The Green Scene » This year’s program

“The Zero-Mile Diet” Book Launch

justine leonhardt — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:33:07 +0000

It was after a brief introduction and an evocative performance of “Trouble In The Fields” by Caroline Venters that Carolyn Herriot took to the main stage for her presentation of “The Zero-Mile Diet: A Year Round Guide to Growing Organic Food.” Carolyn spoke to the sun-drenched but otherwise engaged crowd for 30 minutes about individual responsibility, going back to the garden, and how it is we alone who are responsible for what we are putting into our mouths, not only for the sake of ourselves but for those of the next generation who will inherit the world we are living in now. As inspiring as Herriot’s words are on the page, it is far more inspiring to witness the impact they had on the crowds of people that were attending the festival. At the book signing, some came to purchase the book, some came to congratulate, and some came to share their own excitement for the presentation and the ideas in the book. It is because of the motivation of people like Carolyn Herriot, and those that she inspires, that books like “The Zero-Mile Diet” and events like the Organic Islands festival are possible, and it is the sense of possibility and the things that can spring from it that have the ability, one day and every day, to change the world.

Engage the Change!

Chelsea Falconer — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:30:47 +0000

Jeremy Oaten engages the change by deciding to take shorter showers!

Today is a day to make some changes! One of the first tables you’ll see set up at the festival is The Change Tent, and it is definitely one you want to visit. Annalea and Brad are there from The Change to tell you all about local companies that are “Greener, Fairer and Truer.

At The Change Tent pick up an Organic Islands GREEN PASSPORT. This baby is basically a scavenger hunt through the festival exhibitors. Stop by the 12 tables listed, find out about that company, get your passport stamped and have a fun day in the sun learning about everything Victoria has to offer the green movement!

When you’ve traveled through all the exhibitors and your passport is fully stamped head back to The Change Tent to complete your final mission. Annalea or Brad will ask you what you already do, or what you are going to do to engage with the change and go green! They will take a video or photo (or if you are media-shy you can just tell them the old-fashioned way) and in exchange you will get a ticket to enter to win some fabulous prizes.

Jeremy Oaten was one of the first visitors to complete his GREEN PASSPORT. He was inspired to take shorter greener showers after visiting the Terasen Gas booth where he got a free shower-timer. His goal? The 5 minute shower!

So, while enjoying the festival make sure you pick up your passport from The Change Tent so you can be part of the movement too! The prizes you can win include:

- $1500 door prize from La Vida Eco
- Test drive the $1 million fuel cell car

And the following prizes donated by members of thechange.com

- Gift bag from thechange.com
- $20 gift card for ethicaldeal.com
- 2 gift cards for Spinnakers
- 2 bags of Fair Trade Coffee from Salt Spring Coffee
- Stainless Steel water thermos from Fairware
- 24 healthy cereal bars from Nature’s Path Organic
- 2 bags of Fair Trade Coffee from E
- $25 gift card for hip baby
- $20 gift card for ecoeverything
- Hand crafted wooden art piece from Clegg Woodcrafts
- An Eco-product from the good planet
- Foot butter and a 6 piece soap set from Rocky Mountain Soap Company
- 3 GB of online data backup from Swift Kick Computers.

Now go get those passports stamped!

(Also make sure you enter to win a green shopping spree for ethicaldeal.com while you are at the Change Tent and with some luck you might just score yourself some prizes!)

Start the “Movement”

justine leonhardt — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 01:45:27 +0000

“Once our personal connection to what is wrong becomes clear, we have to choose. We can go on as before, recognizing our dishonesty and living with it the best we can, or we can begin the effort to change the way we think and live.” – Wendell Berry

With “The Zero-Mile Diet: A Year-Round Guide to Growing Organic Food”, Carolyn Herriot’s greatest hope is to kickstart a movement: the “grow your own food” movement. As Herriot says, it is important to “make sure your neighbour is fed”, because when they are fed, you will have greater food security too. While most of us are detached from our food and the soil its springs from, the modern industrialized model of growing food has an impact that can be measured. Where our food used to be grown in healthy soil and ripened by the sun, it is now grown in depleted soil that is filled with a high level of pesticides. This means that many of the products we currently consume are low in phytonutrients, which are essential nutrients for good health and originate from the plant. It only takes a small step to begin, maybe a container plant of tomatoes, or even something larger that can feed the whole family. With this, the seed of sustainability is sown and the idea of food security becomes more achievable. After all, it is only the individual who can liberate food from the vise grip of industrialization and increase the quantity that is grown and consumed locally from 5% to something more substantial. “The Zero-Mile Diet” can represent the first step in changing the way that we think and look at food, and, in the long run, it can change the way that we live. Come hear Carolyn speak in person about her vision and passion for this movement on Saturday, July 10th at 2:30 at the main stage of the Organic Islands festival.

A tomato recipe for you:

Salsa Fresca

1 cup (250 mL) tomatoes (cherry or salad tomatoes are best)
¼ cup (60 mL) onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. (5 mL) jalapeno, seeds removed and minced
3 Tbsp. (45 mL) fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 lime, juiced
Salt and pepper to taste

Whirl the tomatoes in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Add the rest of the ingredients and leave to marinate. Stain off liquid and freeze as ice-cube-tray cubes or in plastic tubs. Perfect for the winter munchies.

Thank you to Carolyn Herriot and Harbour Publishing for recipes and information from “The Zero-Mile Diet: A Year-Round Guide to Growing Organic Food.” You can attend the book launch on July 10th, 2010 at 2:30 PM at the Organic Islands Festival in Victoria, BC.

Festival Program on Main Stage

Debra Morse — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:53:14 +0000

Saturday, July 10

**Click on Headings to go to Program Notes**

11:00 am - Old Time Fiddle Kids – Music

Kai and Lia are Grand North American and BC Champion fiddlers.

12:00 pm - Sustainable Transportation Forum

Guy Dauncey, President BC Sustainable Energy Association
Elizabeth May, Leader – Green Party of Canada
Sue Hallatt, Senior Planner, CRD
Irwin Henderson, President IslandTransformations.org
Special Guest: Musician, Jeremy Fisher, currently touring by bike with The Malahat Revue

1:30 pm – Hannah Georgas – Music

“Canada’s Hottest Indy Act”, Exclaim Magazine

2:30 pm - Carolyn Herriot, “The Zero Mile Diet” – Keynote Presentation

BC’s Organic Gardening Guru is launching her second book. Book signing will follow presentation.

Blogger Justine Leonhardt writes about Carolyn’s Ten Golden Rules for container and ‘lasgna’ gardening: click here to read.

4:00 pm - Karly Summers – Music

16 years old with big talent. One of the Finalists for 2010 Lilith Fair.

Sunday, July 11

11:00 am - Green Homes, Building & Development Forum

Anne and Gord Baird, Eco-Sense
Doug Makaroff, Living Forest Planning Consultants
Elke Cole, Natural House Designer, Builder and Educator
J.C. Scott, eco Design Gallery
John Gower, Gower Design Group
Brandy Gallagher, O.U.R. EcoVillage

12:30 pm - T. Nile – Music

“Best New/Emerging Artist” Canadian Folk Music Awards

1:30 pm - Raw Foods Forum

Clive Langton, Raw BC
Jennifer Wear, J & J Living Raw

2:30 pm - Shane Philip – Music

“Exuberant Excellence” Monday Magazine

3:30 pm - The Sirens – Music

Caroline Tanner on Banjo, Lisa Feeney on Mandolin, and Jamie Elliott on the guitar a Victoria based bluegrass group creating beautiful harmonies on new and different instruments.

Some Golden Rules

justine leonhardt — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:39:02 +0000

While container and lasagna gardening can make the idea of growing your own vegetables a lot more doable, the amount of knowledge that comes along with even beginning can be overwhelming too! In “The Zero-Mile Diet: A Year-Round Guide to Growing Organic Food”, Carolyn Herriot provides us with 10 of her golden rules for growing great produce. Today, I am going to share a few of those with you.

Herriot’s first rule is seed selection, which involves choosing to plant vegetables that you already enjoy. While the idea of planting unfamiliar or new items is enticing, it might not assist you in actually using the items in your garden. If you have a limited amount of space, you might also want to grow plants that will save you more money at the grocery store.

Another important rule for the garden is diversity. If your garden contains a variety of items like flowers, grasses, and berries, bugs will be kept away and plant growth will be improved; a homogenous garden will only serve to attract pests and disease.

The last rule I’m going to give you is crop rotation. While you may not notice a problem if you don’t move plants around in the first few years, diseases like white rot and pests like weevils will eventually show up. If the host plant is moved, the life cycle of the disease or the pest will automatically be broken.

While I hope some of these rules will help, you’ll have to read the book for the rest!

A recipe for your own fertilizer:

Mix four parts (by volume) seed meal (Nitrogen) with one part dolomite lime (potential Hydrogen), add one part rock phosphate (Phosphorus) and one half-part kelp meal (Potassium).

Old Time Fiddle Kids – On Stage Saturday, July 10th, 11:00am

Debra Morse — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:35:45 +0000

This music and dance duo may be young but their expertise in old time and traditional music make them one of the most popular music groups at festivals. From celtic, country, jazz and classical music to step dance, Kai and Lia have been performing as the Fiddlin Frenzy, aka Old Time Fiddle Kids for a few years. They have been featured on CBC, and are Grand North America and BC champions, performing and winning awards from coast to coast. They are scholarship winners, judges of North Poplar Idol and are active members of the Central Fraser Valley Fiddlers. In 2008, they became a “Face of Abbotsford”, and their face castings are displayed in Abbotsford Art and Culture Center. These young fiddlers are classical violin prodigies, both play piano and Lia is an accomplished cellist. To Kai and Lia playing fiddle is a break from learning classical music, which began at age four. They have been composing their own music from the age of seven and their first CD The Fox and The Fiddle was released January 2007.

Old Time Fiddle Kids

Sustainable Transportation Forum – On Stage Saturday, July 10th, 12:00pm

Debra Morse — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:35:05 +0000

Elizabeth May is the Leader of the Green Party of Canada and one of our country’s most respected environmentalists. She is a prominent lawyer, the author of seven books, an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a loving grandmother. She lives in Sidney, BC and she is your candidate for MP in Saanich – Gulf Islands.

Elizabeth is national leader of the Green Party of Canada. She is a candidate for Parliament in the riding of Saanich – Gulf Islands. Before her election as party leader in 2006 Elizabeth had a full career as an environmentalist, lawyer, government advisor, and author. Since she was a teenager Elizabeth has been a community-organizer, beginning in Nova Scotia where she led the campaign to prevent herbicide spraying on the forests of Cape Breton Island.

An officer of the Order of Canada since 2005, Elizabeth is a singe mother, grandmother, and dog lover. She lives in Sidney just blocks from her riding office. For more info click here.

Jeremy Fisher, BC based musician, who performed at the Organic Islands Festival in 2008 and 2009, will be a special guest speaker on the Sustainable Transportation forum. After the forum commences the festival audience will enjoy a performance by Hannah Georgas, who along with Jeremy is currently touring with The Malahat Revue. Fisher, Said the Whale, Hannah Georgas and Aidan Knight have come together, with a salute to the environment to form The Malahat Revue, an eight-piece musical collective that will begin touring their beloved province by bicycle this July 7, 2010.

Conceived by Jeremy Fisher who has toured across North America by bike three times, and at 33, doesn’t own a car, Fisher endeavours to do as much as possible by bike. It’s with that ethic in mind that The Malahat Revue will hit the road on their bicycles, playing six shows over twelve days from July 7-18. With only a single support vehicle to carry drums and larger gear, the musicians will carry more portable gear with them, and rack up over 500 kilometers as they pedal from gig to gig in a little more than a week. For more info about their performances click here. For Jeremy Fisher’s website and bio click here.

John Luton is a first time City Councilor in Victoria. He continues to work as Executive Director of Capital Bike and Walk, a non-profit organization active in promoting cycling and walking for transportation, and has been a fixture in Victoria’s cycling community for the last decade. He has worked on a variety of projects focused on improving the road and trail environments for cycling and is a founder of the capital’s successful Bike to Work Week event. John has been instrumental in promoting the region’s newest trail project along the E&N railway corridor, has published a bicycle parking manual used across Canada, a downtown Victoria walking map that is used by locals and visitors and has lost count of the number of bicycle lane and other on-road projects he has helped to advance. He and his wife Susan have two children, Vladimir and Elena, and live in the city’s Fairfield neighbourhood.

Guy Dauncey is a speaker, author, and organizer who works to develop a positive vision of a sustainable future, and to translate that vision into action. His latest book – The Climate Challenge: 101 Solutions to Global Warming was published in November 2009. Guy is the President of the BC Sustainable Energy Association, and author or co- author of nine books, including the award-winning book Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic. He is also the publisher of EcoNews, a monthly newsletter that promotes the vision of a sustainable Vancouver Island. More info at: http://www.earthfuture.com

Sue Hallatt, a senior planner with the CRD Capital Regional District, is a person with a special focus on transportation planning due to its crucial role in responding to such divergent, emerging issues as health and wellness, changing demographics, social equity, economic development, land use, air and water quality and climate change. For these reasons, Sue is working to firmly pull the field of transportation planning out of its professional isolation chamber and into its rightful place among inter-disciplinary practices.

Sue now works for the Capital Regional District as a Regional Planner, and is currently overseeing the development and implementation of the region’s first Bicycle Pedestrian Masterplan, and the CRD’s Transportation Demand Management Strategy. Sue is also on the Board of the Victoria Carshare Coop. Sue was born and raised in Victoria, is an avid cyclist and plays the accordion very badly.

Irwin Henderson, President of IslandTransformations.Org, is an independent communications and planning consultant who enjoys working with volunteer organizations, charities and private clients. He has been part of projects to reduce homelessness, promote alternative integrated transportation, and further planning for neighbourhoods and the region. He is a long-time member of the IslandTransformations.Org coalition, former chair of Victoria¹s Advisory Planning Commission, mentors the Victoria Youth Council, and is a member of Capital Bike & Walk Society, BC Crystal Meth Society, Tibetan Refugee Aid Society, and Rondo Piano Academy.

Hannah Georgas – On Stage Saturday, July 10th, 1:30pm

Debra Morse — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:34:25 +0000

Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Hannah Georgas is the new love of your life – and she won’t break your heart. Her voice, bittersweet yet as spunky as an indie film heroine, will make you swoon as she sings about love, language and awkward situations. Since deciding to seriously pursue music three years ago her resume has exploded, chock-full of television song placements, a Taylor Swift shout-out and a Wal-Mart commercial commission. Between her EP The Beat Stuff and this month’s debut full-length This Is Good, Georgas’s songs have been heard on the shows Heroes, Degrassi–The Next Generation, Flashpoint and Peak Season. She won the 2009 CBC Radio 3 Bucky Award for “Best New Artist.” Starbucks has licensed The Beat Stuff to play in its North American stores and love-struck critics everywhere are crowning her the next Feist.

Hannah Georgas

Carolyn Herriot – On Stage Saturday, July 10th, 2:30pm

Debra Morse — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:33:45 +0000

Carolyn Herriot is a passionate, organic gardener and cook who loves to eat. She is a prolific communicator who enjoys talking and writing about gardening, and a keen photographer who uses her garden to share the perfection of Nature with others. Carolyn is the author of the best selling ‘A Year On The Garden Path- a 52-Week Organic Gardening Guide’. After 20 years of operating The Garden Path Nursery in Victoria, certified organic IOPA 1406) she continues to grow ‘Seeds of Victoria’ at The Garden Path Centre in Victoria, British Columbia.

Blogger Justine Leonhardt writes about Carolyn’s book in “Some Golden Rules” – click here to read.

Carolyn Herriot

Karly Summers – On Stage Saturday, July 10th, 4:00pm

Debra Morse — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:32:54 +0000

From playing in front of her school for the first time, to playing in front of thousands just two and a half years later. Karly Summers performs like a seasoned professional. Canadian Musician/Actor Tom Jackson was so impressed with Karly, he chose her to open for him Christmas 2007. Since then, Karly has been requested to play at countless Festivals and Fairs. She is producing her first CD, which she expects to be released close to the New Year, 2011. Her biggest Festival to date was Vancouver Island Music Festival where she was the youngest performer, and captivated an audience of thousands with her mature sound. From the time she was eight years old, Karly has been writing lyrics about life experiences, feelings and realizations inspired by the many people and events she has encountered.

Karly Summers