I was 15 when I first started learning about climate change and the Kyoto Protocol. It was an exciting time, albeit slightly frightening. If my generation was the one to make our world a better place, we sure had our work cut out for us. At the same time, however, I couldn't help but feel inspired by the groundwork that was already laid. Young leaders like Severn Cullis-Suzuki were taking a stand in front of international audiences and important international policy was taking shape to guide the way. Or so I thought.

Some 12-odd years later it is 2011 and the Kyoto Protocol is about to see its end. Reading news headlines proclaiming the fall of Kyoto, it's difficult not to feel a pang of nostalgia for the hope that accompanied its initial development. With our current Environment Minister avoiding any future Kyoto-type agreements like the plague, what is a young eco-minded person to do? Where do the answers lie in addressing this very real issue? 

According North Cowichan at least, the answers are in our hands and in our own backyards. The Federal government may have decided that we no longer have to set an example, or even do our part as a country to address climate change, but local government  is taking a different approach. 

From Charlotte (Hometown: Quebec, Quebec)

The CWY Nampula-Cowichan program will end pretty soon, too soon. We are now done our GMO project and are created a documentary about public opinion concerning GM food. Opinions have been quite varied and we are very happy with the participation of all those who consented to help us in this project. 

The office is getting ready for Christmas, which makes us really happy and Richard experienced his first snowfall (may I remind you that in Mozambique, where Richard comes from, there is no snow…).  Even though for me, who is used to Quebec winters, this is nothing… But I have been told that the snow is very different than Quebec’s snow… 

It is not my first time living in the Cowichan Valley. I was here from January to March of 2009 with another youth program: Katimavik. One day, I’ll have to come back during the summer and then I will truly have experienced Duncan. There is no more gardening going on, as Winter is on its way, but it doesn’t make our days less busy or less interesting! Everything that happens makes us discover, learn or laugh! 

Over the course of the past two months, CGC’s Seed Literacy Team has had the opportunity to bring our Seed Stories presentation to four communities within the Cowichan Valley.  Kicking off in Duncan, and touring our way through Lake Cowichan, Mill Bay and Ladysmith, our team has had the chance to not only share a history of seed saving of the Cowichan Valley, but also learn from the knowledge and experiences of our audience and guest presenters.

We’d like to take a bit of time to share some of the highlighted facts and ideas that emerged from these workshops.
 

Once again, CGC has had the good fortune of hosting two amazing Canada World Participants as volunteers: Charlotte from Quebec and Richard from Mozambique. Not only do they

 bring with them great enthusiasm, but also warm smiles and wonderful stories about their travels. Read about their experiences working with CGC so far:

 "We have been here for a month and a half. We have done many things, including learning about GMO’s (genetically modifed organism) and the importance of labeling foods with GM ingredients. In Duncan a petition has been circulating in support of Bill C-257, which would help people to know if their food contains GMO’s, by requiring GM foods to be labeled. For example, in jam, if there is a fruit that is genetically modified, it has to be written on the label. 

A message from the Cowichan Green Community Board of Directors:

Judy Stafford, Executive Director of Cowichan Green Community Society, is running for municipal council in the City of Duncan. The CGC Board wishes its membership and the larger CGC community to know that, in our capacity as her employer, we support Judy Stafford's political aspirations, but in keeping with our commitment to remain non-partisan, we are not able to officially endorse her candidacy. CGC wishes all candidates luck and we will continue to work effectively with Duncan City Council and other local governments, no matter which candidates are elected.

In the midst of a last-minute packing flurry for a 5 day visit to Toronto, I stopped to consider what an incredibly different environment I was about to enter.

Here I was, on Vancouver Island, with a decades-old hazelnut tree gracing the centre view of my kitchen window and my house backed by a forest full of salal, mushrooms and berries. Not to mention the Cowichan River, whose heady flow would soon be full of salmon, lay just a short walk away. I made a joke to my roommate that instead of sweaters and shoes, I should be filling my suitcase with nettle and licorice fern. I wouldn’t even know where to begin to find such locally commonplace items in a natural resource lunarscape like Toronto.  

With the launch of our Seed Literacy Campaign, the Cowichan Green Community (CGC) is interested in hearing your stories of seed saving.  Whether anecdotes of seed saving successes, conundrums, tips or practices we want to hear about your experience.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a seed saving novice or an expert, tell us about the first seed you ever saved, or the seed variety that you are most proud to have saved. 

The goal of sharing our stories is to create a forum which can inspire the community to build their knowledge of and their capacity to save seeds.

To start things off, I thought I would share my first seed saving experience.

The first seed that I saved was a marigold seed.  At the age of seven, my father Dave took me on a walk around our yard and taught me how to collect the dried seed heads, how to open the seed pods and how to ensure that the seeds were properly dried before storage.  My father, an intuitive gardener, had taken it upon himself that year to cultivate in me an understanding of the lifecycle of plants and the significance of gardening.  I remember spending hours at our picnic table mulling over the seeds as they dried in the sun and asking endless questions about the names, colours and origins of the seeds we had saved.

As he toured me around his five greenhouses, Dan Ferguson of Dragonfly Farms, kept handing me kale leaves to munch on. "This is the first cut," he added. "It's so crisp and flavourful." As if I needed any encouragement. I was already so excited just to take a moment out of my day to tour his farm firsthand and to understand the intensive labour and skill it takes to grow and harvest his beautiful salad mix.

Despite the cool start to summer, I was amazed to see how well his tomatoes were doing in the greenhouse, tucked neatly under black plastic and slowly working their way up string supports. There were pepper seedlings and more kale in raised beds outside.

What struck me the most perhaps was Dan's excitement to show off his farm. Though he has been in the business for many, many years, it seemed to me his joy in growing food had not waned one bit. Like a proud father, Dan even showed me his new flock of guinea fowl chicks, tucked into a corner of the barn.

Dan's non-certified organic kale, salad mix and spring onions were served up at Cowichan Green Community's AGM on Tuesday evening. The kale was sauteed and served in a warm pasta salad with currents, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The mesclun mix was tossed with peppers, cucs, nuts and cheese for a delicious, fresh salad. The spring onions went into our egg salad.

We are grateful to Dan for donating his produce to our event. The food was thoroughly enjoyed by all those who attended.

Last Saturday officially marked the start if the growing season as Duncan celebrated its 3rd Annual Seedy Saturday hosted by Cowichan Green Community (CGC) at the Mercury Theatre. Throughout the day, 700 people came, which is more than double last year’s event! This shows a serious interest in growing local food in the Cowichan Valley.

This event was especially exciting for the amazing variety of organic seeds and vendors that ranged from our valley’s grass-root seed savers to established organic seed companies as well. This year featured seed companies from Seeds of Diversity to Seeds of Victoria with Carolyn Herriot and The Zero-Mile Diet to Kristi Tomlin of Ceres Edible Landscaping.
Of course, CGC wouldn’t leave out the fun for our future farmers! Local food vendors, Farms’ Gate Catering, and Depot Dogs were cooking up a storm to ensure that everyone was well fed, children enjoyed interactive planting activities, and everyone was amazed by local artist Caulen Elder’s Live Art. One community member, Todd Geshe, said "events like Seedy Saturday generate hope and positivity. Right now I feel proud to be a part of this community."

If you missed this great day, don’t despair! CGC now has a community seed exchange table, and is encouraging all you green thumbs to bring your own organic seeds or cutting sprouts to be amazed with what you can trade.

This year’s Seedy Saturday event was an amazing community-based event and CGC encourages everyone from small container gardeners to large-scale growers to get their gardens growing!

 

Since the start of the weekly lunch program at Quamichan Middle School, the Farm to School program has served over 400 local food lunches, created 13 tasty lunch menus and sourced products and produce from 23 Cowichan Valley farms.