Tag Archives: Blue Jay Lake Farm

Getting back to Blue Jay Lake Farm: Green Valley, A Film by Morgan Tams

Morgan Tams was an integral part of the Cortes Island community for eight years before he and his partner Carly left in 2024. He recorded part of their experience as members of the Blue Jay Lake Farm community on a documentary that will air at Vancouver’s DOXA Festival on May 3 and 9, as well as the Knowledge Network later this year. 

Morgan Tams: “ It was about five years working on this, not exclusively but of my time. I’ve had some really great showings on Cortes, which was really fantastic.” 

“Now to have it play in Vancouver where I think there will be some crossover, some Cortes people in Vancouver, but I think there’s a city where people are right now so interested in alternative ways of living. I think partially just the direction the world is going, ideas about community, about being more connected to our food sources, about being connected to one another and being connected to skills like building and growing food are really pertinent topics for our time.” 

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Wildflower Cidery: A Unique Model For A Small Island

In this morning’s interview we hear from Sara Stewart of Wildflower Produce and Cidery, near the southern tip of Cortes Island.

Sara Stewart: “I’m not a religious person, but when you depend on the natural world you become deeply ingrained in it. I used to think I was building connections with the natural world when I lit a fire on Imbolc (the Ancient Celtic beginning of Spring) and celebrated Soma. I now find that rituals or ceremonies can disconnect you from nature. So I try to cultivate the spirituality of a squirrel. I don’t see wildlife celebrating Imbolc—you just notice what’s happening in your body and respond accordingly.” 

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Only A Week From Now: FOCI’s 2024 AGM

The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) 2024 AGM is coming up at 5 PM on December 3rd. They are celebrating more than 30 years with their Marine Stewardship program. Sabina Leader Mense will be the guest speaker. 

“That’s the second part of the AGM. For the first part, we will be talking about  the work we’ve done in 2024. We’ve just produced our 2024 Annual Report and that’s bursting at the seams with amazing work that we’ve been doing over the last year,” explained Helen Hall. executive director of the Friends of Cortes Island.  

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September 2024 Update from the Cortes Community Forest

The Cortes Community Forest Co-operative’s 2024 AGM will be from 7:30 to 9 PM on Mansons Hall on Wednesday October 9th. 

Together with Klahoose Forestry, they make up the Cortes Forestry General Partnership. Mark Lombard, General Manager for the Partnership gave Cortes Currents an overview of their operations this year and plans for the future:

Mark Lombard: “We have pretty good support from the community. Our emphasis is building value for the community, training workers and providing firewood for seniors and  logs for local mills. We’re the lightest touch logging operation in the province by a mile and a half.”

“Log prices are really low right now. There’s potential concerns about a recession in the US, or globally, for whatever reasons and because prices are low, we’re not planning to do any logging right now.”  

Cortes Currents: So where were you working this year?

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Summer 2024 Activities with FOCI

The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) have just published their summer activities program for 2024.

“We’re really delighted to be launching our 2024 Summer Events Program. We’ve got eight really fabulous events running in July and August. Everything from a low tide walk in Manson’s Lagoon, which we call ‘Gumbooting in the Lagoon’, through to a kayak tour of Hague and Gunflint Lakes.  We’ve also got a tour of Blue Jay Farm, a herbal tea workshop, and an early morning seashore walk in front of Hollyhock. So lots of really exciting events coming up,” explained Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI.

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