The Colony

This week Tommy, George and I and some other friends visited one of the several Hutterite colonies nearby.  This was a momentous occasion for me, because ever since we moved to Southern Alberta I have wanted to go to one of these colonies.  It amazed me, therefore, that I failed to take even ONE picture while there!  Argh.  Oh well, I guess you will have to use your imagination.
Our tour was given by a 15 year old girl named Isabelle.  It was really fascinating to get the scoop on life in the colony from a teenager. She was pretty blunt about some things that she likes and doesn't like about it.  Also we had the interesting bonus of her two cousins who were visiting from two different colonies.  So they told us how things were different where they live.
In this particular colony there are 28 families, so it is fairly large, and very successful. Isabelle told us they currently have 11 million in the bank!  The houses all look alike, and are all side by side.  In each back yard is a large rack for hanging laundry, and a path that leads to the kitchen/lunchroom/bakery/butchering room/canning room...you get the point...one big building used for many things.  The kindergarten is very near this main building also.  Kindergartners are kids ages 3-6, and they hang out together all day--napping in two large beds, playing, having class, and eating together with their teachers.  Kids younger than that are looked after by "the elders" meaning grandparents, I think.  Kindergartners attend school year round.  The other kids are in school until they are 15, then they are considered adults and are given duties around the colony.
The kitchen is quite an amazing place.  It was totally spotless and clutterfree and very large and industrial feeling.  Several women were in there preparing the lunch when we were there.  On this particular colony, they all braid their hair in a certain way and they wear two piece dresses that they sew themselves.  They also wear a head covering/bandana type cover on their hair.  When they eat, all kids under age 15 eat on one side of the kitchen in their own lunchroom.  The other lunchroom is divided for men and women.  They have an awesome dish washer that is quick and automatic--she demonstrated for us.  The bakery was also spotless and has two HUGE mixers in it--like, so huge they have to sit on the floor.  The storage room is awesome--very organized and also big and clean.  The fridge and freezer are huge walk-in rooms, full of things they have grown or produced in the last year.  The butchering room had a definite feeling to it--and smell, even though it was quite clean!  Isabelle said that the women help with the killing of the chickens and ducks, so she therefore doesn't like to eat that kind of meat.  I can't blame her at all.  She also showed us a huge closet full of empty mason jars--waiting to be filled.  When we asked what they can she just said, expressively, "everything!"  They also make their own lye soap!  I had no idea that people still did that.

The school yard still has really old-fashioned equipment.  There were some of the old teeter-totters that I remember from my days at school, as well as a very scary looking slide with a dip in it.  Apparently they aren't using their money to upgrade playground equipment!  They have a german teacher who teaches them from 7-8:30 then a regular teacher (hired from Lethbridge) who is supposed to teach them without use of modern technology, then their german teacher from 4-5:30 again.  Its a busy day, but I think they have a fairly long lunch break.

The green house was impressive.  They start things in their and then plant them in a huge garden.  Apparently the german teacher is also the head gardener and on this particular colony, he is also the assistant preacher.  Busy man!  There were some really cool tomato plants that grew upwards in the green house.  They keep those in there year-round.  After that we hiked down to the woodworking shop.  They make beautiful furniture.  Everyone gets an armoir and a bed when they turn 15.  I think that means a bed of their own.  I loved the smell in the wood-working shop, but there was no one in it working.  In fact, there was hardly anyone visible on the colony at all.  I am not sure where they all were!  After that we walked past some large    grain elevators, which were full of their own grain, and to a huge barn containing chickens.  All the warning that I got about this chicken barn was from Isabelle, "These chickens are the broilers.  We sell them to KFC when they are six weeks old."  There were 52,000 chickens in this one barn!  The smell is so hard to describe, but it still gives me nightmares.  It was kept dark so as not to disturb the chickens, and all you could see in all directions was these ghostly white shapes, all crammed together.  It was very disturbing for me--and in truth, I panicked a bit and used Tommy as my excuse to get out of there as soon as possible.
After that we passed by the pig barns, for which I was grateful, and went to see the ducks.  There were lots fewer of them, and they were cute and yellow and we watched them for a bit.  Then we walked past the milk cows and bulls and got to see the brand new ones who were just a day or two old.  When we asked Isabelle what job she likes best on the farm, she answered like a typical teenager--"I don't like any of them!  I just like to sleep!"  It was pretty amazing to see how efficient people can be when they work together, and a good reminder to me to get back to "the basics" but I have to say that I felt quite relieved as we were driving away from there that I wasn't born to a Hutterite family.  :-)