Stijn De Winter

It's nice to read all these different experiences. I have been watching the Weather Network on a weekly basis and installed 'Comox Valley' as a favourite. It's pretty cold there for over 6 weeks! Meanwhile here in Belgium it's the warmest winter since the beginning of the measurements. I've seen the temperature drop below freezing point only twice for a couple of hours during the night. Really weird. Guess we'll have loads of insects this year...

I'm keeping track of this topic for a while .

Hi Roberto

Steiner is close, with less of a 'shhhh' and more of 's' like in hiss indeed, but very short

Thanks for the information you wrote down. I've been looking into the Chilcotin / Cariboo area and found out there are even wild horses around lake Chilko! If I am correct the vegetation is a mix of pine forests and plains / bushy plains type of area? There are many interesting area's around there but a lot less roads to get around. How's the area around clearwater? Thats a a little under 3h drive from your land if Google is correct? The temperature averages in cities like Kamloops and Williams lake seem quite mild in comparison to other places I've looked up? We plan to come over and drive around to visit a shortlist of places/ which we are putting together now.

The most important insight right now is that the climate seems very diverse all over BC... Generalisations are not very productive. In terms of community we don't really have big expectations but like people who tend to love sustainable ways of living from an ecological point of view, but also a social and spiritual point of view... The actual land will be important, we are looking for a place of beauty to co-exist with.

It's such a beautiful country

Thank you for the insights Kirk and Roberto.

My name would be pronounced something close to 'stan' but with the 'a' sounding more like the 'i' in 'island' . Dutch hey...

Being able to keep and ride the horses in nature is must for us. We don't breed horses for a living, which might be an activity related to the 'equestrian zoning' thing... We just need a couple of acres of pasture for them. We do like the idea of Vancouver island for the time being, it feels good. We will probably include a visit in our travel.

Also, I had no idea that places like Terrace could be 'mild', so far North! That is interesting. I looked it up and Prince Rupert also seems to be the wettest city in Canada... Hmm. We are looking for a place that is wooded, but has enough clearing for pastures. Coast is not necessary, but a source of freshwater is. I do like hiking in the mountains but I don't mind driving a little to go out... I think Vancouver island has much of those requirements on offer...

You seem to have had a good deal there Roberto! How do you use your land?

Oh well, Belgium must be the wettest country in Europe. It can't be that much worse

Although an acreage is still a big sum of money, it is nowhere near what we pay here in Belgium. 0,1 Acre would be around $120k in the northern part of you are allowed to build on it and around $60k for 2,5 acres of pure farmland without permission for more than a animal shelter. Living space is scarce here, although it is much worse in other European countries like Italy or The Netherlands.

I browsed through the site you sent. Thanks a lot! You seem to have settled in a very nice spot of the world there! The 'Forbidden Plateau' area is very appealing. We love area's with as little human influence as possible and from what I read, there is a conservation effort there? One of the properties had this description: "This property is one of a select few in the area with equestrian zoning in the area". What is Equestrian zoning? Is it required to have a few horses or only for large scale horse breeding (which is not our intention).

You mentioned it can be quite windy there. What can we expect? Is it windy in the Comox valley as well or only on the edges of the island?

I seem to be showering you with questions here .

Happy holidays for you as well!

Cheers

Hi Kirk

That's much warmer than what I expected actually, which is very nice.
Is there something like a average price per acre on Vancouver island?

Cheers

Hi Kirk

Thanks a lot for your post. It is really helpful to start our search for the best possible location to live!

I do have a question. How's the climate on the coast? Do you live on the West or East end of the Island? Do you grow your own food there?

Cheers
Stijn

Hi Michael

We are looking to immigrate to BC (from Europe) and are scouting the province for the best area to settle. We'll bring 3 horses so we do need quite a few acres to be able to sustain them comfortably. We'll have probably at least one more when we arrive and I think I'll want some sheep and/or goats and pigs as well later on. Are there any permaculture hotspots in the area? Are there area's where (natural) horsemanship are popular perhaps? We don't know much about the province yet, except for what we read on the internet. I have lived in Ontario for a while so I am a bit familiar with Canada. We plan to do a trip to scout the area in person in the spring but for now it is still 'desk research' .

I would love to be not too far from a mountain range and a (bigger) city, preferably with an international airport for my work that requires international travel once in a while. I would love to get in touch with interesting people in the province to learn about the heritage of the area, get to know the local growing methods and varieties etc... For me an interesting community is a big plus.

Hello Derick

How's the digging going? I am currently living in Europe and actively preparing my PR application for Canada. Applications are accepted again from the 4th of May onwards and have to be done from outside Canada. After that started processing, I intend to come to Canada on a visitor visum and scout out the permaculture scene in Southern Ontario, probably Wwoof-ing my way around until I find an area I like so much a want to settle there. I am interested to come and take a look at your place and lend a hand if there is still stuff to do around the time I can get in Canada. I will be reliant on public transport for this trip as buying and insuring a car requires a PR card but I have quite some experience back packing.

I have theoretical knowledge of permaculture and basic hands on gardening / composting experience in my own garden in the house I sold recently. I'm reading up on Sepp Holzer and visiting local examples of permaculture gardens and farms to learn more.

I do need a reliable internet connection because my livelihood is an internet business right now and I require a few hours a week, sometimes a few days, to maintain and grow that...

Let me know how it is going, I'm very interested!

Kind Regards
Stijn

Hi

I found this forum in my research to become self-sustaining as a family. I'm from Belgium myself and my wife is Canadian. We are organising ourselves to grow our own organic food first and seriously consider living off the grid in a later stage. This forums seems to be a great place to read up on possibilities and experiences.

I'm looking forward to meet a lot of great people here...