Growing (Garlic Co-op, Greenhouse, Gleaning Project)

USING PREMIUM SEED AND A LARGE AREA TO PLANT IN at the end of Morgan Road in a quiet tree-rimmed field. Regular work parties (approximately one per month) for 10 months lasting 1 1/2 – 2 hours each; participation level determines volume of garlic received. 1200 premium Boundary Garlic cloves going in: Porcelains and two types of purple stripe: Persian Star and Chestnut Red all are hard neck producing scapes in the Spring. Cost of membership is $20, which covers seed and amendments, the Food Program is covering coordinating costs. This year we will have the helping hands of 6 UBC students to turn the earth in the new bed as part of their agricultural studies. FIRST ‘PARTY’ WILL BE TUESDAY, OCT 11 AT 4:00 , planting Mon.Oct 17 at 4:00 EMAIL IN YOUR PARTICIPATION OR SIMPLY SHOW UP WITH GLOVES, SHOVEL, FORK and wood ash if possible.

The cold and rainy spring in the unheated greenhouse thwarted our first attempts to grow transplantable vegetable and herbal seedlings in April and May. Undaunted, and with the help of Martine and Janice,we abandoned our miniature and unhealthy starts and planted Martine’s new seedlings. By mid June we were inundated with fresh herbs and furthermore, as of today we have harvested many varieties of tomatoes from Leo and Rosemarie’s starts, cucumbers from seeds , more herbs and are awaiting the ripening of seeded watermelon and cantaloupe.

Fall is approaching and we have planted a few starts that can be overwintered.Our small group of 4 is seeking an addition of 3 to 5 more people to help with planting, watering and tending to our nursery. ( A person with greenhouse growing experience would be heartily welcomed.)

At present, we are meeting on Wednesday mornings at 10 at the greenhouse which is located on the Galiano Community School grounds. Because the seniors’ soup garden and the school garden are in close proximity, we also interact with their activities. if you are curious, you are welcome to check us out!

The registration fee of $20 per season covers the cost of seeds and any miscellaneous gardening necessities. For further information, please contact the Food Program at galianofoodprograms@gmail.com or phone 250-539-2175, option 2.

He who plants a tree loves others besides himself – English Proverb

The fruit trees planted on Galiano by the early settlers are, many generations later, still bearing fruit and providing an opportunity for the community to get together and glean.

The dictionary defines glean as: to pick up or to gather. But on Galiano, it is so much more than that. Here gleaning is about sharing the bounty. This is the third year that the Galiano Community Food Program has coordinated the gleaning project which to date includes rhubarb, plums, apples, potatoes and kiwi from a couple of dozen properties and which is greatly appreciated by all the participants.

Volunteers respond to a call to help harvest the fruit or vegetables at a donor’s property; date and time are arranged and an enthusiastic group arrives with ladders, boxes, baskets, bags and kids in tow to assist in the harvest.

In the case of fruit trees, ladders are strategically placed and everyone finds their comfort zone; up the ladder, climbing the tree or on terra firma picking the fruit on lower branches. Soon the busy pickers are chatting, tasting and planning different ways to use the fruit.

Many hands make light work, so it is amazing how quickly the boxes get filled. When we see all the boxes full of fruit, we are in awe of the bounty a single tree can provide. The harvest is then shared among the gleaners, the property owner, the Food Program and sometimes the Food Bank.

Often, the gleaners are unable to identify specific apples or plums as many of them are heritage varieties. To help us with this The United Way of Victoria has given us a small grant to identify and label the fruit bearing trees on Galiano with the participating property owners and the Community School.

In the case of potatoes, Lisa and Roger Pettit of Galiano Sunshine Farm and Tom and Henny Schnare of Cable Bay Farm, can identify all the varieties they grow for themselves and for the Community Food Program’s gleaning project.

The gleaning project is one part of the Community Food Program’s goal of food security on Galiano. Food Security was the theme of a forum on Hornby Island called The Hornby Forum on Food and Farming. Jane Wolverton and Cedana Bourne of the Food Program attended and one message they brought back to us was to plant fruit and nut trees for future generations.

The fruit of the trees planted by the early farmers on Galiano are a legacy greatly appreciated and we are grateful to them for their wisdom and generosity. As the ancient proverb goes, It’s a wise man who plants a tree under whose shade he will never sit. After all, who are we to question the wisdom of the ancients. ☺

As gleaning co-ordinator I have been eagerly awaiting fruit season all year. Memories of canning, juicing, saucing, freezing and drying floating through my mind as I gear up for all the hard work. But something is different this year. Very different.

Last year, word in the garden was “What a bumper year!”. This year its more like, “I’ll be lucky if I get one baskets’ worth”. The contrast is dramatic and will be felt island-wide. Already we are at least a few weeks behind last year’s ripening schedule and many folks have let the gleaning team know they will not have any fruit to share at all.

A possible reason our fruit bounty will be less this year is weather. Galiano was blessed with a mild, early spring and thus many early fruit blossoms. Unfortunately, soon after these blossoms emerged the rains arrived and in May we had twice the average rainfall for that month. Rain may have hindered proper pollination in three ways.

Bees are our primary pollinators and bees don’t like the rain. Research shows that bumblebees will sometimes venture out into poor weather but our other pollinators such as honeybees and mason bees prefer to stay dry. Rain causes our pollinating population to plummet.

When it rains on the west coast it often carries with it that lovely greyness that people from the prairies can’t stand. Our darkened skies of May may also have decreased our pollination rate. Bees use the sun as a reference point in their search for food. When they have found a good source they return to the hive, perform a communicative “dance” full of directions and the rest of the bees inevitably find the food source immediately. When the sun is hidden the bees are less inclined to leave the hive and search for food aimlessly.

Lastly, with dampness and dew does the dandelion decide to droop. Well the same holds for fruit blossoms. Blossoms are not nearly as open and inviting on a wet day as they are when the sun is shining. In the case of heavy rain, the blossom may even be damaged. Without out a proper blossom there can be no fruit.

Of course some trees are doing beautifully this year and I am happy to see it! Let this be a reminder to all of us of the importance of diversity. With different varieties blooming at different times there should always be enough for each of us to eat a fresh apple this season.

The fruit situation seems to be on many people’s minds and I would love to hear other people’s hypotheses on why this year pales in comparison to last. Visit galianofoodprogram.ca to share your input or contact us at galianofoodprograms@gmail.com or 250-539-2175 option 2.

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?

The Environment & Agriculture table discussion welcomed the second group and the first topic or burning issue to arise was the problem of unequal perceived value of different classes of land.

The core issues:

• It’s easy to understand that agricultural land is important for all of us but it’s harder to understand why other types of land are important – what can we do about this?

• We are living in an environment that is just a fraction of what it was: oceans were once teaming with life, now we cannot derive sustenance from them – how can we fix this?

Other types of land are important because they:

• Clean the water

• Clean the air

• Help mitigate climate change

• Reconnect us with the land…ie, using timber for our homes, growing food in our yards, fishing for our dinner, walking in the forest, …what else?

Suggested Solutions

• Use the land that is already available rather than clearing more trees

• Large trees store much more water than young trees

• Pender Island is doing a study on carbon offset forests

• Don’t take the forest down – use a different crop (Hemp, Nettles)

• Make nettle clothing

• We need to change our mentality, not take the forest down

• Practice AgroForestry: The Working Landscape (not just agriculture)

• Imagine a future where we wouldn’t need parks – sacred places, yes, with general an understanding about limits

What else can we do to increase awareness that all types of land are important? What other thoughts or opinions to do you have on this topic?

The Environment & Agriculture table also discussed the effects of pesticides and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) our ecosystem (incl. human health). Here’s what the participants had to say:

• Saltspring does not support GMOs, but does not have legislation for it (myth that they actually do)
• Communities can agree to be GMO free, but legislating it is difficult
• Lobby the government
• Set up a system that doesn’t require chemicals (plan staff time); nurture a “resilient” system
• It takes awhile for the system to build resilience to pests (Derek Masselink, the table Resource Person and expert, saw bugs that weren’t even supposed to be in BC)
• Support beneficial insects
• The Hardware store (on Galiano) is now selling fewer harmful and more organic pesticides. Stores now have to get a certificate to sell pesticides, so some are dropping them from their inventory. Home Hardware on Pender stopped carrying them, but farmers did lose some treatments that would be helpful.
• Watch the Pender Island documentary on pesticides (can someone provide a link?)
• Watch the documentary: The World According to Monsanto
• Run or support an educational campaign
• Related to obtaining clean water
• Purchase a Water Catchment System – maybe a bulk purchase by Island’s Trust, subsidized, transportation plan (barge). Engineer Needed.
• Look up the (see also: http://www.pesticidefreebc.org -Ed.)
• Funded education
• CRD’s jurisdiction
• Ground water protection is not regulated in BC
• Mayne Island Water Protection Agency
• Brian (on Thetis?) had a service for setting up water catchment systems

The Galiano Island Health Care Centre imports water – why? Complicated process of getting, storing, maintaining

The first round of discussion at the “Environment & Agriculture” table began with each participant listing their “burning question or issue” then once all issues were recorded the group began going through them with suggestions and further comments. The first issue to come up was “I just moved to Galiano Island to start an eco-friendly farm – where should I start?”

Here are the suggestions that came up (in order of the round):

• Start with potatoes
• Roger Pettit has some seed potatoes
• Consult the book “Edible Forest Gardens” on growing without disturbing / abusing the native ecoystem
• Consult with folks who already already doing it
• In terms of larger scale food production, employ mapping as a tool…ie, Who has a wetland that could produce rice?
• Incorporate traditional knowledge
• The community could provide better information on traditional knowledge
• Start and then analyse the symptoms that emerge on your operation or garden over time
• Adjust to the current weather conditions instead of strict planning before hand

And remember…!

“A farmer is someone who is outstanding in their field” (so you’re already a success if you just get out there!)

Are you a new farmer? What other questions do you have?

Do you have more experience? What other advice would you give?