Kristeva Dowling:
Before the fall.
I live on a small mixed farm on the west coast of British Columbia in a remote First Nations village town. In 2008, I quit my job, returned to the farm and committed to a project that I have dreamed of attempting for several years. That is, to provide all the food we will eat for a year. This will entail growing vegetables, raising meat animals, fishing, and learning to hunt. I do not have an agricultural background, but know that farming is in my blood. It is almost all I can think about. If I won the lottery, I would buy a large farm or ranch and spend the rest of my life spending the money farming!
A new/late addition to the list of provisioning options is trading. I am far enough into the project now to realize I simply cannot do everything. Recently, while at another farm in town, I asked if the family was interested in trading eggs for milk. Thankfully, they were! When I decided to quit my job, I had the fantasy that I would ‘indulge’ my dream. That I would have time to read books, ride my horse daily, write my book, co-author another one, having puttered in the garden provisioning for myself in the mornings. The reality is far from that. I’m up early daily, going non-stop either in the garden or in the kitchen preserving the harvest, I’ve not read a book and only ridden my horse three times this summer! So, I’m adding trading to the definition of Personal Food Sovereignty and calling myself a ‘Food Provisionist’.
I have a Master’s Degree in Social Science with a background in Community Development.
CONTACT: Howling Duck Ranch PO Box 45Hagensborg, BC V0T 1H0 Email: info@howlingduckranch.com
15 Comments
October 6, 2008 at 12:31 AM
Awesome site Kristeva. Can I put a link on my blog? (I also post on http://www.blacksolutions.blogspot.com )
October 6, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Of course you may.
October 14, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Kristeva – what a beautiful name.
We have an amazing amount of things in common. I’m glad you found my blog and made comments. It lead me here and I’m having a blast. I have a few things to plant this morning, a load of compost to move – you know how farm work goes – but I’ll be back to read with a cup of coffee when I take a break.
December 2, 2008 at 3:27 PM
What you’ve done, Kristeva, is what I aspire to do when my wife finishes her graduate work and we decide where we will settle down. How did you learn to do all of these things. Obviously advice from other farmers and trial and error will be invaluable, but are there books you used to help get started?
December 2, 2008 at 4:56 PM
Jeremiah,
I have read tonnes of books on all sorts of subjects relating to homesteading. I volunteered on an organic vegetable farm while doing my undergrad degree. I took a permaculture course (and read Bill Mollison’s book). I have spent time with farmers asking questions, volunteering on their farms, and learning everything I can from them. I have spent time with vets to learn how to do certain things myself (this is borne of necessity because I live 460 kms from the nearest Vet).
In the end my advice is this: there is no education like actually doing it yourself (and this includes volunteering on other’s farms). Start small and manageable, don’t take on too much and get overwhelmed (it is VERY easy to do and I managed to overwhelm myself this year, despite the fact I know better–theoretically at least!).
Begin with growing some food crops and if you want animals, start with chickens; they are the easiest of all farm animals to husband and they return eggs and meat (ducks argue about the bedtime and herding them from the pond can be impossible, turkeys have to be rounded up and corralled to bed as do pheasants, goats are happy to go to bed if you entice them with grain but they are master escape artists and will test your fences and patience daily and they need specialty care like hoof trimming, and so on). I don’t have experience with bees but from everyone I have talked to who has raised them say they are easy as well. I’m hoping to begin some hives next year, will keep you posted!
Then grow from there.
Finally, always take time to enjoy what you have built, the lessons you have learned, and laugh. In order to satisfy the laughter piece, make sure there is always some form of entertainment and joy on your farmlet–it’s why I keep the goats and Mrs. Mallard!
January 2, 2009 at 9:07 AM
Kristeva, its wonderful to read about you following your dream! I wish everyone would do that for themselves. I encourage everyone I can, and when I am honored to meet someone like you that is actually doing it, I am filled with joy. Good for you! Keep doing what you love!
January 24, 2009 at 9:19 PM
Kristeva,
What a great website. I salute your determination, and you should take that as a compliment, because I have been farming and ranching by choice for 30 years. I found you while looking for a information on how to make a pastuerizer–specifically, one that will pass USDA regulations.
I milk goats and make cheese, and am thinking about going commercial, although the commitment in money and time is daunting. At any rate, I am spellbound by the misinformation all over the web about raw milk. As an old community health nurse (used to be an organizer, too), I am appalled by the return of the dark ages when it comes to farming science. The answer of course, is that no one alive today, from N. America remembers watching a loved one die of TB, coughing up blood, or dying of cholera or dysentary, with lower GI bleeds and dehydration. Raw milk is like an agar plate, and the minute it leaves the body of cow, goat or sheep or caribou, it has the potential to grow any microorganism with which it comes in contact. If people really looked at the potential contaminants on their hands, udders, stands, a bird flying by, a fly buzzing, a speck of alfalfa, a dirty dish towel, a sneeze, they would be horrified. It has taken humankind two hundred years to educate itself on the prevention of disease, and only a few blogs thoroughly lacking in scientific education, fueled by conspiracy theory to once again, needlessly risk the public health. It’s been less than 100 yrs. since we lost 40% of children under 10 to contagious disease. I’m not willing to risk the ones I know. Let’s not forget that “natural” includes rabies, great white sharks, volcanos, and rattlesnakes. Let’s not forget that we got to the top of the food chain by using our brains.
April 28, 2009 at 3:51 AM
Kristeva, your picture on the horse is, well, nice! Yea, I’m a guy.
I have chickens and ducks, the garden, and lots of fruit plants in south Louisiana. I have oranges, grapefruit that produce an unbelivable amount of fruit. I have muscadine grapes, blackberries and blueberries etc. I plan to retire in about 10 years and my plan for retirement is to focus on my garden and animals to provide for my family. I call it “living the good life”. I just showed a visitor my place this evening. I showed them the chickens and the new RIR chicks, the garden, the orchard etc. I didn’t show them the 401K or any talk of money. This is an important lesson I am trying to get my teenage daughter to understand. You know, that money is not that important, but following your dreams and striving to be happy is important.
I don’t have much experience with snow, I sure you do. In Louisiana, we can garden year round. It’s stuff like cabbage and mustard greens in the winter, but still, we can grow healthly things year round. I like your web site. We are similar types.
May 6, 2009 at 1:20 PM
Thanks David,
It must be nice to garden year round! Life was like that when I lived in New Zealand and I do miss it.
June 23, 2009 at 10:18 PM
…wow, I thought I was the only one to run away and join the farm circus !!! I’m having a great time and building (albeit slowly) all the time. Chickens, eggs, sheep, goats….. horses ponies and a llama…. geese and mohair goats rounding out the little family….. so far at it for 5 years having built barns and all from the ground up…. learning all the time… maybe we’ll see you at the Cariboo Garlic Festival? We should harvest enough to make the trip….
August 2, 2009 at 12:50 AM
[...] woman named Kristeva Dowling is just the type of person I’m talking about. She and her husbad … well … let her [...]
August 11, 2009 at 1:48 AM
Hi, Kristeva,
I just discovered your blog and am so glad.
There is a wealth of information on the internet for would-be-farmers but what I appreciate most about your blog isn’t the helpful info that you’ve provided but your chronicling of the learning process.
Your honesty about your initial uncertainty and inexperience and your continued struggles gives me hope that maybe my dreams of going from city-mouse to country-mouse aren’t so far-fetched.
So keep writing!
August 11, 2009 at 1:59 AM
Thanks Jenn for your kind words. You know, your reaction is precisely what I was hoping for! I hope to be an inspiration to others who, like me, dreamed of it but didn’t quite know where to begin. The learning process is sometimes daunting, sometimes fascinating, sometimes downright scary but always intriguing and exciting. Trust me, if I can turn from City-Mouse to Country-Mouse then you (and others who dream of this) can too. Go for it.
cheers,
HDR
November 7, 2009 at 8:21 AM
I sure was glad to meet you at the Laughing Loon in Williams Lake. Came down to buy some eggs but nobody was home, You had some sign that said no more eggs but regulars could come inside the gate and get theirs. Maybe see you next year when we make another to fish the Bella Coola.
November 7, 2009 at 1:59 PM
Hello Oz,
Well, here’s hoping we connect next year! How was the fishing??