This Monday, June 27, after the news at 5.30 my back to the land guests on Finding Home will be John Rousseau and Darla Thompson.
John is my cousin by marriage and the two of them have a major part in why Robin and I came to PEI ourselves. They gave us a base to start from the the encouragement to make the leap.
John and Darla were part of a remarkable group from UNB that arrived in the early 1970's to create a very different life than the rest of us middle class boys and girls.
Here is a photo album that shows the effort of the lifestyle that they choose. Hard work and hard living barely describes it. This choice - to learn about the practical - is one that as I get older, I admire more and more. I like so many middle class people actually have almost no practical skills. There is nothing of a practical nature that John and Darla cannot do well. John talks about the difference between being "educated" and being "schooled". Most of us are schooled. Few of us are educated. I am learning that to become educated, you have to experience things. Schooling only requires you to read a book.
Choosing the harder road, this group also choose community over the individual. The house in the album would never have been built without the support of their friends. Such a life choice, also places great demands on relationships. John makes the key point in the interview that the strength of the woman was the key to pioneer life.
The photo album ends in a tragedy. I leave you to find the meaning of it. I have my own opinion on the album.
