About
Us
Who we are and why we do what we
do. (Please scroll down for 'Family Newsletter' and 'Credentials'.)
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Magdalene (Maggie) Andres is a small town girl from Rosthern, Saskatchewan
– just north of Saskatoon. I, David (Neufeld), am a farm boy from
this area. We’re both from Mennonite church families and so I suppose
it isn’t so unlikely that we would meet attending the University
of Waterloo in Ontario where we were both associated with the Mennonite
supported Conrad Grebel College. We had a bit of an unconventional courting
and wedding and then took off to work for Mennonite Central Committee
for 10 years in South Africa, Lesotho and Saskatoon before settling onto
our homestead in the Turtle Mountains. All four children were born while
we were with MCC.
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Kholiswa (Kholi) was born under a lightning
filled sky in ’84 at the Umtata, South Africa hospital with mauve flowered
Jacaranda trees up and down the street. Ezra (Ez) was born three weeks overdue
during house renovations in ‘87 in my parent’s home a few kilometers
from here. Teyana (T) came to us in ‘89 in our tiny cement brick home in
Maseru, Lesotho while her grandmother (Anne) was visiting and making fresh bread
and borsht. Jonah (Joey) completed the family in ’90 at our home/MCC guesthouse
in Maseru with an excited group of family, friends and neighbours waiting on the
sidelines.
Magdalene and I rented, then
bought and rebuilt the Greenhouse in Boissevain a couple years after moving to
this community in the early ‘90s. While Maggie took on jobs in the school
system to keep food on the table, I managed the Room To Grow business, built up
our capacity to make more of our living from our home and managed much of the
home-front activity. Maggie grew frustrated with her teacher’s support position
and decided to go back to University in ’98 to complete a teaching degree.
Since then she’s had a series of short term contracts all over the school
division and is presently the senior resource teacher in the Boissevain school.
I had the opportunity to sell the greenhouse in town (twice actually) and very
happily moved our business home – where I began specializing in herb production
– especially medicinal herb bedding plants for markets in Winnipeg. Together
with curious friends from near and far we built the Straw bale Guesthouse from
’96 to ’01 – as we had time and finances to do so.
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8 years in poorer regions of Southern Africa and partly because we like
to stay connected to the environment around us, we try to keep our physical
and income needs modest. Our house/home is a recycled 1901 Baptist church
we moved from Boissevain. It was meant to be a temporary home but we’ve
added to it and renovated it to the point where we are perfectly happy
in it for the long term, nestled as it is in the
woods.We lived for six years off of the power grid – generating
all of our own electricity from solar panels and a wind generator. When
we built the Straw house we realized that visitors were going to have
a hard time managing their lifestyles on an unpredictable power source. |
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We didn’t want to badger people
about their lights so we brought Hydro in for the Guesthouse alone. A storm took
down the top of our wind generator tower and we couldn’t afford to repair
it at the time, so we strung a ‘temporary’ line to our home. The consistent
power has been seductive and we haven’t yet made the move to repair and
rebuild our home power system. Some day soon. Our dream is to install a home power
system in the Straw house that visitors can learn to manage and yet have the grid
to fall back on if need be.
It’s been important to us to be
engaged in the wider world. For people like ourselves who are curious about the
ways of other cultures, the prairies can feel overly, well, like us. Since we
can’t always travel as we would like to we’ve tried to bring the world
to us. We’re part of a network of farms that invite mostly college aged
people from all over the world to stay for a time and learn about organic agriculture
– called WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). Due to the
travelers and farm apprentices that have come our way – quite a number of
whom have stayed with us for months at a time, we now have an eclectic community
of friends. We’ve also had the satisfaction of inspiring (I hope) many young
people on their own journeys toward finding and working their own pieces of land.
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Through the sale of the greenhouse
property in Boissevain, we found ourselves suddenly out of debt. We planned
our route, saved up cash and prepared an old truck and camper before setting
out in summer of 2000 to travel for a year as a family. We went east to
Newfoundland, south to El Salvador and west to Vancouver Island before
settling back home. It was an amazing experience to be relatively footloose,
forcibly intimate as a family and exposed to so much culture and landscape.
Although we would do much more travelling, we recognize the depth of experience
we can have getting to know a piece of land like the one we are part of
and being needed in a small rural community. We are well grounded here
even when our spirits soar to distant places. |
The rocks and trails around us are filled
with stories of people and animals who have lived here over the ages. There is
10,000 years of human history in these hills – the signs of which we are
just learning to recognize. We’re compelled to honour the relationships
residents of the past had with the soil, water, plants and animals here. Some
of our finest experiences are in our encounters with the animals. Any evening
in summer we can swim with the beavers in our pond. All they ask is that we don’t
mess with their stuff and that we don’t make obnoxious, repetitive sounds
and movements. They’ll swim around as close as 6 meters away from us without
slapping their tails as long as we go about, what they’ve learned to be,
normal, unthreatening human activity.
It isn’t uncommon in
winter to meet up with a deer near our garden. If we’re quiet, the
wind is right and the dogs are inside we can look in each other’s
eyes for a good long minute before the deer will snort or stamp and move
off. We can’t make these relationships happen but we can nurture
the environment in which they are more likely to occur. We’re thankful
to the generations that have gone before and for the opportunity to be
here.
We want to share this
world of wonder we have in a measure that doesn’t disrupt the balance.
So please walk gently so others can follow. |
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Family Newsletter -
Greetings!
The most common question Maggie and I get as we move about the countryside (which I actually don’t do so much
- as Maggie can pick up the mail, sunflower seeds, vehicle parts and butter on her way to and from work) is “So
where are your kids these days?” I usually have to think for a moment. Quantum mechanics tells us that the more
we know about the velocity of a particle the less we know about its location. Hmm. We’re watching our adult
children explore their wings and test their roots over and over again. The to-ing and fro-ing is entertaining for the
most part. But sometimes it’s a bit hard, like last fall when Ezra, Teyana and Kholiswa all left home on the same
day. Fortunately Jonah was still here and at this point in time, only Teyana is still ‘on the road’.
Maggie. Gratifying
as it is to envision the fame and fortune that’ll come from completing her
Masters in Education, Maggie’s a bit overwhelmed these days by the amount of
time the final step is demanding of her. By the end of March she’ll have the
degree in hand. Yahoo! There’s been the occasional exhilarating course along
the way but she’s learned the most in her one on one’s with students and at special
ed professional development courses. She brings home beautiful (and some sad)
stories of her interactions. Our big trip this past year was going west (just
the two of us for the first time in many years) to visit with Mag’s family, and
her beautifully aging uncles and aunts. We celebrated 25 years of marriage last
summer with a grand party, loads of people and great memories. Maggie began an
exquisitely designed quilt for the occasion. Its promise adorns one wall of our
living room - waiting for a block of free time. We also engaged the 100 Mile,
100 Day eating challenge with about 100 other Manitobans this autumn. Local
media ran the story. Folks in the community were intrigued and that was nice.
Jonah, our
youngest, did half of his Grade 11 in Brandon
last winter/spring. He totally enjoyed the Eco Odyssey – outdoor education and
global citizen – course. He became more socially outgoing and dressed more
funkily. But by summer he had had enough of the wider world and gave in
willingly to being my slave. We did some plastering on the straw bale shop,
lots of gardening, haying and fixing stuff. Jonah enjoys fiddling with computer
graphics on Photoshop – hence the graphic above portraying the “bad guy” in
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, a game for the Nintendo Wii – and playing a
variety of problem solving video games. He finds school fairly easy but isn’t
certain which way to turn after his graduation. Slave for the summer most
likely - and then perhaps off into the world again with Canada World Youth.
Ezra, our
second born, is a restless soul these days. He has his own underground pad –
because he likes it around here – but would like more diversity in his social
circle and job opportunities. He also believes the best jobs come to him rather
than the other way around. So he’s waiting and working for Maggie – doing some
renovations on the interior of the Pond House – and helping me around the
place. Ez tried working construction in Winnipeg
last fall, living with his cousins, uncle and aunt. The relatives were fine but
the city life – not so much. He lives in a unique world – almost totally
without the use of the written word. Try it sometime – even a whole day without
reading anything. Yes, he can read, but feels we’re way too fixated on the
written word – that there are more interesting ways of experiencing one’s
surroundings. Ezra fulfilled a long held dream this year – getting a V8 (305)
motor put into his S10 ¼ ton truck, which – from a parent’s perspective – is
more motor than the vehicle needs. But who’s asking for my perspective?
Kholiswa just returned - in fine shape - from a tour of Australia.
She and Teyana filled their bank accounts last year and then in fall took off
for a few months of exploring down under. Before leaving Kholi worked for an
association providing homes for mentally challenged adults. She’ll likely work
with them again this year. She and Simon are making long term plans as a
couple. Simon will stop working on the oil rigs near Estevan, Sask.
in April and join Kholi here on the farm for the spring and summer months. Then
they’re planning on settling near the University of Waterloo
where Kholi is enrolled in the Peace and Conflict Studies program. Simon, with
great engineering/architecture and practical problem solving skills, will be
looking for work. Kholi continues giving leadership to the annual International
Festival for Peace at the Peace
Gardens.
Teyana is
planning on returning from her travels in May – in time for Jonah’s graduation.
She’s presently looking for a place – near Perth – to settle in for a while to make a
bit of cash. She and Kholi traveled the length and width of Australia
during which Teyana repeatedly pulled out the scrabble board with unsuspecting wanderers
and began learning to play the guitar. She even got to sing ‘Patricia’ on a Woodford
Folk Festival stage. Teyana is hoping to get to travel around Thailand a bit
before heading home. One huge undertaking last year was designing and sewing
her graduation dress. It was/is a beauty. She worked two jobs – at Peace Gardens
on entry duty and with the Heritage Association developing a brochure and a map
of historic sites. She’ll be looking for similar work this summer and then –
the sky’s the limit - the world awaits.
And myself - David – what a wonderfully crazy life – and I didn’t even have a major project this year. With kids
in and out, Maggie working and studying, the Greenhouse, Garden, Guesthouse and Wilderness courses still
happening and keeping as many as seven older! vehicles running at any one time, I’m still called on to keep home life
sane-ish. We’ve been blessed by longer term WWOOFer/helpers – Aimee Waruk and Kelly Janz in spring, Lise,
Kevin and Vinny in summer and Troy Stozek in fall/winter. Good times! Bonkers even! A sore arm kept me from
playing ball in summer but I did go on a couple wild outings with local guys – winter camping in the hills and
overnight (with a helicopter ride thrown in) on Whitewater marsh during bird flocking season!. I’ve given loads of
fulfilling volunteer time to a local Ag Committee, a regional Heritage Association and a provincial Mentorship
Program and a bit to the Green Party. If you’re interested in some of my writing please look up and pass along the
following: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/Manitoba_Pubs/2008/Brooding_Over_the_Next_Generation_
of_Prairie_Farmers.pdf or just smile at a young person passing by.
Fortunately through all the hurly burly we can take time to enjoy the bit of paradise we live in – along with great cats
(welcome Peter Mansbridge), dogs, donkeys and horses. It’s also comforting to know from Nuclear Physics that
a particle can exist in two locations at the same time.
Blessings and Enjoy!
Please make note of our new email address: roomtogrow@xplornet.com High Speed!
www.roomtogrow.info.
Box 478, Boissevain, MB. R0K0E0, (204)
534-2303
Credentials
Magdalene and David:
Certified Organic by OPAM (Organic Producers
Association of Manitoba) since 1995. OPAM: (204) 748-1315 - no longer
certified since summer 2007 - but still growing according to organic
standards.
Ten years with Mennonite Central Committee in South Africa, Saskatoon (Sask.
Canada) and then Lesotho.
Began Room To Grow greenhouse business in 1993 - expanded with the guesthouse
in 2002.
Magdalene:
Honours BA from University of Waterloo 1982.
Director on Mennonite Central Committee (Manitoba) board from 1993 to 1997.
B Ed (After Degree) at Brandon University in 2000.
Resource Teacher in Turtle Mountain School Division.
David:
Founding member of Organic Food Council of Manitoba in 2000 - a regional arm
of Canadian Organic Growers.
Founding director of Turtle Mountain Community Development Corporation (TMCDC)
- 1997.
Founder/Chair of the Agriculture Committee under the TMCDC since 2002.
Writer/Editor of the 2002 'Organic Food Guide to Manitoba'.
Editor/Publisher of the 2004 'Successful Small Farms in Southwest Manitoba'
booklet.
