You Brew

I

’m Trevor, be welcome.

In this section, I’ll say a few words about the weather, provide some general hints on accommodations here in the valley, suggest a few additional Edgewood Wild “offerings” you may wish to consider, cordially invite you to propose an event of your own, and outline details and terms around proposed visits.

Occasionally I agree to act as (unpaid) Gaian guide on three- or four-day backpack trips into the mountains east of Edgewood. Either of two cabins can be rented for this purpose. Please let me know if this interests you, though certain conditions do apply. The pics below give some small idea of what’s in store.

Trophy Chalet by Tay Briggs
©Tay Briggs
Fight Lake Meadows by John Villella in 2017
©2017 John Villella
Fight Lake Cabin by John Villella in 2017
©2017 John Villella
interior of Fight Lake Cabin by John Villella in 2017
©2017 John Villella
Fifty-two Ridge by Fritz Schaer
©Fritz Schaer
Caribou Meadows by Trevor Goward

First, about the weather

The ever-worsening risk of wildfire in these Pandoracenean times makes high summer a poor choice for a visit to Edgewood Blue. Certainly this is true of visits arranged weeks or months in advance, which are at substantial risk of cancellation. On the other hand, near-term arrangements (a week or ten days ahead) are much more likely to come off as planned. Also, please note that the period June through mid July can, in some years, be problematic for people easily put off by mosquitoes. This leaves spring (mid April through late May) and autumn (mid September through mid November) as the most auspicious seasons for a visit.

Next up, accommodations

The Wells Gray Field Station, operated by Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, is located just across the road from Edgewood Blue and makes a convenient place to stay. While the main centre itself is often booked solid during the summer half year, this is seldom the case with the (much more rustic) cabins, repurposed school house and cooking area also associated with the Field Station, and located immediately to the north of the main building. For other accommodations in and near the Clearwater Valley, please see wellsgraypark.info and wellsgray.ca.

Now, some additional “offerings”

This website includes about 45 essays across a wide assortment of themes, any one of which could, if you like, be the subject of a forest walk or campfire conversational here at Edgewood; please just ask. Not included, however, are several additional themes I ponder from time to time and can be added to the roster:

  • Lives of Forest Trees (far more engaging than you might imagine)
  • The Dinner Party Scene in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse
  • Landscaping for the Pandoracene
  • Poetry for the Pandoracene
  • Hello Thoreau. Nietzsche Goodbye
  • Gregory Bateson’s Quest for the Sacred
  • Tolkien’s Middle Earth in the Pandoracene

Ditto the various themes discussed in my slogs.

You Brew

This page isn’t called You Brew for nothing. Perhaps you’d like to propose an Edgewood gathering on a theme not offered here? A poetry reading? A formal lecture? An open-air theatre production? An outdoor symposium? Stand-up comedy? Please don’t hesitate to reach out – once you’ve had a chance to review the terms of engagement summarized below, at any rate.

Local Visitors

Group visits from local residents are always welcome, whether in the form of school groups, scouting and girl guide groups, indigenous groups, or informal, ad hoc groups of people united around a particular theme or interest. Here again, however, I ask that you consider the following terms of engagement carefully ahead of making contact.

Indigenous Peoples

This website is dedicated to the Secwépemc People on two counts: first because Edgewood Wild took root and flourished on their traditional lands; and second because their traditional life-centred beliefs are now, as I show in New World Dawning, increasingly supported by a conceptual revolution currently taking place in the biological sciences. To me this latter insight seems an excellent reason to reach out to Indigenous Peoples wherever they live. Please, be welcome.

Educators, writers, journalists, artists, philosophers, etc.

Here I’ll just come out and state the obvious: that meaningful connection with cultural gatekeepers like yourselves is far more likely to garner public attention/interest/support for the ideas developed in this website than any number of interpretive events aimed at, say, your students, readers, viewers and/or admirers. This being the case, and given that you’ve come this far in Edgewood Wild, I encourage you to be in touch about the possibility of linking up by phone or Zoom or else in person. Find out more below.

Terms of Engagement (required reading)

Groups of ten or more, excluding minors, are welcome to visit Edgewood and make use of its facilities at no charge, though donations for upkeep are always welcome.

In exchange, we ask: first, that you agree, upon arrival, to take part in a group ceremony of apology – to whom or what is up to you – for the carbon expenditures necessarily involved in travelling here; second, that you commit, in terms meaningful to you, to make the most of your time at Edgewood; and third, that you treat our canine friend Kabuki with a level of respect and engagement befitting her status as a fellow creature.

For legal reasons, the initiative for group visits to Edgewood must rest with the visitors and not with the hosts. Visitors are responsible for all arrangements and will be required upon arrival to sign a waiver releasing Edgewood from responsibility for any harms that may befall. Children must be accompanied by adults at a ratio of not less than two to one except by prior arrangement. Pets must be on leash except by prior arrangement. Groups larger than about six people are encouraged to take out group insurance ahead of their visit.

These (unfortunate) necessary precautions aside, please link here to propose a visit.

Next up: Apprenticeship?