By 1979, Norm Gibbons wanted a change. He had been one of the partners in the Refuge Cove Store for the past eight years. He had not yet decided to move to Cortes Island, when he started looking into the oyster sector.
“Oysters weren’t cultured at that point in time. There were just oysters out there. Anybody involved in the industry picked oysters, shucked them, and sold the shuck to Vancouver.”
Continue reading Norm Gibbons: Cortes Island, beginnings of oyster cultivation and writing
The ‘Creative Spaces Garden & Studio Tour’ returns on Saturday, July 8.
“This is a self-guided tour, and once you get your ticket, you can choose what gardens or artist studios you want to visit, in what order, and you can stay as long as you want at each place,” explained Nancy Kendel, a museum board member whose garden will be among those exhibited.
“We have 17 venues this year, 21 participating artists and gardeners,” added Managing Director/Curator Melanie Boyle.
Continue reading The 2023 Creative Spaces Garden & Studio TourLocal farmers produced 85% of the food consumed on Vancouver Island during the 1950s. While a combination of high costs, low returns and cheap imports has almost squeezed them out of the market, there have long been people concerned about our losing the ability to feed ourselves. COVID 19 reminded everyone that, if distribution lines go down, food security could fast become a crucial issue. The increased emphasis has been good for the local food production sector and Cortes Island nurseries are flourishing.
Continue reading Cortes Island Nurseries ‘Bursting At The Seams’“The Kingdom of Uganda is a fairy tale. The scenery is different, the climate is different and most of all, the people are different from anything elsewhere to be seen in the whole range of Africa … what message I bring back … concentrate on Uganda.” – Winston Churchill, My Africa Journey,
A group of 23 Cortes residents just returned from Uganda and neighbouring Kenya. They decided to travel this year because the tour company owned by Chris Hartwick’s parents, is going out of business. Nobody anticipated there would be any complications coming home from Africa.
Continue reading Coming Home From Africa
