Vancouver Island Bees Threatened

Vancouver Island has had restrictions of the movement of bees and beekeeping equipment to the Island in place since 1990 to prevent the introduction of pests and diseases to our local honey bee population.

In 1997, an illegal importation of bees and/or equipment to Vancouver Island resulted in the introduction of varroa mite, which until that point had not been present on Vancouver Island. Since that introduction, the mite has spread rapidly and has caused significant damage to commercial and hobby beekeeping ventures on Vancouver Island.

In early May 2010, the BC Government Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, without appropriate consultation with Vancouver Island beekeepers and beekeeping associations, lifted the 20 year quarantine, opening Vancouver Island to introduction of diseases and pests which are present in the rest of BC and Canada, but as yet not present on Vancouver Island.

Please spread the word; I don't think that the general public, especially on Vancouver Island, is even aware of this issue, let alone the potential problems resulting in this lifted quarantine. Support the reinstatement of the quarantine, or at least extension of the original quarantine restrictions until appropriate consultation with key stakeholders has occurred.

My concerns regarding this move by the BC Government include:

1. Vancouver Island's food security is threatened through significant potential loss of commercial pollinators via the introduction of foreign diseases to our local honey bee population, which, so far has a unique disease profile that has been mostly successfully managed since the introduction of the quarantine 20 years ago.
   
2. This move potentially threatens other BC honey producers and commercial pollinators, as this year's (2009) winter die-off experienced on Vancouver Island (90% or more in most areas of southern Vancouver Island) has not been successfully explained: what if there's something that our population introduces to the Mainland as a result of the lifted quarantine?
3. Beekeeping has become much harder, both commercially and as a hobby, all over the world; why would we add complexity to the issue by introducing further pests and diseases to manage that Vancouver Island apiculturists do not currently have to manage?
4. I am deeply disturbed that a significant change to the status quo was implemented without communication or coordination with the key stakeholders involved. There was sufficient opportunity to introduce new bloodstock into the honey bee population under the original quarantine restrictions; why did the quarantine get lifted wholesale without any consultation with the appropriate groups involved?
   

Please visit http://www.cowichanbeekeepers.ca for further information on this issue, including contacts for the Minister responsible, as well as the NDP Agriculture Critic, who has created an online comment/petition form at http://www.islandbees.ca/.

And, just out of interest, May 29, 2010 has been declared "Day of the Honey Bee". Somewhat ironic, in my opinion.

Joys of the Harvest

Today's Harvest - Ingredients for Tomato Pepper Salsa

Yes, this is a lot of work. During the winter, you scour seed catalogues (online and in paper format), cruise the Seedy Saturdays, and pick out what you want to plant for the upcoming season (or maybe you were organized and patient enough to save some of your own seed from last year). Some stuff gets started inside and babied through until ready for hardening off. The rest get directly planted outside at the appropriate time. Gauging when that time falls is always a challenge with variable frosts and capricious early spring weather. Then you have to weed, water, prune, trellis, water, water and water.

But what magic! From a teeny, tiny little package of DNA and nutrients springs forth a new generation, ready to provide us with flavour, colour, gourmet delights and inspiration for art on many levels, sometimes within a matter of short weeks, others take the whole season or many years to bear forth with a result. And being in the garden really brings you in touch with the seasons, with all the critters that make their homes in your garden (the good, the annoying and the downright destructive, alike), and with the complexities of the soil from which all your plants draw forth their resources.

While the work involved in starting, growing, protecting and maintaining these plants so that we can at some point glean a harvest, and then of course the work involved in putting that harvest away in the freezer, canning jars, dehydrator or fermentation vessel, can be overwhelming, the returns of satisfaction, knowledge and pleasure are sure worth it!

Cowichan Beekeepers

Dave & I recently joined the Cowichan Beekeepers, in the hopes of one day having our own bee hives. We're no where near ready yet, but we've been participating in the monthly mentorship program, where participants go to each others' yards and have a look at the hives, learn about beekeeping and hive maintenance, problems & trouble shooting, and just to get hands-on experience with the bees. It's been a lot of fun; we're going to be extracting honey at the next mentorship event, so I'm really looking forward to that. You can see some of our photos here.

Not surprisingly, I've become somewhat involved with the group, and have set up a website for them at cowichanbeekeepers.ca.

If you're in the Cowichan area, and are interested, the Beekeepers meet on the third Thursday of every month (excepting December & January), for a brief business meeting, and we also have guest speakers on diverse & fascinating topics.

The Cleansing Power of Flame

We are now returned from our visit to Mom's, which lasted a little longer than expected. Dave did heaps of pruning, and wheel-barrowed loads and loads of manure from Lady's field to the veg garden, as well as moving loads and loads of compost in the same direction. He also dis-assembled the raised beds; we decided that it was too hard to use them given the amount of soil improvement still required. Besides, Dave couldn't use his rototiller in there with them.

I spent most of my time income working, plus helping somewhat with the yard work. Dave had a bunch of brush to burn, so we spent one day doing that. Then another day was spent searching for the source of some latex paint that poured down from the subdivision uphill from us and into the drainage ditch, straight through Mom's property. That was an exercise in futility.

Mom and I had a girls only trip into Victoria. We investigated a (new to us) sports store for Mom's curling equipment, where she purchased a new pair of curling shoes. Then onto Artworld to stock up on glassine bags for my art. Then we headed over to Winchester Gallery on Royal Oak to view a printmaking show, which was really excellent; lots of styles & techniques represented, from Canadian & international artists, historical and contemporary. We'd been to the Fenwick Lansdowne exhibit there at the end of 2007 which we both immensely enjoyed. For lunch, we decided to try the Italian deli next door, called Ottavio. They have a café beside their deli, specialty foods & bakery, which serves wonderful soup, salads, sandwiches, and a antipasto plate full of delicious deli meats and cheeses, olives and fruit. Mmmmmm! Too bad Dave decided not to come with us, he so missed out!! Off to Costco for stocking up, then we dragged our pooped selves back up the Malahat and collapsed for the evening.

We also made a little excursion up the hill (just off of Thain Road, which is the road that borders one of the sides of Mom's property) to the world's best chocolate, at Organic Fair. Check out their site - you can order online. I recommend the Chiapas if you like chocolate with kick. The bars are thick and rich, and you need about one square (savoured slowly) to satisfy even the strongest chocoholic cravings. They also make a lovely powdered hot chocolate, but beware - it's not the chemical, over sweetened stuff you get from the local store; it's hard core chocolate in a mug. Best made with whole milk or cream, if you can manage! Anyway, we had a very nice visit with the proprietor, who is also the chocolatier, and learned a little about their business. They're very interested in permaculture, and are in the process of setting up woody herbs and perennial food plants, along with an organic veg patch and free range, heritage breed chooks. Here's a little blurb from their website intro:

Organic Fair Inc. is an artisan crafter of exclusively organic, fair trade and biodynamic products. Many of our organic gourmet ingredients are sourced directly from the growers themselves. Our lovingly handmade products, grown by fairly paid farmers, offer tantalizing flavors and fragrances that all of your senses will enjoy.

We are passionately committed to making products that are good for the planet, good for people and good for your tastebuds in the most infinitely pleasurable way. We believe organic and fair trade should be both delicious and gourmet simply because they can be.

We grow many of our raw ingredients on our organic farm in beautiful Cobble Hill on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where you can drop by and visit us. From our dark chocolate bars to our spiced coffee and even our lip balm, they are all created right here on our farm. By us, for you.

So if you find yourself on the Island, and needing to have a foodie day, check out Organic Fair, along with other great foodie stops in the Cowichan Valley.

Anyway, we had so much fun burning the brush pile, we decided to finally tackle the, um, rustic sheds that were beside Mom's property. They were built when the property wasn't properly surveyed, and haven't been used in at least a couple of decades. They were smothered in blackberry vines, which, while we certainly enjoy blackberries for winemaking, were infected with some kind of rose-disease, and we didn't want them to harbour it in case it infected our raspberries eventually. Besides, they were so out of control and overgrown, the productivity was very poor, and it was hard to get at what berries were there. So we started by tearing down the doghouse at the end closest to the road, and piling the bits up on top of the blackberries at the other end of the shed line. Burning that was day one. Day two consisted of emptying and knocking down the other sheds. One of them wouldn't budge though; it was working towards falling, but was being pretty securely held in place by an old split rail fence. So we burned it in place. Was that ever a hoot! The flames ROARED! We were careful to keep it under control though; we kept the roof and sides wetted down to cool the fire, but not so much to douse it. Most of the wood in the sheds was cedar, so you can imagine how well (and hot!) they burned. You, too, can enjoy the cleansing power of flame:

There was lots of scrap metal and nails left over after the burn, so a couple of days later we picked over the ash for the bits and took a load to the metal recycler. Unfortunately, that was my downfall. I was stooping rather than squatting, and I then sat and worked on the computer for a few hours (I'd been income working in the evenings), which sealed my fate. I really pooched my lower back. The unfortunate thing is that I can stoop without any trouble and without pain until much later, and of course, squatting is comfortable, I just don't think to do it.

Deciding that being a lump wasn't good for my back (somewhat erroneously), Dave & I went to Victoria's Seedy Saturday event. The event was quite large, held at the Conference Centre right downtown, with lots of turnout, lots of vendors, and about 10 or so presentations during the day on various aspects of food gardening. We picked up some seed packets (I love the tomatoes from Two Wings Farm, especially their ghost cherry tomatoes, my all time favourite cherry tomatoes: they're translucent pale yellow with a delicate peach-fuzz, and such a beautiful delicate flavour). I picked up a salsa tomato ("Apple of Novi Sad") and a jalapeño pepper for my Aunt Jean's salsa recipe, and a heritage winter squash called "Marina di Chioggia" (Dave read online they're supposed to be delightful barbequed, and is a traditional gnocchi ingredient, as well as a wonderful pie squash) from them, too. We also picked up a couple of sunchoke (Jerusalem artichoke) tubers; yes, we know they become a weed, and yes, we understand they're not that palatable, but we wanted them for the perennial sunflower aspect. We're planting sunflowers, sunchokes, cardoon, poppies and hollyhocks in the burn patch, with the hopes that they'll all really like it there. So after a couple of hours of perusing & being jostled aggressively by backpacks and shoulders, my aching back and I decided to take Dave to Ottavio's on Oak Bay. He agreed - fantastic food. This time we also treated ourselves to gelato ... mmm. Mine was lavender (VERY lavender, almost too much for a full scoop) and Dave's was Panettone (which literally was Panettone; he'd been expecting a flavour, but it was actually bread made gelato - kind of a weird combination, but not bad).

So all that running around really knackered me - I spent the next three days in pain, flat on my back, recouperating. We came home Wednesday, delayed by those three days. But we came home to beautiful sunny weather and my first spring bulbs up: snow drops & a patch of gorgeous glowing golden crocus under the pear tree (I'll have to take a shot of that!).