Gabriolan.ca

When I come across sea lions romping in the water just next to the beach, I often wish I had a Very Serious Camera, and I wish I’d brought my tripod, or at least my monopod. But honestly? If I had all that stuff to lug around, I’d never get to the beach.

This fellow is one of the tubby sea lions you sea at Whalebone, at Berry Point, at Drumbeg… and oh, probably all around Gabriola at this time of year.

If you’ve been building up your garden’s fertility with compost, manure, and green manures like legumes, congratulations: you’re doing it right. If you’ve been adding chemical fertilizers, this article suggests, not so much.

You’d think that adding lots of nitrogen fertilizer would increase the productiveness of the soil, but not so. In this case, less is more. Nitrogen is used more efficiently at low levels than at high, and the plants grow better. The excess runs off into nearby water bodies leading to anything from minor algal blooms right up to anoxic zones in coastal waters (there is an anoxic zone off Vancouver Island in the Saanich Inlet) — or is taken up into the atmosphere (producing smog and climate change chemicals). The article also says that mineral nitrogen actually promotes the loss of organic matter and soil nitrogen. So adding nitrogen in chemical fertilizer form can add fertility in the short term, but in the long run can lead to dependency on chemical fertilizer.

This is important stuff with implications for food security and environmental quality.

Related:

• Overview of Hypoxia around the World – Journal of Environmental Quality

Tags: fertilizer, nitrogen

Here’s another installation in the antlers in the Gabriola woods series of blog posts.

Splendid antlers, no? I hope they last a long time, as I’m inordinately fond of this pair.

Tags: antlers, trailmarker

These days I spend a lot of time thinking about low-impact housing, small houses, and also inexpensive houses. Sometimes those topics intersect, as they might with some kinds of yurts, for example. Sure, it’s expensive to buy a yurt from one of those specialist yurt companies, but there are cheaper alternatives. One is the Gertee, which I read about in this page at the Tiny House Blog: Gertee: Houses made from Scraps.

Gertees are basically standard yurts made from raw or salvaged materials. Unlike the Mongolian and Western versions (exquisitely crafted and covered in gorgeous fabrics), gertee is the budget variety. It utilizes many items that would otherwise go to the dump. [continue, see lotsa photos]

We don’t have space for a Gertee here, alas. Is there room for one on your property? I would love to see one of these built on Gabriola.

Tags: alternative housing, housing

I decided today that I should finally get around to reading the book October Ferry to Gabriola. And that got me thinking about the first time I took the ferry to Gabriola.

It was a perfect early spring weekend afternoon. I arrived early for the ferry and sat in the rental car in the Nanaimo lot with all the windows rolled down. Everyone else was enjoying the weather too — it seemed like almost everyone was out of their vehicle, roaming around greeting friends or chatting in little groups. The atmosphere reminded me of a really good street party. Then the ferry arrived and we all drove on.

On the ferry, most people stayed in their cars, but some of them were making good use of this time. One woman was practicing violin in her car with the windows rolled up. Wow, that’s neat, I thought. Then I noticed a pickup truck that seemed to be a magnet for kids. A small boy had been boosted up into the back to visit with a big friendly dog. Next time I looked, there had to be at least six little boys playing in there with the dog and having a great time. An older man was going around the outside of the truck, growling like a bear, and making the little boys scream and run around. All too soon we got to the other side and all this activity broke up. But it was quite an introduction to the island and always makes me smile when I remember it.

What do you remember about your first ferry to Gabriola?

Investigative reporter Anon E. Mouse investigated the reports of mysterious knitted sweaters / tube socks at Whalebone Beach and reports (investigatively, of course) that the railings at Whalebone are indeed stylishly tricked out in knitted fashion accessories. Didn’t you know, leggings are the new spring look for railings! The knitting gnomes, guerrillas, or gorillas have been busy. Trees, railings, I wonder what will be next?

Tags: guerilla knitting, Whalebone

These are the nettles I harvested in the woods today; they’re in my amazing Gabriola basket. It’s a Gabriola basket because it was hand-made on the island by a local artist — and with local materials, too! The handles are made of blackberry vines, I think.

This basket is perfect for collecting nettles, mushrooms, and whatnot. And also for bringing in veggies from the garden.

Tags: basketry, nettle

Oh goodness. If it’s not one problem with BC Ferries and Transport Canada, it’s another. The Province reports: Increased costs, fewer sailings if safety measures implemented on BC Ferries.

Acting on the Transportation Safety Board’s recently released Watchlist of recommendations would increase costs and reduce service on B.C. Ferries, according to a spokeswoman for the company.

Deborah Marshall of BC Ferries didn’t have the exact costs of implementing the TSB Watchlist but said it would increase costs a lot more.

We certainly wouldn’t be sailing every hour, said Marshall.

Well, yeah, not if they have to have a list of all passengers’ names, which is what Marshall thinks the watchlist requires.

B.C. Ferries and Marine Workers Union president Richard Goode agreed with Marshall about the unwieldiness of accounting for every passenger.

You’d almost have to have 100-per-cent reservations, said Goode.

He pointed to routes like the one to Gabriola Island, where identifying all the passengers could take longer than the 20-minute trip. [continue]

Tags: BC Ferries, Transport Canada

Remember a while back I showed you the machete in the Gabriola woods? Well, these clippers and this saw have recently appeared just next to the machete. Go figure.

(Thanks to my ever-observant hiking friend for telling me about this newest addition to the collection of weird stuff in the Gabriola woods.)

Tags: trailmarker

Except for scattered place names, there is little evidence that remains of Alejandro Malaspina’s expedition to the Northwest in 1791. One curiosity, however, is the name of Gabriola’s first regular ferry, the Atrevida. Apparently, it means the Daring in Spanish. Captain William York Higgs named his new ferry, built in 1928, after a Spanish corvette. You can get an idea of what the original Atrevida looked like from this commemorative stamp issued in 1964.

The corvette Atrevida was built in 1789 at the Spanish naval base of Cadiz specifically to explore the shores and islands of the Pacific Ocean. At first the goal was Hawaii, but when Malaspina reached the west coast of North America his orders were changed to include visiting the Pacific Northwest.

Interestingly, this famous ship never reached Gabriola Island or even the Straight of Georgia. After visiting what now is Alaska and Nootka on the west coast of Vancouver Island, it set sail for California and Mexico. Malaspina and the Atrevida left Acapulco soon after to continue their around-the-world explorations. It was up to another part of Malaspina’s expeditionary force, headed by Alcala Galiano, to discover Descanso Bay and Nanaimo harbour the following year.

The Atrevida returned from its circumnavigation to Spain in 1794. Later the ship became attached to the Spanish Pacific Fleet. It accidentally caught fire and burned at Montevideo in 1807.

Of course, the Gabriola ferry never came close to matching the exploits of its namesake. Neither did it meet such a gruesome end.

You can find out more about the first Atrevida at ABC Bookworld’s page on Alejandro Malaspina ). As is too often the case, the best source is still the printed word. You can read all about the Atrevida’s stay in the Northwest and Galiano’s later visit to these parts in Malaspina & Galiano: Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast by Donald C. Cutter.

Tags: Atrevida

Here’s a bit from the press release the Islands Trust published today:

The Islands Trust has initiated a project to address the issue of food security in the Islands Trust Area and provide public education through a new food security web page.

The Islands Trust can support food security by creating policies that deliberately link land-use planning with community development, ecological conservation and socio-economic sustainability, said Sheila Malcolmson, Chair of the Islands Trust Council. Food security is about more than simply having enough to eat. It is also about supporting local farmers, protecting farmland and the environment, reducing our carbon footprint and strengthening our local economies and communities. By improving our food security we build community resilience.

The press release is here, in pdf format. And here’s the Islands Trust Food Security page.

(There’s a Gabriola group working on food security issues, too: Sustainable Gabriola.)

Tags: food security, Sheila Malcolmson

You’ve heard what people on Gabriola Island think of BC Ferries. But what do residents of nearby islands think of the service BC Ferries gives them? This article from the Comox Valley Echo speaks of the concerns voiced by Denman and Hornby islanders: Islanders want to see ferry act changed.

The local ferry advisory committee is asking the provincial government to change the Coastal Ferry Act so as to better protect ferry service on minor routes.

Ferry users on Denman and Hornby islands have seen the fares they pay to traverse Baynes Sound and the Lambert Channel escalate by 83 per cent since B.C. Ferries switched from a Crown to a quasi-private corporation seven years ago.

We’ve seen the fares galloping up, said Tony Law, chair of the Coastal Communities Ferry Advisory Committee. We’re not expecting to go for a free ride, it’s a question of finding that balance.

The only thing articulated in the legislation is that the (ferry) system should move towards user pay, but I haven’t been able to find anybody, inside the ministry or outside, who can explain exactly what that means. [continue]

Tags: BC Ferries

In case you’re a marine biologist, dear reader, I have to include this essential tip from Makezine.com: how to collect whale snot using a remote control helicopter.

Lately we’ve had lots of folks writing in seeking practical advice on collecting tissue samples for use in studying whaleborne disease. I had no idea there were so many amateur cetopathologists out there!

Anyway, as you folks know — all too well, I’m sure — it is extremely difficult to collect blood from a wild whale without injuring or killing it in the process. However, and as even a child can tell you, the next best thing to live whale blood is live whale snot. Turns out it spews from their blowholes when they exhale, so the process is really very simple:

1. Find whale.
2. Hold petri dish over blowhole to intercept spout.
3. Return to lab, enjoy sample.

Step 2 is actually the hard part. And although your first instinct may be to just jump in your rowboat, paddle out to a whale pod, lean way out over the side with your sample container, and wait, that’s actually not as safe as it might sound. Each year, untold [continue]

Tags: whales

Note to self: when the trail goes through wet areas where it’s this kind of lovely, consider that the water directly in front of one might be a tad deeper than the shallow innocent puddle it appears to be.

Consider that one’s gumboot might possibly get stuck in a foot-deep trap of water and sucky mud.

Consider that one might narrowly escape the flooding of said gumboot, and that one might be lucky to get home with gumboots and dignity intact.

Those who like the way the Gabriola Commons is managed for the good of the community may be interested in this interview at Alternet.org: The Woman Who Just Might Save the Planet and Our Pocketbooks. Interview summary: What if our economy was not built on competition? Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom talks about her work on cooperation in economics.

(Elinor Ostrom wrote Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.)

Tags: economics

If you stop in at a garden centre and mention that the soil in your garden is all heavy and clumpy, somebody’s likely to point you to the bags of peat moss, which you can mix into your soil to lighten it up. It’s great stuff, but where does all that peat come from? Peat bogs, apparently, and getting the peat out of bogs and into your garden doesn’t sound like the best thing for the environment.

Continue Reading »

Tags: coir, peat

From good.is: Backyard Bunnies Are the New Urban Chickens.

By now we all know that eating a lot of meat—especially factory-farmed meat—isn’t very good for the planet. Fortunately for meat eaters, some meats are more sustainable than others. And as it turns out, rabbit is one of the healthiest, leanest, and most environmentally friendly meats you can eat. [continue]

Lots of people keep chickens on Gabriola. Are there people here who keep rabbits for their own use as a meat source? I wonder about that. Could you do it, including the slaughtering part? Might you do it?

I couldn’t. I’d be a vegetarian if I were doing the cooking around here. (As I don’t do the cooking. I’ll eat whatever the Executive Chef prepares.)

Tags: rabbits

I hiked in Gabriola’s 707 Acre Wood today, and came across this: a few trees wearing, um, sweaters? Really. I am not making this up. Somebody has been knitting for trees, and now several trees are sporting fanciful knitted stripes.

I don’t know many knitters, and don’t knit myself. But a friend who does knit came for dinner tonight. She says what we have here is a case of guerilla knitting.

So there you go, Gabriola: there’s a guerilla knitter in our midst.

Tags: 707 Acre Woods, guerilla knitting, trailmarker

There are 25 wild turkeys in this particular flock. I met them on South Road at Lochinvar, just across the street from the Gabriola Museum. Later they moved up the road a bit to the Gabriola RCMP Station. And later? They’ll be at your house, oh yes they will, terrorizing your dog.

That turkey at our place last month was from the advance scouting team. Other turkey-scouts were fanning out across Gabriola, each examining a different neighbourhood. They look for weaknesses. They want to live at your house.

The Executive Chef has only one question: are they good to eat?

So, there’s a certain part of the Gabriola woods where there ought to be a trail. It would be so convenient. It would save me from going down to that other place and then turning back up again. And besides: I’ve bushwhacked through the should-be-a-trail-here place several times. Dense salal. Difficult. So yes, would be great to have a trail there.

I have done nothing about this, other than wish, and sometimes grumble to myself as I’ve stumbled about in tall salal.

But now? A trail has appeared. Right there. Like magic! It goes exactly where I’d wished for it to go. Is perfect trail. And somebody’s left these deer-bones (and some others) to show the way.

Confusing. Wonderful. Who did it?

Tags: trailmarker

On December 7th, 2008, this blog featured the Atrevida and its history along with a photo of Gabriola’s first ferry. It inspired me to take a closer look at the history of the Atrevida.

The Atrevida, built in 1928, began its life as the Gabriola ferry in 1931 when the B.C. Government decided to fund a regular ferry service to the Island. Did the Atrevida connect with another island as well? On the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives web site it states that the ferry also served Newcastle Island. At the same time that the Atrevida went into service on the Gabriola run, the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company purchased Newcastle Island and operated it as a pleasure resort. Perhaps the Atrevida helped transport Nanaimo’s citizens to their Sunday picnics.

It is obvious that Atrevida did not make 16 round trips a day as our current ferry does. It’s successor, the Eena, made 4 or 5, depending on the time of year. It would be interesting to find out how many trips a week the Atrevida made to and from Gabriola.

The Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives site mentioned above provides some information about the life of the Atrevida’s owner in its Gabriola days, Captain William York Higgs, a true West Coast pioneer and entrepreneur.

Accounts of the Atrevida are sparse. The Gabriola Museum web site carries a good summary of our ferry history. SHALE magazine does not have an article on the Atrevida, although in Issue no. 2 there is a very interesting history of the Eena. By far the best account of Gabriola’s ferries can be found in June Harrison’s book, The People of Gabriola, Chapter 28.

How did the Atrevida get its name? What happened to it? We’ll explore that next time.

Tags: Atrevida

Who wrote which blog entry on Gabriolan.ca? You’ve never needed to notice before, because I wrote them all. But now we have a couple of new bloggers around here, so you will want to pay attention to who wrote what.

Just under the title of each post, there’s a line that says posted by Gabriolan or posted by somebody else. Keep an eye on that and you’ll always know who wrote each blog post. (Click the blogger’s username in that line to get to the blogger’s profile page, by the way.)

To make this obvious, I’m going to highlight that line in yellow for the next week. By then I hope you’ll be used to looking at that line to see who to thank (or blame) for a certain post.

Now, about those new bloggers. You’ve already seen a couple of posts from Anon E. Mouse. Next you’ll see the first post from another guest blogger: Bob Derksen. Bob publishes the Gabriola Web Directory, and knows lots of stuff about Gabriola. His willingness to share some of the cool stuff he knows about our island cheers me considerably.

Tags: blogging

Have you seen this fish? It’s a Pacific Sand Lance: a tiny thing, just a couple of inches long at most, and skinny.

The Pacific Sand Lance is a common sight on Gabriola’s sandy beaches, especially in summertime. Of course you might see schools of them in the water, but you’re more likely to notice when sand lances are on the beach, flopping around or poking half-way out of the sand. (They burrow into sand to avoid getting eaten, and then pop up later.) Sometimes on a summer morning there are hundreds of them squirming on the sand, all silvery in the sunshine. Sea birds like to eat them, and so does my dog, who pounces on a sand lance with extreme delight when she notices one.

I never see sand lances at the beach in winter. In summer they’re all over the place. And this week? I saw the first one of the season.

For more about this fish, see the sand lance page at The Pacific Wildlife Foundation.

Tags: Ammodytes hexapterus

I’m rather fond of wildlife in general but my least favourite critters on Gabriola have to be the monster slugs. Like these two, photographed in the very act of sneaking up on my boot for some unknown but possibly nefarious purpose.

I didn’t clue in until today that the black slug (also apparently known as the chocolate slug or licorice slug, probably not an image that chocolate and licorice manufacturers want to promote) is not native to British Columbia. It is an invasive species and there is concern that it can damage Garry Oak ecosystems.

The Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team has lots more information about this slug. (pdf)

Tags: slugs

Some readers of this blog are in other parts of Canada, dreaming of their next visit to Gabriola, or the Gabriola property they’re planning to buy very soon now. They imagine an early and perfect Gabriola spring, full of sunshine, warm breezes, and early-blooming flowers.

Um, people? Just so you know, it’s snowing on Gabriola today. Seriously snowing, in a big flakes sticking to the ground way. It snowed on Gabriola last March, too.

Update: Here’s the Gabriola Daily Photo blog entry for this snow day: No gardening today.

Tags: snow