Galena Bay Odyssey: Reflections of a Hippie Homesteader

by Ellen Schwartz

A writer and educator reflects on the idealistic, tumultuous, and eye-opening time she spent as a back-to-the-land hippie homesteader in Kootenays in the 1970s. What compelled a nice Jewish girl from the suburbs of New York to spend a decade of her life as a hippie homesteader in the BC wilderness? Galena Bay Odyssey traces Ellen Schwartz’s journey from a born-and-raised urbanite who was terrified of the woods to a self-determined logger, cabin-builder, gardener, chicken farmer, apiarist, and woodstove cook living on a communal farm in the Kootenays. Part memoir, part exploration of what motivated the exodus of young hippies—including American expatriates, like Ellen and her husband, Bill—to go “back to the land” in remote parts of North America during the 1960s and ’70s, this fascinating book explores the era’s naivety, idealism, and sense of adventure. Like most “back to the land” books, Galena Bay Odyssey describes the physical work involved in clearing land, constructing buildings, and living off of what they produced, but it also traces the complicated journey of discovery this experience brought to Ellen and Bill. Now, nearly half a century later, Ellen reflects on what her homesteader experience taught her about living more fully, honestly, and ecologically.

288 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2023

About the author

Ellen Schwartz was born in Washington, DC, and now lives with her family in Burnaby, British Columbia. In addition to writing books, she has published dozens of magazine articles and adult short stories. Her stories for children have been published in children’s magazines and teaching anthologies.

In addition to her work as an author, Ms. Schwartz and her husband run a communications consulting company. She works as a corporate writer, and teaches creative writing at Simon Fraser University and Douglas College. Before becoming a writer, Ms. Schwartz taught special education and the primary grades, and worked as an environmental educator.

Reviews

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Ellen's story! The chapters that focused on their homestead were my favourite. I was so wowed by everything they managed to accomplish during their time in Galena Bay. Everything they built was so impressive, yes, even the sauna! I had to laugh at the chapter about foraging for mushrooms. Absolutely hilarious! That would be me.

My one and only complaint is there was a fair amount of repeat information throughout the reflections. A couple of times it felt as if I was rereading the same page over again.

Overall, a very interesting and thought provoking read. If you have a love of nature, or an interest in living off the land, this book is for you!

My thanks to Heritage House Publishing for this gifted copy!

[Jordyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel! It was so beautiful and fun to follow along with Ellen and Bill’s adventures throughout BC. Being from Qualicum Beach it was so fun to see my hometown mentioned! I have struggled to get through memoirs before but this one opened my eyes to how nice they can be to read! Thank you Ellen!

[Lona Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book preserves a moment in time--when hundreds of hippies arrived in BC with their guitars and their copies of Whole Earth Catalogue, determined to create a 17th-century lifestyle on a farm, but with added communism and marijuana. My parents, an older professional couple, immigrated to Canada in 1968 and immediately became involved in the movement to help draft resisters escape the Vietnam War. Thus dozens of draft dodgers briefly lived with our family before moving on to build a yurt somewhere, and as a child I met many young men and many girlfriends who tagged along just like the young people in this book. The Nelson area was a popular gathering place for hippies but most of the projected communes soon fell apart. Luckily for Bill and Ellen Schwarz, their journey turned into a happy and productive marriage. They did not really build a commune, they were a pioneering couple with an occasional third-wheel roommate. Even so, this book gives a glimpse of the tensions that led so many hippies to abandon their commune dream--the struggle for primacy among the men, the tension when some communards work harder than others, the dissatisfaction with gender inequality among the women, the dire meals of lentil casseroles and leaden whole-wheat bread, the impossibility of making a living by selling herbs or wild mushrooms. Ellen tried to create a lifestyle which her great-grandfather, living in a shtetl in Lithuania, would have done anything to escape. The back-to-the-land movement is still appealing at some level, but also entirely impractical and in many ways self-indulgent and silly. What is the point of eschewing disposable diapers in a home with no laundry facilities, not even a water heater, then taking jet flights to visit the family on the other side of the continent, a trip that one gathers the Schwarzes made frequently? However, this book accurately recreates the lifestyle and worldview of the 1970's homesteader.
As others have mentioned, the book is arranged by subject as well as chronologically which leads to some repetition, and characters are introduced and then disappear. I would like to have heard more about the commune efforts of the other hippies who split from their group.
The author does acknowledge that her judgmental views mellowed over the years, but the youthful Bill and Ellen thoroughly disdained capitalism. It is ironic that their life-changing job opportunities came from taxpayer-funded government contracts, up to and including the government grant for the publication of this book. To say nothing of the many educational and medical benefits they received from subsidized universities and socialized health care. To their credit, both Bill and his wife became entrepreneurs.
Whether or not you were around during this period, this is an interesting read.

[Adele · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Walter and Margaret realized that Bill and I were not like those fly-by-night hippies but were here to stay, that we loved the place like they did.
[We] shared an unspoken philosophy that had something to do with the notion that less is more, that material things and status don’t matter much in the long haul, that if you stop rushing around, nature will show you how to live. In some ways, I reflected, I had more in common with these two shy, country-born elders than I did with my own parents.”

This book tells the true tale of Ellen and Bill, a couple of young people looking to carve their way with back to the land living, along with their friend Paul. They leave Pennsylvania for Galena Bay, British Columbia. Here they face many challenges and remarkable opportunities as they live - without electricity, their own vegetables that they can themselves so they can have food for the winter months, an outhouse, a coop of chickens and hives of bees. Hauling water from the river, clearing the land themselves and using the wood for heat.

Told in a easy to read entertaining way, Galena Bay Odyssey had me wishing I had the guts to go live in the backwoods. The atmosphere, the trips on the ferry, the constant learning and being in the dirt and not relying on such materialistic things other than those that are essential, all attracts me to this way of life. But the scene with the bear getting at the bee hives and then the brazenness of the bear going through their cabin and eating human food made me think twice about that though.

In another scenario, Ellen tells of the time Bill gets hurt while they’re clearing trees and the way they relied on loggers to get them from their cabin to their truck so they could go to the hospital. No electricity, no phone.

There are pictures included of their time living back to the land in the 1970’s and it is so cool and made me appreciate their experience so much, and feel something akin to closeness, like I know them.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised that I became caught up in this book. The book is well written and I really enjoyed it. Ellen and 4 other idealistic young people emigrated from the USA in the 1970's to find some land to set up a commune. The group ends splitting up and Ellen, her boyfriend and another male friend buy some land in the Kootenay region of BC. The location is very isolated but they build a cabin, outbuildings and a garden. They worked very hard but some years they had to find jobs in order to survive. Ellen and her boyfriend were very determined to make their homestead work. They learned a lot from their mistakes and the author reflects on how things changed over the years. They lived almost 10 years on the homestead. I wish the author had included a map of the region.

[Jenn McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for book club. If nothing else, it brought up some great conversations with the book club members. I was not alive during the Vietnam war, but some of the people in the club were and that really added to the stories being told and the connections they made to this book. I loved it for the conversations it brought.

The story itself was good. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the group broke up when they got to the Kootenays. What was that really like? The author made it sound so cordial. Was it really like that?

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really interested in the story and the plight of the homesteader, but I found the timeline difficult as some parts were written linearly and others bounced around over the years. I also had a hard time connecting with the main lead (Ellen). It was ok, but not something that I'd recommend.

[Sarah]

DNF @ 18%. I think it's probably very interesting, but I realized that I just didn't feel especially invested in her journey. I have very fond memories of meeting this author as a very young child, and I still treasure my signed copy of Starshine, but I don't think I need to read this one.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25*

[Peter B · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting account.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved this story. I found it completely engrossing and read most of this in an afternoon. Thank you for sharing your incredible journey!