Leaving city life in the rear view

Savanna works as the 100 Mile Arts Network’s videographer.

Gatineau Hills Folks is our series that shines the spotlight on individuals in our community. Over the past several months I have been talking with some of our ‘neighbours’ about their lives and interests. The stories appear in the speaker’s own voice, with some editing for style, length and grammar.

Savanna Oliver is from my own neck of the woods: She grew up in Kitchener, Ont., not far from my hometown of Listowel; and I picked up on the faint twang of her southern Ontario accent immediately. We met up for a coffee at Restaurant Lachapelle in Kazabazua on a dreary day in March to discuss, among other things, her family’s life-changing decision to leave the city behind and start from scratch on a farm near Danford Lake. Although she’s a talented young filmmaker and photographer (she does excellent work for the 100 Mile Arts Network), I realized watching her eyes light up when she discussed both the pigs on her family farm and the beloved old car she’s been learning to fix up herself, that Savanna has completely embraced her new rural life in the Hills.

It was actually my mom who found this place, as I had no thoughts of moving to Quebec. Ever. I was all about Kitchener and Toronto, because that’s where the film scene is – that and Vancouver. So my plan wasn’t ever to move out here, but then mom found a farm, and so I said to her, ‘Okay, well, I’ll come up with you for a year, you know, to help you get on your feet, because farming is crazy.’ But all my film connections were down [in southern Ontario] and I was thinking there isn’t going to be any art up here. This is like the middle of nowhere. I thought I was going to be screwed. I don’t speak French. Like, who’s going to hire me?

But that became quite the surprise. Honestly, it’s great living here, and I decided to stay. I mean, one, it’s beautiful. So as a photographer and a videographer, it’s pretty nice to capture anything up here. And then there’s the community, especially in Wakefield – I really figured I’d be in Ottawa more, but I’m honestly happier to film in Wakefield; it’s closer to home. I really like everyone in Wakefield, everyone’s very personable. There’s definitely a sense of community. Everyone’s very tight-knit which I wasn’t used to in the big city. In Kitchener, there were always a hundred people trying to go for the same job all the time – it’s just chaotic. Everyone has the mindset of grinding hard, like go go go. Now, living here, yes, I’m working all the time – more than I ever have, actually – but it’s still more calm, it’s not as stressful, people aren’t as yelly. So it’s been nice to slow down and, you know, make more connections with people. And I’m still more interested in film, for sure, but I do like working on the farm. We have chickens and horses. We have pigs. Right now, I love pigs. Pigs are great. They’re the cutest little things in the world.

Ok, so my car obsession? That really spiked when I got my first car, which was 2020. It was a kind of crappy 2010 Mazda 3 and I still have it because I refuse to let it go. I probably should have dumped it two years ago. But it’s like my first baby.

I’ve learned that people around here really want to help you out if you’re interested in learning. My neighbour is teaching me everything he knows about mechanics. I’m not paying him to, he’s just like, ‘You want to learn?’ And I was like, ‘Uhm, yes!’ So there you go. I mean, I’m definitely still learning but, you know, I can do spark plugs and oil changes and basic maintenance, which is nice. The problem now though, since I know what I’m doing, is that I have to do everyone’s car. I do my mom’s car. I do my sister’s car. I do my own car – I take care of like five cars.

Look, in the city, if I went up to my neighbour and said, ‘Hey, can you teach me how to work on my car,’ for sure they’d say ‘I’m busy.’ But here’s my neighbour – honestly it really threw me off at first. I’m like, ‘I’m not even paying you to do this.’ It didn’t click for me. I wondered why is he doing this? But then I thought, ‘Well, I’d help him.’ I’d be down to help someone, yeah. And you know what, I’ve helped my neighbours; I’ve pulled them out of ditches and stuff like that. It’s great, because I know enough now about cars that I can actually be helpful.

It’s just like this thing where kindness leads to more kindness. It’s awesome.