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Salt Spring Island farms burst with new life

Gail Sjuberg
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Salt Spring Island farms burst with new life

Spring is here, and on Salt Spring that means it is time for farms to start welcoming baby animals.

Windsor Farm is home to at least 49 babies, with a few more on the way. Most of the infants are lambs, as the farm takes in lambs for bottle feeding from farms across the island, and raises some of their own.

They are also expecting a second litter of piglets which could bring their total to over 60. Besides the typical livestock animals, Windsor Farm is also home to birds, dogs, cats and even gold fish.

“One of our friends keeps asking me ‘How many heartbeats are on your farm this week?’ It’s a lot,” said Sheila Windsor. “I just love animals and I’ve always wanted them. Now I have a lot of them.”

Windsor and her husband Darryl bought their farm in 2009, and have been raising animals ever since. They have stuck with the typical livestock animals: cows, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens.

Baby goats and lambs run free all over the farm, bouncing off of trees, rocks and anything else they can find. Mothers sit in the sun waiting for their babies to calm down and come to them for a quick meal. The bigger animals can also get a bit out of control, especially the goats.

“The goats ate all of my French tarragon, so I had to buy some more yesterday. Now the garden is double-fenced,” she said. “Where water can get through, a goat can get through.”

The goats may have gotten their taste for French spices from the gourmet menu that all of the animals get to eat. In addition to their feed, they are fed scraps from organic food producers on Salt Spring.

“They eat very well. When they see the truck coming they perk up: ‘What do we get today?’ Mama pigs are especially partial to Yorkshires on Monday morning.”

Windsor Farm is a commercial operation, but the island is also home to hobbyists who raise animals for both food and companionship. Mitchell Sherrin and his family welcomed two new lambs back in January. His flock does not follow the schedule that’s typical of a farm. Rather, the animals are left to their own devices.

“They have a pretty awesome life. We just let them go where they want to go. They have it all figured out. They lamb when they want to lamb,” he said.

The Sherrin family enjoys being able to eat food that they grew themselves. They also have a small garden, an orchard and a flock of chickens that helps keep them fed throughout the year.

Springtime is a busy time for farmers on the island. With new life popping up everywhere, it is easy to see why it is also one of the best times.

“They’re a lot of entertainment,” said Sherrin. “It’s just kind of fun.”

For more on this story, see the April 3, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Artist Mark Lauckner reaches eco-milestone

Elizabeth Nolan
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Artist Mark Lauckner reaches eco-milestone

Sometime last week on Salt Spring, artist Mark Lauckner would have melted his 250,000th pound of scrap window glass at The Glass Foundry and transformed it into his iconic coastal giftware.

Lowering the environmental footprint of a wasteful industry has been a preoccupation ever since Lauckner first started making glass work in the early 1990s. A quarter-million pounds of glass that would otherwise have gone into landfills has now been made into beautiful items like starfish, seahorses and slugs.

Lauckner has succeeded admirably at changing a resource-heavy craft into one that has a positive impact. He has done this not just by diverting hundreds of tons of material from waste but through creating and promoting an energy-efficient furnace that glass artists are replicating free of charge all over the world.

“When I first got into glasswork I realized how wasteful it was of resources,” he said. “It’s kind of like race-car driving, where you can have a hobby like that where you put huge amounts of technology and fuel and energy and money into a past-time that you do for a short amount of time and then it’s over for that month. And I was kind of appalled at glass-blowing. To melt 100 pounds of glass I was going through about 40 pounds of propane … I wanted to get off propane and try electric designs and that’s when I realized, wow, this is costing me a fraction, and it’s safer and cleaner.”

“The main reason that I did it was I wanted to have glass-blowing equipment that was ecologically responsible, I guess,” Lauckner added. “I wanted it to be energy efficient and I wanted it to be responsible, so the recycling.”

Lauckner lived on Mayne Island for 30 years before moving to Salt Spring with his family around five years ago. He is now finishing up his 24th-annual firing cycle, which typically takes place from October through March and sees him keeping the furnace hot for 10 days or more, per month, during that period.

Glass Foundry blown and cast glass giftware objects are a now familiar sight at island shops and galleries that focus on local crafts. Lauckner’s recycled glass giftware can be found at more than 75 shops. Unique art glass is sold at his home gallery, which is part of the Salt Spring Studio Tour. He also produces speciality items such as the Salt Spring Chamber of Commerce “Salty” award trophies, and makes souvenir castings of wolf paws for the Northern Lights Wolf Centre in Golden.

At the moment the foundry produces 30 different objects in 12 different colours, amounting to 10,000 items a year. The design menu is fairly consistent because, Lauckner explains, he doesn’t have time to add anything to the line.

“If I make something new I have to discontinue something,” he said, noting one of his newest molds dates back to 2012.

All of that finished product requires a lot of base material, and Lauckner goes through 5,440 kilos (12,000 pounds or six tons) of glass each winter. He said most professional glass blowers will not work with recycled glass because it’s imperfect and bubbly, but he has stuck to the process throughout.

The furnace that melts Lauckner’s glass uses an eighth to a tenth of the energy of a regular glass furnace. He wanted to move away from the traditional gas-powered model almost immediately after starting the craft and soon developed his own design, improving things over four previous prototypes before arriving at the current electric model. It has no combustion and therefore no carbon emissions, and can melt 90 kg (200 lb) of glass a day. Based on Lauckner’s workload, that’s 16,330 kg (36,000 lb) of CO2 that has not entered the atmosphere each year.

For more on this story, see the April 3, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Swing Shift stages library gig

Driftwood Staff
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Swing Shift stages library gig

Islanders are invited to celebrate spring with a unique fundraising event at the Salt Spring Public Library.

On Saturday, April 13, starting at 7 p.m., beloved local Swing Shift big band will set up at the circulation desk while people can “boogie among the books, mamba in the magazines, shake it in the stacks – just move however you want with big band music right in the library,” explains a press release.

“We will shove the furniture aside to make room for 80 lucky people to dance to the lively 17-member band.”

Led by music director Derrick Milton, Swing Shift plays music from the big band swing era and enhances the program with well-known Latin, pop and funk tunes. People will hear music by Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Horace Silver, Eddie Harris, Arrow, Weather Report, Benny Goodman and more. Band members will also sing a few tunes to take listeners back to the days of Frank Sinatra and Charles Trenet.

“When you need to catch your breath, you can enjoy a complimentary drink and refreshments,” the library adds.

Funds raised by this event will enrich the library’s collections and services, and support its ever-increasing array of free programs.

“We are proud to be a community-led library, and look forward to this opportunity to share an evening of music, dancing, laughter and friends.”

Library doors will open at 6:30 p.m., with dancing from 7 to 10 p.m.

Tickets are limited and available at the circulation desk.

Logging opponents step up action

Elizabeth Nolan
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Logging opponents step up action

Islanders who are trying to stop large-scale clear-cut logging on Salt Spring are stepping up their game by making their appeal for action at the provincial level.

A group of concerned neighbours and residents sent a letter this week to multiple provincial ministers asking for a temporary halt to logging on a 45-acre Beddis Road property and that government provide the Islands Trust with the tools and support it needs for forest ecosystem protection. Islanders are also coordinating a local branch of Forest March BC taking place in many communities this Saturday, April 6. The event calls for forestry reform and a more sustainable industry.

Salt Spring’s march starts at the public library at 10 a.m. and progresses to Centennial Park after a few speakers and some music.

Peter McAllister, one of the neighbours of the Beddis Road property, said not much activity has taken place at the site since the Dec. 20 windstorm, which redirected foresters to clean-up work. But he believes the issue is of pressing concern for the entire island.

“Hundreds of parcels all over Salt Spring may be completely clear-cut from boundary to boundary while the Islands Trust takes no responsibility and our Local Trust Committee turns a blind eye,” McAllister said.

The March 28 letter asking for provincial help was sent to Premier John Horgan and the ministers of Municipal Affairs and Housing; Environment and Climate Change Strategy; Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development; Agriculture and Health, as well as Saanich North and the Islands MLA Adam Olsen.

“We are turning to you for support as we believe the Province of British Columbia is empowered to oversee the conduct of the Islands Trust and has a responsibility to ensure its mandate is achieved,” the authors state. “We also believe your government has the power to put in place a temporary stop on commercial tree cutting.”

A legal opinion provided to the Beddis neighbours by Allen/McMillan Law Corporation in January views that situation as a simple violation of Land Use Bylaw 355, based on the fact the property is zoned as agriculture and rural, not for forestry uses.

“The Land Use Bylaw designates certain uses which are permissible in those zones, and states that no other uses are permissible. By contrast, ‘forestry uses related to the production and harvesting of timber’ are only permissible in parcels zoned for forestry,” a letter from the law practice states.

“Far from being powerless to stop the logging on the parcel, the SSILTC can stop the logging by simply enforcing its own bylaws and declaring that the logging operations are an unauthorized use of the parcel under its present zoning.”

The legal opinion was sent to the LTC in January and was raised at their Jan. 29 meeting by Jean Wilkinson during the town hall session. McAllister said they have still not received a formal reply.

Speaking at that meeting, LTC chair Peter Luckham said the Trust has received different legal advice. He added the committee had received many pieces of correspondence about the issue and was sympathetic to residents’ concerns.

For more on this story, see the April 3, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

CRD budget for Salt Spring outlined

Contributed Article
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CRD budget for Salt Spring outlined

By GARY HOLMAN

Salt Spring CRD Director

The CRD Board approved the 2019 Salt Spring Island CRD budget at a special meeting on March 20.

The CRD budgeting process is comprised of two steps: a provisional budget approved by the CRD Board at the end of the previous calendar year, and a final budget approved in March of the current year, in this case 2019. While the CRD Board has final approval authority for Salt Spring’s provisional and final budgets, they are effectively based on recommendations by the CRD director. 

Provisional 2019 Budget

The CRD 2019 provisional budget, put forward by former CRD director Wayne McIntyre and virtually all of which I supported, included a requisition of $6.385 million (including the Capital Region Hospital District or CRHD portion), a one per cent increase over 2018. The most significant change in the provisional budget was a requisition decrease of $250,000 for the Salt Spring Transportation Commission resulting from the “sunset” of funding approved by voters in 2014 for the North Ganges Transportation Plan. 

The large decrease in the SSTC requisition substantially offset other requisition increases, including: approximately $50,000 for a local engineering technician; $30,000 for an auxiliary PARC project coordinator; $30,000 for Salt Spring’s share of increased transit costs; $30,000 for an additional, half-time librarian; $20,000 for the Community Economic Development Commission as Salt Spring’s share of the newly established Gulf Islands Destination Marketing Organization; a $16,000 grant-in-aid budget increase; and CRD wage and salary increases affecting all CRD services.

Final 2019 Budget

In addition to the above provisional budget changes, based on commitments I made in my election platform, public feedback (including that from my public budget presentation on Jan. 22), and recent events such as winter storms and vandalism in Ganges, I recommended some other requisition additions which have now been approved by the CRD Board, including: a $15,000 additional grant-in-aid increase; $10,000 to re-establish funding to examine the feasibility of possible new CRD services (collapsed by electoral area directors in 2018); $4,000 for Search and Rescue; $7,000 for Salt Spring’s Emergency Program; and $6,000 for CRD bylaw enforcement in our local parks.

In total, I recommended an additional requisition increase of about $43,000 over the provisional budget. In addition, there have been some requisition changes at the CRD Board level, which I also support, for example for climate action, affordable housing and First Nations reconciliation.

These changes result in a final 2019 requisition on Salt Spring of $6.446 million (again including the CRHD), an increase of 1.8 per cent over 2018. This means a total requisition cost per “average” parcel or household on Salt Spring of $971 in 2019, or about $81 per month.  This compares to a Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase of over 2 per cent and an average Salt Spring property assessment increase of 10 per cent (roughly the same as for the CRD as a whole).   

Non-Tax Requisition Costs and Revenues

The above summary includes only the annual property tax costs of CRD services at the regional, sub-regional and Salt Spring levels. It does not include tax requisitions for area-specific services on Salt Spring, such as water and sewage treatment utilities, which totalled approximately $357,000 in 2019.

Nor does it include user fees to help recover the costs for area-specific services at the swimming pool, for liquid waste disposal and for Saturday market vendors.

The above summary also does not include over $200,000 in annual transfers from the CRD’s Solid Waste Division to support residential recycling on Salt Spring.

Also not included are gas tax transfers from the federal government (earmarked primarily for infrastructure spending) of roughly $600,000 per year. It appears that the federal 2019/20 budget substantially increases gas tax transfers for this fiscal year, the details of which are to be confirmed.   

Current and Future Debt Servicing Costs

Part of the annual CRD tax requisition covers the carrying costs on debt for island-wide services such as the swimming pool, library and our Burgoyne Bay liquid waste disposal facility, which together amount to about $580,000 per year.

Salt Spring also contributes to the carrying costs of construction cost debt for regional or sub-regional services in which we participate, the most significant of which is about $930,000 annually for our share of the Capital Region Hospital District’s borrowing costs. 

Over time, debt will be retired, but new investments will also be needed. For example, on Salt Spring, $2.9 million in debt for the Rainbow Road swimming pool will be repaid by 2021, resulting in carrying cost savings of $190,000 per year. However, part of these savings must be diverted to reserves for capital repairs and eventual replacement of this facility.

There are also other important investments in public infrastructure, funded by new borrowing (that must be approved by voters) and also by gas tax transfers. I will provide more details on Salt Spring’s debt and capital spending in future reports.   

A detailed summary of 2019 CRD tax requisitions can be found by searching for “financial plans” on the CRD website (www.crd.bc.ca) or people can contact me with any questions at directorssi@crd.bc.ca.

Join the second annual Greening Salt Spring campaign

Gail Sjuberg
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Join the second annual Greening Salt Spring campaign

The last of Salt Spring’s brutal winter’s snow has finally disappeared from the roadsides and ditches, revealing all the trash that has accumulated over the winter months.

We’re hoping islanders will once again join the Driftwood and our Streets of Salt Spring columnist DW Salty in heading out on island roads, streets, pathways and beaches to rid them of garbage and recyclables.

Last year’s inaugural Greening Salt Spring campaign had such a big impact that the Driftwood is spearheading the effort again in 2019. We invite individuals, families and groups to commit to cleaning up a section of the island between now and Earth Day, which is April 22.

We’d love to be able to acknowledge everyone who does their part, no matter how small, so ask that you send an email to the Driftwood’s “green queen” Elizabeth Nolan at enolan@gulfislandsdriftwood.com with your name and what area of the island you plan to clean up. You can also call her at 250-537-9933, respond to our Facebook post asking for volunteers or drop in to the office at 328 Lower Ganges Rd. to share your info in person.

New this year for people signing up is free garbage disposal provided by Laurie’s Recycling and Waste Services. People committing to clean up a particular section of road or street will be given a Driftwood-created tag to identify themselves as a Greening Salt Spring participant when they drop off the garbage they have collected.

Thank you to Nancy and Laurie Hedger for offering this service. It was their idea!

We are also hoping to give clean-up participants the option to donate funds from the recyclables they pick up to a green island charity. More details will be provided once we have them. As well, stay tuned for more info about an Earth Day Ganges clean-up blitz organized by the Chamber of Commerce.

Having spent a few hours cleaning part of my neighbourhood road last year, I have a couple of tips to share. For managing the multitudinous small items — like candy bar and soya sauce wrappers and cigarette butts — it’s useful to carry a small bag to pop them into. Larger garbage bags can carry the recyclables. You don’t want to mix the true trash and the recycling in one bag. Yuck!

Bigger stuff like car parts might best be dealt with separately so your bag doesn’t get too heavy and break.

Footwear is also a consideration. Even if it’s sunny when I head out this year I will be wearing my gumboots. Last year my hiking shoes got wet and grossly muddy when I had no choice but to hit the ditches to reach some of the trash.

This goes without saying, I’m sure, but don’t forget your gloves!

Viewpoint: Year-round shelter sought

Contributed Article
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Viewpoint: Year-round shelter sought

By Reverends Chris Levan, Gyllian Davies and Chas Belknap

As this letter is being written,  it is the last night for Salt Spring Community Service’s Extreme Weather Shelter. As of April 1 the users of the shelter will have to find space in the bushes and in the parks.

Several concerned citizens (many of whom are members of local churches)  are attempting to put together a coalition that will secure and renovate the Salt Spring Metal Recycling site at 251 Fulford-Ganges Rd. for use as a friendly space and year-round shelter for people who are living in the rough. We have yet to put in an offer. We do not have the cash at hand nor has a not-for-profit yet agreed to take ownership of the property.

Not to be discouraged, we have a  plan:

• Recruit a working coalition who have local contacts and experience in project developments.

• Gather conditional pledges equal to the asking price for the property, $800,000. Funds raised over the final purchase price will go toward the rehabilitation of the property and associated costs.

• Identify the not-for-profit that is interested in taking possession of the property for our intended use.

• Write a business plan that will identify the real estate development and future operating costs, along with the sources of funding.

• Once the conditional pledges are deemed substantial we will negotiate a purchase contract. The contract will have to be for “asking price or appraised value, whichever is less.”  When we use public funds the price always has to be limited by appraised value.

As the conditions of the sale are being met, the pledgers will be asked to fund their pledges in accounts held temporarily by churches and other non-profit agencies who can legally manage such funds and issue tax-deductible donation receipts.

After the sale closes, the property will be renovated for its new use.

There are of course issues of zoning, water and sewer connections. A cursory investigation gives us hope that these issues can be solved. The site has a three-quarter-inch water supply, there is a possibility of connecting to the public sewer system and the site is zoned for industrial use.

We are convinced that it is possible to raise the funds we need on Salt Spring Island. An hour after we casually proposed the project to one group we had over $40,000 in pledges. This is a project whose time has come.

If you are interested in making a conditional pledge, or volunteering for the coalition, please email chas.belknap@gmail.com.

At this time we are collecting pledges for $1,000 or more.

Editorial: Spring cleaning

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Spring cleaning

For the second year in a row, the Driftwood is spearheading a Greening Salt Spring clean-up campaign.

In the next three weeks leading up to Earth Day on April 22, we encourage individuals, school classes and groups of any size to head outdoors and commit to ridding island roadsides and beaches of trash. Because we want to give recognition to those who participate and feel the collective accomplishment of the island being cleaned up, we ask that you let us know what road or area you intend to tackle. Last year’s inaugural effort saw some 60 individuals and groups plus three schools contribute. We hope to top that number and cover even more of the island this year.

The Chamber of Commerce is also planning an Earth Day Ganges clean-up blitz, and lots of volunteers will be needed for that effort as well.

There are several good reasons to undertake an annual community clean-up. Wildlife and pets can become ill from ingesting items like cigarette butts or bits of plastic they may mistake for food.

Quite obviously, garbage just looks repulsive, whether to residents or visitors. And people prone to littering are more likely to do it if they see an area has already been despoiled.

The issue of plastics in our marine environment has made headlines in recent years as more is learned about the scope and impacts of the problem worldwide.

According to the non-profit Plastic Oceans group, an estimated eight million tons of plastic makes its way into the planet’s oceans each year. Marine life becomes ill or dies after eating plastic assumed to be food, and plastic ends up in the food chain and is ultimately consumed by seafood-eating humans too.

Plastics in all forms and sizes constitute a significant amount of Salt Spring’s roadside and beach litter and it’s easy to see how its migration to the ocean can be prevented by regular clean-ups. While reducing or eliminating the use of plastic is the only ultimate solution, ensuring plastic doesn’t get into the marine environment is the second-best action we can take.

Laurie’s Recycling and Waste Services has offered to cover the disposal cost of trash collected in this year’s Greening Salt Spring campaign, so that’s one more reason to sign up. Contact Elizabeth Nolan at enolan@gulfislandsdriftwood.com or drop by the Driftwood office to get your name  on the list!

VINE, Christine

Driftwood Obituary
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VINE, Christine

Christine Vine
1945 – 2019

Our much loved and greatly missed “Chrissy” passed away in her sleep in the early hours of March 3, 2019, after a long illness.

Chrissy is survived by Roger, her husband of 54 years, son Stephen (Devon), daughter Samantha, grandsons James, Connor and Maclean, granddaughters Kayla and Connie and great-grandsons Jacob, Waylon, Jasper and Dayne, also, her sister Carol and extended family in the U.K.

She remains forever in our hearts and minds.

PERRY, Valerie Ann

Driftwood Obituary
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PERRY, Valerie Ann

Valerie Ann Perry
25 July 1931 – 22 March 2019

Valerie passed away at Greenwoods Eldercare. She is survived by her loving long time partner Tom Thomas and her sister Jacqueline Gilbert.

Valerie was born at Stourport on Severn in Worcestershire, England. She always had a love of the arts, music and needlework. She loved movies and would make her own clothes copied from the styles of the time coming out of Hollywood. Valerie met and married Les Perry, they moved to London where she went on to become a dressmaker and designer. She and Les spent some time in Nigeria where the people had never seen a person with flaming red hair and they were quite fascinated and wanted to touch her hair to see if it was real. Val and Les eventually emigrated to Canada and settled in Edmonton where she went to Secretarial College. After a few years they moved to Victoria and she worked at the University of Victoria. It was at this time that the marriage dissolved. Valerie decided that the time was right for a change, she had always wanted to get a university education, so she returned to Edmonton to attend the University of Alberta. Valerie was able to get a job at the university bookstore while obtaining a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education degree. Valerie fell back on her secretarial skills to become Executive Secretary in the university president’s office. It was here that Valerie met and fell in love with Tom. Val and Tom lived in Edmonton until retiring to Salt Spring Island in 1994. Tom and Valerie built their dream home here on Salt Spring where every morning they enjoyed waking up to the lovely view over the strait to Galiano Island. Valerie was a longtime active volunteer with Lady Minto Thrift Store and the Seniors for Seniors.

Valerie is greatly missed by Tom and Jackie and all her friends here on Salt Spring Island. A special thank you to all the wonderful staff at Greenwoods and to Dr. Mommsen-Smith for your care of our Valerie.

A celebration of life to be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, a donation to Greenwoods Eldercare would be appreciated.

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