Workaway and Car Purchase in Cowichan Valley

You wanna start a fire?
It only takes a spark
You gotta get behind the wheel
If you ever wanna drive that car

You gotta take the swing
Gotta get your hands in the dirt
To see what the harvest will bring

Bon Jovi

My second (two-week) Workaway stay was with a family with two children (11-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy) on a hobby farm, the "Any Fool's Farm". Since the couple is working, they only produce for their own needs on the "farm". There are still 7 chickens, a cat, two vegetable gardens, many berry bushes and a lot of weeds. And deer and rabbits, which join in the garden at the latest at dusk and are not particularly shy. Their land also includes a large forest, in which I was allowed to harvest nettles - for a soup (delicious), lasagna (very delicious) and pure as a pan-fried vegetable (disgusting!). I worked alone in the garden for 5 hours every day and the work was hard, admittedly. But it was also fun. My tasks included a lot of weeding. I dug up some beds, weeded the berry bushes, the flower beds, spread new soil and planted carrots and lettuce. And fed the chickens. They were always very curious about what I was doing when I was working near them, because there could be something to eat. Once they escaped when I was alone (not my fault!) and came towards me as I entered the garden. Fortunately, they obediently follow you step by step, so I didn't have to catch them all individually.

During that time, I had a little time to explore the area. It was easier in the end, when I finally had my own car. Of course, I visited Duncan - a rather boring small town, quite ugly from the outside, but the old town is quite nice with its many small shops and totem poles, of which there is at least one on every corner. Then I took a hike in Glenora Park, Stoney Hill Park, and visited Cowichan Bay and Genoa Bay. All very beautiful places, as you can see in the photos.

I also did my first mountain hike, on the relatively small Mount Prevost, where the wonderful view fascinated me. That was also the day I had my first bear encounter. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best idea to start the ascent in the afternoon; but actually, I only needed an hour and a half to reach the summit. However, I didn't consider that the view would be so awesome that I would spend too much time up there. So when I started my descent, it was already dusk. And in a dense forest, it's even darker. I was already a bit creepy and I was all alone there, but I tried to make as much noise as possible and hoped not to encounter any larger creatures. But I did. Because about halfway along the trail, about 15 meters in front of me, a black bear cub climbed a tree right next to the path. Of course, the mother came right after. As I had learned, I talked calmly to them and walked backwards along the path. I was very lucky because the path crossed a forest road twice and I could go back to it and they continued along it until the path branched off again. That's where I saw the bears again, because they were right on the edge of this forest road. The mother looked at me curiously, but didn't make any moves towards me. I calmly talked to them again and continued on my way along the path. Yes, I was scared. And I was even more scared when I walked through the dark forest - most of the time I actually ran and made a lot of noise. Since then, I avoid long distances alone in the forest, let alone at dusk ;-) Black bears are actually still relatively harmless. If you make enough noise, so they can hear you from a distance, they won't come close. And as long as you don't get between mother and cub, they shouldn't attack either. The same goes for grizzly bears, although they are generally considered more dangerous and aggressive (and larger), which is why I absolutely don't want to encounter one in such a vulnerable state. But at the moment, I'm not in their territory yet. Mountain lions make me a little more nervous, but they are also very rare in the area. You usually only notice them when they have attacked you, which is also very rare since they don't see humans as prey. Still, it's a strange feeling to walk through the forest where dangerous animals can also be found. Since my bear encounter, I've become much more cautious and aware of the danger.

Another highlight during that time was the Passover feast (specifically the Seder evening) on Good Friday, which I was allowed to participate in. It took place on a remote farm with friends of my host family - we were 28 people, of whom only 5 (including my host father) were more or less devout Jews. They celebrated it more as a joint festival with friends and didn't strictly follow the protocol. Nevertheless, the ceremony lasted over an hour and a half, during which we took turns reading the instructions and Bible passages, followed them (washing hands, drinking wine, eating certain foods, ...) and sang a few songs. After that, there was a jam session where I got to hear wonderful folk songs.

I didn't have a proper Easter celebration because my host family only celebrated it in a small circle with friends. At least there was an Easter egg hunt for the children, where they had to search for the chocolate eggs in a large forest area and missed half of them - so there was still some left for the adults ;-) For dinner, we grilled sausages over a campfire. But I did get the chance to attend a church service in an Anglican church (almost the same order and prayers as in the Catholic church) and I found it wonderful because many beautiful songs were sung.

Shortly before the end of my farm stay, I finally found the perfect car for my road trip - of course, I still had some difficulties to overcome, but I will probably create a separate blog post about that. Now you know that I've finally started my road trip and as soon as I find good Wi-Fi and time, the next entry will come ;-)