I’ve been to a few meetings of Transition Town Victoria now, including its first birthday party at the end of January

and some momentum seems to be building.

The group, descended from its grandparent in Totnes, addresses the community concerns of those of us who want to start planning now for a life without cheap fossil fuel, which eventuality will change every aspect of our lives, but which politicians and vested corporate interests are apparently trying their best to pretend ain’t going to happen. Which, when it does, could leave us as a species unprepared to face the many inherent challenges of life in a time of energy descent. So small groups of people in many countries are starting to build communities of interest to teach themselves what they will need to know, without waiting for the great lumbering beast of politics to change direction and actually make plans on our behalf.

I’ve been interested in many of the group’s committees, including – no-brainer – the Food group. Most recently I attended a gathering on Reskilling – which aims to identify the skills needed to live in a post-carbon world. Last night we met in the Solstice Cafe

to talk about where to go next.

The possibilities are endless, which makes beginnings elusive; so at our next meeting we’ll define a project we can work on together, which will teach us necessary skills while doing something tangible and useful.

Friday night’s PEP reading featured Vancouverian Christopher Levenson

and Victorian Grace Cockburn.

Saturday was the first work party of 2010 at Haliburton Community Organic Farm. There was work to be done

and workers to do it

Apple trees to be planted

A hoop house to move and then reassemble

Coffee break

Work started on the nursery greenhouse

Indoor work to be done

Lovely lunch

Workers large and small

Make hay while the rain holds off

My first Seedy Saturday last weekend! The convention centre in Victoria was mobbed by earlybirds who arrived to browse the stands for seeds and information about all aspects of growing food and flowers.

Food was big, of course, and some interesting things on offer. A couple of places (Carolyn Herriot’s Garden Path, and Sooke Harbour House) offered a small and special tuber, Oca (Oxalis Tuberosa) which hails from the Andes is gaining some popularity in these parts for its ease of growth and its sharp flavour.

The mushroom growers were there, offering inoculated logs for sale; there was a talk about mushroom growing by local expert Justin Napier of Oystercatcher Mushrooms, which offered some revelations about the nutritional value of mushrooms (one point was that they offer vitamin D, and the content of that is related to how much sunlight they absorb).

Mason (blue orchard) bees were topical – a couple of places to buy the houses, and a talk by Steve Mitchell of Bee Haven Farm.

Yum! Jerusalem Artichokes (sunchokes) were on sale for eating and growing.

The dynamic duo of Brock McLeod and Heather Walker (Makaria Farm) were selling beans and grain and gave a talk called Growing your own pancakes (organic grains on a small scale). They’re running a grain CSA this year which sounds like a wonderful thing.

And the tireless farmers of Haliburton Farm were selling seeds, seedlings and the benefits of getting involved in a community farm.

I attended a crowded workshop on fruit tree pruning, by Philip Young who keeps the trees of Glendale Gardens in shape. Time was as always too short to cover everything we wanted to know but we got some good advice about winter and summer prunings, tools, tree renovation, and the difference between pruning for growth and pruning to encourage fruit. Recommended manual: The American Horticultural Society Pruning & Training by Brickell & Joyce.

Carolyn Herriot did a brisk trade in seeds and tubers, while promoting her latest book and eponymous talk (The Zero-Mile Diet)