In 2001 Michael Craig and Mary-Kate Gilberston were complete strangers hoping to purchase the same 1920s stone house on Meadowview Avenue in Guelph.
Michael ended up purchasing the home, and Mary-Kate, who lived next door, moved to a house a few blocks away.
Their paths didn’t cross for a few years, until a chance encounter at local café The Cornerstone.
Their story has a happy ending. Mary-Kate got to live in the stone house she was pining for in 2001, just not quite the way she had originally planned.
Today, Michael and Mary-Kate are married with three young children, and are building a vibrant and lively community in their small corner of the city.
Up until four years ago, Michael and Mary-Kate had successful careers outside their homes.
Michael was a high school teacher working in outdoor education and Mary-Kate was a successful environmental consultant.
After having their third child they realized that they wanted something different for their lives, and for their children.
“We both quit our jobs, not knowing what we were doing,” said Michael.
Burned out and stressed out, they knew that the right choice was to focus on themselves and their children, but they didn’t know where their decision would take them.
“We realized the importance of the first six years of our kids’ lives. Creating resilient kids in those early years became our number one priority,” said Michael.
Mary-Kate added that they also wanted to focus on the local community, and fostering a deeper connection to their city.
“Mary-Kate is a visionary who makes things happen,” said Michael.
In the last four years, these two visionaries have transformed their lives and their surrounding community, by starting a variety of ventures with the focus of fostering strong community ties, and a resilient neighbourhood that is sustainable.
First, they purchased the apartment building across the street that houses six separate apartments.
Over time they renovated each unit and brought in individuals and families that were like-minded in their desire to form a close-knit community. The apartment building they purchased now has solar panels on the roof, and a community vegetable garden on the front. Soon they will have a mural painted on the side.
The neighbourhood calls the apartment complex “Ecoview,” said Mary-Kate.
“It’s a group of really nice people who all wanted to be in community together,” said Michael of the tenants across the street.
A few blocks away on Inkerman Street in Guelph, a group of eclectic world-travellers come to stay in a hostel-like home called the Purple Cow. Mary-Kate’s previous home has been completely renovated to create a shared space for people who want to experience their unique environment.
Once the couple realized they had a vision for their home and their community, they knew they would need help from other visionaries with different skills and abilities.
They realized by enlisting world travellers around the world as “helpers,” they broaden their community and bring travel and culture to their doorstep.
The Purple Cow is listed on Airbnb, as well as Canadian urban-farming website WWOOF.
“We listed our backyard as an urban farm, and at one point we’ve had chickens, ducks and turkeys,” said Michael.
WWOOFers are urban farmers that come to stay at The Purple Cow, and in exchange for free room and board, will work approximately 24 hours weekly doing farm work. WWOOF is an acronym for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.
“The WWOOFers have a variety of skills,” said Michael. Travellers have come to stay from many countries all over the world, and have provided many different services, from gardening to childcare.
“We carefully screen childcare helpers and everyone coming in,” added Mary-Kate.
Grant Fitzgerald is a WWOOFer who has been staying at Michael and Mary-Kate’s hostel for the past three months, helping out with urban farming tasks and taking care of the 14 chickens in their backyard.
“I was looking for something new to try and decided to try WWOOFing. I loved the ideas and everything about it,” said Grant.
Michael and Mary-Kate have helped him to have unique experiences that he’s been looking for, including spending a week in Orangeville making his own Canadian maple syrup.
Grant believes that the Purple Cow is much nicer than a typical hostel, he said, “It’s a really good head space environment; it gives you personal time to look inward.”
Grant is returning home after three months, and said he feels like he needs to give the opportunity to someone else to discover themselves through the process.
Michael and Mary-Kate feel that they are building an intentional community in their neighbourhood, and have even sat down to create a sixty-year plan for their neighbourhood.
“We want to see the entire block in community,” said Michael.
They want to continue to enrich the concept of an urban farm community, and have plans to buy more homes in the area, which they hope to one day pass on to each of their three children.
“We are creating something simple that uses existing infrastructure, but we also want to scale that to different parts of the world,” said Michael.
Michael and Mary-Kate added that their backyard space is available to the community to use as a public space, and that each Wednesday the street is closed for a potluck and street party for the entire community.
All are welcome.
To learn more about Michael and Mary-Kate, visit their website Two Sisters River.
