I’ve been reading up on salal harvesting lately, and on similar industries, too. The umbrella topic is non-timber forest products (NTFPs): everything other than trees that people take from the forest to sell. For us that means salal, mushrooms, medicinal plants, berries, and whatnot. One of the things I wonder about is the effect that [...]
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I was in the Elder Cedar Nature Reserve today, marvelling at the skunk cabbages now in bloom. Aren’t they stunning? The Tri-City news published a fascinating article about this plant the other day: Ode to the skunk cabbage. Early First Nations people knew that cooking skunk cabbage leaves and roots in many changes of water [...]
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According to the 2009 Children’s Album of the Year page on the Juno Awards site, the Barenaked Ladies won the Children’s Album of the Year Award. (Edit: that page in no longer on the Juno website.) So, rats. Not Gabriola’s Kerplunks after all. *sigh* Maybe next year, Kerplunks. Your music and Kerplunkitude continue to win [...]
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If you stand on the beach at Whalebone at low tide, looking out to sea, you might notice a bit of rock sticking out of the water over on your left. Can’t see too much detail from the beach, can you? But peer at it a bit and you may see shapes on top of [...]
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If you traipse around Gabriola’s woods during the non-summer seasons, you’ll soon be looking for waterproof footwear. At the shoe store, you might notice that many comfortable walking shoes bear a waterpoof label. Sounds good, yes? If you’re looking at the brands of trail shoes I’ve seen in shops everywhere, that waterproof claim is a [...]
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From The Toronto Star: Opera Kamouraska gets premiere after 33 years. Charles Wilson, born, raised and educated in Toronto, ended up finding fulfilment as a composer in Guelph. Now, on the verge of his 79th birthday, he’s leading a rich musical life in an even less urban setting: amid the 4,500 inhabitants of B.C.’s Gabriola [...]
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It’s a real-life Gabriola mystery! These are the clues: On a much-overgrown trail not far from a clearing, a rubber band lies on the ground. A brand new rubber band. The next day, there are four rubber bands in the same area. The day after that, nine. In the space of five days, thirty rubber [...]
Filed in native plants,trails 8 Comments so far
I picked lots of nettles the other day, brought them home, and boiled them. The tasting team then assembled. One of us liked the nettles quite a lot. One of us said yuck! And one of us (the dog) said people, this is not food. The human who didn’t like the nettles admits that nettles [...]
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These concrete blocks serve as stepping stones in the Elder Cedar Nature Reserve watering hole. The crossing looks easy in this photo, but you try it sometime when the waters are high and wide, when everything is slippery, and when both blocks are a couple of inches underwater. It’s less easy then. A while back [...]
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I hike in the woods every day, often way off the trail in the middle of nowhere. And today, in the middle of nowhere, these dogs appeared. They didn’t seem to have a human anywhere nearby. The dog with the splashes of white in the front has a pale blue (leather?) collar. The long-haired dog [...]
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There were handfuls of this rubbery goop all over Whalebone beach the other day. Any idea what it is? I wondered if it could be ambergris — a valuable substance used in the making of perfumes. But brace yourselves: ambergris is basically whale barf. Well, ok, not quite, but: Ambergris occurs as a biliary secretion [...]
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You might have guessed that I’m fascinated by nettle. Now that I know I can make it into tea, spanakopita, and numerous other things, I’m eager to harvest some nettle and eat it up before it has the chance to sting me. I’ve been waiting for the right moment, and I’ve noticed that baby nettle [...]
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From the Nanaimo News Bulletin: Investor needed for commuter ferry. A businessman’s plans for passenger ferry service between downtown Nanaimo and Vancouver hinges on another investor stepping to the plate. Ihab Shaker, owner of Coastal Link Ferries, started a commuter run from Bowen Island to Vancouver last fall. In January, the company was contemplating a [...]
Wow. Get a load of Darrell Bellaart’s article in the the Nanaimo Daily News: Bridge idea is likely doomed. Just imagine a simple toll bridge being the only obstacle to the 10-minute weekend drive to Gabriola. A daytrip to visit an islander or to spend an afternoon on one of the beaches. The additional traffic [...]
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If you’ve ever waited for eight or nine hours in the emergency ward at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, you might be interested in this idea: virtual waiting room pitched to ease ER loads. The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service is proposing a virtual emergency department waiting room that could take the load off the real [...]
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If your garbage and recycling didn’t get picked up today because of the snow, you might be interested in the RDN’s page about Snow and Adverse Weather Service Cancellations, which says: If you live on a bi-weekly collection route and your regular collection day is missed due to weather or road conditions, every effort will [...]
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If you’ve got lots of lawn, don’t you wish it would cut itself, or that somebody would magically arrive to cut it for you? What I’d like to see on Gabriola is an animal-powered lawn-cutting business. When your lawn needs trimming, you’d get the goats to come by and take care of it for you. [...]
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Woke up this morning to find snow everywhere, and now there’s lots more coming down. Amazing. Next week is spring break, which usually brings swarms of visitors to Gabriola. Bet they won’t come if the weather is like this.
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