Hello again from @SenorCoconut,

This week, we're going to ask a few questions to reflect the ethics and ideologies of one vendor at HSCO: Walkerland. (@Walkerland on steemit)!

Building a community is about clear communication and the willingness to support one another. As Homesteaders Co-op (HSCO) grows, we must keep in mind that the complexity and diversity of its moving parts may also expand, so here we are helping this free market stay running smooth together.

We found it essential for the good of everyone to highlight the vendors of the HSCO market place. Wouldn't be nice to know the individuals and families offering their goods and services a little more?

Every week vendors are featured on the web site. As a community, we thought that every week, we should feature these vendors here on the Steem blockchain (@HomesteadersCoop) to give everyone that much more exposure.

It takes a village to raise a child, because when people help eachother life is easier for everyone involved.

Without further ado, here are a few question I've conjured up... let's meet Walkerland:

SenorCoconut: Looking through your website and your steemit blog makes me dream. Between canning, natural medicine and educating others, you create so much of what we want to eventually do with our homestead. Can you tell us about your thinking process and what kind of intentions you put into your creations?

Walkerland: It’s been interesting to reflect upon the choices we’ve made and the reasons we do what we do. Thanks so much for this opportunity Hive account@senorcoconut.

When it comes to the intentions we put into our creations, it’s pretty simple. We do the things we do and make the things we make because of a deep desire to do so. It all comes from a place of inspiration, curiosity, and joy rather than from necessity. Part of why we have chosen this lifestyle is to enjoy the freedom to grow in whichever direction our instincts take us.

SenorCoconut: This next one may go hand in hand with “intentions” but I would love to hear about the desired outcome you're looking for in selling handmade or hand-picked product. How are you looking to connect with your customer base?

Walkerland: I often say that we are sending a little piece of our homestead in every package, and this is said with sincerity. It concerns us that most things contain harmful chemicals, including food. There’s a massive disconnect as we’ve become so reliant on purchasing manufactured products that promise a particular outcome. Our message is one of empowerment.

It’s not just the products that we create, it's the message behind these products. Perhaps our purpose is to act as a bridge. Our store offers customers the opportunity to experience the true power and beauty of natural products. That said, we don’t just sell products. We tell stories and share knowledge and resources freely. Everything we do, anyone can learn to do if they have the inclination. We keep it simple intentionally.

The resounding message that we consistently deliver is that when your skincare, healthcare, and food all come from the same source: the garden, THEN you are onto something! The key to solving many persistent problems is not complicated, and it’s been a message passed down through the centuries “Let food be thy medicine.” When that connection is made, everything changes, and we are so deeply passionate about helping others to make that connection.

SenorCoconut: I think we can all agree that through all the pollution and destruction we create, we've put ourselves on a dangerous path that could lead to human extinction if we don't change our ways. Without getting political, can you tell us your stance on “carbon footprint”? And if you don't mind talking about what you do to help reduce human impact.

Walkerland: This is a topic with a lot of layers, I just quickly touch on some of the things that we do.

It isn’t always, but we’ve taken a relatively strong stand in many areas, one being that we don’t purchase any products manufactured by certain corporations that do harm, such as Nestle. We are incredibly discerning about what we are buying and how we source it.

Food is a big focus of our lifestyle, and we do our best to grow as much as we can each year, with a heavy emphasis on perennial edibles along with heirloom, organic seeds. We still rely on the stores for some food, and I expect we always will. It’s a lot harder than I ever imagined it would be to produce enough food for a year, especially since we entertain a fair bit in the summer and we live in a colder climate. In those instances where we purchase food, we are very discerning and careful with our choices.

As far as energy and resource consumption goes, we utilize solar power for our energy. I guess you can say that our business is powered by the sun, which is a nice feeling. There’s still a lot more than we could do, we certainly burn a fair bit of wood to keep warm in the winter, so our systems are not flawless. There’s a lot more we would like to do, but we are still learning and improving.

We also share a single vehicle and limit our trips to town to once every week or two, for the most part. This isn’t much of a hardship for us, and it helps us to plan purchases and spend less in general. There’s so much to do around here that we are never bored of looking for entertainment.

Lastly, we are very discerning shoppers. We think before we spend. The house was built locally using local material, the kitchen we had put in last year was handcrafted, utilizing only local resources. The kitchen was built to last a lifetime, and that is something we look for in everything we buy. I really get mad about how cheaply things are made these days and don’t mind paying more to get something from a company that stands behind their products with a solid warranty and takes pride in craftsmanship.

Better yet, we figure out ways to overcome our problems without relying on excess consumption. If we can solve a problem without purchasing anything, then we’ll make the effort to do that. Zero cost projects are the best!

SenorCoconut: You've mentioned that at you are “stewards of the land”. Could you please tell us what that means to you?

Walkerland: I’ve been quite fortunate because I was raised surrounded by pristine wilderness, and it’s been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Our vacations usually involved tents and backpacks in different places around Canada. The idea of not being able to step into a forest from my door seems unthinkable. We feel it is our responsibility to nurture and care for the land around us. There is no choice.

With that in mind, I had a bit of a rude awakening when we first moved to New Brunswick. We moved here because we could buy a large parcel of land at a reasonable price. We loved the vast wilderness and notably warmer climate that this province offers. What we didn’t realize is that a lot of forests have been destroyed and turned into plantations. A lot of people around these parts see a forest as a commodity and don’t think twice about clearing it for profit and/or spraying herbicides to control and inhibit the growth of certain species. Spraying kills the natural understory that many animals rely on for food. Families that have foraged for generations or hunted for their meat are now suffering the consequences of these actions. A lot of harm is being done, and even though most people known this is not good, are protesting and demanding change, the practice continues.

We’ve taken a stance where our decisions are based on protecting and preserving this land and its natural biodiversity. We can’t control what our neighbors do but this piece of land, we can defend. Our property now consists of 90 acres, most of it forest. There are a few acres that were cleared, and we’ve been slowly working on correcting that. There is a young conifer tree plantation growing happily through a large portion of the cleared land, and for the most part, we are letting that naturalize and do its own thing. It’s quite fun to see all these tiny baby tree seedlings pop up every year, it’s quite a beautiful experience to watch a forest develop around you.

The rest of the open space is primarily around our cabin, and we are slowly transforming that land into a food forest. We use absolutely no chemicals and do our best to nurture and build things up through careful planning, observing, and a whole lot of patience. My husband hates lawns and every year he rips up more and more sod so we can eradicate more of that and grow perennial food in its place.

It’s pretty amazing because we are always learning lessons and growing as people because of this pursuit. While a neighboring monoculture field looks all dusty and dry, our place is lush and active. There are bees and butterflies, and it is such a delightful contrast. There is no doubt in our hearts that we are heading down the right path.

SenorCoconut: You seem to have worked very hard in terms of self reliance and having much of what you need to live is right here at your doorstep. It is very inspiring to me and I'm sure many others. I thought it would be nice to end the interview with a bit of a look into a typical day on your homestead. Could you please walk us through it?

Walkerland: I love moving with the ebbs and flows of the seasons. We are deeply tuned into that around here. For the most part, the weather guides our day. We wake up when we are ready to wake up, which is surprisingly early most days. We go to bed when our body demands it. We have a long list of things we need to achieve in a timely fashion and a list of things we want to achieve but can wait until we feel inspired to tackle them. If the weather is terrible, we’ll do something more in line with working indoors. It’s quite lovely that way.

In the spring, we tend to live on “farmers time.” Which means we are up before sunrise and in bed very early! Spring is very physically demanding, and we are quite honestly exhausted by the time we sit down for a meal. In the winter we are indoors a lot more and our days are a bit more structured because we run a consulting business.

Regardless of what we have going on there’s a lot of flexibility and choice in what we do with our days, and we are quite grateful to have chosen a lifestyle that enables us to live in this way.

I want to thank you for taking precious time out of your day to answer my questions in such a wonderfull way, I know you must be very busy this Spring. When I said I was inspired while looking through your blog and website... it was nothing compared to now. We also live in an area where people don't think twice about clearing a forest or spraying chemicals, and the complaints don't seem to be heard. Thanks to you, I now have the confirmation that looking at our little 19 acre property as a place we know is protected, isn't completely crazy!

Once again, thank you @Walkerland for letting us have a peak into your life, it was a pleasure to read 😁.

For those of you who would like to look at her shop at HSCO here a quick link: Walkerland!

Thank you so much for reading and stay tuned for next week's featured vendor... Same time, same place!

@SenorCoconut

PS: As always, special thanks to @Riverflows for the graphics on that first image at the top of the post 💚 and of course @Homesteaderscoop for being an awesome community!