The Hutterites

Alright, so as as I've previously stated, we were invited to tour a Hutterite colony with the most outrageously inviting people Saskatoon has to offer. We joined up in front of Souleio and organized a convoy out to the countryside to see this place of legend. I've never visited Hutterites, talked to Hutterites, or read about them. My basic impression was that they were a section of Mennonites who disagreed with some small insignificant rule and therefore needed their own name and religion, as religious groups do. Ii expected to be entering horse and buggy town, with log cabins, little to no electricity and not much in the way of interest. We had talked about visiting mennonites to see their food before, so this invitation came at a time when our interest was piqued in the area. I confess my utter ignorance on the subject, I have since been educated greatly by a wide variety of people who either love, hate or are indifferent to the Anabaptists(Mennonite, Hutterite, Amish, etc.). They all have different things to say, so I'll give you my personal view in this post.

When we pulled close to the colony, I thought perhaps it was a large scale farm. Clearly they didn't shun electricity or modern technology. Everything is spotlessly clean, rigorously maintained, and impressive to the point where you wonder how it is all possible. Well it turns out that you need an education on the subject.
Hutterites are unlike most other groups of Anabaptists in the way that they live in colonies. The rule they chose to take as their most intense is 'common goods'. That is what seperates them from the rest. There is little to no personal property. The closest thing to it is family property, most of which is made by the family for themselves. Everything else is divided among the colony corporation. How, you may ask, do they form such colonies? Well, my dear readers, allow me to enlighten you. They have a mother colony, and when that colony reaches 140-170 people, and no more, it splits. The idea of the colony is to procure enough income that when it splits it is well set up to start a new colony and continue its old colony. The colony we visited was 4 years old, looked around 1 day old, and was a 20 million dollar investment. On top of living conditions, they have an industrial bakery, kitchen, cow farm, turkey farm, feed mill, steel mill, and carpentry house. Also among the buildings is a cobbler, and automotive repair shop, and a 157 000 gallon water reservoir. All the floors are heated, they have more walk in cooler space than most hotels, and the entire facility is so clean I would eat off the floor. Even the turkey barn floor. I would sleep amongst the turkeys, and they would look upon me as one of their own. Moving on. Our guide, Mike, the Hutterite farmer and teacher, was the carpenter upon planning. He was very open with us, and answered all our questions. He loves farming, and is amazing at it. His organic farm is so pristine that finding weeds is a trial, and the only crop he struggles with is strawberries because he recently had a pest. He grows metric tons of carrots and beets. He has corn, squash and melons, onions, garlic so pungent your mouth burns, and rhubarb. They use a large quantity for pickling, but they also sell to locals, like Calories and Souleio. One of the coolest parts was Mike's keenness to try new things. Remi and Uwe would suggest a new plant, maybe celeriac, and he would be all over it, all he needs is an information sheet on it. How it grows, height, acidity of soil and such. He has such a large labour force, himself and the colony kids, coupled with the most modern machinery man can create, that anything is possible. He knows it, and he'll try anything. I think he'll likely succeed too. For the record, unlike your favorite industrial kitchen, they build all their counters and machinery in the steel shop. This is the most mind-blowing part. These guys can build a professional kitchen with naught but some wires and sheets of steel. They do buy some machinery, but only the perversely complex things, and usually they build it themselves after buying the parts. Why build it yourself, you may ask? Well dear readers, if they build it themselves, they have a blueprint, which can be sent to the rest of the colonies, and daughter colonies, who can then also build it. They do the same with truck trailers, tractors, scales, and a variety of small machinery. It is hands down the most insanely practical thing I've ever seen. If it wasn't for the religious bent, I would be there still. Possibly. As much as I love to see perfect communism work perfectly, I don't know if I'm suited for it after being raised in my society. At least I recognize that I suppose, and admire the people who do it. I was so thoroughly impressed with this whole enterprise that I was constantly asking questions. The most streamlined everything we'll see on the trip. After the tour we ate lunch with Mike and then visited his house for some rhubarb wine. Made on premises, and strong as can be. We discussed the cooking possibilities of pigs heads, tails and feet, and he was astonished that his efficient society should be throwing away such edible delicacies. He promised to send Uwe two pigs heads to see what could be done with them. I hope he finds them delicious enough to convince his colony that no longer should off cuts be thrown away. In a funny parallel to that story, I just ate a bunch of amazing off cuts in Toronto. More on that later. After the wine and some ginger snaps, it was time to go, so we loaded up the car, said goodbye, and began the drive to Regina. Oh yeah, by the way, they even have their own gravel pit and built their roads themselves....Badass. I'd also like to extend a final thank you to the folks who treated us so well in Regina and are continuing to grow the local food movement there. I hope your businesses prosper and you enjoy success in all areas, provided it's sustainable success. Thanks to Kevin, Melanie, Edyta, Uwe, Remi, Mike and his whole colony, and the lady from the tourist information who pointed us in the right direction. Hope to see you all in the future.