Welcome to the September 2022 newsletter of the SGI EDA (Electoral District Association) Green Party! September always seems to arrive unexpectedly, with “regular” activities resuming in full force, the gardens needing different attention and hopefully, some lovely sunny skies continuing. We definitely could use some rain, and the sun has disappeared behind wildfire smoke. With any luck, we will get a good downpour followed by a few more weeks of warm weather before the winter rains start in earnest.
In this edition, we have a reminder of the upcoming Green Party of Canada leadership contest and associated requirements for membership in order to vote, information about the accomplished SGI scholarship winners, September gardening advice from Gary and Nancy and more!
From the Saanich-Gulf Islands EDA:
Green Party of Canada Leadership Contest
The GPC Leadership Contest has officially begun and contestants have been announced.
Members in good standing will be eligible to vote in this contest. Please note the following deadlines for voting eligibility:
September 14, 2022: Deadline to Become a Member and Vote in Campaign Round One
October 19, 2022, 11:59 PM Pacific Time: Deadline to Become a Member and Vote in Campaign Round Two.
Further details about the leadership contest, dates and voting are available here.
You can check your membership status by logging in or creating a new login here. You can also send an inquiry via email. We strongly encourage you to confirm your membership status well in advance of the deadlines above. Please note: Donating to the GPC or your EDA does not automatically confer membership in the party – membership is a separate step requiring your authorization. The membership application is here.
Donations to the GPC during a leadership contest
A leadership campaign is an excellent occasion to consider optimizing donations, since a maximum donation of $1,675 is allowed to one or more leadership candidates (e.g. the total donations to all leadership candidates cannot exceed $1,675) in addition to one’s regular donation to the federal party and $1,675 directly to one or more EDAs. Should you be in a position to consider enhancing your donations, they will be received with gratitude – and a tax receipt! The donation rules are listed on the Elections Canada website.
The Contestants:
You can learn about the fabulous contestants here, and there is a donation link on each person’s profile. We encourage you to stay connected with the GPC and your local Greens in order to learn of opportunities to meet these interesting people in person or online. In addition, the Saanich-Gulf Islands Greens EDA publishes a weekly newsletter every Sunday morning and “Good Sunday Morning” will feature submissions from each candidate weekly. If you do not already receive GSM and would like to do so, please contact us.
SGI EDA Civic Engagement Scholarships
Every year at school graduation time, Elizabeth May and the Saanich-Gulf Islands Green Party EDA recognize students within our Electoral District for their civic engagement. The seven local secondary schools choose a recipient whom they believe has shown exemplary commitment to effective citizenship. They have improved our world through their volunteer activities. The value of the scholarship is $500.00.
It was wonderful for the schools to be able to host awards ceremonies this year. Elizabeth was able to present awards at Parkland, Stellys and Claremont Secondary schools. Dan Kells, CEO of the SGI EDA, provided congratulations to the recipients at the other schools.
The Recipients Are:
Wishva Kosgoda, Mount Douglas Secondary
Sophia Coopman, Stelly’s Secondary
Ellington Peacock, Claremont Secondary
Lily Griffore, Reynolds Secondary
Reith Humphries, Gulf Islands Secondary
Sarah Sigalet, Lambrick Park Secondary
Victoria Shaw, Parkland Secondary
Congratulations to all the winners this year!
And thank you to all our SGI EDA contributors who make it possible to run this program.
Special Event
Screening of the documentary Coextinction
Please join the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society for the first-ever screening in Victoria of Coextinction: No species goes extinct in isolation. Learn how the iconic orca is linked to the health of the BC coast in this award-winning documentary.
Wed, 21 September 2022
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM PDT
Vic Theatre
808 Douglas Street
Victoria, BC V8W 2B6
BC Greens News and Events:
The BC Greens will be hosting Convention 2022 online – “Together for a Healthy BC”. Registration details and agenda can be found here. Other upcoming events can be found on this page and new events are posted as they become available.
Gardening with Gary and Nancy
September in the Garden
As the summer comes to a close (already!!!), it is time to take a breath and determine what the next steps are in the garden. While we continue to harvest the bounty of our plantings and we store, freeze and preserve much of it for winter meals, we need to look toward winter and what we want our gardens to do all winter long. Winter gardening here is a lot like early spring gardening but in slow motion. If you haven’t already planted cole crops for the winter, there is still time to get them planted if you buy starts. We just planted lettuce and spinach, carrots and chard. And we are sure you could probably coax a few more late-season veggies out of the garden if you are inventive and use cloches or cold frames. Of course, we all know that garlic needs to be planted out later this month or early next month.
Even if you are not planning to plant a fall garden, it is important to keep your garden soil planted. It is the sugars produced by plants that feed the organisms in the soil which in turn bring minerals and nutrients to the plants. If the soil is bare, then the soil organisms are starved. So the key to healthy, rich soil is to keep it covered with plants. For beds where we do not plan to plant veggies in the fall, we sow clover and fall rye which grow quickly and cover the soil in no time. Not only does this keep the soil fed, but it also protects the soil from compaction due to the pounding nature of our winter rains. If we have a very cold spell during the winter, the rye may not survive, but that is totally fine. In the spring, simply cut the clover (and rye if it survives) as close to the soil as possible and cover the bed with a tarp or cardboard or something similar for a couple of weeks before planting. Then simply add compost and plant and your spring garden is off to a great start. We love planting overwintering cauliflower. There is nothing better than harvesting some beautiful, large, creamy white heads of cauliflower in April or early May.
If you have a greenhouse, this opens the door to a whole other world of winter gardening. The difficulty is not in growing the plants, but in keeping them from going mouldy due to the cool, moist conditions in the greenhouse. We have had some success using a fan to keep the air moving. Using a dehumidifier would be ideal, but seems a bit more than we want to do in a greenhouse. Of course, you could also heat a greenhouse, but that too is a bridge too far for us. We also like the challenge of growing more with less.
There is a lot of information available on growing fall and winter gardens in the Pacific Northwest (or in our case the Pacific southwest of BC), so if you want to get more out of your garden and haven’t had enough of gardening in our much too short summer this year, why not keep your garden going all year round?
Nancy & Gary Searing
Honeysuckle Cottage
Regional information:
Sidney Environmental Volunteer Opportunity
Saturday, September 24, 9:45-1 pm at Peter Grant Park in Sidney
Come help remove invasive plants AND plant native trees and shrubs along Reay Creek. It’s so rewarding!
Gordon Head:
Autumn Lantern Festival
Saturday, September 17, 2022
5:30 – 8:30 pm
Gordon Head Recreation Centre & Lambrick Park
Enjoy this neighbourhood outdoor celebration of light and community! Come dressed up with your own LED lantern creations or visit the lantern-making station for a small fee. Yes, there will be food trucks and admission is free! More details here.