OPINION
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | CAMPBELL RIVER MIRROR |
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Tap into the joys of maple syrup Learning To Tap Syrup from our bigleaf maple is a fascinating process and many Islanders are successfully producing maple syrup for home use and for sale. It has become a small cottage industry in the CowichanNanaimo area. The annual bigleaf maple tapping demonstration will be held tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 2 at the B.C. Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan. Here’s an opportunity for readers to learn the secrets of extracting gallons of maple juice from our handsome western maples and converting the sap into rich tast-
ing maple syrup. of maple sap mint tea. The program There will be steam includes a tapping train rides to delight demonstration, syrup the youngsters. It is tasting, short notice luncheon for up-Islandwith maple ers but if you flavoured are going call treats, talks 250-715-1113 with syrup Ext. 4 for info vendors and, or go to www. of course, bcforestmua demonseum.com. stration on There is boiling and Morgan Ostler a modest Urban Gardener syrup makentrance fee ing. for the famIt may be a bit chilly ily and the demonstraoutdoors but there tions continue all day. will be a large wood This rapidly growburning evaporater ing industry started filled with hot sap. on Vancouver Island You can bundle up and has spread to and keep warm while Washington, Oregon enjoying a bit of and California. maple syrup therapy and sipping on a cup While In Duncan
you may want to include the second annual Islands Agriculture Show held on both today and tomorrow. It is located in the Cowichan Exhibition Centre and is a unique opportunity to showcase the agriculture industry on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. There will be more than 60 exhibitors plus farm seminars that will be of interest to the general public as well as the farm community. For further info go online at http://iashow.ca/ or call 1-250 748 0822. Many Of My Readers experimented with planting the root
Beware of the gift receipt ripoff I would like to make the public aware of a scam involving gift reciepts that I recently became aware of. I purchased my grandmother some clothes as a gift. They looked terrible on her and so I took her to the store to exchange them for something more suited to her. I took her new selection of cloths and gave the cashier the items to be returned with my grandmother’s gift receipt. I had the original receipt in my wallet. To my shock the gift receipt showed a balance of over $25 less than I had
originally spent on the items. I questioned the cashier and she told me that gift receipts show the last known sale price on an item and not the dollar value that was originally spent. I was horrified and immediately took out my original receipt, got all of my money back and left the store empty handed. Grandma got a nice pedicure and lunch instead. If you think about it, there is no benefit to using a gift receipt. The first thing a person does when returning an item is take up their gift receipt to see
how much they can spend. You are better off to make a copy of the receipt for your records and give them the original. Not only will this prevent you from looking like a total cheap skate (spelling?), but you will get the appropriate bang for your buck. I suggest that before you agree to a gift receipt you ask a store employee their policy on gift receipts. It is fun to see them squirm when they try and justify the fact that they were going to try and rip you off. Cheryl Tunningley
What Parents Need to Know 4x6
end of green onions in order to regrow them. My trial worked well and I was able to “harvest� the next generation of greens. However, when I left the root ends in the soil for a another attempt at regrowing them, again, all I got were a few exhausted stems struggling to stay upright so I gave them a quick and merciful end. However, I learned that organic onions are the only type that will produce a second crop. As this was an experiment performed on my kitchen windowsill it will be interesting to see if a set of green onions, grown outdoors, can reproduce a second crop if the roots are left in the ground. That really will be sustainable gardening.
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Canadian Media Circulation Audit Campbell River Mirror is a member of the British Columbia Press Council, a self-regulatory body governing the province's newspaper industry. The council considers complaints from the public about the conduct of member newspapers. Directors oversee the mediation of complaints, with input from both the newspaper and the complaint holder. If talking with the editor or publisher does not resolve your complaint about coverage or story treatment, you may contact the BC Press Council. Your written concern, with documentation, should be sent to: BC Press Council, 201 Selby St., Nanaimo, BC V9R 2R2. For information, phone 888-687-2213 or go to www.bcpresscouncil.org
INVITE EM’ FOR DINNER 3X8
PACIFIC COASTAL
FAMILY DAY PRICING
Dear Parents,
FSA
The Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), given to Grade 4 and 7 students, does not count towards your child’s marks. The results do not actively support your child’s learning.
Midnight to Midnight Monday February 11 only
s &3! TESTS ARE EXPENSIVE AND WASTE MONEY AT A TIME WHEN CUTS are being made. s &3! TESTS DO NOT HELP STUDENTS LEARN OR TEACHERS TEACH s &3! TESTS TAKE VALUABLE TIME AWAY FROM MORE MEANINGFUL LEARNING s 4HE DATA DOES NOT PROVIDE REAL HELP TO STUDENTS PARENTS OR SCHOOLS s 4HE RESULTS ARE MISUSED TO RANK SCHOOLS AND PROMOTE PRIVATIZATION Teachers in Campbell River recommend that parents write a letter to your SCHOOL PRINCIPAL REQUESTING THAT YOUR CHILD BE EXEMPTED FROM THE &3! To learn more about your child’s progress and the real assessments done in the classroom, talk to her or his teacher.
A message from the Campbell River District Teachers’ Association
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Travel period: Feb 16th - April 30th. Selected flights and day of week New bookings only. Bravo restrictions apply.