A brief introduction to feeding yourself in the wild from a fellow student who chronically wants to disappear
Yasmine Modaresi (she/her) // Crew Writer
Millie Beatch (she/her) // Illustrator
The city life is convenient. Food and entertainment are instantaneously accessible and, in the age of the internet, you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your home to access these amenities. However, small communities surrounding the Lower Mainland have been embracing an alternative way of life for decades; a lifestyle that can be completely isolated from the modern conveniences of society, choosing instead to live in unison with the rhythms of their natural surroundings.
Separating B.C.’s legendary tales of forest wizards and hypno-spiritual cults from actual off-the-grid, sustainable communities can be challenging. Like a game of telephone, stories are often distorted. Before you know it, some teenager who lived on a commune for a few months after graduation is immortalized in local legend as the skateboarding changeling who haunts the Pacific Rim Highway on lonely autumn evenings, his aroma of mushrooms and marijuana carrying on the howling winds as he relentlessly pursues you to hitch a ride in the back of your truck, cackling methodically.
Romanticizing off-the-grid communes as fantastical cults and breeding grounds for folktale NPCs is all fun and games. However, before you become the legendary creature of the forest, perhaps you’d enjoy testing the atmosphere of off-the-grid life. For those seeking a place to learn how to become a whimsical steward of the local ecosystems, feed and shelter yourself from the bounty of the earth, or perhaps just escape the bustle of the city, there are places you can go to seek out community and knowledge (that, as far as public knowledge goes, are not cults!).
- Medicine Farm: Located on private land near Ucluelet on Vancouver Island, this farm is a naturally sustaining home built by two founders that serves as a retreat centre for those who fantasize about living like a dryad of the coastal rainforests. Zigaziga, the founder of Medicine Farm, aims to foster an inclusive learning environment for novice wanderers and seasoned organic horticulture enthusiasts alike. He offers workshops in organic farming, rental cabins and campsites for those seeking a quick getaway, guided psycho-nautic journeys, and ongoing volunteer opportunities.
- Blue Jay Lake Farm: For those seeking a life more akin to that of an organized farmer as opposed to transforming into a mystical creature of the forest, Blue Jay Lake Farm is an immersive learning community located on Cortes Island, where a close-knit community of sustainability and ecological preservation enthusiasts lives in cooperation. A quick getaway and brief education in sustainable farming isn’t always enough, which the organizers at Blue Jay Lake understand. This is why they offer a plethora of programs allowing you to live on the farm full-time, contribute to the community via a 30-hour work week on the farm and live off the land with like-minded folks.
- O.U.R. Ecovillage: An education centre, organic food producer for local businesses and sustainable operation, O.U.R. Ecovillage is located just outside of Victoria, BC, with an abundance of programs for any lifestyle choice. There are even internship and volunteer opportunities ranging from research to skin-to-earth contract labour for students in environmental sciences or agriculture enthusiasts. Nine eco-cluster off-the-grid homes are owned by the not-for-profit organic farm for dedicated enthusiasts to stay long-term, so for those seeking to run away from the city life for good, O.U.R. Ecovillage might be the right option.
In the Lower Mainland, it’s easy to get trapped in the small bubble of interconnected cities and forget how vast and unique BC and its communities are. These three off-the-grid communities are some of the most accessible to broke university students in the Greater Vancouver Area desiring to broaden their horizons or eventually vanish into the wilderness as a carrier of ancestral natural wisdom. There are many more communities found along the highways and abandoned logging roads leading north. Regardless of skill level or long-term goals, there is likely an abundance of fellow lunatics waiting to meet you and make all of your dreams of off-the-grid goblin-core adventures a definitive reality.