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Vancouver Island Mamas

8K views 109 replies 23 participants last post by  may10boy 
#1 ·
Just moved to the Island from Vancouver. We are currently in Mill Bay. Loving the Cowichan Valley vibe. Would love to meet some more mamas! Anybody out there???
 
#27 ·
Just bumping up this thread to let anyone in the Cowichan Valley area know that the Duncan La Leche League group has reformed. Myself and Lisa Wilson (formerly of Coquitlam LLL) are the leaders. We are meeting on the 1st Wednesday of each month at the Family Resource Centre on Beverly Road right behind Alexander Elementary School. Meetings start at 10 am, tea is provided.
 
#29 ·
Welcome, lovepiggie!

If you are a homelearner there is a large and very active homeschooling community in Victoria. They meet regularly for playdates, park dates, and have lots of classes and activities organized. I can send you links if you're interested.

If you have any nurslings there are several La Leche League groups in the Victoria area - also a great way to meet mums and make friends.
 
#30 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piglet68 View Post

Welcome, lovepiggie!

If you are a homelearner there is a large and very active homeschooling community in Victoria. They meet regularly for playdates, park dates, and have lots of classes and activities organized. I can send you links if you're interested.

If you have any nurslings there are several La Leche League groups in the Victoria area - also a great way to meet mums and make friends.
Thank you! DS is still too young for any kind of schooling, but I'd be interested in getting in touch with them! And he is nursing - I'm currently a member of the Breastfeeding Cafe, but haven't been able to meet any members yet.
 
#32 ·
Hi! I live on Gabriola Island, and am in Nanaimo about once a month, sometimes more... Would love to meet up with some of you lovely ladies sometime. :) Kim, my dh and I went to a cob building workshop for a week on Mayne Island a few years ago. There are quite a few cobbers here on Gabe too. I love that look! :)
 
#33 ·
Hi Organique!

There's a place in Shawnigan Lake called O.U.R. Ecovillage (Google it) that runs cob workshops. I'm very interested in learning more about cob. I did get a great book on alternative building methods, and it said that cob is not very insulative (compared to say, straw bale). I notice there isn't much straw bale here and I"m guessing its because of the humidity and rainfall here. Will have to look into how cob is working here re: insulation. I'm wondering if it's an issue only for places that get really cold in winter.
 
#34 ·
I heard the opposite about the cob... that's it's super insulative... I'm guessing that must be in places that get a true northern Canada winter... Lately we've been looking into Hobbit Homes... or homes built into the side of a hill with a cob face. They are SO darling and those would be VERY well insulated... DH and I are renting right now, but eventually we want a place of our own... we're actually seriously considering buying a house boat and living on that... We'd like one that we could sail around in... and isn't just moored 365... Anyway, now that I've totally derailed this thread... haha

I'm going to be in Nanaimo every Tuesday afternoon for the next three weeks for a course I'm taking... if anyone wants to meet for coffee in the woodgrove mall area, I'd be up for it.
 
#35 ·
We'd also love to build a house into the side of a hill, but I think it would be kind of challenging to get permits unless you can manage to have a window in each bedroom. We considered it in Kelowna, when we found a suitable (and affordable!) property, and shared our plans with a building inspector we know, and he helped us see what was needed by the city etc.

I think straw bale would be nice, but I've heard it's not easy to get enough straw on the west coast, it would need to be brought in from far away, but I don't know that for sure. I'd love to learn more about cob, maybe for outbuildings if not for our eventual house.
 
#38 ·
The Sunrise Waldorf School in Duncan is having their Christmas fair this weekend :)

Annie Mac, there is La Leche League in Duncan the first wednesday of the month, but that's about all I know of. It's too bad it;s so cold and rainy now, or we could do some park meetups or something.
 
#39 ·
Organique, can you provide a link to your blog?

Aren't houses built into a hill also called "Earthships"? Might be a New Mexico thing (saw a documentary about it ages ago).

Annie Mac: can't recall the ages of your kids or whether they are in school. There is the Duncan LLL meeting (PM me for info on times and location). Also a group of us meet at the Kerry Park arena (in Mill Bay) on Mondays for skating. It's from 1 pm to 1:50. We go to the park next door afterwards for play (so far we've been lucky that the weather has held up!). It's our homelearners group but it's a parent/tot skate at the rink and you don't need to be a homeschooler to come along. They have little push-cars for kids and I believe you can take your stroller on the ice, and they have carts for the slightly bigger kids.
 
#40 ·
Earthships are a New Mexico thing. They're near Santa Fe. They're not built into a mountain though. They are a community of ecologically friendly built houses. I lived in New Mexico for a while & did some research on them. To me, they were a crazy combination of commune and being part of a strict Homeowners Association (houses needed to be painted certain colours, using a specific brand of paint, etc). I say that though, without ever actually having visited them (they were closed to visiting when I was in Santa Fe, but on occasion you can call them and go have a look). This is just information from the internet.
 
#41 ·
The O.U.R. Ecovillage is also an intentional community, but they host workshops and open houses, etc. There's also a firm around here called CobWorks you might want to look into if you haven't yet. I think I'll be talking with them when it comes closer to the time for us to think about building.
 
#43 ·
Is anyone familiar with the buses in Victoria? ds is turning three next week, and we want to go into victoria and ride a double decker bus. I'm not sure which routes usually have them, or where we should go. Any ideas would be welcome!
 
#45 ·
Hi Sheila,

I'm not sure which buses are double deckers, but from what I've seen, they're mostly concentrated in the downtown area. Of course, I wasn't hanging out and shopping in Gordon Head, so I suppose my observations are a little biased. Anyway, first link is Tourism Victoria. The second link is the BC Transit page for Victoria downtown. There are phone numbers on each. Hope that helps, and sorry I don't know which routes are always double deckers.

http://www.tourismvictoria.com/

http://www.transitbc.com/regions/vic/schedules/map.cfm?region=15&
 
#47 ·
Loved the blog, Organique, and read your eco-friendly house article and loved the link to MudGirls.

So, how's everyone surviving the weather? After all our worry about losing heat should we lose power, the heater went and broke down today even though we still have power. It's a darn cold time to go without a heater, but then that's the benefit of living in a very small home: we've been heating it with the oven for a bit, but lots of wool blankets will have to do until the guy can come tomorrow to fix it. We also lost our water when the pump head apparently froze, but DH got it thawed and the pump house is being heated with a portable heater now, but we lost our water again. Sigh, very steep rural learning curve ahead! ;-)

At least I can make some hot tea... :)
 
#48 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piglet68 View Post

Loved the blog, Organique, and read your eco-friendly house article and loved the link to MudGirls.

So, how's everyone surviving the weather? After all our worry about losing heat should we lose power, the heater went and broke down today even though we still have power. It's a darn cold time to go without a heater, but then that's the benefit of living in a very small home: we've been heating it with the oven for a bit, but lots of wool blankets will have to do until the guy can come tomorrow to fix it. We also lost our water when the pump head apparently froze, but DH got it thawed and the pump house is being heated with a portable heater now, but we lost our water again. Sigh, very steep rural learning curve ahead! ;-)

At least I can make some hot tea... :)
Thanks! Those MudGirls are amazing! :)

Ugh... the weather is making me nuts... That bites that you're heat is out! I'm taking a class and tonight the heat wasn't working there. I had on my toque, alpaca gloves and scarf, a huge wool sweater, a hoodie, and I was STILL freezing! I got in the car and blasted the heat to warm up on the way to the ferry... brrrrrr
 
#49 ·
Well I"m glad it's "warmed up" to -6! But the snow? Ah, come on! I was going to go out with baby today, but my options are 1) pushing the stroller over the ice and through the drifts and having to share road space with cars or 2) taking the pick up truck. Not 4 wheel drive. I think we're staying in today, doing some more baking. I've been heating the house with space heaters and by baking and cooking. Today, bran muffins, lentil soup, and maybe a turkey. That's a good 5 hours of oven time! I think it's thawed enough. We have a heat pump, but it doesn't work when it's this cold. It's supposed to warm up tomorrow. Yay!
 
#50 ·
How is everyone doing?

I wanted to mention that my family is looking for a home to rent in the cowichan valley, in the new year or spring. We need 3 bedrooms because my brother will be living with us too, and I'd love something rural. I'm watching craigslist and kijiji but if you hear of anything please keep me in mind :) I know sometimes people just wait for the right people and I'd love to be the right person for a great place.
 
#51 ·
Hello everyone! Happy 2011!

A question for you Cowichan Valleyers (ites?): what mommy/baby groups do you attend, assuming your child is young enough to attend? I've been going to the library group and the one run at the public health unit. I *would* attend LLL meetings once/month, but, gosh, they're early and way across town! Still, I may make it. I understand Mother Goose is full this time around. I've been thinking about taking LO swimming, but I don't have that much enthusiasm for that, as I'm not a water baby myself, and it would just be me and her, and I'm looking for something with a social aspect to it.

Does anyone want to get together and create our own baby group?
 
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