Galena Bay odyssey : reflections of a hippie homesteader / Ellen Schwartz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schwartz, Ellen, 1949- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Autobiographies.

Communal living.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (308 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Toronto, Canada : Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., [2023]

Summary:

A writer and educator reflects on the idealistic, tumultuous, and eye-opening time she spent as a back-to-the-land hippie homesteader in Kootenays in the 1970s. What compelled a nice Jewish girl from the suburbs of New York to spend a decade of her life as a hippie homesteader in the BC wilderness? Galena Bay Odyssey traces Ellen Schwartz's journey from a born-and-raised urbanite who was terrified of the woods to a self-determined logger, cabin-builder, gardener, chicken farmer, apiarist, and woodstove cook living on a communal farm in the Kootenays. Part memoir, part exploration of what motivated the exodus of young hippies--including American expatriates, like Ellen and her husband, Bill--to go "back to the land" in remote parts of North America during the 1960s and '70s, this fascinating book explores the era's naivety, idealism, and sense of adventure. Like most "back to the land" books, Galena Bay Odyssey describes the physical work involved in clearing land, constructing buildings, and living off of what they produced, but it also traces the complicated journey of discovery this experience brought to Ellen and Bill. Now, nearly half a century later, Ellen reflects on what her homesteader experience taught her about living more fully, honestly, and ecologically.

Contents:

Intro

Cover

Title

Dedication

Contents

Introduction

1 Beginnings

2 The Farm

3 Buying Land

4 Building

5 Love, Marriage, and Immigration

Making a Living-Part One: 1973-74

6 Walter and Margaret and Henry and Hilda

Making a Living-Part Two: 1974-75

7 Food and Gardens

8 Birds, Bees, and Bears

Making a Living-Part Three: 1976

9 Bob and Pat

10 The Late, Great Sauna

Making a Living-Part Four: 1976-77

11 Snow

Making a Living-Part Five: 1977-78

12 Family

13 Misadventures

14 Paul

Making a Living-Part Six: 1978-79

15 Raising a Child

Making a Living-Part Seven: 1979-80

16 Leaving

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Copyright

Back Cover.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Schwartz, Ellen Galena Bay Odyssey

ISBN:

9781772034462