Eco-Sense

Spring Workshops

Posted on March 8, 2018 | 2 comments

The MUD ROOM is now open with our first workshops of the spring season.

Resilient Food Systems with Fruit, Nut, and Berry bushes:

TWO DATES (Pick one): March 23 from 9am-noon or April 22 from 9am-noon
Explore the different food producing trees that are ideal for OUR climate and YOUR home and lifestyle. Presentation with Q&A to learn about fruit trees, nut trees, berries bushes, vines and support plants to create a sustaining eco-system to nourish the land, our bellies, and our souls. Answer such plant questions as soil types, water requirements, sun exposure, weather toughness, crop timing, pollination, guilds (what likes to grow together), and how to process, store, and eat.
Why… https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/03/02/590056872/from-almonds-to-rice-climate-change-could-slash-california-crop-yields-by-2050
Classroom session followed by a guided tour to see plants in action.
For anyone that wishes to hang around after the 3 hour class, bring your lunch and we can all sit and chat. Plant nursery will be open following lunch.
Book online with EVENTBRITE March 23. April 22
$20

Kohlrabi and greens

Last years new galvalume beds

Concrete Curvy Beds

Peas growing quickly

Raised Garden Beds and Garden Wash Stand for Compost Tea:

March 25 from 1-4 pm
Part 1: Learn about all the different raised garden beds used at Eco-Sense. In the Classroom, we explore the benefits of raised garden beds with discussion centered around:
- Concrete Curvey Beds,
- Galvalume beds,
- wire and textile beds,
- and wood.
Materials used, where to buy, construction methods, hoop covers, and the pros and cons of the different types. We also spend some time in the garden looking at the different examples and how they fit into the landscape. Information handout included. Note: Hands on building of garden beds is NOT part of this workshop.
Part 2: The Garden wash stand with compost tea production. In the Classroom, we will discuss all the wonderful features of this simple, affordable garden wash stand design that produces a steady supply of rich compost tea and a yearly harvest of worm castings. Then we move out to the garden to see one in action and together assemble a complete unit. This wash stand will be offered for sale ($350). If more then one person would like it we will draw names. Handout also inlcuded.
Book online with EVENTBRITE. March 25.
$35

Gooseberries

Autumn Olive bushes with PawPaws, gooseberries, and broad leaf Fresh Sorrel. Walnut in back ground.

Beautiful foliage

APRICOTS again… 100’s

Responsible Water Alternatives:

April 1 from 1pm-3pm
Gord’s most popular water presention for integrating greywater, compost toilets, living roofs, soil, landscape, and food systems in a changing climate. How to plan for extreme weather events of too much and too little water.
Book online with EVENTBRITE. CANCELLED! April 1
$25

Stay tuned for postings of more Eco-Sense Workshops:

Compost Toilets – for home owners and a separate workshop for regulatory officials (after June release date of the Essential Composting Toilet book)
Book to be published in June 2018
Rain Water Harvesting
Fermentation

If you would like to discuss hosting your own workshop for RADICAL LEARNING in the MUD ROOM please email Ann (at) Eco-Sense (dot) ca to arrange the details.

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Posted in Eco-Sense Updates

It felt like spring, and then it snowed… and then spring arrived again… and then this morning some more wet snow flakes. But it’s time. Time to open the nursery for our first spring sales for perennial edible plants.

With the arctic hitting all time warm records for February with temperatures ABOVE freezing and there is still no day light…is just nuts. Climate change is here and it’s happening faster than even the worst case scenarios. But what can we do? Planting food producing hardy trees is a great step… you can’t go wrong with this.

Farm schedule for sales of perennial edible plants:

When: Every Saturday this spring starting March 3rd from 10am-2pm.

Where: 3295 Compton Road, East Highlands, Victoria, BC

Details: Even if you are not buying plants you can still come out to have a look at chickens, ducks, gardens, earthen architecture, the Eco-Hut, or to just hang out and have a conversation with other people. If you don’t plan on buying plants, please park at the bottom of the hill and walk up. Please do not bring dogs as they are upsetting for our ducks and our dog Nina will go into show-off mode and start racing around. THANKS!

Parking is limited at top, so please park to make room for others beside you.

Discounts: For purchases over $500 there is a 10% discount. If you are planning a larger order you can also book a private appointment. ann@eco-sense.ca or gord@eco-sense.ca

Plant list: We have lots of new plants and many varieties of apples, plums, pears, cherries, walnuts, hazelnuts, currants, berries, hostas, persimmons, mulberries, chestnuts, apricots, nitrogen fixers, tea, kiwis, bamboo, grapes, peaches, Sichuan peppers, and many bare root plants. All of our listed prices include GST. Here’s our list:

Queensland Blue winter squash – yummy and rich. Good baked, boiled, in soups, in loaves, and even in smoothies.

Other items: We have some eggs, squash, garlic (for eating or planting), and cover crops (yellow and green peas).

Eggs from heritage chickens…different sizes and different colours. Beautiful dark orange yolks.

See you on Saturday.

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Posted in Eco-Sense Updates

What’s Happening?

Posted on February 21, 2018 | 1 comment

What’s happening at the Eco-Sense homestead? LOTS!

OUR FIRST BOOK. We have been heads down most of the winter writing our first book; Essential Composting Toilets published by New Society Publishing. A very timely topic given the rising awareness of water both locally and globally and the desire by many for increased resilience. Writing a book is a HUGE time commitment that seriously restricts cash flow and many other basic tasks. It’s a good thing we don’t actually have to buy much food. Final manuscript is due mid March with publication happening a couple months later.

Cover Image emailed

The Eco-Sense Perennial Edible Plant nursery is scheduled to begin the spring season on Saturday March 3rd from 10am-2pm. We had hoped to open sooner, but with the freezing weather, there is no point. The nursery is well stocked with new plants that are just arriving. We have brought in lots of large bare root trees as many people are planting larger trees to get their food production happening sooner rather than later. Here’s our up to date plant list with prices…and remember all prices INCLUDE the 5% GST.

Our Friends Tayler, Solara and Flora have left Eco-Sense and moved to a walkable neighbourhood in the City where they operate their landscaping business Hatchet and Seed. This move left us wondering…what to do with all that space? We have come up with a creative solution.

Welcome to the…

MUDroom UNBOXED

We have turned this beautiful space into an inspirational place for meetings, workshops, and presentations for RADICAL LEARNING.
Radicle Learning Contact ann@eco-sense.ca for booking information. Full details can be found on a new link on our blog. https://eco-sense.ca/the-mud-room/.

The MUD room with the gorgeous table that Gord built out of scraps of wood. We can sit 10 people at the table or remove the table and set up seating for 15 to watch a video presentation. Kitchen is well set up for food workshops.

Art Work: Our cob walls are adorned with artwork created by the very talented David Baird (Gord’s Dad). Gord has inherited his dad’s creativity. Check out David Baird’s site here. I continue to be blown away by the beauty and quality of his carvings. All of the pieces displayed in the MUD room are for sale.

Please share this information with people in your networks who teach courses or give presentations and who may be looking for a unique and special place for RADICAL LEARNING.

Eco-Sense workshops: In the weeks ahead we will be posting a series of workshops and presentations. Feel free to SHARE YOUR IDEAS with us. Feedback is welcome.

Thanks.

That’s it for now.

Winter Lemons at Eco-Sense

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Posted in Eco-Sense Updates

Responding to the Urgency of Climate Change

Posted on October 17, 2017 | Leave a comment

Saanich Councillor Vic Derman sent his memo “Responding to Climate Change”, to Ann two weeks before he passed away in March 2017. I asked Vic if I could also use it in a submission to Highlands council with Highlands specific recommendations. He responded with “Please feel free to use the letter as the basis for what you submit to Highlands Council.”

At the time it was decided that Highlands would wait until it first appeared on the Saanich agenda and then go to Highlands. Then Vic unexpectedly passed away and everything was understandably on hold until after his life celebration. :(Then it was delayed for other reasons…then it was delayed until after the Saanich bi-election…then I decided to move forward with it as it had been 8 months since his passing. Vic wanted it out there and for his memo to be useful and inspire action. His memo to Saanich references the appendix he wrote for climate actions which is not yet a public document…That is for Saanich to make public and I hope they do.

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Saanich councillor Vic Derman Passed away in 2017

Given that his memo is now 8 months old and that myself and Councillor Gord Baird were using it as an introduction for specific recommendations here in the Highlands in our own memo, we felt it was prudent to run Vic’s memo by a climate scientist for “informal review”.

There were four edits to the text which are highlighted in RED below. The most significant change was in paragraph four where Sea Level Rise (SLR) is discussed. Vic originally said that a near 3m SLR could result by 2050-2060 and this was changed to end of the century. 3 meters by 2050-2060 is not fully supported by the scientific literature, however, it it discussed by climate experts as within the realm of possible. We thought it would be prudent to stick with more generally accepted numbers which are already catastrophic as we are currently witnessing.

RATIONALE

Climate change poses an ever growing, potentially critical, threat to human society and all species on our planet. At the climate change talks in Paris, politicians established an ideal goal of staying under 1.5 degrees C rise in global temperature and recognized that, at an absolute maximum, global temperature rise should be kept under 2 degrees C rise. While laudable, these goals are not realistic without a very dramatic acceleration of our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Last fall, the CRD held a Forum of Councils on climate change. Several knowledgeable climate experts confirmed that we have already put enough carbon in the atmosphere to guarantee a 1.6 C rise, likely in under two decades. This means that limiting temperature rise to 1.5 would require sucking massive amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere. Doing so would be very expensive, if it could be accomplished at all.

Furthermore, as we move to the 1.6 C increase, natural feedback loops such as methane release from melting permafrost will contribute at least an additional .3 C rise. A recent article in the journal Nature indicates that the contribution of these natural feedback loops may have been underestimated. To sum up, we are, very likely, already effectively committed to a rise of 1.9 degrees or more, very close to, or beyond, the 2 degree C absolute maximum. Best estimates suggest that accomplishing the GHG mitigation commitments established in Paris, which most nations are not yet on track to do, would result in an increase between 2.5 to 3.5 degrees C. That is very risky and very dangerous territory.

More rapid sea level rise is one, but only one, of the potential consequences we face if climate change is allowed to follow its current trajectory. A few years ago, generally accepted estimates indicated a maximum sea level rise by 2100 of about 33 centimetres or 1/3 of a metre. By 2015, these estimates had been revised to indicate a rise of about 1 metre. Recently, study of West Antarctic ice shelves revealed potential deterioration at a much more rapid pace than expected causing researchers to suggest sea level rise of 2 – 3 metres by century’s end. (Vic is referring to this study http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v531/n7596/full/nature17145.html) A three metre rise, would be catastrophic and would eliminate, or put at severe risk, many trillions of dollars of assets.Protecting them would be extremely expensive if it were possible at all. Concurrently, society would face a huge influx of “sea rise refugees” as low lying coastal areas were inundated or became otherwise unlivable.

Even if a 2 – 3 metre sea level rise occurs less quickly, severe environmental damage will almost certainly result from a temperature rise exceeding 2 degrees C. Unwisely, we are doing substantial damage to our planet’s life support systems. Equally alarming are the potential fiscal and social impacts. A recent article suggests that attempts to control ocean albedo and “save” the arctic by using technology to “re-freeze” could cost about $5 trillion. This is an enormous amount of money, but is only a small part of the economic costs of responding inadequately to climate change. It is completely false to suggest that we cannot afford to respond to climate change. Instead, it is clear that we cannot afford to not respond.

As to social consequences, a society with hundreds of millions of refugees that also faces problems such as substantially “re-working” agriculture is unlikely to be stable. Unfortunately, it is much more likely to be modelled on the four horsemen of the apocalypse. It is difficult to believe that we would allow such an outcome to happen.

We are severely mortgaging the future of today’s children and those who follow. I doubt any of us would consciously choose to deny these children hope for a decent future but that’s exactly the consequence of our failure to adequately respond. We need the kind of massive, focused effort that society demonstrated in World War II, if we are to having any hope of avoiding the worst that climate change has to offer. Without question, there is a need for much greater action on the part of federal and provincial governments. However, collectively, actions of individual cities and municipalities are at least as important. Hopefully, Saanich and its Council will become true leaders in the massive, focused effort needed in response to the challenge we face. The time we have to respond is becoming very short.

RECOMMENDATIONS

That Council commit to much more aggressively reducing GHG emissions (At least 80% reduction by 2040) and commit to establishing clear targets and “milestones” necessary to insure such a commitment is accomplished.

That Council consider adopting the need to respond aggressively to climate change as the #1 priority in its strategic planning and that Council then work with staff to establish a climate change lens that insures decisions will be shaped by that priority.

That Council direct staff to design and present to council a program of actions necessary to accomplish Council’s much more aggressive commitment, targets and milestones. (A description of potential actions is included as appendices)

That in an open letter, Council copy this report to the Prime Minister of Canada and the Premier of British Columbia as well as to other relevant federal and provincial politicians along with a very strongly worded request for much more aggressive, focused federal and provincial action.

Councillor Vic Derman

Below is the resulting memo from councillors Gord Baird and Ann Baird presented to Highlands council on Oct 16, 2017. Link

Since Vic’s passing in March, the climate has continued to heat up with hurricanes, wild fires, and floods in a relentless and unprecedented scale. Millions are displaced and traumatized, with entire islands obliterated, and many have died. Many will never recover. It has become a moral imperative to act.

Building upon Councillor Derman’s memo, and our recent participation at the Livable Cities Forum, we would like to suggest that Highlands council take the urgency of climate change very seriously. Highlands is very well positioned with policy and tools to make decisions that reflect the extreme urgency of the climate situation. Our Highlands Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) has two excellent sustainability tools; the Decision Making Framework DMF (page 24) and the Appraisal Form (AF).

Sustainable Highlands Decision Making Framework (DMF): Currently we have policy II-110 requiring the DMF to “be used to analyze operational plan items brought forward from council’s approved Strategic Priorities” AND the two page DMF states right at the top that this tool can be used “to help assess any type of action, (plan, action, project, research, procurement, practice new or old) by using the Sustainable Highlands sustainability framework to inform decision making.”

Highlands Sustainability Appraisal Form (AF): Currently we have Policy V-3506 that requires “all rezoning/OCP amendment applications be required to fill out…” and this form “may be used in other instances.”

The red highlighted text explains where these tools can be additionally used with no need to change our existing policies. We suggest that:

Council members (and staff) look for opportunities to utilize these tools to better inform decisions that are deemed to have significant mitigation and adaptation implications.
Council considers forwarding items of significant climate mitigation and adaptation implications to SSSC and/or SLUSC to gather more perspectives when utilizing these subjective tools.
Council gives more weight to the information produced from the use of these tools when making decisions.

Additionally, the following recommendations arise from the Livable Cities Forum that both Councillors Baird attended:

Ann’s notes: http://www.highlands.ca/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/3679?fileID=4328

Gord’s notes: http://www.highlands.ca/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/3680?fileID=4329

That council direct staff to look into applying for a FCM grant to cover three integrated items and to report back to council with details, time frames, and costs if grant application is successful. A new staff member dedicated to working with consultants on creating and implementing adaptation, mitigation, and resilience plans. (FCM pays 80% Salary). (Remaining 20% to be included in 2018 budget discussions). Grant would also include funds to work towards the following:
- Create an adaptation and mitigation plan including a risk assessment.
- Commit to creating a policy stating these risks and what we realistically can and cannot do to mitigate these risks.
- A full municipal natural asset initiative (MNAI) to begin in 2018/2019.
That council direct staff to include a heading called Climate Change Implications in every staff report to council. (This section could include any of risk/ adaptation/ mitigation implications, or ICSP tools as appropriate. Even if staff leaves this section blank, this gives the opportunity for discussion at the council table.)
That council direct staff to write a letter to South Island Prosperity Project (SIPP) indicating that Highlands will only continue membership in SIPP if the constitution is changed to include the wording “promoting local economic resilience through the opportunities arising from mitigating and adapting to climate change” AND that the ideas of working towards a circular economy are embedded in the vision for SIPP. Council further directs staff to send this same letter to all the SIPP funding partners.
That council direct staff to identify and bring back to council ongoing educational opportunities that strengthen corporate fluency and awareness of climate change, risks, adaptation, mitigation, and resiliency, for both staff and council.

Respectfully Submitted.

Ann Baird, Councillor Gord Baird, Councillor

It was an interesting discussion at the council table. Recommendations 1 and 4 passed. Item 2 was defeated. Item 3 was changed to writing the letter to SIPP and funding partners but no mention of withdrawal from SIPP.