The Friend Farm
Have you ever questioned the stability of the systems we live within? Y’know like whether it’s possible that global trade experiences months-long delays, our food system starts to collapse, life becomes totally unaffordable for most people, or maybe the world gets overrun by a super infectious virus and we all have to hide indoors for a couple years?
A few years ago, my friend Hannah and I started talking about what life would be like if we could have our own off-grid paradise. Somewhere we could grow our own food, make art, build our own homes, and invite a bunch of friends and other good folks to come live it up with us in a good ole hippie-dippie commune. And of course it would be a place we could safely hunker down and provide for ourselves in the case of a global or nation-wide catastrophe.
Ever since we first talked about it, this vision has felt empowering and filled us with a sort of nostalgic longing. It reminds me of the feeling of simpler times in our lives as teenagers when we weren’t as concerned about money and instead got to focus on discovering who we were, creating things, and connecting with others.
Over the years we continued to bring it up from time to time and talk about it with friends. Of course, some people loved the idea and were happy to contribute ideas, ask questions, and work with us to verbally solve problems we’d bring up. And like with all ambitious projects, we had some haters and non-believers too (cough, cough… parents!).
After a few years of dreaming about this magical place, which we decided should be located in the forests and mountains of British Columbia’s Interior and go by “The Friend Farm”, we are now getting very close to making this dream world a real place. Thanks to the amazing group of people we have connected with, we are collectively envisioning and planning out our future home, farm, community place, and livelihood.
The Friend Farm will be a home in so many ways – our plans include building a small village, each house made using the same natural building techniques so they all look similar, a permaculture farm that feeds lots of mouths and teaches people how to grow their own food, a half-dozen workshops for metal, wood, book-making, and so much more, an industrial kitchen where we pickle, jar, bake, and most importantly, enjoy making big messes, and a community full of wonderful friends to tie it all together.
I have no doubt that this is going to be a hard project at times. Most farms like ours fail within 7 years because after that time the average debt they incur grows to be too big to handle. We will need to be creative in how we make money while prioritizing community outcomes, compassionate and willing to bring deep support to one another when we encounter interpersonal and collective challenges, and committed when projects seem to drag on and on…
But I know we’ll make it work. Our group is incredible. We are ambitious, thoughtful, supportive, and between us all we have more than enough skills, tools, ideas, and heart to bring our dream into reality.
We share a collective vision for a better world, and this is the story of us acting it out.
Stay tuned :)
Gratefully,
