Tis the season to look back over a busy year at the Iambic Cafe, as I wish you all a happy, healthy and sustainable 2013!
January… Copenhagen, mostly in the rain, and then some Cambridge…
then a farewell to London and then back to Victoria in the snow, just in time for GTUF’s seed swap:
February… the Victoria READ anniversary party at Government House, and then to Saskatchewan for a winter writing retreat in the snow, with nuthatch.
March… a mega-presentation (at the Imax theatre) by Wade Davis, in support of efforts to save the Sacred Headwaters – source of four of BC’s major salmon rivers – from extensive hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for methane gas extraction by Shell (and thankfully it worked, whether by Davis’ tread softly efforts or the more confrontational approach by Forest Ethics); the start of my studies towards a Permaculture Design Certificate in Nanaimo, with Brandon Bauer and others; and a poetry reading in Vancouver with Ruth Pierson and Ted Blodgett.
April…. freshly-hatched hummingbird chicks on my garden fence; work parties at Haliburton Farm and Gorge Park; plus more permaculture, a wild food festival and the Cucumbers to Clams discussion about local food, all in Nanaim0.
May…. A beautiful day at Alderlea Farm – with a beautiful lunch – and a chance to learn more about biodynamics from Dennis Klocek; and a trip to La Conner, WA to enjoy the Skagit River Poetry Festival (and an oyster taco or two!)
June …. tent caterpillar season with a vengeance; the Island Chefs Collaborative annual food festival; a tour of Terra Nossa Farm; and some lessons in wild food foraging with Roger Foucher.
July…. Canada Day of course; plus a tour of O.U.R. Ecovillage; a garlic harvest and the emergence of my mason bees plus a tribe of bumblebees from my Bombus Box.
August….at Sage Hill Writing Experience in Saskatchewan, then Calgary, then to the Okanagan for the ALECC conference; back in Victoria to discover the loss of my bombus colony; a tour of the Garden Path, with wildlife; and a rather special rural lamb roast with Slow Food Vancouver Island.
September… the Eat Here Now festival feeds bodies and minds at Market Square in Victoria; the Kneading Conference West teaches kneading skills and much more in Mt Vernon WA; the first Flavour Picnic feeds hundreds in Black Creek, near Courtenay; and panelists Trevor, Angela, Guy and Andrew give us words to chew on as they discuss community supported food systems in Victoria. Undocumented on these pages was my newest project which began in September and will finish in August 2014: a new course of study in holistic nutrition, which will skew my thinking in new directions over the next couple of years.
October… Raj Patel comes to entertain us with his thoughts on the global food system, swiftly followed by Gary Nabhan reflecting on climate change and traditional diets; Open Cinema turns 10; and Digging the City is born.
November… Digging the City gets some time in the spotlight at the Heritage House promotion; I get to hear my hero Sandor Katz at the Weston A Price Foundation conference in Santa Clara CA, with numerous others on the science of nutrition; and Digging the City gets dug some more at the Cornerstone Cafe in Fernwood.
December… Victoria Stone Soup event; visit to the Edible Garden Project in North Vancouver; my debut on national television; and finally, elves rest during the annual Christmas hamper stuffing party (this year 137 hampers made from donated turkeys & trimmings were collected by the Salvation Army for local families, including 4 vegetarian and 21 gluten-free baskets).
