By Alison Colwell|2022-03-15T23:54:12-07:00February 14th, 2021|Categories: Food Program, Workshops|0 Comments
January 27th, 2019
Residents gathered to share perogy stories, songs, and traditional recipes, and then shared in a feast. It was an immersive experience in Ukrainian culture and cuisine. We pinched, cooked and ate together as our workshop presenters shared stories and songs from this rich traditional culture.
By Alison Colwell|2020-05-11T23:32:39-07:00April 12th, 2020|Categories: Club News, Club Parks|0 Comments
From the Galiano Club during the coronavirus pandemic:
The parklands we manage — the Bluffs, Mt Galiano, the Community Forest — remain open. Fresh air and exercise are essential elements in maintaining good physical and mental health; this is most especially vital just now. So, we want our hiking trails, our parks, to be kept available for our neighbours to use. But, while using the trails and the vehicle parking areas it is most important to remember the current pandemic situation, the precautions outlined by our local health experts — most especially the social distancing. And, to wash your hands well before & after each hike/walk.
The staff at the Galiano Health Care Centre and those with the Galiano Emergency Program all agree with this decision by the Galiano Club Board. But, they caution that the board may need to revisit this decision as needed.
By Alison Colwell|2020-07-01T18:54:51-07:00April 12th, 2020|Categories: Food Program, Nettlefest|0 Comments
by Alison Colwell
Right now, getting outside could offer some fresh air and needed distraction. Just remember your social distancing!
Foraging wild food is one of our most primal activities, up there with discovering who left those tracks in the sand and learning how to build a fire. And if you can tell the difference between kale and lettuce, you will be able to identify plants and mushrooms in the wild. Foraging can be as simple as picking blackberries at the edge of the road or hiking through Bluffs Park looking for mushrooms. The more we use wild spaces to explore and forage in, the more connections we develop to our foods and the place we call home.
Come spring, stinging nettles are among the first edible plants to burst from the ground in the Galiano, then miner’s lettuce, blackberries in the late summer and chanterelle mushrooms in the fall, foraging oysters from Retreat Cove in the winter. Food surrounds us on our small island, if we know where to look. Once I learned to tap maple trees, boiling down the sap, making enough syrup for one Sunday breakfast.
Not only are foraged plants tasty, free, fresh and a good way to connect you to the place we live, they can also be good for you. Stinging nettles are high in vitamin C and calcium. Food is a necessity and also the glue that binds our community together, one neighbour to the next. So get a good book, or better, go out with an experienced friend. We all need to learn, and in learning we can save both the food and the environment it lives in, and preserve the knowledge that teaches us what to eat: grand fir tea, sword fern roots, thistle stems, nori, salmonberry, Oregon grape, to start.
Picking plants should be done in moderation. It is good to leave a bit behind for birds, deer, and slugs to feed on. Sustainable harvesting is important to remember to prevent inadvertent over-picking. There may be a lot of a plant growing in one area, but this doesn’t mean that it is abundant everywhere. Compensate for what you harvest by giving back to the land, by spreading seeds, removing invasive species and reintroducing natives, all while minimizing your footprint to maintain the health of the ecosystem. And never ever take more than you can use.
(At time of printing, we’re expecting to postpone the potluck and cooking class portions of Nettlefest for this year. Stay tuned to our newsletter for more information.)
By Alison Colwell|2022-03-20T21:08:12-07:00February 20th, 2020|Categories: Food Bank, Food Program|0 Comments
(Please no dented cans or expired food.)
By Alison Colwell|2020-04-14T17:18:57-07:00January 15th, 2020|Categories: Food Program|0 Comments
Photo: Chris Heffley
Linda Geggie is the executive director of the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable. Below is an excerpt from an article she wrote for the Saanich News, published in October.
Young spokespeople like Greta Thunberg and other young leaders across the globe have inspired people to bring more visibility to the growing concerns being raised by climate science. Often overlooked in climate conversations is the role that our food plays. Growing and distributing food globally is estimated to contribute to over one third of human greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) points to agriculture as being responsible for 40 per cent of the Methane released into the atmosphere. This is important because as far as GHG’s go, Methane is a major bad ass gas, being 21 times more impactful than Co2 in its action to absorb energy in the atmosphere and cause temperature rise. We are learning the impacts of the global food system on our resources are vast.
The UN IPCC’s report published in August of this year digs deep into the science of what is happening and provides some important strategies that could be put in place immediately to work to turn things around. The report also determines that “People currently use one quarter to one third of land’s potential net primary production for food, feed, fiber, timber and energy.” That is all for us. It does not include meeting the needs of the other 8 million species on the planet.
As a citizen, the choices we make about what we eat are complex. Choices are associated with our income, culture, mobility, health, our food skills and other factors. Climate Connection in Manitoba provides some helpful guidelines they call the Rule of Five Ns. While it is not available to everyone, every time, it is a great guide for working towards a climate-friendly diet:
The Food Program supports local meat choices, in part because they provide an opportunity to reduce our reliance on industrial meat products, and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their production and transport.
Under that umbrella, the Food Program partnered with the Galiano Conservancy Association, The Access to Media Education Society, the Community Resource Centre, and members of the Penelakut Island community to present the Feeding the People Butchering and Sausage Making workshop in December. Approximately 20 participants from Galiano and Mayne came together to learn how to skin, debone, cube, grind and bag venison. We worked together as a group: in Hul’qumi’num, nuts’a’maat – working together with one heart and one mind. Each participant took meat home for their freezer, and a very generous portion was also donated to the Food Program for distribution to families in need.
By Alison Colwell|2019-11-11T12:51:37-08:00November 11th, 2019|Categories: Club Programs, Galiano Players|0 Comments
Performances on:
Friday, November 29th at 7pm
Saturday, November 30th at 2pm and 7pm
Sunday, December 1st at 2pm
Tickets $20 (Kids under 12 $10)
By Alison Colwell|2019-10-24T13:45:55-07:00October 24th, 2019|Categories: Club Programs|0 Comments
Volunteers Needed!!! There will be a work party on Saturday, October 26 to relocate the Shorepine trail in the Community Forest. We will also be doing some trail maintenance on that trail. Please join us if you can.
Meet at 10am on the 26th, on Georgia View extension where the trail meets the end of Sticks Allison road. Bring hand tools and gloves.
By Alison Colwell|2019-08-25T13:55:33-07:00August 25th, 2019|Categories: Community Picnic, Food Program|0 Comments
The Galiano Community School & Activity Centre, Sunday Sep 8, 12-4pm, rain or shine
Come join your neighbours, bring a friend, meet someone new. Share a favourite dish, stories, games and live music. Last year was a blast! Celebrate the end of a great summer. Everyone, young and old, is welcome.
Pie-baking contest! Zucchini Races! Soccer game! Tug-o-war!
Zucchini races!
Two categories: kids and adults. Each category is divided into two vehicle types: Integral (i.e. the vehicle would collapse if the zucchini was removed) and modified. There is also an award for the most creative vehicle design. Vehicles can be no more than 13” wide, and to win a prize, all the power must be supplied by the incline ramp. However, in the words of the judges:
“No zucchini, no matter how outrageous, will be refused!”
By Alison Colwell|2019-07-22T11:24:04-07:00July 22nd, 2019|Categories: Club Programs, Galiano Players|0 Comments
Coming Friday Sept 13th and Saturday September 14th!!! Come be impressed by your incredibly talented (or un-selfconscious) island neighbours.
It’s an annual tradition not to be missed!!!
By Alison Colwell|2019-07-22T11:20:41-07:00July 22nd, 2019|Categories: Club Programs|0 Comments
Charcoal making is an ancient art dating from 6000-8000 BCE.
In a carefully controlled process known as pyrolysis, all moisture and most of the volatile materials contained in wood are removed, leaving almost pure carbon. The resultant charcoal burns at 600 to 1200 degrees Celsius, producing an even, smokeless heat.
Preparation
To prepare the kiln on this site for firing, a crib floor was laid over cedar logs set lengthwise above a subfloor,with channels for the air to flow from the entrance to the flues. On top of the crib was packed a floor of sand and dirt.
Loading
20cm diameter logs of alder (sometimes fir or maple) were stacked vertically side by side, reducing in diameter toward the front opening.
Capping
Once the kiln was filled, a thick layer of sticks and branches were placed over the logs. These were covered using a sand-clay-soil mixture, packed firmly to make a dome of 20cm thick.
Protection
The kiln would also have had a framed roof to protect the firing process from rain, as charcoal making was mostly done in autumn
Air Flow
This pit kiln has a typical teardrop design, dug out of the slope and forming an earthen mound lined with stone. Two flues are built half-way up into the walls and a metre away on each side of a central outlet chimney; all help regulate the flow of air, and control the heat.
Insulation and Drainage
15cm below the floor, a hidden subfloor of split cedar logs was laid across the width of the pit. This subfloor had two purposes: to act as an insulator for the ground heat, and to drain moisture and volatile acids toward the central chimney in order to be burned out.
The Process
The charcoal maker would light the fire at the narrow front opening, and then give his full attention to the burning. At the beginning white smoke would pour out the flues and it would take the day to get the kiln going.
A large tub of water would have been kept nearby in the event that a fire broke through the dome. If it did,water and more sand-clay mixture would be used to repair the leak. As the temperature in the kiln rose, moisture and volatile acids would be released from the logs, and the entrance way would be closed except for a small air intake.
The charcoal maker would judge the conditions in the kiln by observing the four stages of carbonization, revealed by the colour of the gases coming out the flues: white, yellow-white, blue and finally translucent. A slight odour of alder wood – not smoke – would be the sign to end the smoldering by covering the air intake and the three flues.
With all oxygen cut off to the kiln, carbonization would be complete. After one or two days’ wait to make sure the fire was out, the kiln was ready to be opened. The charcoal would then be removed, packed into rice sacks for market and taken down the hill to be loaded onto boats in Active Pass.
A century later, charcoal is still widely used, for barbecues, filtration, odour removal, art materials, smelting, soil enhancement and even as an ingredient in cosmetic products.
