Climate
1971-2000 Weather Office
As for year around patterns, the weather has been changing so much globally it's hard to predict. The summers of 2003 and 2004 were glorious, hardly any rain, clear, and around 20C on average. September 2004 was the wettest on record, whereas Sept. is normally a month when lots of fall chores get done. Summer of 2005 was wet, yet the Spring months of April/May were warm and dry. We actually planted lettuce on April 6 th while Sept. 2005 was dry and closer to norm. Our winters have not been severe. We experience our share of snow and ice, but maybe 3 ft of snow max on the ground with a 10 day period of -30C nights would represent the extreme. Lots of -5 to -10C days during the winter. The winter of 2005/06 was the first in living memory that the Fraser River did not freeze over.
Crops
All root crops such as beets, potatoes, carrots, leeks, etc as well as cabbages, lettuce, onions, peas, some squash, raspberries, blue berries, elderberries, huckleberries, and hazel nuts do well here. With the extra effort of cold frames, hot beds or greenhouses you can grow tomatoes, peppers, basil, pumpkins, etc.
There are a number of apples, plums, cherries, etc from Russia, Korea, and hybrids developed in Alberta that are supposed to grow well here. This is yet to be explored.
Ownership
The design is that all the land will be held in common, through a cooperative. In turn individuals would own their housing through a housing cooperative, even though it might be a single family residence.
Costs
The current membership fee is $4000 per voting member. There are 3 budgets an individual or family will participate in: the Ecovillage budget which is constructed annually by all members; their portion of the land cooperative; and their individual house construction and expenses. Additional details are made available by visiting or attending a public meeting.
Workshops
All members are able to suggest annual workshops which can be a source of individual as well as ecovillage income.
Employment
There are no traditional jobs on site. There are substantial incomes available from organic farming production; workshop related accommodations, meals and services; and a wide variety of ecotourism activities. Satellite broadband internet on site lends support to consulting and other types of self employment.
Pets
Due to the potential mass chaos of 50 residents and a potential 50 dogs we have a no pet policy. This does not mean we have a no dog or cat policy. The animals we have here are working animals and belong to everyone. We do not permit any domestic animals or wildlife to be chased/hunted on site by humans or animals except when predators are being encouraged to leave areas frequented by humans or livestock. In 2005 >60 visitors from 8 countries visited including very small children. Any additional dogs/cats/other welcomed to the community will be subjected to intense scrutiny.
Appreciating the territoriality that dogs often exhibit we maintain a no pet policy for visitors.
How to get here
7 km off the TransCanada Hiway 16 makes us fairly accessible. We are 90 min from a regional airport in Prince George. Via Rail makes stops on site for passengers with reservations. The Walker Creek Forest Rd (our access off of Hiway 16) is maintained year around by the Ministry of Forests. ~ ½ of our private road access is snowplowed in winter by Telus our regional communications company. The balance is the ecovillages responsibility.
Local Community
The small settlement of Dome Creek http://www.domecreek.ca/ has a post office, library/community center, and community hall. It can be fairly active in the winter and is ~30 min drive. McBride, the next closest town http://mcbride.ca/index.html is ~50 min drive with grocery stores, health food store, hardware, schools, hospital, etc