What Makes a House a Home? Kids learn Cohousing…

House a Home is the first book in a series of children’s books where we playfully look at cohousing through the question: “What makes a house a home?”

What is cohousing you ask?

“Cohousing is going back to the past to create the future of
extended family and intended neighborhoods.”

Anonymous

“Maybe someday we’ll be watching the evening news on
election night and hear reports on how the “cohousing vote is swinging. Because
cohousing – and the tightly-knit new clans it creates – promises to be that
big a phenomenon.”

Faith Popcorn,

Futurist and Author of Clicking

“The idea of a modest dwelling all our own, isolated from
the problems of other people, has been our reigning metaphor of the good life
for a long time. It must now be seen for what it really is: an antisocial view
of existence…..We are going to have to develop a different notion of the good
life and create a physical form that accommodates it. If anything, there
appears to be an inverse relationship between our growing obsession with the
home as a totem object and the disintegration of families that has become the
chief social phenomenon of our time. We worship this idealized container for
family life, and yet it turns out that the family cannot be sustained without
the larger container of community life.”

James Howard Kunstler,

Home from Nowhere

Go to your window and look down the street.

What do you see?

Do you see neighbors gathering for summer barbeques or potluck dinners?

Do you see your children safely playing outside with the neighbor’s kids?

Most likely not, as our streets have changed from the nostalgic “Sesame Street” styled neighborhoods to car owned pathways. It is now so easy to drive into your garage, park the car, and go inside without ever interacting with a neighbor.  We live like this for years; never knowing even the name of someone next door.

How could we design our neighborhoods to reclaim this lost sense of community?

What if homes and streets were partially designed by the people who live there?

People open to a different neighborhood paradigm. What do you think of when you hear the words “ecological sustainable housing”?

Do you see green building technologies such as wind power, solar hot water panels, or in-floor radiant heating?

Do you see people walking down a pedestrian street saying “Hello” to one another instead of walking on by?

Do you see spontaneous interactions of support for childcare, repairs, or simply getting together for coffee?

What would it feel like to live an average week in a cohousing neighborhood you ask?

One of the first differences you notice is a shared community center. On one day you might reserve the multi-purpose room for a future ballroom dance class; and later attend a book club discussion in the lounge. The next day you might learn about the latest conflict resolution and mediation techniques as well as communication skills, as everyone makes the strata council’s decisions by consensus. Perhaps after school, the kids enjoy the
community center playroom while you go to the neighbourhood workshop and borrow the lawn mower, the power washer, the snow blower or even use the community band saw. You realize that you share resources amongst your 30 or so neighbours and you make a mental note to suggest a proposal to discuss a bicycle sharing or even a car
sharing program at the next community meeting. After sending the kids off to school in the neighborhood carpool, you go back to your self contained home and begin telecommuting to work and decide to visit the community center office for photocopies of a special event poster and reserve the “motel styled” guest room for your sister who is attending your celebration.

You suddenly stop and think of all the ways you’ve saved money, helped the environment and made a difference in people’s lives that you question: What if just 15% or 25% of the world’s people lived this way?

Words can hardly do this concept justice; and James Murray at the CBC did an excellent piece about cohousing here:

http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/story/2011/02/25/national-wouldyoulivehere.html

Simply click on the video selection on the right side titled: Cohousing

Or visit www.cohousing.ca

Full Disclosure:

I am an Author and Life Coach and earn income when you purchase a House a Home book or a coaching session.  Marjorie Stewart is the awesome illustrator for our House a Home book and if you wish to purchase an advance copy for $20 and $5 shipping, we’d happily send you a copy when they’re printed this summer.  Every effort has been made to ensure the information you receive is accurate – any errors or omissions are mine.

How do YOU eat healthy? The Athlete Food Pyramid Photo Blog

How do you eat healthy? And what does that even mean?

One of the biggest questions I receive about the Athlete Food Pyramid is:

“How do I apply that into my daily life?

“What would that look like for breakfast, lunch and dinner?”

Since water based carbs make up the largest portion of the Athlete Food Pyramid, I would suggest starting with a little fresh lemon in warm filtered water and then move on to fruit with a veggie omelet or fruit and protein in a smoothie or a fruit muesli.

To curb cravings for high glycemic foods or night time snacking and help lose weight, drink a few glasses of water approximately one hour after eating each of your meals.  To retain digestive enzymes for your mealtimes, it’s important to stop drinking water approximately 30 minutes prior to the next time you eat though. 

Salads or vegetable based soups make a great lunch with some form of protein such as seafood, fish, nuts, seeds, eggs, chicken, tofu or turkey.  A delicious dressing could be made from flax oil and stevia as well as flavourful herbs and tart flavours such as balsamic vinegar or fresh lemon juice.

Dinner will see the starch based whole grain carbs on the plate like whole wheat pasta, brown rice, quinoa, barley, spelt and amaranth combined with salads or vegetables and low-fat wild tissue protein.    

What is low-fat wild tissue protein?

Here is what Dr.Cory Holly  says about low-fat wild tissue protein:

“Commercial, domesticated meats are typically high in saturated fat (sirloin steak is 72% fat), provide little or no essential omega-3 fatty acids, are frequently contaminated with pesticides, antibiotics, parasites, prions, salmonella and E. coli, and become prone to rancidity as soon as they are ground. The worst ones include hamburger, luncheon meat, sandwich spread, wieners and surprisingly, canned tuna. Overcooked animal flesh is mutagenic. Wild game, such as elk, venison, bison and caribou, is more nutritious, easier to digest, much, much leaner and typically higher in protein, B-complex vitamins and trace elements. Unlike plants, tissue proteins provide natural sources of creatine, carnitine, EPA, DHA, CLA, heme- iron, pre-formed vitamin A (retinol) and vitamin D, as well as a much higher source of biologically active, correctly assembled amino acids. I prefer fresh fish, such as wild salmon and halibut, shellfish, venison, New Zealand lamb, turkey breast and free-range fertile eggs. Our original ancestors were hunters & gatherers, not farmers.  I allow for all flesh (tissue protein), provided it is lean, clean, and safe to eat and prepared correctly.  For instance, domesticated pork is a long way from fresh hunted Peccary.  Our ancestors ate anything they could catch.”

In other words you could summarize the Athlete Food Pyramid with a quick list:

Warm water with lemon

Breakfast – Fruit / Veggies & Protein 

Water – ( 1 hour after eating)

Lunch  – Protein & Veggies

Water – (1 hour after eating)

Dinner – Whole Grain Carbs & Protein & Veggies

Water – (1 hour after eating)

For the more geeky stat lovers out there, you can click photos of your meals with your camera phone as I have done and track your incremental wellness improvements on sites like DailyBurn.   Those wiser food choices (No one really wants to take a photo of junk food and post it to everyone on the planet) will later lead to healthier meals and ultimately result in how much better you feel about yourself.

Full Disclosure & Disclaimer:

I earn income as a Life Coach and Fitness Consultant and would be happy to arrange a coaching session with you to establish your wellness goals and help you design strategies to achieve them.  Of course, before changing any aspect of your nutritional or fitness regime it is always best to speak with your health care provider first.

What does a Life Coach, Facilitator and Author have in common? As a Multipreneur – Everything

“Can you turn this artwork into high resolution images for the children’s book that I’m collaborating on?”

“Sure, I can put them on a disk or a thumb drive for you.”

“Great. Here is a thumb drive. Now how about cerlox bound presentation packages for the spousal support services that I run for emergency responders?”

She wrinkled her brow before replying: “Yes, um, Of course, we can make you cerlox, tape or saddle stitched presentation packages.”

“Awesome! I’d also like these handouts and cards printed for my wellness coaching sessions next week.”

Then it happened as it usually does. She stared at me like I was explaining quantum mechanics – her mouth began to open and no words came out. Disbelief.

Welcome to my life.

The life of a multipreneur. (Merriam-Webster take note!)

Multiple passions.

Multiple income streams.

The question “What do you do?” almost prompts my return “What don’t I do?”

How do I answer the question meaningfully about one area of life without also going into all other areas?

Hence, one of my motivations behind this blog in sharing a more rounded picture of myself.

What is the average day like of a multipreneur you ask?

After doing strange little things like taking a photo of our breakfast for uploading later for accountability and motivation you might see me in my pajamas blogging, emailing answers to questions or writing. In other words – connecting the dots.

Connecting people who are looking for energy or freedom from pain to a lifestyle that could help them.

Connecting people that need support with others in similar positions of assumed isolation.

Connecting people curious to learn about a neighbourhood community housing or cohousing lifestyle through the eyes of a child.

Prior to breaking for food I click a camera phone image of lunch and quickly email it. (Sooo much easier than counting calories)

While I’m P90Xing I could be teaching someone how to better meet their wellness goals.

Whether I’m brainstorming ideas for a community project or volunteering at an environmental event or carrying a briefcase to a presentation, all build the social fabric that I weave on a daily basis. Every day is different and each presents unforeseen challenges and joys of accomplishment. I love teaching, creating and writing things that I believe in and inspire me.

Multipreneurship is perfect for all of those.

Could Port Hardy become the next Chemainus? Let’s ask the Mayor…

Dear Mayor Parnham,

Is Port Hardy destined to become another ghost town like Cassiar, BC?

Or, will it become the next “little town that did” like the mural town of Chemainus, or the outdoor enthusiast favored town of Squamish?

These questions have been on my mind since my recent visits to Port Hardy, where I lived between the years of 1975 to 1985, all my nostalgia was jarred by the business closures at the Thunderbird Mall and around town.  After talking with some residents, I realized that there is a sense of hopelessness since the main industries have closed. Recurring comments of: “People are used to making great money here. What other industries can bring that kind of investment besides fishing, logging and mining? Port Hardy is too far for tourists to come.” And other similar remarks along this depressing theme.  First of all, let’s look at what is within Port Hardy’s control and what can perhaps be a silver lining in this bleak cloud.

What does Port Hardy have currently?

What is special?

In spite of business closures, more than 4000 residents are staying in the area. The ferry to Prince Rupert runs from Port Hardy and in the summer, the hotels and B&B’s are all full about half of the time. Port Hardy boasts some of the best salmon fishing and cold water scuba diving in BC, if not in Canada, with clear visibility 30 metres or 100 feet deep. I’m sure you could add more to the list.

Well, since the solutions to the most difficult problems are not discovered by the minds that created them; how about an idea contest for Port Hardy’s young people and innovative thinkers to write a one page essay as to how to best grow the town? Perhaps the question could be: “If you were mayor, what would you suggest to boost Port Hardy’s economy?”  The Port Hardy High School and North Island College could facilitate it and the North Island Gazette could print some of the brightest and most creative answers.  And this might stir up some community building conversations as to how to make something new happen.  For example, one idea could be to have business / science students look at the feasibility of turning Port Hardy into a year round eco/adventure tourism destination.  One way that Squamish did this is with signage of their uniqueness that reads: “Welcome to Squamish – Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada.” An option to take Port Hardy’s marine adventure specialty even further is to build a marine biology educational laboratory that would double as a year round recreational activity center too. Just imagine – Port Hardy could host some of the best in coastal ecology, aquaculture / marine mammal research, and submarine adventure tour operators and many other scuba professionals.

Now, as I read this letter, perhaps these ideas sound like an idyllic dream that Port Hardy can one day attract the 400,000 annual visitors that Chemainus does. It all depends. Is Port Hardy ready to turn around economically? I hope so, as it would be really inspiring to visit my “home town” of Port Hardy as a growing community once again.

I’d be honoured to meet with you in person to discuss this when I come up this summer if you are available to meet for lunch,

Susan McFee 

“The Browning Wall off of the Browning Pass area (near Port Hardy) is one of the best scuba diving locations in the world.” ~Jacques Cousteau, scuba pioneer /environmentalist

Here is Mayor Parnham’s response written below with permission:

Hi Susan,

It’s great to hear from someone who considers Port Hardy their home town
and has so many great ideas for a new and more dynamic community.

Many of the thoughts and ideas you expressed have come out in our current
OCP – Official Community Plan revision.  We decided to enter into a revision of our Official Community Plan this year as we too recognized that, in order to survive as
a community – we had to change.  Our mission is to support and enhance our
current industries – identify, research, welcome and work towards new
industries – and thoroughly engage the community in this planning.  You
can find the information that was gathered by our consultants on our
District website  – porthardy.ca   This will give you an idea what our
community values are and where our challenges lay.  Our consultants will be
coming back to council in June with a draft OCP that will encompass the
goals  and put forward a plan of action for council to follow over the
next number of years.

Despite what you saw, there are good things happening.  Commencing this
summer, construction will begin on the Cape Scott Wind Farm, the first such
project on Vancouver Island.  As the nearest community, we have been very
supportive of International Power’s proposal and have met with them many
times over the past year – we are looking at 200 construction jobs over 2
years and a number of wind tech and other peripheral jobs once in place.
I believe that a significant part of our economic future is linked to
green energies – we have massive potential for wind, current and other new
technologies and we are working with BC Hydro to encourage upgrading the
transmission capacity from Port Hardy to the south.

Our fishing and aquaculture industries and the value-added fisheries (i.e.
Hardy Buoys) have had a few very good years, but, like all resource
industries – the economy is cyclical.  We are anticipating another good
year as world demand for fresh and farmed fish is increasing at a level
that we cannot keep up to.   Recognizing the value of our harbour, we have
spent over 7 million dollars in the last 4 years (all grant funding) on
upgrades to our harbour and facilities for fishermen.  Port Hardy is now
the largest lander of fish in British Columbia.

The Quatse Salmon Stewardship Center is a world-class interpretive center that
boasts not only some fantastic exhibits, a beautiful setting and a new
theater – it also has a laboratory that is used by university students and
researchers who come to the area studying the ocean.  I hope you had the
opportunity to visit it when you were here – if not, I hope you will take
that opportunity this summer.

Logging continues to contribute to our economy as well.  Many of those in
the logging industry in areas like Holberg and areas south choose to live
in Port Hardy.  It would be great to see more value-added forestry.  With
that in mind, the communities of Port Hardy, Port McNeill and Port Alice
have applied for and been granted a Community Forest licence.  This will
allow us access to timber and the opportunity to encourage value-added
industry in our communities, as well as opportunities for more
recreational areas.

We are working with Geoscience BC in identifying the huge mineral deposits
here on northern Vancouver Island and encouraging new mining exploration
and development.

Tourism is growing in leaps and bounds.  Three years ago, we decided as a
region to have a 2 percent hotel tax.  This money goes into marketing of
the region and we are already reaping the rewards of working together.
The North Coast Trail is a big draw to Europeans, as well as the ferry,
bear watching, recreational fishing, and outdoor adventures.  We do have
capacity issues, however, that we are trying to address.

I believe that a town that is worth living in is a town worth visiting, so
we have been working hard the past 3 years to improve the appearance,
social and cultural amenities in Port Hardy.  Our gardens are coming
along, our parks are improving and we have a new cultural group that is
determined to show the world the wonderful artistic ability available
here.   We have new commuter trails, have fixed the tennis courts, added a
slide to the pool and kept our recreational facilities open and in good
shape despite fewer taxpayers to support them.

We are fighting the fight for existence that all rural communities,
worldwide are fighting right now – the trend to urbanization.    I believe
that we need to continue to enhance our resource based economy, welcome
and develop new business (we have lowered our business tax rate the past 2
years as an incentive) and work towards re-inventing this community we
love.

It took us a long time to get to this point and there are no quick fixes
out there, but I believe we are on the right track.

Please take the time to have a look at the OCP material collected so far -
I will be forwarding your comments on to our consultants with your
permission.

I’d love to meet with you this summer, so let me know when you will be here and
hopefully we can get together.

Take care and thanks again for your input.  It’s great to know that those
who have left still care about the fate of our community.

Bev Parnham

I’ll jump back in here with a small request, Port Hardy is in the running for the World Fishing Network – WFN Ultimate Fishing Town contest that ends May 31st, 2011.   If you believe that Port Hardy has great fishing, and trust me - it does, then take a minute to vote, as the winning town receives a $25,000 community donation plus thousands of dollars worth of awesome toursim advertising exposure afterward.  Link to this blog and let’s see if we can help Port Hardy be the next Chemainus after all.

Last Lecture & Last Post = New Blog

 

Derek Miller died at 41 from cancer and posted an inspiring last post to his blog and I couldn’t help being reminded of Randy Pausch’s famous “Last Lecture” when I read it.  Randy went on Oprah prior to his death, also to cancer.  Both speak of the deep search for meaning within our lives that drives us and then being able to hopefully look back at our legacy with no regrets.  Derek wrote about music, his cancer diagnosis and his eclectic interests in technology and pretty much anything that came into his mind.  What an awesome legacy!  It’s like having a conversation with him knowing that there are over 10 years of posts to search through.  Derek and Randy have inspired me to begin my own blog about creativity, wellness and the various projects that you’ll see me working on now and in the years to come. I hope you enjoy what you read here and thank you Derek, for the kick in the butt to get started as I share more about the different facets of my life.