Words from the Coast

Well everyone. Here I find myself wondering what musings to post, what part of my inner psyche to share with everyone ;).

I have recently decided to move out to the West Coast for a time. What prompted this and what continues to prompt this is vaguely unknown. I did not know why I needed to up and leave I just did. Sometimes waters need a new channel to begin to flow again and to have fresh new waters stir the old ones. I think I needed a change. Why and how I did not fully comprehend until I came here but it was clear change was needed.

So here I find myself organic farming in Nanaimo B.C. I have been trying to peg down what the ethos of Nanaimo is but I can't quite seem to pinpoint it. From what I have seen I will describe it as interesting. The people here are interesting. There is something that I would like to call the "Island mentality". I think as I have been talking to people I realize that this entitles individuals to become nit-picky about the most random things and as well there seems to be a desire to cut whatever corners are necessary to save a buck. How odd. Perhaps in my idealistic mind everyone living on the Island of Vancouver would somehow be a hippy loving nature thriving organic eating individual. But alas, as always in our world this is not the case. As far as my sociological observations are being made (lol...always the scientist on the look out to understand peoples behavior) I think this is because people decide to retire here. The weather is nice, it is by the ocean there is only two weeks of snow in the winter and well....did I mention it is by the ocean and therefore amazingly beautiful!!! Who wouldn't want to retire here?

So as I am noticing the amount of elderly people (please note these observations are very limited as I have only been here a maximum four days) I am also noticing there is so much ageism here. Yesterday for the first time in my life I as a worker was able to participate in the farmers organic market of Nanaimo. I had lots of fun selling our local produce to individuals. I also found myself remarkably sensitive to people critiquing the radishes that I so meticulously picked and washed and complaining about the prices! Damn it, do you know how much work goes into those radishes! The price should be twice as much as is charged....anyways that is an entirely separate topic of which I don't wish to indulge (for it would be long and boring and full of global economics and how we in the West don't like to work for our food and instead want the third world to do it for us, etc...). There was a particular gentleman who placed his stand right beside Dolores' and began to un-pack all of his things and started to spout off his theories behind his produce and business plan none of which I cared to listen to at all. He then (please note he was talking to a sweet elderly woman who was selling organic eggs next to him) proceeded to talk at the top of his lungs about how everyone working the stands at the market was old and would probably die in a matter of three years and how there bodies were fat and useless. He then continued to talk about how after all of them had died how he would take over the market and everyone would buy his produce. Now....Kim + Mad= Explosions all over the place. I think if looks could kill he would have died a very slow and painful death, starting with his skin slowly melting away the rest of his body to leave an oozing blob of hideousness on the pavement for me to splash in and say you are a raving fool! So I burned him with this glare and he did not come near our stand all day. He went around to the other stands to check out the competition but not to ours. How insidious and awful can a person be? Really? Wow, he made me so mad! We are ageist in our society, not valuing anything that is beyond 59. This grieves my heart.

I have spent time with a 65 year old woman these past four days. She runs eight gardens by herself with the help of random woofers who come stay with her. She has a Ph.D in education, she spent eight years of her life working as a teacher in the United Arab Emrates, she is single, she has two grand kids and a daughter who lives just down the street from her. She is the most stubborn opinionated person I have ever met. Her mind is so sharp, every argument I throw at her she swings at me from a side I had never thought of. I have not won one argument against her and it is amazing! She is so knowledgeable about gardens, business, education, womens rights, she worked with an organization that rehabilitated aboriginal reserves in B.C. She listens to CBC every morning and then we talk about things like global economics, marriage, sexuality and everything else amazing. She is a vessel of golden knowledge one of whom I have been privileged to know over these past four days. Anyways she is making jam right now and educating us about the importance of gelatin and fruit mixtures, I just got a sample of fresh jam and it was amazing.

We don't value our elderly and therefore it is us young people in the end who loose, who go through this world without having gleaned from the elderly individuals valuable knowledge that could assist us to make this world a better place.