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Victoria

Ecovillage tour & Canada Day

Another place I’d long wanted to see was O.U.R. Ecovillage, near Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island. A haven for green builders, permaculture designers, and people in search of collaborative and sustainable lifestyles, it’s a half-finished dream with a population that ebbs and flows through the seasons.

The root cellar was the subject of a green building workshop last year, and progress was documented on this Youtube video. Like many of the other buildings it uses recycled materials in its construction: car tires and styrofoam blocks are part of its structure. Like everything that happens at the Ecovillage, the decision to use these materials was taken after lengthy thought and discussion, and the feeling is that it’s better to put them into a structure where they have a purpose and are contained than into a landfill (at best). The styrofoam blocks they use are discarded tree plug trays – available by their millions, an otherwise useless and unsustainable byproduct of reforestation by the lumber industry. The community is also working its way through some 15 truckloads of reclaimed lumber – windfall timber that would otherwise have been sold as firewood or burned as slash.

Root CellarStyrofoam tree plug traysReclaimed lumber

 

 

 

 

Permaculture has always been part of the ideals of the Ecovillage; the Permaculture Design courses that are offered here result in projects of many kinds – garden, water reclamation and food forestry among others.

CowChickensTurkey

 

 

 

 

Food is a major preoccupation – it grows in various ways and places: in a deer-fenced garden and a new food forest that’s under development around the property; pigs, chickens, cows and a rather majestic turkey are part of the scene, producing food and fertilizer. This greenhouse  recirculates water, heating it for a shower stall that’s in the greenhouse itself.

Raised bedsGardenGreenhouse

 

 

 

 

 

The kitchen has been recently expanded so that it could accommodate the large and small mealtimes. During our visit a Zimbabwean music camp – Nhemamusasa North – was on, and there were 130 people for meals… all of them washing their own dishes in the wash station. Grey water gets filtered and reused, of course.

Dishwashing areaTentsPeople by fireplace

 

 

 

After that it was time for Canada Day celebrations. Here on the Gorge we have a street party that this year was graced by the queen, who also deigned to have her picture taken with neighbourhood dogs, and was then whisked away by canoe. There was of course food, music and a little dancing.

Queen & dogQueen in canoeStrawberry crepeRoving musiciansYoung dancersDog and person

Back in Victoria… just in time for winter

Before I left Vancouver we took a spin around a newish supermarket in West Vancouver: Osaka (the nineteenth store to be opened by T&T Supermarkets) is huge with a mind-boggling selection of just about anything Asian – from soya sauce to rice and noodles, and vast quantities of everything in between. There were large fish tanks offering shoppers live seafood: king and Dungeness crab, lobster and abalone as well as several varieties of oysters, clams and fish, and a bakery with all manner of Asian pastries and decorated cakes. While we browsed, reading labels as best we could, I couldn’t help but wonder what effect all these ultra-processed foods, high in sugar, salt, fats and all kinds of preservatives, will have on the much-studied Japanese life expectancy. We calmed ourselves at Bene with a couple of platters of sushi, including this vegan roll in a cheerful soybean wrapping.

Back in Victoria, winter waited politely until I was settled, unpacked and the larder stocked with vegetables before drawing in with a little snow and cold weather, ideal for making soup and catching up on my reading. One of my astoundingly heavy bags held a copy of the River Cottage Veg Every Day! cookbook which holds some worthy temptations.

With my poetry ear I’ve been listening to the Saturday Play on BBC Radio 4, Tom and Viv, which explores the problematic relationship of TS and Valerie Eliot. Available until Saturday January 21, and starring Benedict Cumberbatch who seems to be everywhere just now. Listen for the reference to Robert W. Service…

Time, food and agriculture never sleep, at least not where interesting stories are concerned. Here are some that have been stacking up while I was away.

There’s a link here to a rather beautiful brochure  shows that shows you who’s growing what and where in twenty-six urban farms in Vancouver.

And a nice story about the loneliness of the the farming life which I suppose applies to urban farmers as well; it offers a reminder that we are often in too much of a hurry, and too accustomed to shopping anonymously for food, to thank those who provide it.

Some good news for Victoria food shoppers, with a new whole/local foods store opening, conveniently situated near the wondrous Capital Iron.

There was  wrist-slapping lesson in public consultation for Stephen Harper whose decision to bring to fruition his longtime plan to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board was declared illegal by a federal court.

And finally, the soil is the thing: the EU Soil Report warns about the cost of doing nothing in a time when we are quickly losing the soil we’ll need to grow food by building on and contaminating it. Soil: Worth standing your ground for from The European Environmental Bureau explains why we should be paying attention, in urbanizing and industrialized countries everywhere:

Soil is the basis of all our food and fibre production and plays an essential role in water purification, waste decomposition and climate mitigation. It therefore must be regarded as a natural resource of strategic importance which should be protected adequately and used efficiently throughout Europe. The reality however is that Europe is losing this natural asset, thereby jeopardising Europe’s food security and its ability to deal with the consequences of climate change.

Eat Here Now… and we did

A glorious hot Sunday in the middle of Victoria, with food, music and more food. What could be better? The Downtown Public Market Society put on a great day in the interests of furthering interest in a permanent year-round downtown food market.  While I don’t know how far that goal is from being realized, the group certainly soldiered on through a bleak winter with regular markets offered in Market Square.

Last weekend it gathered together some fine local food food talent for a sunny celebration that featured food stands from local farms and small producers, including Hilary’s Cheese – promoting his new shop in Victoria – and the usual mob scene around Salt Spring Cheese’s ample samples, and Cottlestone Apiary with their wildflower, raw creamed and orange-infused tastes of heaven.

 

 

 

 

Baked, canned and hand-filled goods too…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of farmers around, including my Haliburton friends

 

 

 

 

 

and City Harvest, Madrona Farm, Sun Trio (with their gorgeous lemon cucumbers) and many more.

 

 

 

 

There were food tickets on sale – a very reasonable $1 per ticket gave you a sample from most booths, stocked with everything from “kaleslaw” to cream puffs, and I proved to my own satisfaction that it was possible to eat extremely well for under $10. The barbecued salmon and boiled corn stands were mobbed for most of the time we were there; there were tasty treats from the likes of Canoe Brewpub, Bliss, Relish, Choux-Choux Charcuterie, AJ Organics and others…so after taking in all that with a taste of music and lots of sunshine we finally left, sated and laden with produce.

Canada Day on the Gorge

The very best thing about living along the Gorge Waterway is the annual closure of Gorge Road for an all-day Canada Day picnic. The peace of morning – the road closes first thing for set-up – is charmingly broken by a small parade (a swarm of decorated bikes, one fire engine, one vintage police car, some First Nations drummers, and one small marching band), and then peaceable throngs of Canadians wearing red and white (somehow I still haven’t managed to get myself a giant Canada Day hat..)

For some reason this year a clutch of food vendors ended up right on my doorstep: Indian food; Mexican tamales; mini-donuts (I think that still counts as food?); Mr Tubesteak and his (not as good as the ones at Courtenay folk fest but still hugely popular) hot dogs; and Pizzeria Prima Strada, with its mobile wood-fired pizza oven and interesting selections, which was rightly mobbed all day. There were others as well: the always popular International Women’s Catering Co-op was doing a booming trade in portable foods from all over; and the lineup for pancake breakfast was said to be 45 minutes by 10am.

The Gorge Tillicum Urban Farmers were there, spreading the gospel of back (and front) yard food gardens, urban chickens and the joy of neighbours who grow. We had a great big table full of plant starts and vegetable seeds, donated by members, and offered to passers-by for the price of a small donation and a helping of advice on what was what and how to grow it. Although a lot of what we had on hand might have been called weeds by some, they also had ornamental, medicinal or edible properties, like feverfew (good for migraines and many other ailments), day lilies (all parts edible) and borage (young leaves and flowers are said to taste like cucumber).

Our neighbour again this year was GTUFer and bee expert Gord Hutchings, who as always attracted a continuous stream of people interested in knowing more about wild pollinators in general and blue orchard mason bees in particular.

The day which had started off grey and windy became warm and sunny, ideal for wandering musicians, Morris dancers, dog-walkers, picnickers, stall-holders and all those just having a gentle day off.

The municipality of Saanich was there talking up sustainability issues; I particularly liked this watershed model which attracted a lot of children who got to practice raining on a model landscape of our area to see the contaminating effects of road, lawn and garden runoff.

And then it was over.

Not all Zoom & gloom

… though I was not happy to learn the airline on which I was booked to fly next Friday had gone the way of the fairies. Still, I’m rebooked now and looking forward to kissing the English ground once more in a week or so.

It’s been busy busy here – blackberries to jam, tomatoes racing against time to ripen for me before I leave, potatoes growing… berries! I know I am berry-obsessed but even I was a little startled to see these peeking out of the tater patch

but a little swift research told me potato berries are nothing to be alarmed about and are part of the natural cycle of spuds, but the plants are usually dug up before they fruit. The fruits can be saved for seed much like a tomato plant, apparently.

Other entertainments include a town hall meeting last week in Victoria, at the invitation of Victoria’s one and only NDP member of parliament, Denise Savoie

with NDP agriculture critic Alex Atamanenko, where a room packed to the ceiling with farmers and foodies

rocked and rolled and got excited about food security issues that affect an island like ours. There was a lot of talk about the potential effects of a food crisis on an island that imports 95% of its food, and about the very interesting observation that here, where 90% of the population say they garden, only 10% of those gardeners grow any food. I had also heard earlier that there are only 5 or 6 full time farmers on the Saanich Peninsula’s dozens of farms. One organic farmer, David Chambers

spoke forcefully on the desperate need to inspire and reward young aspiring farmers so that there is someone to carry the growing and farming knowledge into the next generation.

Writer/editor/farmer Tom Henry

was representing small farmers and talked about the difficulties small producers have in meeting the stringent requirements of national grocery chains: they are not growing in sufficient volume to be able to produce only those perfect fruits and vegetables picky shoppers have been encouraged to demand. Which is only one reason you don’t find more local food in your local supermarket.

Other speakers talked about community gardens and the need to introduce bylaws to allow the growing of food on every available piece of common land. As Carolyn Herriot said, if there’s a food crisis on the mainland, do you really think anyone’s going to stop and put food on a boat for us? A model of self-sufficiency (she achieved it in five years), her proposals include planting edible ornamentals, saving seeds, and acquiring the skills to grow food all year round.

Doing my small part this special year, here are my first ever spuds, and I think they’re beautiful:

Sunday saw a lot of rain, and a lunchtime visit to Merridale Cidery

where the wood fired oven was making its presence a little too obvious

right into the dining room. We didn’t pause for a tasting

as we’d done that a couple of years ago, but we did settle down for a lovely lamb burger

before the drive back over a more than misty Malahat.

Yesterday was dry and fine and perfect for driving to Duncan to visit the dentist. After which, a little lunch with Shirley in Maple Bay where her potentially prize-winning succulents were blooming

safely out of reach of the chief garden pest, looking a little thin we thought, as it trimmed the clover.