still WWOOFing

I'm now working for some other people doing the WWOOFing work exchange. I worked for a nice fellow named Joseph over the weekend, clearing out an area of weeds and then erecting an already-assembled dome greenhouse (which turned into a little bit of a fiasco, due to a lack of directions, but eventually we got it set up). He had a busy week though this week and wasn't able to accomodate me beyond just a few days, which worked out fine because I was ready to do some more exploring of the area.

So I arranged things to start helping out some other folks starting this past Thursday, then last Sunday I took off and headed up the Slocan Valley to check it out. I camped two nights by Slocan Lake at two different spots, and spent another night near some hot springs, which I didn't go in because it was already hot out, so I just went in the river instead. I did a great hike up to Shannon Lake, up above the much larger Slocan Lake, and other than that just drove around the area, explored a few back roads to see where they went, took photos, etc. But there's definitely a lot more exploring to do around here as B.C. has so many National and Provincial parks it's ridiculous. So hopefully I'll get some more free time this summer to do some more cruising around, which I'm sure I will.

Wednesday night I arrived at the house of Chanisse and Francois, a French Canadian couple who live on a nice little piece of land about 20 minutes west of Nelson. They are both originally from Quebec, but were living in the S.F. Bay Area for a while, before moving up here a few years ago. They're really nice and the food is great. So far I've worked a bit in the garden, plus yesterday Chanisse and I went and loaded up a truckful of firewood, then I spent today splitting it. Although WWOOFing implies that you'll be working on farms, that's obviously a fairly wide-open definition, as a lot of the hosts in this area seem to be simply individuals who need some help on their land. That's fine since I think it's probably a little more laid back and a more personal experience than working on a large farm. But we'll see, I'll probably get the chance to work on a farm as well for comparison. As for how long I'll be here, I really have no idea. They like about a week committment, so I'll be here at least that long, and then it'll probably just depend on how much stuff they have ledft for me to do. I like the set-up here, a nice piece of land with a creek flowing through it, and the room I'm in is pretty nice and definitely plenty quiet at night.

In the meantime, I've also gotten my application in to get an SIN card, which will allow me to work for pay in Canada. That will take 3-4 weeks to be processed, by which time I may be ready to start thinking seriously about finding some paid work. Nelson is a great little town, but I hear that it is hard to find jobs there. But I guess I'll just keep my eyes open and see what's out there, and then be prepared to head out and perhaps find some work in one of the many parks in the area, which would be a pretty good arrangement, at least through the end of the summer. So I guess that pretty well covers things for now. I'm actually in cell phone range here, and I'm able to get online here as well so I'll try and be fairly regularly in touch. Below are some photos I took over the past week...