All-natural, biodegradable beauty products from Rocky Mountain Soap Company!

Women of Victoria raise your make-up brushes! I am so impressed by how many women are searching for more natural options to cosmetics and bath products. After learning that my favorite go-to drug store cosmetic line includes mercury (horrors!) in their mascara, I too, am on the hunt for better, greener, more natural products.

Rocky Mountain Soap Company has an amazing selection of bath and body products from foot butter to a complete skin care line. Their company is based in Canmore, AB and is a completely Canadian company. Their products are all handmade and natural and, as such, contain no parabens, pthalates, petrochemicals or sulfates. Rocky Mountain Soap Factory provided free lemon grass hand soap for use at the festival. The lemon grass hand and body wash (called “Alpine Air”) has a very fresh, clean scent, perfect for both men and women. (Mayfair Mall also uses this line of soap for their public washrooms, so next time you are there, head to the loo and try it out!). The friendly staff at the booth let me try out some of their fabulous Foot Butter which is their number one seller this summer. If you have dry heels, I definitely suggest picking some up! You can find Rocky Mountain Soap Company in Mayfair Mall, or at the Sidney Market on Thursday nights if you like your shopping to be outdoors.

Nezza Naturals also has a great selection of personal, household and cosmetic products. The hottest seller at the festival was their all-natural sunscreen. I tried a quick sample and am definitely going to head to the store (#101-3 Fan Tan Alley) to pick up a higher SPF (so popular they ran out – what a great sign!). All natural sunscreen is a great option as many people, especially children, are allergic to the chemicals in commercial lines.

An eco-friendly, all natural hand sanitzer from Nezza Naturals

All of Nezza Natural products are hand made locally on Galiano Island. And, becuase they are natural products you don’t have to worry about parabens or pthalates. I was really excited to see an all natural hand sanitizer, tea tree oil face wash and aluminum free deoderant. Also, for all you make-up lovers, Nezza Naturals carries a full line of cosmetics including eye-liner, mascara, eyeshadow and lipsticks in their store in China Town.

If you aren’t convinced your make-up is bad for you, check out Environmental Working’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database which rates your favorite brand on a hazard scale of ten – I was shocked to learn what my old products contained. Once you’re convinced your cosmetics need a green-haul, swing by Rocky Mountain Soap Factory and Nezza Naturals to stock up your new favorite bath, body and cosmetic products!

Their model is straight-forward.  Based on the San Patrignano model of a therapeutic community, Woodwynn Farms accepts, at maximum, 12 people at a time to develop personal and employable skills on their farm.  Additionally, these individuals are provided with shelter, food, and legal assistance.  According to Woodwynn Farms, this holistic approach aims to encompass “all areas of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being of the person”, with hopes to help these individuals to change their lives.

If you’re looking to buy local produce while helping to combat our social issues with homelessness, Woodwynn Farms is a great place to go.  If you want to get involved with this innovative social project, Woodwynn Farms lists several ways to do on their website, which includes volunteering.  If you thought eating locally was considered ’social’ enough, the amazing people behind Woodwynn Farms really show how much further you can go.

Woodwynn Farms exhibit - photo taken by Eric Leong

The Green Building and Development panel

The Green Building and Development Forum heated up this morning, with Gord Baird, JC Scott, Doug Makaroff, John Gower, and Elke Cole, as panelists. Each of these speakers brought a unique perspective to the green building debate but all of them universally emphasized one thing: make your house a home – not an investment. Make your house beautiful. Love it and it will last for a long time.

JC Scott explained 100 mile design and using local products. He asked the audience to consider if building materials are made from renewable resources, if they are extracted responsibly, if they can be recycled or are recycled and if they are energy efficient. Gord Bard followed with a personal experience of building an eco-home, explaining that a house should be in harmony with its surroundings, and resources should flow between the house and the local ecosystem. Elke Cole and John Gower both explain that natural building is about conscious decision making and that sustainable design will involve new measures of what it means to be happy. Doug Makaroff spoke of building with forests, rather than building over them.

Lastly, the panel advocated that green building isn’t necessarily about cob, earthen homes, or even solar panels and wind power – it’s about making a difference with what you have.

After the Sustainable Transportation Forum, I thought I might look into some of the alternative forms of transportation parked right here at the festival. I set out to investigate Dr.Bjorn’s car, run almost completely on vegetable oil, and the CHFCA’s  fuel cell car, parked just outside the entrance. Both, as it turns out, can be fueled by waste.

Dr.Bjorn's Auto, showing a car that has been converted to run on vegetable oil

Dr. Bjorn showed me that a diesel engine can easily be altered (or in some cases, does not need to be altered) to be fueled by vegetable oil. The best part of this is that the car can be run on waste oil from restaurants after a simple straining procedure. This is not the same as biodiesel – the oil does not go through a chemical conversion process as it would for diesel. A vehicle that is run on vegetable oil rather than diesel can reduce particulate matter emissions by 30 – 50 % and these cars are simultaneously 30 – 40 % more efficient than a gasoline engine.

A few minutes later, I had the chance to jump in the back of the fuel cell car as a back seat driver in a test run. The fuel cell car can be fueled on hydrogen that is the byproduct of other chemical processes; Canada produces over 200 000 tonnes of this waste hydrogen per year. Alternatively, the hydrogen can be produced from a number of renewable energy sources including solar, hydro, wind, wave, or geothermal. Hydrogen is carbon-free and non-toxic; a fuel cell car emits only water and heat. The particular model at the festival can get roughly 300 km for a tank filled to 5000 psi.

I asked the test driver what he thought of the car. He answered, “Feels great to drive! Reminds me of driving a hybrid.” The car nearly seemed to float on air with only a gentle refrigerator-like hum.

Both Dr.Bjorn’s Auto and the Fuel Cell Association of Canada are available for questions at the Organic Islands Festival or you can visit their websites below:

http://www.drbjornsauto.com/

http://www.poweringnow.ca/

The extremely knowledgeable and always helpful Devon (featured in the video below) manages their non-profit partnerships and  was on-hand to talk about the coffees they were brewing up. I sampled the dark roast (I think it was Columbian) which set me straight for the rest of the morning.

If you’re a coffee drinker, and why wouldn’t you be, make a conscious decision to vote with your dollars and uphold your values by drinking a coffee that is fair trade, rich and delicious.

Written by Chris Burdge: bWEST

I’ve enjoyed watching their success since last years festival as well as contributing to it with our share of lemongrass and pumpkin patch soap purchases. I’ll let Scott correct me in the comments if I’m wrong but I believe he has attributed a fair portion of their success to involvement with the Organic Islands Festival. If fact Rocky Mountain increased their level of sponsorship this year to “Organic Supporter” giving them this nice prominent booth near the main entrance.

Be sure to stop by the booth and say hello to Scott, Kazuyo and Joveena who’s visiting from their Edmonton store.

Written by Chris Burdge: bWEST

Roy and Wanita Moody from Sunset Bay Honey Farm

One of the easiest things you can do to green-ify your diet is to swap out the condiments in your kitchen for eco-friendly ones! You use these items everyday and they’ll taste so much better than your store-bought stuff you’ll be doing your taste-buds (and the environment) a huge favour.

Spice Up Your Life

Swap out your spices with a healthier option from Victorian Epicure.  With a selection of over 190 spices, recipe selections and cookware it just makes sense to try out what they have to offer! Founded in 1991, Victorian Epicure is a local Victoria based company dedicated to social corporate responsibility. Environmental stewards, Victorian  Epicure’s Home Office is located on about 80 acres of an agricultural land reserve. On their property Victorian Epicure dedicates themselves to protecting the fragile Garry Oak ecosystem and bald eagle habitat. They also have an extensive recycling and waste-management program and print most of their materials on recycled paper. Buying spices from a local company just makes sense when you know they make a positive impact on your town. Make sure you stop by their booth at the festival and pick up some of their tantalizing barbecue rubs (montreal style chicken, citrus fish and peppery beef & steak) for easy grilling at home!

Sweeten Out Your Summer

Replace that store bought honey in your pantry with the good stuff from Sunset Bay Honey Farm.  Sunset Bay honey is local, fresh  and best of all  – pesticide free. Wanita and Roy Moody harvest their honey on hills overlooking Cowichan Bay. The remote location assures the excellent quality of their honey. Bees, apparently, are foragers (who knew!) and will fly approximately two kilometers from their hives to collect pollen; basically this means only remote honey farmers can guarantee that their bees are not collecting from plants that have been sprayed with pesticides. The Moody’s are confident that their honey is a high quality product due to the remoteness of their farm. Wanita Moody also makes soap and an all natural bug repellent from the excess beeswax. Stop by their booth at the festival and pick up some smooth, golden honey!

Duancey was accompanied by Elizabeth May of the Green Party, who spoke about the need for policy coherence between all three levels of government and the benefits of mass transit for a number of social groups. Sue Hallack followed May with an explaination of a corridor strategy, which would increase transit, cycling, and pedestrian infrastructure on major routes in the Capital Regional District. Several other speakers provided statistics on transportation and on the economics of sustainable transportation. The alternative forms of transportation discussed truly were endless: electric tricycles, ride-sharing, cycling (electric and manual), light rail, pedestrian traffic, electric vehicles, solar airplanes, biofuels and many more.

And if you have a doubt about the changing face of transportation, why not take a stroll down to the valet bike parking? There you’ll find just under 100 reasons that change is on the horizon and the golden era is on its way.

Quince and Vanilla jelly - photo taken by Eric Leong

When you Google “quince”, one of the first few search engine suggestions is “quince how to eat“.  A fruit that resembles a fuzzy pear, the quince tree is grown widely on the Island; unfortunately, not many people know what to do with it, since it tastes bitter when eaten raw.  Luckily, for me (and all others who find themselves searching “quince how to eat”), there are a couple who know how to prepare it, one of whom is the Valhalla Farm Herbs N’ Things, an exhibitor at the Organic Islands Festival.

The Valhalla Farm is located in Duncan, in the heart of the Cowichan Valley.  The owners, Pat and Henri Andersen, both came down to Saanich to attend the Festival for the 5th year in a row.  Their exhibit was a fascinating apothecary of jellies, jams, and herbs, and Pat had a set of jellies for patrons to try.  I glanced at the names on some of the jars – ‘Black Fire’, ‘Roasted Plum and Cicely’ – and my curiosity simply couldn’t resist: I had to try some!  I tried one called ‘Garlic and Dragon Fingers”, and I was nearly taken aback with the

Garlic and Dragon Fingers jelly - photo taken by Eric Leong

spiciness.  It immediately reminded me of the food from Southeast Asia, where my family roots are.  When I asked Pat what ‘dragon fingers’ were, she told me that they were a variety of Thai peppers, and they’re grown locally on their farm.  No wonder, I thought to myself.  The taste is so similar to the chili sauce used in Southeast Asian cuisine that it could potentially be used as a great ‘100 mile diet’ substitute!

My tongue was looking for something sweet to resolve the spicy taste of the jelly, and my eyes fell on the ‘Quince and Vanilla’.  Pat and Henri told me about the quince fruit, and its tart taste discouraged many from trying to eat it.  What a pity that is, because the ‘Quince and Vanilla’ jelly tasted absolutely delicious.  Henri mentioned that, while eating it from the tree may be distasteful, boiling and cooking a quince fruit will truly reveal its flavours.  I tasted zero bitterness in this jelly and, combined together with the vanilla, it tasted like the fond honey sticks I had when I was growing up.

Pat and Henri will be here at Organic Islands for the whole weekend if you want to try this out for yourself.  You can also visit their website to see  their other products and great recipes to cook with their jellies too.

Valhalla Farm exhibit at Organic Islands - photo taken by Eric Leong