture at the Eco Village when I arrived. When I got to the farm, Acro Yoga was going on so I joined in which was awesome. Some of the positions were foreign to me as you had to hold people in the air with your feet, and I found it funny and hard to hold, and felt bad for laughing and dropping my partner sometimes, but she was good spirited about it! If you don't know what Acro Yoga is, it is like gymnastics mixed with Yoga, and it was actually a really good time, building strength and flexibility; I am definitely gonna get more into it. For dinner it was Vegan food, mainly grown from the sight. The food was surprisingly good for being mainly beans and vegetables. You used raw cabbage leaves, and you wrap them around things like chick peas, kuskus, shredded radish, carrots and other veggies. I had about three plates fulls and was really full and feeling good afterwards. There was a class I sat in on for two hours in the evening talking about oil, food security, and how it affects are world and possible future scenarios that may take place as the amount of oil reserves is reduced. It was very informative and some stimulating conversations. The the guy running the lecture had some really good personal stories about spending time volunteering in Palestine, going to different food and environmental conferences, and using a lot of visuals in his presentation. After class there was a camp fire happening beside the outdoor dining hall where people were playing guitars and banjos. I got to know some really passionate people and hear some really cool stories and discuss philosophy. I slept that night in the triangle trailer, it was actually really cold as there weren't enough blankets, so it took a while to get to sleep- which I didn't really mind after such an awesome stimulating day. I woke up in the morning to the sound of a rooster, but ended up staying in bed and trying to sleep some more. I went on a 40 minute hike up Mount Baldy and ran into at least 10 deer which is good to see nature still exists! After lunch I was shown around the farm a bit more. They call the outhouse the Credit Union where you make deposits, so I dropped off a couple hundreds. There was also a Yert, which is a huge circle tent, that Mongolians lived in, and still often do. It was probably my favourite building on the farm, followed closely by the “Chillage”, an outdoor building made of sand, clay and straw. I left at about 2:30pm and hitchhiked to Nanimo, which took about 2 hours, receiving a free ice cream dipped cone from Dairy Queen and a beer; and believe it or no one tried to kidnap me or do other other mean things! It took me four rides to get there. You can keep just calling me lucky and hitch hiking dangerous, or you can be like me and choose to believe everybody in the world is naturally good, and it's okay to help each other out, as its the best feeling you can get (and better than paying for gas and driving alone)! If you have never been to Vancouver Island make sure you check it out, and I would highly suggest checking out O.U.R Eco Village or getting involved in something like it, as you leave feeling healthy, relaxed and really happy and stoked on life!

Ciaran's introduction!

Hi my name is Ciaran. I am 23 years old. I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. I graduated from University two years ago and I am currently a counselor with at risk youth at a camp in the wilderness in Northern British Columbia. I have done some traveling over the past 7 years, but have always been limited to where I go and what I do on my travels because of time limits to get back to school, work and other commitments. I have recently decided to embark on a trip around the world, starting first where I am now in Prince George, British Columbia. This July, 2013 I will be giving up my basement suit, selling my furniture and my car, and will be living out of my tent or wherever else I end up. I will only allow myself to take very minimal money with me for this journey (estimated 3 years), as this trip is not about staying in hotels and resorts, flying to destinations, eating in restaurants etc. I plan on supporting myself by doing things like WOOFING, couch surfing, crewing on yachts, living off of the land, house sitting, volunteering, hitch hiking and whatever other opportunities come up. I will still be working at my current job until I am ready to leave British Columbia as I work one week on and then get one week off.  The reason for this journey is because since I traveled with my uncle and cousins to Vietnam when I was 16 I have wanted to see the world. I still have not been everywhere I want to go, and I am tired of going on small trips, leaving my job and everything behind, and then coming back a few months later having to start again. I want to go learn about the world, see new things, meet new people, get new skills, and get a better idea of what I want to do with my life. I love where I was born and where I live, but I do know it is just a small part of this very big world, and I want to be able to understand more about the whole world so I can understand myself and the place I come from better on a whole. This is the right time for me to do this as I don't have any commitments, I am healthy, enthusiastic and motivated! I hope this blog will help inspire you, entertain you, and introduce you to new things and ideas that will help you in your own life and possible travels. Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, offers, or requests and I will try to make at least one post a week on this blog.