We did come and enjoy the music, food, people and the festival this weekend. It was awesome! The music was great, food was incredible and we left with a fistful of information and a gratifying feeling about being part of something good.
One of the most amazing things I saw at the festival last year, and there were many, was the “Go-One Cubed” bike (?) that Level Ground President, Hugo Ciro rides to work most days. So when I walked up to the Level Ground booth this year in the main area I was surprised not to [...]
We Want to Hear About YOU!
It’s a bright beautiful morning and the festival is already buzzing! I’m here at The Change tent again with Annalea and Brad and we are so excited by everything you are doing to be a part of the change. We have more pictures to share with you about what you are doing as a community to become more green. It’s so inspiring to know that Victoria is filled with people as passionate as we are about positively impacting our world! If you see something you like that someone else is doing, let us know! Make sure to stop by our booth today, we want to hear about what you do and what inspires you!
Rocky Mountain Soap – Victoria
I met Rocky Mountain Soap Victoria owners Scott and Kazuyo at the OIF last year while doing the live blogging. I’m happy to say that I now call them (and they are) our good friends. Amazing what a year, a little social media and a few things in common will do.
I’ve enjoyed watching their success [...]
We Can Do It!
I was so inspired by all you festival-goers who stopped by The Change tent today. After dropping off your GREEN PASSPORTS many of you filled us in on what you are doing, or are going to do, to make a difference in your life and our city. Annalea, Brad and I are amazed by how many of you bike or walk to work, use cloth shopping bags and recycle everything you can get your hands on. Thank you to all of you who let us take your photo and share with the rest of the city what you are doing to engage the change!
Spice Up Your Life & Sweeten Out Your Summer
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.
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!
Good Morning Organic Islands Festival
I arrived at the festival at 10:00am this morning to meet up with the “O Reporters” (Organic Islands Festival bloggers) Ingrid, Chelsea and Eric, and the first person I bumped into was the festival founder, Deb Morse.
I’m doing video blogging for the festival this year so I wanted to get a few quick words from [...]
Change is Just Down the Road
Discussions of sustainability have an unfortunate tendency to be followed by feelings of stagnancy and futility. I recall a quote by Rex Weyler summing this up that said “Future generations are going to look back at us and think of us as barbarians … And what’s worse, we know what we’re doing. We have the science.” Guy Duancey opened the Sustainable Transportation Forum with the end of oil. This time was different though; the end of oil wasn’t a doomsday. In fact, Dauncey said “The golden age of harmony with nature lies in front of us.” When he said that, it seems as though all things inversed. The world is not full of cannots; it is full of possibilities. And indeed, we do have the science.
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 …
What can I do with ‘quince’?
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.
A ‘drunken woman’ in your salad?
If you fancy ‘ears of the devil’ too, you can certainly have it. Believe it or not, these are the names of the greens used in a salad mix prepared by Echo Valley Farm, all grown locally on the Island and 100% certified organic.
Engage the Change!
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!
