The New Old-World of Greenwood City in Boundary Country, British Columbia

Old Stuff

When one visits old-world destinations like Venice, Paris or Amsterdam, you become aware of the stark contrasts between the day-to-day hustle and the much, much longer and older timelines that birthed their character, their people’s cultures and unique personalities. 

In our migratory New World, like Canada or New Zealand, we don’t have a similar appreciation for omnipresent antiquity and the uniquely localized identities of the people. Sometimes, it is even hard to distinguish Calgary from Denver or Regina from Edmonton. If we did, we would discover and appreciate that here too is an “old world” charm, woven into the fabric of what, and who we are. Examples like Montreal and Quebec City come to mind. 

However, further West, we easily forget. Too quickly we lose the charm of our heritage as we hastily pave over it, strip mall, tear down, franchise, and progress it to oblivion. If we look around, we will realize that there are gems to be discovered. Dare I say it, places to be protected and cultures to be preserved and celebrated.

This is part of the TWO COWBOYS' EPIC GLOBAL TRAVEL & CULINARY EXPERIENCE - 2019! 

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New World Gems

Talk about the City of Greenwood with any modern-day Canadian, and most will shrug with just one comment, “Where is that?”. When you visit Greenwood, something grabs your attention about British Columbia’s smallest city, a one-time candidate for the Provincial Capital, and the previous seat of the Provincial High Court. Everyone in the West knew about Greenwood in 1897.

Walk the streets (yes, not speed through it on Highway 3, at 100km/hour) and you become acutely aware of its rich history, thanks to the ongoing efforts of the few remaining residents. They are desperately trying to preserve the crumbling buildings, hold on to the rich can-do mining character, and tell the boom-and-bust stories of days long gone.

There is a character to Greenwood and a hardy identity to its people. It needs to be rediscovered and celebrated. In Greenwood, the old-world charm of the Canadian West and the pioneering spirit of Canada is particularly strong. Even its time-worn accelerated degradation and central location in the Boundary Country offers an eerie charm or omen to the still remaining places around it. It reminds one of that powerful and always-present inescapable universal flow.

Flow of Time

Humanity is insignificant within its force. Regardless of who we are, where we are, what we had for breakfast, or how we drink our coffee, our world will keep on spinning at a speed of 1,800 km/hour. We will continue to be screeching around the sun at 108,000 km/hour, as our solar system spirals at 750,000 km/hour through this galaxy. Our planets will continue to exist for another 4 billion years, our Universe expanding for another 13.5 billion more.

Within this mind-numbing magnitude, we are part of the flow, and we are because of the flow.

All we can do is hang on to a minuscule significance, oblivious of the speed at which we hurtle through time and pace. For us, the sun came up in the morning and will go under this evening. The seasons will pass. Life will begin, friendships made, and partners lost. Civilizations will rise. Some will fall. Industries will blossom and die, presidents elected, killers executed, trees grow, suns collapse, species disappear, climates change and Black Holes born. Gold will be discovered. Fortunes made, and many will be lost.

We will grow old. Our lives will end. Soon, someone will forget.

We stand alone against the massive freight train of life. In the blistering madness of its momentum, we can only try to find a place - our place, a sense of purpose, some significance. A point to it all. The best we can hope for is conscious glimpses grasping at fleeting, subjective moments of awe, splendour, beauty, love, acceptance, and pleasure in the places and with the people we love.

There is no Heaven, no Valhalla, karma, or fortunate re-dos waiting on the other side.

This is it, a sliver of existence in time, a minuscule place in the Universe. Living is all we get. Holding on is what we have. The big question then is, “What to do with it?”

The answer, “Be”. The world forgets easily but definitely.

Greenwood, BC

Greenwood is all about history, it goes back to 1891 with the discovery of gold, silver and copper in this once thriving mining camp. Incorporated as a city on July 12, 1897, the BC Copper Company smelter was built in 1901 and brought prosperity to the city, becoming known as the “hub” of the Boundary. The surrounding mines brought fortune seekers from many parts of the world, but the boom was short-lived. After the first World War, copper prices plummeted and Greenwood’s success soon diminished. People left in droves and by 1940 the population had dwindled to a few hundred.

The forced internment of Japanese Canadians off the west coast of British Columbia in 1942 changed the course of Greenwood’s history. A ghost town from its former glory days, Greenwood became BC’s first internment camp. 1,200 people were crammed into the many empty buildings, hotels and houses; remnants from days long ago. The little city once again began to thrive.

The city has proven its resiliency over the years and now demonstrates an excellent destination for history buffs. Many adventures await you in this historic little city.

Observations

Enjoy the little feature we’ve put together about the museum of Greenwood. Yes, it is a museum, but we know it is also the memories, character and the personality of its people. We have already invested in Greenwood and is soon becoming residents of this charming little gem.

We invite the world to come and visit, stay and build a life with us.

Come to see Greenwood.

Our New Home

Hendrik

Boundary Cowboy

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. Please book us here so we can tell your story too.

Photos

Firehall

Supreme Court

Coffee 

Erection

History

The Second Grand Party in the Street in Downtown Grand Forks, British Columbia

Good Grand News

On Saturday 2 May 2018, the news stated: 

“Catastrophic floods in parts of southern British Columbia have forced nearly 2,800 from their homes and warm weather expected in the coming days could worsen the problem. In Grand Forks, B.C., a community about 520 kilometres east of Vancouver, homes are submerged in brown, murky water. 

The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary said fire rescue technicians have rescued more than 30 people by boat in the town. Two days of heavy rain caused flooding in Grand Forks. It’s the worst the region has seen in 70 years, roughly two feet (0.6 metres) higher than ever recorded.” (CTV News)

On Sunday 21 July the news read: 

“The citizens and business in Downtown Grand Forks are showing tremendous resilience and perseverance as they slowly recover from the flooding of 2018. It is a little over 1 year, and businesses are opening again. New businesses are moving to town. 

Look out for a new Craft Brewery, Ice Cream store and others are planning to locate and build their futures in the town as well. They are all discovering and coming for the small-town charm, better lifestyle, and slower pace of this oasis in British Columbia’s Boundary Country. 

To demonstrate how attractive the community of Grand Forks is for business, the Downtown Business Association hosted its 2nd Annual Party in the Street. They invited people from the Boundary, Kootenay's and Okanagan Area to celebrate the rebuild and rebirth of Downtown Grand Forks, after the floods. It was a grand party! Grand Forks is open for business, again.” (Two Cowboys News)

This is part of the TWO COWBOYS' EPIC GLOBAL TRAVEL & CULINARY EXPERIENCE - 2019! 

DO YOU WANT YOUR BUSINESS OR COMMUNITY FEATURED?

Party in the Street

The Cowboys were fortunate to get an invite to the Party in the Street. We celebrated with the people of Grand Forks. While there, we wanted to find out what the business outlook is after a hard year of cleanup and rebuilding. Are there people who are positive about the future? Is there an opportunity for existing businesses and new business to rebuild and grow?

What struck us was how welcoming is the Grand Forks community. They want people to move to the area, to establish businesses, and to open stores in the downtown business district. Grand Forks is not just open for business. They are using the events of the past year as an opportunity for the rebirth of the sleepy town. They are hosting events to celebrate and promote the opportunity.
We’ve seen that significant news events attract attention to places that people may otherwise not think about. Canmore in Alberta received global attention with the flooding of 2013. We were there. The publicity built momentum for growth.

As a result of the attention, more people were charmed by the attractiveness of the location and visited. Some even relocated, even though Canmore has one of the most expensive real estate markets in Canada. Some will agree that the town is still benefiting from this momentum almost 5 years after the event. While Alberta is in an economic downturn since 2014, new businesses are being established in Canmore. More and more people are moving to the area for the lifestyle, natural beauty, and proximity to Alberta’s big business and tourism markets.

We predict, similarly, that Grand Forks has an opportunity to mine gold from the unfortunate events of 2018. Through the ongoing publicity of the flood recovery and the positive developments related to the circumstances, they help people discover and appreciate that there are still places in Canada like Grand Forks. Places where small businesses are embraced and encouraged to start or relocate. Where the economics of the area still make it possible for small entrepreneurs to live and work and have a lifestyle location. It offers excellent infrastructure, a great climate, and proximity to larger markets such as the tourists of the Okanagan.

Grand Forks is open for artisan butchers, bakers, growers, makers, retailers, and related services. The Downtown Business Association is keen to see more people open and operate their businesses in Grand Forks. Even the City Council is making it easier to do it. Property is still affordable, and the lifestyle is superb with trails, sunshine, and shorter winters.

Observations

We are glad we could meet some of these remarkable people during the Party in the Street. We look forward to bringing you more stories about the businesses and people of the town and of the Boundary Country of British Columbia.

We too succumbed to the charms of the "old frontier" and want to help promote it as the “new frontier” for artisans and lifestyle entrepreneurs. That is why we decided to live here and make the Boundary Country our community and our people.

You should come and see it for yourself!

Hendrik

Boundary Cowboy

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. Please book us here so we can tell your story too.

Photos

Open for Business!

The Road to Grand Forks

Do You Want A Healthy and Fulfilling Life? Start by Making Toast or Frying an Egg

The permutations and cultural preferences in food preparation are colourful as the people of the world. Every corner of the planet is full of uniquely regional ingredients. The way to prepare ingredients for a meal also uniquely developed with, and lead to the way people are living and working in a particular area. Our cultures, tastes, rituals and preferences developed around our food and meal habits. 

The best way to maintain and celebrate our identity is thus with our people’s unique foods. Our food not only feeds and nourishes but also directs our mental state and determines our physical health.

Catalysts

There are two ways we can grow or change. Either, life does it to us, or we do it to ourselves. In both these cases, a catalyst is required to get things underway. A catalyst is a person or thing that precipitates an event that leads to a change in circumstances or behaviour. If you want to have a healthy and fulfilling life, with good friends, you need a catalyst. 

There is ample evidence that because of the relationship with our food, we as humans developed into the uniquely dominant species that we are. When we prepare food, we learn, we share, and we make friends. When we are involved with our food, we are more likely to eat better, and as a result, live healthier and happier lives. Unfortunately, in our “modern” world, this involvement is fast becoming a casualty as the majority of people are losing the opportunity or the interest to cook. 

In this blog post, we are making the case that it is time for us to start cooking again. Our food is the catalyst for our health, fulfillment and we are likely to have more good friendships. It is as simple as starting with making toast or frying an egg.

This is part of the TWO COWBOYS' EPIC GLOBAL TRAVEL & CULINARY EXPERIENCE - 2019! 

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Make It

Our development and evolution are directly influenced by our relationship with our food. Consciously or unconsciously, a lot of what happens in our lives still have some connection with what, how, when and with whom, we eat. It is evident from the amount of information published about our diets, and about the ongoing conversations, we have with the people around us about what we choose to eat. Keto, Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, Meatatarian are now commonly used houshold terms and pops up often in day-to-day conversations. This blog is not about defining our relationship with food, but rather, making the case that our food is the catalyst for a whole lot more meaningful living. Let me walk you through the logic.

Our unique approach to nourishment turned us into responsible learning organisms. The best learning we can do is to discover how to feed ourselves. Knowing how to hunt, grow, prepare and enjoy our food was always the basis for our survival. Unfortunately, this knowledge is increasingly in short supply in a society where it became easier to UberEats or HappyMeal than to crack an egg or fire up a grill. Heaven forbid we find out where eggs actually come from or visit a pig farm for bacon!

Our fulfillment as human beings suffered when Google Search replaced hunting, opening the fridge replaced foraging, and the submit button on a takeout app or the on button of the microwave replaced food preparation and cooking. When we are no longer directly involved with what we eat, we deny ourselves the most primal and uniquely human opportunity for intellectual development - learning about our food and how to prepare it. Our chance and ability to learn through sourcing and preparing a meal is lost, and with that, a whole lot of personal value eliminated.

Yes, we are learning organisms. Our position in the food chain and dominance on planet Earth came about because of the energy we've put into building our intellect around food. It also influenced the development of our social structures to help us source and maintain our food supply. Even our physiology developed to make our minds our most dominant survival feature. Instead of physical strength, speed, or agility, our best tool to survive and evolve became our ability to learn, reason and remember how to stay safe, what to eat, where to find it, and how to prepare it.

To have a more fulfilling life, we should cherish the opportunity to learn about our food while preparing a meal. It starts with something as simple as making toast or frying an egg.

Share It

Our species' first priority for our intellect was and still is, to learn how to survive. Our survival depends on how well we can procreate, protect and nourish ourselves. We quickly learned as humans that we share this as a common goal with those closest to us. We learned a long time ago that it is easier to cooperate with those that have the same needs. It is more valuable to do it with those we care for most, like a spouse, parent, child, or sibling.

With this as a priority, our intellect developed to enable us to maintain and benefit from cooperation. The way it started was with our need to eat and survive. To meet this need, we learned to foster relationships and cooperate. The way we relate and interact with others followed a similar logic. It means that when we forage together, prepare and share a meal, we are more likely to have things in common and successfully cooperate as a result.

We are better able to foster meaningful relationships with those that share in the task. It satisfies another of our critical primal urges - our need for acceptance. It is how good friendships start and is maintained. People that cook and eat together are more likely to develop and foster healthy, meaningful relationships.

Love It

Preparing food is work. Not knowing what and how to prepare food makes it even harder work. Yet, herein lies the opportunity to learn and discover what makes each one of us healthy and unique. We have to eat. We may as well eat with a purpose and do it with the people we love.

The permutations and cultural preferences in food preparation are as colourful as the people of the world. Every corner of the planet is full of uniquely regional ingredients. The way to prepare ingredients for a meal also uniquely developed with, and lead to the way people are living and working in a particular area. Our cultures, tastes, rituals and preferences developed around our food and meal habits. The best way to maintain and celebrate our identity is thus with our people’s unique foods. Our food not only feeds and nourishes but also directs our mental state and determines our physical health.

When this alignment is violated, a delicate balance is destroyed with dire consequences for society. It has health consequences and ultimately contributes to the disruption of culture and identity. For example, societies not accustomed to high carbohydrate intake and sugary foods become diabetic and obese. It's been happening all over the world. The best model can be found in the Pacific Islands, where diabetes became an epidemic because of the change in the food supply. Where dairy isn’t a staple, people are lactose intolerant. This is the case in some Chinese populations. Yet, they are consuming more and more dairy because it became more readily available, and in some cases, even fashionable regardless of the health consequences. The biggest offender of them all, processed foods, introduced carcinogens that destroys unique and essential gut bacteria. Our gut bacteria help with digestion, and it has been proven that it also has a link with a person’s mood and mental health. Processed food leads to increases in the occurrence of gastrointestinal disorders like gluten intolerance, autoimmune diseases, and even depression. The Inuit needs their seal blubber not only to survive, but to be healthy, and to be Inuit. The same with the Bushmen hunting in Africa. They need their meat and to celebrate every hunt. It is who they are.

It is far too easy for us in our global convenience-driven societies to abandon cultural and meal conventions. Many of us cannot remember what and how our people used to eat. We have to revisit the cookbooks of our forefathers to rediscover our preferences and tastes. These conventions developed over thousands of years. It made us what we are physically, mentally and culturally. By abandoning it, we are not only risking our health. We are risking our mental state and who we are. It is becoming quite apparent that we are unfortunately too eager to embrace new meal conventions, and there is a price to pay for doing it.

The bottom line is, regardless of the improved availability of all kinds of ingredients and foods, thanks to globalism and large multinational food producers, we remain captive physiologically and culturally to what is our diet. If we violate this accord with a BigMac or SugarySlurpee, we risk physical and mental health.

When we prepare our own food, it is easier to pay attention to what is good for us to eat. We can source the right ingredients and cook it in a way that aligns with our preferences, cultural identity and, with our physiology. Not only will we be eating better. We will also be healthier and happier as a result.

Observations

I started this blog post with the statement that a healthy and fulfilled life, with good friends, begins with making toast or frying an egg.

It doesn’t have to be toast or eggs. What it should be is a daily dedication to source ingredients and prepare meals to share with those we love. The result will be a lifelong learning experience as we learn not only how to prepare our food, but also how our food brings our friends and family together for healthier and more rewarding lives. It is what we’ve been doing for thousands of years. We should do it again. At our very foundation, it is who we are.

Hendrik

Cooking Cowboy

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. Please book us here so we can tell your story too.

Photos

Camp Cooking

Thirsty

Pork Chop

Foodie Friends

Food Love and Dedication