Goat love

What a day! We went to visit Krista at the O.U.R Ecovillage in Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island. After a bit of an adventure to get there because we took the wrong road, we arrived at the entrance to see Krista waiting for us. Nothing like those Krista hugs after we haven't seen her for awhile! We were so excited to have her show us around the place where she's doing a three-week community placement. Cousin and fellow blipper DoogieVanIsle and Impy arrived shortly after we did. Krista took us around the site, not the entire 25 acres, but the main area. Many of the structures are cob buildings and there are recycled pieces of all kinds of materials included in the buildings that add an artistic touch. We saw such great examples of repurposing items in creative ways. The three garden areas and greenhouses were amazing, such a variety of fruits and veggies being grown. School groups come for overnight visits, and Krista showed us the outdoor area in the forest where they can camp and play in the adventure playground. So cool! 
It was a day off for everyone who lives and works there except for the ones who were preparing lunch, so there were no activities for us to observe. A treat to share that lunch! Before eating, we took part in the gratitude circle. Each of us introduced ourselves and said a short sentence about something we were grateful for, a wonderful idea. The food was delicious, a very tasty variety. We all sat outside and chatted while eating then some people left to do other things. One of Krista's new friends, a young man from Mexico who will be going home in August to complete his degree in agronomy is an excellent musician, and he sang for us. I got very emotional listening to him sing in his language with such feeling. We also met the other two UBC student teachers who've been Krista's roomies, such nice women who I sense will be amazing teachers just like Krista will be. One of them brought out her ukulele and sang and played duets with the other musician. Fun! The owner of the village joined us and what an interesting conversation we had with her. 
One of the highlights was time with the goats! G loves goats but I've never spent time with them, but after today, I'm a goat lover as well! They were so friendly and affectionate. I liked this photo of the little one nuzzling Krista, not quite in focus but gives a good idea of the love Krista has for them. DoogieVanIsle also blipped a photo of Impy holding one of the babies. 
It's difficult to explain how much I enjoyed the day and how much hope it gave me that there are places like this where sustainable living and caring for the earth are the focus and that young people like the ones we met are so keen on learning from the knowledge of people there. So happy that we had a chance to visit Krista and meet the others.
We had a couple of things to do in Victoria on the way home and stopped to pick up a pizza to eat at the terminal while we waited for the ferry. It was just before 8pm when we got home. An absolutely wonderful day.
If you're interested, please have a look at the website link. Far too much going on for me to write about here. A bit of a summary below if you don't have a chance to look at the website.
Extras: the sign with the mission statement at the entrance to the office; the outdoor pizza oven; a baby goat enjoying a feed; the musician.

EDUCATE, INSPIRE AND TRANSFORM
O.U.R. ECOVILLAGE is a 25 acre “Regenerative Living Demonstration Site and Education Centre”, host to multiple non-profits and community-based organizations, based on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. Home to collaborative projects with government, academia, corporate sponsors and grassroots programming. OUR village is framing the future with precedent-setting work, laying down legal and regulatory foundations for lawful permaculture work through co-operative action and restorative reconciliation.