BRIAN BURKE  |  LINDA MOORE

With one foot in the corporate world, Linda’s other foot is firmly planted in the garden to keep her life in balance. How? Starting at her grandfather’s knee, growing food in small spaces, in a time of climate change, has become a thrill unto itself. Whether in containers, raised beds, or the greater expanse that a community garden provides, there is a daily attuning to what is going on with the seeds, the young sprouts, the strong plants, the pests and diseases, the harvests… and solving, “Just how much zucchini do we really want?”  Waste not, want not. Over the years, Linda and Brian have enjoyed hundreds of pounds of homegrown food in their meals, all year long, even in winter, in celebration of abundant life. 

Thanks to Brian’s devotion to extreme recycling their cohousing community Dumped their Dumpster in 2007! Possibly the first Multi-Family building to do this. Since the early 1980’s, through tireless research and activism, he has educated and coached people of all ages to “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, ….Rejoice!” This won Brian awards, put him in the news and on film such as The Clean Bin Project. He will do anything to prevent the spectre of his grandchildren one day pleading with him, “why didn’t you do more?” Joy comes when he discovers how we turn one more “piece of garbage” into a valuable, sustainable resource.     

Linda and Brian have been living in rural and urban communities, growing food and eliminating waste, all of their adult lives. Their latest community began in 1996 in North Vancouver, when they joined Quayside Village Cohousing, a worldwide housing movement to design and build custom neighbourhoods. 

And their final project? Participate in a natural burial community.