6. A Sense of Community
Marion Copleston grew up in Toronto, where she developed a love of the outdoors through the Girl Guides. After a few visits to Prince Edward Island in the 70s she decided to stay, with the intention of building an energy-efficient home and living off the land as much as possible. The house would be south-facing for passive solar heating, it would have thick walls and even firewood all around it for extra insulation, and water would be heated on the woodstove. On the Island, Marion signed up for a Department of Forestry woodlot and chainsaw maintenance course. So did Tony Reddin, an Islander who thought the same way she did about a lot of things. "That’s our romantic story," Tony says, in the Bonshaw home they have lived in for almost thirty years.
The back-to-the-landers developed close ties not only with the local communities, but with each other. That is hardly surprising, given that many had similar backgrounds, similar interests, similar needs. They often even looked alike. Cef Pobjoy states, "When I say this it’s almost like we were another race. But you could go in to Montague and recognize people by the long hair and weird clothes at that time, that they weren't from here. We knew each other right away. 'Where you from?' 'Oh, I'm from Indianapolis.' 'What are you doing here?' 'I'm just living up in a shack up in the Seal River.'" Joan Sutton laughs, remembering that people assumed she was Phil Corsi’s sister just because they were both from away and had dark curly hair.
The back-to-the-landers tended to find one another by gravitating to the same places. The Charlottetown library was one such place, the School of Visual Arts – where, according to Judith Merrill, only 2 of the 30 students in her first crafting class were Islanders – was another. The Root Cellar, the Charlottetown health food store opened by JoDee Samuelson and her boyfriend in 1971, was something of a spiritual hub. And, of course, there were the parties. Phil Corsi of the Dixon Road became renowned for his big summer parties, with musicians like Lennie Gallant and Speed the Plough playing. Down east, a Montrealer named Jack Miller who had bought a lobster license held huge end-of-season parties that drew back-to-the-landers, and everyone else, together for lobster and beer.
Morley Pinsent, who had experienced the hippie scene on both coasts, found the PEI back-to-the-landers considerably more laid back. In BC, "there were perhaps more in people's faces and there was more confrontation. It was much gentler and more pleasant here." They became, in fact, quite close knit. Some of the back-to-the-landers had started out in communes, and found that overwhelming, but they saw the value of working together. They helped each other build their houses or on any other projects that came along. They shared cars, tools, tips, and child-care. In central King’s county, they started a Rudolf Steiner school as well as the Wild Oats Food Co-op, saving money by buying food by bulk. They even put together good softball teams, the Lost Dogs and the Iris Cowpies, in the Montague rec league. Self-sufficiency doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy the company of others.