CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Members, temporary residents and guests of Whole Village Ecovillage & Intentional Community gather for a communal meal in between work sessions. Whole Village hosts an event called Worker Bees twice monthly, inviting others in to see what they are all about, volunteer a bit around the farm, and enjoy a fresh, organic, home-cooked meal. Some of the work tasks include gathering wood, mulching, canning, and preparing other food items.
CALEDON, Ont. (14/11/15)— The main residence building at Whole Village called Greenhaven. In 2002 a group of people, the original founders of Whole Village, came together with a common vision of living intentionally in community and farming biodynamically. After jumping through many legal hoops and discarding many design possibilities, the building permit for Greenhaven was received in 2004. It was constructed using a variety of green methods, such as solar siting and passive solar, plenty of natural lighting including skylights, a geothermal heating system, extra insulation and natural materials. Although the community is careful about electricity consumption, they are not off the grid.
CALEDON, Ont. (14/11/15)— The entrance to the Whole Village driveway, from Shaws Creek Road. After turning in one will follow a long driveway across the farm until reaching Whole Village's uncanny looking residence building, called Greenhaven.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— A typical organic meal at Whole Village from the community kitchen. While the people of Whole Village strive to produce a higher percentage of their own food every year, at this point about 50 percent of their consumed food is grown on their 191 acre farm.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— The common space inside Green Haven during a communal meal. Members try to share a meal five times a week, and at other times they cook their own meals inside their separate suites.
CALEDON, Ont. (15/11/15)— While using their farm to produce food for themselves, the people of Whole Village also have a Community Shared Agriculture, CSA, program. The CSA aims to bring growers and consumers closer by offering an opportunity for anyone in the wider community to buy a share in the garden harvest, after which they will receive a basket of organic goods for 18 weeks. Members of CSA get to know their farmers, and if they wish, can also participate in the farm activities and learn agricultural skills.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Whole Village members Tosca and Ken Matcalf prepare for winter during their second November worker bees event by stocking the farmhouse with wood. The community attempts to heat structures using natural methods as often as possible.
CALEDON, Ont. (28/11/15)— Mary MacEachern, 70, starts a fire in Greenhaven's large masonry heater. Private suites are heated using geothermal with radiant floor heating. The large common space in the centre of the building uses the extremely efficient masonry heater, which only requires 1-2 bundles of wood a day to keep the large open space heated.
CALEDONIA, Ont. (28/11/15)— Of all the current members, Mary MacEachern has been a community members at Whole Village the longest, since 2002. She is the director and secretary of both Whole Village and Greenhaven Co-ops, but is otherwise retired.
CALEDON, Ont. (28/11/15)— The strategically placed south-farcing solar panel system at Whole Village. These panels are used in Greenhaven's geothermal heating system. While members strive to use as little electricity as possible they are not yet off the grid.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Lauraine Paradis has been a member at Whole Village for two years and lives with her son, while her daughter recently moved out. Paradis is one of the individuals who cooks for community meals.
CALEDON, Ont. (28/11/15)— During meal preparations, Whole Village cooks must keep a huge variety of dietary needs in consideration. It is a formidable challenge to balance diets such as vegetarians and vegans with meat-eaters, especially with some individuals having challenges with gluten and dairy and many other restrictions.
CALEDON, Ont. (28/11/15)— Ingredients in the large shared kitchen of the common space. Everything in the kitchen has a labelled, set place. While about 50% of the community's food is produced on their farm, some food items are outsourced.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Marcel Pijper prepares breakfast for his two children Simon and Evelyn in Greenhaven's shared kitchen. The common space is a busy place, with individual members and various families bustling in and out constantly. Lots of laughter and community conversations occur in this shared space.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— A mixture of older and younger kids play a game in the larger play room at Whole Village. Greenhaven is prepared for young and old alike, with quiet and privacy for the older in their suites, and two playrooms for the younger generations, with the common space being a meeting area for all.
CALEDON, Ont. (15/11/15)— From left, Symon Pijper, a visiting friend and Mila Dickie play in the kids room at Whole Village, which branches off from the common kitchen, so that parents and other adults can supervise while working. Parenting is also a community activity at Whole Village, with each individual contributing to the lives of each child in unique ways.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Evelyn Pijper is given a small handful of hay by her father to spread over the strawberry patch. Parents at Whole Village are constantly busy supervising their own children as well as kids from other families, attempting to keep the children busy, and trying to be contributing members themselves.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Tom Brown, 81, volunteers at Whole Village during Whole Village's late November worker bees event. Brown once considered becoming a member at Whole Village but then "life happened", he said. Zen, the husky in the background, is one of the farm dogs.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Marcel Pijper (right) secures three of the community's children on a hay bale while they rest from the mulching work they have been doing all morning. Two of the children are his own, while Mila (facing back) is community member Katyna's daughter.
CALEDON. Ont. (29/11/15)— Simon Pijper plays in a dismantled hay bale. For a young child, living at Whole Village presents a plethora of play opportunities.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Marcel Pijper and Jon Gagnon, videographer for Whole Village, take community children Mila, Symon and Evelyn for a joy ride in a wagon. The children have just helped the adults during a worker bees session, and are going in for some rest and nourishment.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Living in community can be an extremely rewarding lifestyle, but it of course also presents its challenges. Three of the men living at Whole Village discuss problems that have been bothering them in the community. Decisions at Whole Village are made based on consensus, which allows every member to have a voice in decisions, but also can pose difficulties.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Grace tosses an apple into the apple grinder, while her mother Tosca, left, looks on. From a larger photo story about an intentional community living on an ecovillage. The small group of community members are enjoying making apple juice at the conclusion to the worker bees day.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Following the grinding of the apples, the ground up apples are moved underneath a heavy iron press. It takes three to five people to turn the press and juice the apples. Grace now spends her weekends with her mother Tosca at Whole Village, after her mother recently became an official member, and Grace is quickly being turned into a farm-girl.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)—
Apple juice streams from the bucket of compressed apples.
CALEDON, Ont. (15/11/15)— Whole Village chickens are fed the apple waste after the apples have been juiced. Nothing is ever wasted on the farm, following one of their founding principles, which is to live sustainably in all ways.
CALEDON, Ont. (28/11/15)—
The compost bins in the communal kitchen. The "Chicken Yes" bin is spread out over the farm yard for chicken consumption, not only providing them with nutrition, but saving valuable money on chicken feed.
CALEDON, Ont. (28/11/15)— Barbara Wallace is the oldest member at Whole Village, still going strong at 82 years of age. Both her and her husband Milton are active members in the community, helping wherever they are able. Wallace has had an extremely colourful life on the road and amongst various communities after she quit her profession in experimental psychology, and therefore brings a vast amount of wisdom to the community of Whole Village.
CALEDON, Ont. (28/11/15)— After a number of days sick in bed, Barbara Wallace ventures outside with her husband Milton to visit the two farm cows and brush them. Currently the Wallaces are waiting on bull sperm to impregnate the adult female cow so that Barbara can begin collecting milk. She also runs a biochar program at the farm, and Milton has contributed his handyman skills quite often. Milton also has much life experience to share, as he was a engineer before also quitting his field and deciding on a community lifestyle instead. The couple met at Amerca's arguably most famous commune, called The Farm and were soon married after meeting. This is Barbara's third marriage.
CALEDON, Ont. (29/11/15)— Mila Dickie pauses on her way inside for lunch to check out the action behind her. Whole Village is the only home four year-old Dickie has ever known.