Two Sisters River

We are Mike and Mary-Kate. We care about creating an amazing, supportive community of people around us, local food, sustainable living, environmental design, and having a whole bunch of fun. We live in downtown Guelph, Ontario. We have three kids, Rowan (9), Sikhona (7), and River (5), an obsessive Border Collie named Dash, two cats and 40 chickens. We've loved watching our children learn to hold chickens, discover eggs, and develop a connection with their food. We're excited to help other people get backyard hens and believe there should be a chicken in every willing backyard in Guelph. We seek to lead a life that will be an inspiration so that others are drawn towards a deep paradigm shift in all aspects of their lives. We want this life to filled with fun, family and possibility. Our hope is to help to create Guelph as a model city in the transition to the post carbon era. We want to create resilience for ourselves, our children, our community and our city. We are creating an environment where ourselves and all others can turn up as connected, inspired, self expressed, fulfilled individuals and where relationships flourish. This is a space where adventure and exploration is embraced. We seek to raise our children to be powerful, free thinking, inspired changemakers.
We create community to help us achieve these goals.
We have started the processing of transitioning our property to a "post peak oil" way of being and are at transforming our house and yard into an urban farm. We have gutted our old stone house and have roughed in solar panels, solar hot water, greywater and to heat with a kachelofen. We are currently living in the beautifully designed and partially finished results of this long term planning. We are excited to try to determine how to grow and produce as much food as possible from our incredible property right in downtown Guelph. We have crazy ideas, and are loving every moment of living in possibility. We strive to be the change we wish to see, lead the life we are advocating and be community leaders.

We own a 6-plex apartment building across the road from our house. This space is filled with interesting, creative, inspired people who we will share our lives with. Around us several friends have purchased houses and a community with intention has started to emerge as we are able to garden together, share child care, and help each other in a number of ways. We also close the road every Wednesday from 4-7 during the summer for a community potluck and 2 CSA shares drop off thier produce.

We also own a house 3 blocks away called 'The Purple Cow' which is set up like a hostel and where WWOOFers live. It has a shared room, and 2 private rooms. We have enjoyed a steady stream of really awesome travellers who have joined us over the past few months to help us in a number of ways. Some of the people who have stayed have specified particular interests and others just come and become part of this community.