Gabriolan.ca » Gabriolan

Ants and spit-bubbles

Gabriolan — Wed, 23 May 2012 04:45:05 +0000

I thought ants had nothing to do with spit-bubbles on plants. Yet today I watched a group of ants who seemed awfully interested in these bubbles. What’s up with that, do you think?

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Oh, alpacas

Gabriolan — Tue, 22 May 2012 03:07:18 +0000

Alpacas make me happy — they’re just so amusing, and interesting. And they look as if Dr Suess drew them into creation.

Recently the alpacas on North Road were sheared, and now they look even funnier than usual.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Mowing down seagrass meadows will cut loose carbon

Gabriolan — Tue, 22 May 2012 02:28:12 +0000

You wade in the sea around the island? You know, then. It’s everywhere. Drumbeg, Whalebone, Sandwell… on and on. It brushes your legs as you walk about in the shallows, and waves about in the water as the tide comes in. It’s eel-grass, or sea-grass. And here’s an article on its importance from New Scientist: Mowing down seagrass meadows will cut loose carbon.

They may be trickier than trees for environmental protesters to chain themselves to, but it turns out that seagrass ecosystems hold as much carbon per hectare as the world’s forests – and are now among its most threatened ecosystems.

In the past century, 29 per cent of seagrass has been destroyed globally, mostly by water pollution, dredging for new developments, and climate change. With seagrass meadows disappearing at an annual rate of about 1.5 per cent, 299 million tonnes of carbon are also released back into the environment each year, according to research published this week in Nature Geoscience (DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1477).

Piecing together old and new data from 946 seagrass meadows around the world, an international team of researchers estimated that seagrass captures 27.4 million tonnes of carbon each year, burying it in the soil below. And unlike forests that hold carbon for about 60 years then release it again, seagrass ecosystems have been capturing and storing carbon since the last ice age. [continue]

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Gabriola Library construction progress

Gabriolan — Mon, 21 May 2012 04:23:38 +0000

A few days ago at Folklife Village the ‘new library’ section of the boardwalk was hidden by sheets of plywood. But now the plywood is gone, and we can all get excited about the new book return slots. Progress!

Somebody apparently in-the-know told me that the electrical work was being done a few days ago, and that once that’s done they’ll get it all inspected and will move on to drywalling. My source thought the entire project might be done by August.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

How to watch today’s solar eclipse

Gabriolan — Sun, 20 May 2012 21:06:13 +0000

There’ll be a solar eclipse this evening. The Vancouver Sun says:

The eclipse is set to begin at approximately 5:00 p.m., and will partially block the sun until just before 7:30 p.m.

Even if you were all set to see it, you’ll have noticed that there are no clear skies above Gabriola today. So, out of luck, right? Not quite. The Salish Sea blog explains How to Observe the Solar Eclipse of 2012 May 20:

After an amazing stretch of clear weather, rain and cloud has moved in to blanket the Salish Sea, so we will not be able to witness today’s eclipse. Below are some great sites that are promising to live-stream the event on the Internet. [continue]

Update: missed it? See this very cool video of the eclipse. (Found here at kottke.org.)

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Flowers at Descanso Bay

Gabriolan — Sun, 20 May 2012 19:01:42 +0000

A while ago I missed my ferry, and spent an hour exploring Descanso Bay. These tenacious little flowers remind me of the John Masefield poem that begins:

I have seen flowers come in stony places

And then of course I have that running through my head for days.

Here’s a prettier photo of a Descanso wildflower:

Why isn’t everybody down on the beach? Such beauty.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Kale chips

Gabriolan — Sun, 20 May 2012 17:57:37 +0000

Oh my, these are yummy and easy to make.

1 bunch (about 6 ounces) kale (…)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems and tough center ribs. Cut into large pieces, toss with olive oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet (I needed two because mine are tiny; I also lined mine with parchment for easy clean-up but there’s no reason that you must). Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Place baking sheet on a rack to cool.

Recipe from the baked kale chips page at Smitten Kitchen. I used ghee instead of olive oil, and that turned out well.

Kale is so easy for us to grow on Gabriola, and I bet you can find kale seedlings at Wild Rose and Wheelbarrow Nursery. But that’s for later. For now, go get some kale at the shop if you haven’t any in your garden, and try this.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

But what about our ocean?

Gabriolan — Sat, 19 May 2012 22:37:27 +0000

From the Times Colonist: Ottawa sinks pollution checks.

Nine marine scientists and staff in North Saanich Friday will lose their jobs as the federal government cuts almost all the employees who monitor ocean pollution across Canada. [continue]

Sigh.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Gabriola Farmers’ Market: a vendor’s perspective

Gabriolan — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:49:51 +0000

The Gabriola Farmers’ Market opens at 10 this morning, so vendors are probably packing up their stuff and getting ready. Sal at Sweet Rock Farm offers some thoughts on Getting Ready for Market.

The local farmer’s market starts this weekend, and for the first time I am taking part as a vendor. I am excited, a little nervous, but eager to try something new. This is quite different from operating my roadside stand, which I’ve done for a couple of years now. There are a lot more things to take into account because its not just bunching up veggies and walking them down to my stand, and cutting more when I run out. I need to have an idea of how much to bring (not a clue), the best way to transport them (figuring it out), and a nice display (my weakest area, but my wife and daughter are helping me).

And pricing. There is no shortage of opinions on the pricing of vegetables at the market. I have been told in no uncertain terms that I should be in line with the other vendors– and that means high pricing. I have also been told that many local people don’t shop at the market because the produce is way too expensive, and that it is mostly being sold to tourists and rich locals. The only time, in fact, that they go at all is to bring guests there when they visit.

I have a couple of things to say on the subject. First, [continue].

Interesting perspective. I’m one of those locals who almost never goes to the Farmers’ Market anymore, though I do buy from Gabriola farmers at roadside stands and such.

Do you shop at the Farmers’ Market?

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Gabriola Farmers’ Market: now with more yellow!

Gabriolan — Sat, 19 May 2012 03:34:01 +0000

The Gabriola Farmers’ Market opens for the season tomorrow, and the Agi Hall parking lot is ready. But hmmm, what’s with the yellow rocks? Since when do we need to paint rocks?

It’s as if the Health and Safety people have arrived. (See this excellent article about them.) But no, they’re British. What’s our equivalent? WorkSafe BC? Do they say that rocks at markets have to have yellow splotches now?

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

The benefits of being bilingual

Gabriolan — Sat, 19 May 2012 03:17:36 +0000

We’ve so many writers on the island (Iain Lawrence, Katherine Gordon, Joelle Anthony…. how many others can you list off the top of your head?) and so many readers, too. If you’re a writer or a reader, this seems like the kind of thing you might like. From Wired: The Benefits of Being Bilingual.

Samuel Beckett, born in a suburb of Dublin in 1906, was a native English speaker. However, in 1946 Beckett decided that he would begin writing exclusively in French. After composing the first draft in his second language, he would then translate these words back into English. This difficult constraint – forcing himself to consciously unpack his own sentences – led to a burst of genius, as many of Beckett’s most famous works (Malloy, Malone Dies, Waiting for Godot, etc.) were written during this period. When asked why he wrote first in French, Beckett said it made it easier for him to write without style.

Beckett would later expand on these comments, noting that his use of French prevented him from slipping into his usual writerly habits, those crutches of style that snuck into his English prose. Instead of relying on the first word that leapt into consciousness – that most automatic of associations – he was forced by his second language to reflect on what he actually wanted to express. His diction became more intentional. [continue].

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Camas, at last!

Gabriolan — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:10:29 +0000

When we moved to Gabriola, we had a bare patch of earth where the soil had been disturbed in order to put in the septic system. It was pretty ugly. Since then it’s been returning to a managed bit of wild. I yank up trees that won’t work there, but encourage native ferns and flowers. I planted mockorange, highbush cranberry, and huckleberry there. Blueberry, too, even though that’s non-native.

But there was no camas. Only the cool kids had camas in their gardens.

Last year a friend gave me some camas plants, and in they went. Now they’re blooming, and I am a happy camper indeed!

(Oh, and yes that is horsetail in the background. There seems to be no way to get rid of the stuff, and anyway, it’s native. So I just garden amongst it.)

Camas was hugely important to First Nations, and is part of Garry Oak ecosystems. To learn more about it, see these blog posts:

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Judy’s Root at Folklife Village

Gabriolan — Fri, 18 May 2012 03:46:18 +0000

Have you been to Folklife Village in the last few days? And, if so, did you notice the new thing? It’s this, a stone carved by Nancy Crozier and called Judy’s Root.

This overview photo has Village Foods in the background to give you an idea of where the carving is: in one of those mid-parking lot gardens. But wouldn’t you rather see the detail carved on the other side of the stone? Here, then:

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Kitsilano coast guard station to close

Gabriolan — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:28:39 +0000

The CBC reports that the Kitsilano coast guard station will be closed in DFO layoffs. Oh my. You’ve probably seen their hovercraft go past now and again when they’ve been on their way to rescue somebody. There was that time at Whalebone a few years ago and… and…. Well, no more.

Boaters had best take extra care.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Caterpillar feet

Gabriolan — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:20:08 +0000

This caterpillar decided to hang out on one of our windows, which must have been a request to be photographed.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Gabriola Musuem and the brickyard story

Gabriolan — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:06:00 +0000

The Gabriola Museum opens for the season this weekend, on Saturday, May 19th. (10 am to 3pm.) Their events page introduces the new exhibit:

More Than Just Clay and Mortar: The story of the Gabriola Brickyard and the workers and their families

For more than five decades until the early 1950s, the Gabriola Brickyard was the biggest industry on the island. Millions of bricks were manufactured and exported annually to Vancouver, Victoria and New Westminster where they were mortared into roads and buildings, may of which still stand today.

But the Brickyard was more than just shale and clay. It was [continue]

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Just Another Weed Patch

Gabriolan — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:39:07 +0000

If you’re interested in growing things on Gabriola, or in agroforestry, there’s a blog you’ll want to read. It’s Just Another Weed Patch. The about page explains:

We’re ‘Just Another Weed Patch Farm’ located Gabriola Island, in British Columbia Canada.

Starting in April 2012 we began a 19 month agroforestry adventure to transform our 2 acre pasture into a productive demonstration site of 250 nut trees surrounded by alley food and flower crops interspersed with happy laying hens, troublesome sheep and buzzing bees. That’s our plan!

This web site will document the good, the bad, and the ugly for your web browsing pleasures.

The project has a target completion date of all trees in the ground and cultivated alley crop rows established by November 2013 so the clock is ticking. Stay tuned for weekly updates via text, photos and video postings showcasing our progress and learning curve. [continue]

Just Another Weed Patch posts interesting and well-written stuff, so I’ll be following this blog.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Entrance Island Lighthouse nominated for heritage designation

Gabriolan — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:18:16 +0000

From the Nanaimo Bulletin: Entrance Island Lighthouse nominated for heritage designation.

For nearly 140 years the Entrance Island Lighthouse has been a beacon shining across the waters of Georgia Strait to guide seafarers and aviators safely to their destination.

The lighthouse, which has been manned since its construction in the mid-1870s, is located off the northeast tip of Gabriola Island.

It’s one of 28 B.C. lighthouses currently nominated for designation under the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act, intended to protect the heritage character of lighthouses. Lighthouses are nominated for protection under the act through a public petition process, which comes to a close May 29. [continue]

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

On rowing around islands

Gabriolan — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:10:59 +0000

I rowed around an island, once. It was not my idea, against my better judgement, and I’ll never do it again. It was a smaller island than Gabriola, too, so I sure won’t be doing anything of the sort here.

But serious rowers do circumnavigate islands. Jordan Hanssen and Greg Spooner recently rowed around Vancouver Island. The News Tribune has the details, including:

As repetitive as rowing is, the crew is propelled by knowledge that the more strokes they take the more they discover. For all their journeys, the Salish Sea showed Hanssen and Spooner plenty they’d never seen.

The northern lights. Whale spouts. A skinny-dipping gold medalist. A chance to play basketball in an isolated First Nations community. A near miss with a tugboat.

It was a pretty amazing experience, Hanssen said. But we still have a lot of things to get right. [continue]

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Willing to pay more property taxes for these things?

Gabriolan — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:52:19 +0000

We’ve heard so much about proposals for a bus service on Gabriola. There’ve been surveys, articles, and meetings.

Howard Houle, our RDN rep, has posted this very sensible thing on his website:

Lately there has been talk about a bus service on Gabriola. I would love to see that happen when the community is ready.

When I read the feasibility studies however, and yes, more than one has been conducted, they do not ask the most critical question, which is: Are you as a property owner willing to pay an increase in your taxes for a bus service? [continue]

Howard adds:

While I am at it, the Gabriola Radio Society would like to receive some of your property taxes as well. They are thinking about a tax request of $60,000 per year for seven years that will run about $24 for a $300,000 property. [continue]

What do you think? Would you be willing to pay more taxes to have a bus service? To support the Gabriola Radio Society?

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

The Brickyard Beast

Gabriolan — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:34:18 +0000

Well, this is insane. Stan and Nancy from The Gym at Twin Beaches have organized a running event called The Brickyard Beast. It’s a 10k road race that starts at Tait and Ferne, heads down to Brickyard, goes up Brickyard Hill, and then along South Road, Lochinvar, and North Road to Gabriola Elementary School. And this on August 5th, which is likely to be a hot day.

Runners apparently do this kind of thing voluntarily.

Would you run up Brickyard Hill?

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Entrance Island Lighthouse keeper to stay

Gabriolan — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:55:24 +0000

The Daily News has a story about the lighthouse we see from Berry Point: Lighthouse keeper will remain in place at facility on Entrance Island.

The Entrance Island lighthouse, just one of approximately 50 manned lighthouses left in Canada, and its keepers will continue to provide services for the local marine community.

Gabriola boaters, and others concerned with marine safety, are sure to be relieved.

But lighthouse keepers fear that the federal government’s recent decision to halt plans to destaff all the remaining manned lighthouses in the country is just a temporary measure that may soon be revisited. [continue]

Sigh.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Concrete canoes

Gabriolan — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:44:36 +0000

Thinking of building a little boat to paddle at Descanso or Drumbeg? Here’s news of unusual canoes that might inspire, or at least boggle: canoes made out of concrete.

I know you’ll want one.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Bears: how to avoid, etc

Gabriolan — Sun, 13 May 2012 05:37:37 +0000

Now that we’ve got a bear on Gabriola (seen on Ferne Road today), some of us will be a lot more alert in the forest. This list is from Backpacker Magazine’s article, Rip and Live: Learn to Survive a Bear Attack.

Here is when and where you’re most likely to see them:

Dawn and dusk. Although bears are active at all times of the day, this is when you’re most likely to see them out and about.

In the fall. This is when they gorge themselves silly—called hyperphagia—to store fat for hibernation from October through March. But don’t assume all bears are hibernating. Some emerge to dig under the snow for food, and in the South, black bears stay out year-round.

Food-rich areas. Since bears are ruled by their stomachs, you’ll find them at nature’s buffet tables: berry patches, forests laden with hazelnuts, beechnuts, or acorns, clamming areas, near carrion, and salmonspawning areas.

Avalanche chutes and trails. Bears enjoy easy travel just like us.

In the silence. Bears probably will hear or smell you before they see you. To help avoid surprising one (especially if you’re downwind), make noise: Talk, clap, sing, jingle bells (in some areas, bears have learned to associate metallic sounds with people). [continue]

The list above is from page 3 of the article.

(By the way, you’ve just got to see the classic bear warning sign.)

I’m not sure if North Road Sports sells bear bells, but outdoor stores in Nanaimo certainly do. (Check at Valhalla Pure Outfitters or Alberni Outpost.) And of course you can order them online from Mountain Equipment Co-op.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Mystery berries

Gabriolan — Sun, 13 May 2012 05:09:08 +0000

Last spring a mystery plant appeared in my garden. It grew some leaves, then sets of delicate white flowers, and then dark berries. I knew it wasn’t any of the berry plants native to Gabriola, but what could it be? I meant to find out, especially because I thought about eating those berries. But I didn’t find out, so oh well.

Summer went, the plant died. On cold winter nights I puttered about on the web instead of in the garden.

Now, in the winter I spend too much time on a certain seed company’s website, and I order more from them than I should. When the garden was under snow, the description of a plant called sunberry seemed particularly appealing: a thornless plant, with berries vaguely similar to blueberries or huckleberries. Sounded like a fun thing to try, so click click, order, done.

I started those sunberry seeds indoors, and planted them out into the garden today. And you know? They’ve just developed sets of delicate white flowers. It’s the very same plant I wondered about all last summer.

So are you growing sunberry plants on Gabriola? Because the seed that grew last year’s sunberry plant had to have come on the wind, or through a local bird. Was it a seed from your plant that somehow made it over here?

Sunberry, by the way, is one of the plants Luther Burbank claimed to have developed. See sunberry page at Vegetables of Interest for more details.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Changes made to Coastal Ferry Act

Gabriolan — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:57:00 +0000

From the Daily News: Ferry users guarded over impact of recent changes.

Amendments made to the Coastal Ferry Act this week were greeted with enthusiasm Thursday by local stakeholders, while the conspicuous absence of other suggested measures, such as restraints on fare increases, were largely treated with guarded optimism. [continue]

The article quotes three Gabriola residents you probably know:

Sheila Malcolmson, Gabriola’s Islands Trust representative, and Islands Trust Council chairwoman
John Hodgkins, chairman of the Gabriola Ferry Advisory Committee
Phillip Vannini, a Royal Roads University professor who wrote Ferry Tales

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Mind the gap (or not)

Gabriolan — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:51:36 +0000

By now you’ve probably heard of Phillip Vannini, who lives on Gabriola, teaches in Victoria, and wrote Ferry Tales: Mobility, Place, and Time on Canada’s West Coast.

Today the Bowen Island Undercurrent has an article on Philip and his work: Mind the gap (or not). It includes this bit:

Vannini inquired about the various signs about the line-up and ended up including a chapter in his book entitled Mind the Gap. There is a significance in the gaps, he said. And I compared Bowen to Gabriola and Sointura. On Bowen, if you go and join the ferry line-up and lineup hasn’t stretched beyond overload sign, you can fill the spaces at the bottom of the hill. On Gabriola, you don’t do that ever. [continue]

Well. Who knew Bowen had different rules?

The article also mentions that Philip has a website to go along with the book. It’s FerryResearch.ca, and of course there’s a Gabriola Island section.

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Breaking the rules

Gabriolan — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:09:05 +0000

A friend’s son has been setting snares to catch rabbits. (No, not on Gabriola.) She knows it’s probably illegal where they live, but doesn’t care. Being a boy is illegal these days, she told me. It’s illegal to give your kid a normal childhood. So she says nothing about the boy’s attempts to catch dinner in the woods near their house, and life goes on. Maybe one day they’ll have a rabbit in the dinner-pot, and maybe not. In the meanwhile, the kid dreams and spends hours in the forest.

Ah, flagrant disregard of Rules Deemed Stupid. My friend would fit right in on our island, don’t you think?

Meanwhile, here is a thought-provoking article from OutsideOnline.com: Breaking the Rules: Doing Right Means Sometimes Ignoring the Law.

MY LIFE IS A SERIES of mildly illegal acts. I have jumped where jumping is not allowed. Slept where sleeping is verboten. Swum forbidden rivers cascading from the French Alps. Skied untracked powder where I should not have skied untracked powder. Hopped many a fence for apples, views, trails, or just because I felt I had the right to do so. [continue]

Are you a breaker of rules, too?

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

On killing Scotch Broom

Gabriolan — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:15:41 +0000

For years now, groups of volunteers have been working to eradicate broom on Gabriola. They hold broom-yanking parties at Drumbeg and other spots, and often seem to use something called an extractagator to pull broom out of the ground.

I happened to be over at a Comox Valley website this morning, and found mention of a different approach there:

Now that the broom is beginning to shows it yellow flowers, it is time to cut it. If broom is cut at ground level while in bloom, the plant will die in the summer’s dry heat – and it will not form more seeds.

Is that right, broom eradication experts?

(From Gabriolan.ca.)

Cooking in a bentwood box

Gabriolan — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:18:48 +0000

Here’s a reminder of what life was like on our coast before Europeans arrived: Cooking in a Bentwood Box.

Prior to the trade of steel cookware on the Pacific Northwest, the Native Americans prepared many foods in wooden cooking boxes. Instead of putting the box on a heat source, red hot rocks were placed inside of the cooking box to cook food. As you can imagine, some knowledge and specialized equipment are needed to safely heat cooking rocks and build a cooking box that doesn’t leak. [continue]

(From Gabriolan.ca.)