Here’s what the Environment & Agriculture Table Discussion group came up with regarding water use in the Gulf Islands.

  • Buy water in bulk – a group in Saltspring is doing it
  • If you take too much rainwater the groundwater is affected (plants do use the water and release into atmosphere (skipping the groundwater collection phase)
  • Grow native plants – they don’t need as much water
  • Or search out plants that require even less water (Mediterranean plants – person doing so on Galiano)
  • Plan your operation to grow over time to support use of less water; grow shade plants
  • Germinate plants in the shade even in the hot summer
  • Raised beds provide great drainage (root plants all year long), 3″ on each side recommended. All water goes into your plants.
  • Grow a Lasagna Garden: layers upon layers: newspaper, seaweed, then manure, then topsoil… in a heap ok (or boxed), supports crop after crop through the year
  • Grow Purple Sproating Broccoli: year round, comes out in spring again, an endless crop of Broccoli. Small heads. Use the stem. Keep on chopping em off!
  • Grow Kale and Chard (some for ten years; split and plant, or let them go to seed)
  • Use ponds as reservoirs, pump from them, with 5000Gallon tank (switch to in winter when ponds are low)
  • The forest can provide
  • Read the book coming out by Adrienne Gregory of Galiano Island: The Active Herbalist. A book about herbs and wild plants that people have forgotten about that have all kinds of uses. Europeans wanted to recreate their gardens here but there is a lot here already. Look out for launch info!
  • If everyone was out wildcrafting, would they be decimated with disease? No – Trust the plant!
  • Plantain, Wild watercfress, Dandelion, 24 kinds of berries (blackberries, Salmonberry), Nettles (dried), Minor’s Lettuce, Chickweed (tonic)
  • Grow Rosehips – make jam
  • Harvest plants responsibly and they will still keep coming back
  • Change mindset about raised beds and wild – get out the mindset of perfect rows
  • Only take 5% of what the plant has to offer: but take care, harvesting as group is different than as individuals
  • Work with habitat interconnections ie, Nettles and Butterflies…this is essential habitat, message in education
  • Don’t glean too much – some of it is the wildlife’s food!
  • Trade and share your harvest

What else can we do to promote sustainable use of water on the Gulf Islands?