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 writingThe opinions that follow are those of the person expressing them and not necessarily shared by Cortes Currents, or Cortes Radio.
The following submission was made by Nancy Beach.
After dealing with BC assessment for 17 years or more, in regard to my small farm on Salt Spring Island, I have come to the conclusion that:
An inspiring trend to watch:
Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Two dozen young men spilled out of their tents just after dawn, pulled on gumboots and work gloves, and lugging shovels and buckets, trudged down a logging road to a remote bay on Vancouver Island’s wild West Coast.
There was a moment of calm punctuated by the breaths of two killer whales breaking the surface of the bay while they waited for the tide to drop so they could begin work.
The moment the waters retreated, the group of First Nations youth, their adult mentors and knowledge holders, squelched onto the tidal flat in unison to haul rocks, debris and shift shellfish as quickly as possible before the ocean waters flooded back in.
Continue reading First Nations youth make their mark by cultivating ancient food systems in their territories
By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
When Yoenne Ewald’s hay supply fell through this spring, she was devastated. Without hay, she can’t feed her cattle. Like most farmers, she’s tough and used to troubleshooting unexpected problems but the stress this year has been on another level.
“The options are to sell them for nothing or watch them starve,” she says on her farm just outside of New Hazelton, B.C.
Continue reading ‘Sell them for nothing or watch them starve’: farmers face difficult decisions amid B.C. drought
This started out as a story about the incredible blueberry harvest in the midst of this year’s drought.
One of the seniors picking at Sunnybrae Farm gave Cortes Currents the tip, which Mike Manson subsequently confirmed.
“We are seeing what we think might be the biggest crop ever. In terms of pounds per bush, and the fruit is ripening differently. It’s ripening in a more condensed manner, which is good for picking. The big crop is probably due to favourable conditions for pollination in the spring. Whether or not that had anything to do with dry weather, I’m not sure. Maybe the bees were glad it wasn’t raining and cold and wet, but certainly pollination was key, without that you don’t get a crop. For whatever reason, conditions were favourable for bees to be flying and doing their job,” he said.
“We’ve never seen a dry year start so early. This year, the dryness started mid May. I remember May 13th was 30 degrees Celsius. I think the early heat this year has affected the way the fruit has ripened. I haven’t seen it ripen in this fashion before.”
However, there are three blueberry farms on Cortes island and, as I was soon to learn, they are in different micro-climates.
Continue reading This year’s blueberry harvest on Cortes Island
