Coast Mountain News Thursday, August 30, 2012
$1.00 + HST Vol. 28 | No. 18 Thursday, August 30, 2012 12
Serving the Bella Coola Va Valley all lley lle ey and the Chilcotin
A1
BC Advent School back to school
Page 5
Sarah Gowans photo
The Annual Edible Garden Tour visited Abra Silver’s very productive garden in Hagensborg on August 19th.
Blue skies for Agricultural Society’s Annual Edible Garden Tour and Feast DAYNA CHAPMAN Though the theme for this year’s Edible Garden Tour was ‘After the Flood’, beautiful blue skies graced the 5th annual event, which showcased five gardens for a busload of interested locals and visitors. The Bella Coola Valley Sustainable Agricultural Society hosts this event to celebrate local food producers and share innovations and ideas. This year, the resilience, tenacity and toil of
Valley growers were on display, as the flood of 2010 impacted all the showcased gardens. The growers’ toured participants through their gardens, answered questions, and told the stories of their flood experiences. Each garden had a different perspective- some had flowing water that carried away hard-earned topsoil, some had dumps of heavy silt, some have experienced a profound change in groundwater proximity. Some mentioned a marked
increase in fertility following the floods. All have adapted and changed and demonstrated the kind of creative, resilient, hard-working soul that thrives in the Bella Coola Valley. A highlight of this year’s event was the infamous and always entertaining Doug Baker, who not only navigated the bus through the lanes of Grant Road, but also shared his Flood Song in addition to reciting some flood-inspired poetry. The tour culminated in a
gorgeous potluck feast at the Art House in Hagensborg. The BCVSAS would like to acknowledge and extend profound thanks to Arts Council volunteers Joan Cole and Pauline Russell for handling the set up, serving, and clean up for the feast. Deep thanks are also due to Moore’s Market for their donation of door prize gift certificates, and to School District #49 for allowing us to use their bus. We especially thank our wonderful host
gardeners, Kevin and Susan O’Neill, Monica Tutt, Erin Chapman (who showed Verna Mikkleson’s garden), Christina Mecham, and Abra Silver. If you have or know a garden that could be featured in next year’s tour, please get in touch. We’d love to feature some of the hidden gems in the Valley- and don’t worry, no one’s garden is perfect! For more information, please contact Dayna at daynabellacoola@gmail.com or 250 799 5287.