Greetings!

Welcome to the November 2022 SGI Greens newsletter!  The much-needed rain is finally back, and we have lots to report from the EDA, an interesting gardening blog from Gary and Nancy, and some local events of interest.  Please read on….

Notes from Elizabeth

Hello SGI Greens!!

To those of you who voted for me to become the new Leader of the Green Party of Canada, thank you!! To those of you who did not support me, thank you for sticking with us as we rebuild this party! To all Greens, it is time to pull together.

The last three years have been tough.  We have gone from a healthy organization with over a million votes and millions of dollars in the bank, to one that limps along. Now is the time to vote with your pocketbook (or likely your credit card) and register your renewed support for the Greens with a substantial donation.  Not everyone can afford to donate the maximum. But if you can, please consider doing so before December 31, 2022 here.

My co-leader candidate partner, Jonathan Pedneault, is now Deputy Leader. Decisions to move to co-leadership remain in the hands of the members.  Whenever we hold the next AGM we will, working with others, take on the preparations for the Constitutional change to co-leadership. Jonathan and I have already reached out to all the other candidates in the leadership race. We are committed to building on the momentum of the race and moving ahead as a team.

We have a new Executive Director, Kevin Dunbar, who actually lives in Saanich-Gulf Islands. And we have a new President, former Young Green, Ian Soutar.

The mood is great – positive and optimistic. And that is so much due to you, your loyalty and support!

Hope to see you at the AGM on Sunday!!

Elizabeth 

Saanich-Gulf Islands EDA report

The Saanich-Gulf Islands EDA congratulates Elizabeth May and Johnathan Pednault for their excellent campaign for co-leadership of the GPC.

Our party was fortunate to have six such accomplished candidates for this important position.

The skills of all six were evident in the campaign and we hope that they will continue to bring those abilities and experience to our party as we renew our dedication to this essential party.

It is time for us to all work together with our new leaders and executive members and make this party once again a strong presence in our Parliament.

Dan Kells, CEO

In Memory

Our heart goes out to Bob Mackie with the passing of his beloved wife Dona following a long illness.  Bob is a former SGI executive board member and recent Federal Council representative for British Columbia and he has contributed so much to the federal and local Greens over many years.  Our thoughts are with Bob, his family and all who loved Dona in this difficult time.

The SGI family lost another cherished member when John Levey passed away suddenly last week.  John was the Financial Agent for Elizabeth’s campaign in the last federal election.  Our love and condolences go out to John’s wife Shelagh, a former SGI executive board member and an active volunteer for SGI Greens over many, many years, and to their family and many friends. John was an avid sea kayaker, a gentle and generous soul.

Annual General Meeting: November 27th (SGI-AGM)!

The SGI AGM is coming up soon, and we have been emailing, phoning and mailing SGI members to let you know the details.  The AGM will take place on Sunday, November 27th at 2 pm, and details including registration can be found here. We have lots of great speakers lined up following the brief AGM!  The event is open to members and non-members alike although only members can vote on motions.  Please join us – we have both in-person and virtual options to attend!

Donations: Year-end reminder:

It’s that time of year again when people plan their year-end gifts.  We welcome your gifts with open arms! Donation options can be reviewed here under the Donation heading or you can donate directly here.  Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Equipment and supplies organizer:

SGI is looking for someone to help keep equipment and supplies organized in a storage locker on the Peninsula.  The locker contains supplies required during election campaigns and more importantly everything we need to host events in general.  Do you love organizing things?  This could be for you!  Please contact saanichgulfislands@greenparty.ca for more details.

Young and younger Greens – this could be for you:

Calling all young(er) Greens!  We are looking for Young Greens (ages 14-29), or younger Greens (30+)  to join our volunteer team, specifically to help with social media.  Our volunteer base is slowly aging and we welcome younger voices and skills. If this interests you, please contact us here.  We are hoping for a small team of enthusiastic young(er) Greens who would like to help us improve our online presence.  With gratitude.

Gardening with Gary and Nancy

By now you are probably tired of us talking about soil –when are we going to start talking about plants? The other day we heard an indigenous soil scientist talk about how eating plants is simply a way for our bodies to gather the minerals and the nutrients we need from the soil (as well, of course, the energy we need that ultimately comes from the sun). In a way, plants are a conduit. However, that assumes that soils are healthy and able to provide the minerals and nutrients plants, and we, require. Picture the endless miles of raped farmland throughout the agricultural world from which we get our produce and grains that are barely surviving on the petrochemical industry. Is that what you want to build your body with? No wonder we have the league of illness and disease in our society today.

If we had to do what nature does to keep the health of its communities in balance, it would be impossible. But yet that is what industrial agriculture is trying to do. Even in our gardens, we are not able to just let nature take its course. However, we can look to nature to guide us along a path to healthier soils, healthier plants and healthier bodies for us. Nature seldom struggles with this. It simply keeps the ground covered in plants and generally does not disturb the soil. But even nature has exceptions to these principles!

In our gardens, this is the time of year we “put them to bed”. But why are we doing that? If we look around, everything is still green. The leaves from trees and the less hardy annuals have mulched the ground protecting it from the heavy winter rains and covering the store of seeds for the spring. Can’t we mimic this in our gardens? It took us a few years to get a good handle on winter gardening, but really it is a challenge of timing rather than of having a “white thumb” for gardening in the snow. By interplanting the winter crops into your summer garden (usually in late July or August from transplants) you will have food through the fall, into the winter, and then again early in the spring. Crops like lettuce and spinach can also be planted in September and last until a killing frost and even beyond if they are protected. In this way, we keep feeding the micro and macro-organisms in the soil that are key to mineral and nutrient transport. The plants provide them with the sugars they need to survive and in return, they provide plants with the minerals and nutrients they require, provided that they are in the soil to begin with. If we let the soil go bare of plants, what are these organisms going to feed on? Of course, during the winter activity decreases and many of these organisms will die, go deep into the ground or go dormant. But if we keep plants growing, many will remain active. The challenge is to keep plants growing in the garden.

If you are like us, you will not be perfect at this. For example, this year we didn’t finish with our tomatoes until a week ago and a bed of beans we kept for seed didn’t come out until early November. This was much too late to plant a cover crop and even some of the cover crops we sowed in late October didn’t germinate for one reason or another. So what can be done with these empty beds? We could have (and should have) sowed a winter cover crop under the tomatoes in September. Now all we could manage was to cover them in a thick layer of compost and hope that that would provide some food for the soil over the winter. We also cover all of our beds with cloches which keeps them from getting saturated (and beaten into concrete) by the rain and keeps them a bit warmer all winter long. So in the end, we either have beds that are actively growing food, beds that are covered in a winter cover crop (e.g., rye, oats, clover), or beds that are covered in compost. By taking our lead and adapting what is done in nature, we hope that our soil and the life within it is as healthy as possible, rewarding us with food that is as healthy as possible so that we can remain as healthy as possible. We wish the same for all of you.

Gary and Nancy Searing

Honeysuckle Cottage

Regional information

North Saanich

Saturday, November 26 (9:45 am – 1:00 pm): The Greater Victoria Green Team will be returning for a second visit to Patricia Bay Park in North Saanich to continue removing Himalayan blackberry. Info & sign ups can be found here on their Meetup page.  To learn more about other upcoming events in View Royal, Colwood and Mystic Vale, click here.

All ages, abilities, backgrounds, and experience levels are welcome! We will provide training, tools, and gloves for volunteers. There will also be snacks!

This activity is a  great opportunity for you and other community members to spend time together, outside, meet new people, and make a real difference in the community by taking care of nature. Giving back to these local parks fosters an incredible sense of connection to the people and places involved.

Saanich: Gordon Head

PKOLS (Mount Douglas Park) 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 26
9:30am – 12:30pm PKOLS (Mount Douglas) Beach Parking Lot

• Opening of new beach stairs by the Mayor of Saanich
• Unveiling of five new interpretive signs at Douglas Creek Bridge
• Tree planting session by volunteers (tools to be provided)
• Photo Contest winning entries on display
• Information booth, trivia wheel, refreshments, and more!

Pulling Together

Volunteering is a great way to create community connections, make new friends, and stay positive. Pulling Together, Saanich Municipality’s program to eradicate invasive species from public areas, has all that plus the added benefit of being outdoors, staying fit, and making a measurable difference to the ecological health of our parks. No equipment or experience is needed. Click here and scroll down a bit for a list of the Pulling Together opportunities in the coming weeks.

Saanich: Saanich Municipality Climate Action Guidebook

Learn about climate change and how you can take part in building a climate-friendly future!

The Residents’ Climate Action Guidebook.pdf will help you:

• find out how big your personal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are
• set your own climate target
• make a plan to reduce your climate impact and prepare for our changing climate

If you would like to keep up to date about the Resilient Saanich Environmental Policy Framework register for the Climate e-newsletter that delivers the Climate Quarterly and EV Updates for news and events for input on electric vehicle initiatives and planning efforts in Saanich.

Saanich: Naturescaping

Trying to naturalize/nativize your garden? Don’t know where to start or got stuck along the way? This document is what you’ve been waiting for! Learn the Naturescaping principles of environmental stewardship, habitat protection and restoration, biodiversity and water conservation in Naturescaping in Saanich, written with our region in mind.