Entering Civilization

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The next day the three of us happily greeted Ben and Natalia, fresh off the B.C. Air flight, and drove on to a motel in Williams Lake. Natalia realized for the first time that night that our stay away from the Ningunsaw Valley would be for longer than a couple of weeks, and she began to cry for her home. She missed the mountains and her animals. My biggest problem was the noise. Although I wore earplugs, I couldn't sleep with the racket of trains, traffic, and sirens.

Making the Transition

Initially we searched for a place to rent in nearby Chase, and were aghast at the prices. It took more to buy less, and it was a real shock to go from living on $3,000 to $5,000 per year to $1,300 per month simply for food and shelter. In the woods, weeks could pass without having to handle money, or even think much about it. Suddenly it was a perpetual concern.

For the first time, feeding my family became a major adjustment. In the bush we trudged to the garden, root cellar, or cupboards for nearly everything, and did, in fact, produce 75% of our food self-sufficiently. Suddenly every item had to be purchased. At the supermarket I would pick up and stare suspiciously at the polished produce, wondering about its age, its origin, and—for the purpose of preservation and eye appeal—to what degree it had been polluted. The amount of choice in this giant room was astounding, and I found myself practically paralyzed by indecision. Forty different brands of cereal: with high fiber and low fat; with low calorie but high sugar; with just sugar; with sugar, without fat but with raisins—on and on.

Overselection did have one built-in advantage, though. It hampered my ability to overconsume. And when it came to purchased products, I ended up applying one rule: Seek out the cheapest.

In Search of Home

Due to my deep connection to the north Shushwap area—I had spent all of my summers here as a child—we decided to spend the winter here. As soon as we arrived, I felt like Rip Van Winkle. Shuswap Lake had been home to my family for five generations, and its original 160 acres had dwindled down to two acres. It had also changed from a distinctly pastoral location with tinkling cowbells and rustling poplar leaves into a busy tourist haven. Miraculously, amidst the noise and emissions, the loons, ospreys, and mergansers still swoop and dive. As we searched for a place to rent, I was more concerned about the size of the yard and whether it contained trees than the house itself.

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