Aqua Gulf Island Living Summer 2019 by Gulf Islands Driftwood Publishing

Aqua

COMFORT FOOD Marcia

Jansen's popular column inside

Gulf Islands JULY/AUGUST 2019

Living

Volume 14, Issue 4

SUBMERGED Mapping shipwrecks and other ways to have fun in Gulf Islands waters Sweet & savoury Vanilla Leaf Bakery feeds Pender's soul

August outing Musical Walkalong for Learning helps connect kids with nature

Arts | ventures | food | recreation | community

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Editor’s Message

Loving the islands

his spring I was honoured to be asked to write the introduction to Mother Tongue Publishing’s latest book. Called Love of the Salish Sea Islands, it is a compilation of essays, memoirs and poems by 40 writers who live on or are deeply connected to islands ranging from Quadra Island in the north to Lummi Island in the south. It’s a stunning collection of pieces that distills what it means to inhabit an island and this region as a whole; how the experience shapes and changes people, and how it must continue to do so if we want the archipelago’s natural riches and unique culture to survive. Naturally, ocean water is central to many of the writers’ offerings, as it is in this issue of Aqua. Our cover story is about the search for shipwrecks in the area by the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia, and in another story we meet longtime Saturna Island resident Robert Bruce, for whom numerous activities have revolved around the water. We also have a feature on Lawrie and Aileen Neish, founders of the Salt Spring Island Sailing Club, which

marks its 50th anniversary this year. A love of being in the water splashes from the story on Carol Adam and her Snarky Mermaid bodysurfing craft company. The article about the Galiano Conservancy's Musical Walkalong for Learning event in August takes us on a seaside tour. A magazine about Gulf Islands water-based activities wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the ferries we rely on to get around, so Salish Orca Senior Master Derek Sweet is our Q&A person. Comfort Food column subjects are Anna and Anthony Wilkinson, our hunger is also satiated by a feature on Pender's Vanilla Leaf Bakery, and Rhen’s Poetry celebrates a Gulf Islands summer. Back to the Love of the Salish Sea Islands introduction: I had not previously taken on such a weighty task and can only imagine that Mona Fertig of Mother Tongue entrusted me with it because of my vast experience writing about island life in the Aqua editor’s message slot. This is my 74th mini missive undertaken in 14 years! I expect to still feel inspired for my 75th in September, and beyond. — Gail Sjuberg

Aqua Gulf Islands

Living

This issue published July 3, 2019 Publisher: Amber Ogilvie Editor: Gail Sjuberg Art Director & Production: Lorraine Sullivan Advertising: Shirley Command Aqua Writers: Cherie Thiessen, Elizabeth Nolan, Marc Kitteringham, Roger Brunt, Suzanne Fournier, Marcia Jansen Aqua Photographers: Cherie Thiessen, Elizabeth Nolan, Marc Kitteringham, Marcia Jansen Cover photo of Tyler Armeneau with Thrasher wreckage by Ewan Anderson Aqua is published by Driftwood Publishing Ltd., 328 Lower Ganges Road, Salt Spring Island, B.C. V8K 2V3 Phone: 250-537-9933 / Email: news@driftwoodgimedia.com Websites: www.driftwoodgimedia.com; www.gulfislandstourism.com; www.gulfislandsdriftwood.com Publications Mail Reg. #08149 Printed in Canada

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contents JULY/AUG 2019

TANTALIZERS!

PAGE 6

COVER STORY

Underwater archaeologists know the Gulf Islands' coolest spots, PAGE 7

VENTURES

Pender bakery thrives with new owners, PAGE 13 Snarky Mermaid's bodysurfing boards are the best, PAGE 43

NATURE

Blazing hot Rhen's Poetry, PAGE 17

Galiano Walkalong combines love of music and nature, PAGE 24

ISLANDERS

Lawrie and Aileen Neish merge hard work and passions, PAGE 30 Robert Bruce impacts Saturna on land and at sea, PAGE 39

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COMFORT FOOD Tastes of Hong Kong from Anna and Anthony Wilkinson, PAGE 36

Q&A

Crossing the strait with Captain Derek Sweet, PAGE 46 Page 4 – AQUA – July/August 2019

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• Islanders and visitors won’t want to miss Giambori, a chamber music festival that presents concerts on Mayne, Galiano and Saturna islands this month. Chris Redsell founded and directed Giambori when he lived in Italy, playing in the most beautiful mountainside villages and in stunning walled piazzas and churches. Chris and his wife Donna moved to Mayne Island in 2014 and Giambori was reborn there. In its third year, this summer’s concerts will feature pieces by Dvorak, Mozart, Schubert and Rachmaninov. This season the musicians are cellist Eric Wilson, violonist David Gillham, pianist Chiharu Linuma and Elisabeth Jahren on piano and accordion. Concerts run July 16 and 18 at the Mayne Island Community Centre, July 19 at the South Galiano Hall, and July 20 at the Saturna Island Community Hall. Start time is 7:30 p.m. for all concerts. • The designer of a cookbook created by Salt Spring residents DL Acken and Aurelia Louvet has won a prestigious 2019 PubWest Book Design Award. Tree Abraham won silver in the cookbook category for Off the Hook: The Essential West Coast Seafood Recipes. The PubWest Book Design awards recognize superior design and outstanding production quality of books throughout North America. Off the Hook is published by TouchWood Editions. • The Galiano Wine & Beer Tasting Festival runs at Lions Park on Saturday, Aug. 10 for the 27th time! The Galiano Community Bus

Page 6 – AQUA – July/August 2019

will provide shuttle service from the ferry to the festival site. The event runs from 1 to 4 p.m. See galianowinefestival. ca for info and a link to online ticket purchase. If you miss the Galiano festival, the Cowichan Valley Wine Festival takes place from Aug. 23-25, with a weekend of tours and much more. • Another fun summer event is the Salt Spring Island Rotary Club’s Crab Fest. The fourth Rotarian Tom Bremner at Crab Fest. annual festival featuring fresh crab, baked potato, salads and a roll, plus a beer and wine bar and live music from Doug and the Thugs runs on Saturday, July 13 from 4 to 8 p.m. It takes place in beautiful Rotary Marine Park seaside in Ganges. Proceeds help fund Rotary’s many worthwhile projects. Tickets can be purchased through www. crabfestssi.com, or at the Ganges Visitor Info Centre or Salt Spring Books.

DRIFTWOOD archives PHOTO

Tantalizers

Cover Story

Underwater

history lesson

Gulf Islands shipwreck inventory project wraps up STORY BY ELIZABETH NOLAN Photos courtesy Underwater Archaeological Society of B.C.

elics that lie beneath the surface of the ocean can make diving one of the most fascinating recreational pastimes to pursue in the Salish Sea. Knowledge of what and where those relics are is clearly important to the historical record, while also creating fun dive sites, and much of the information has been collected by a dedicated group of enthusiasts. The Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia is committed to researching, locating, identifying, surveying and protecting the province’s maritime heritage. Its members are “avocational archaeologists, historians and shipwreck divers.” The UASBC's core activity is searching for shipwrecks, both on the coast and in the Interior. Once wrecks are located they are surveyed and reports are written for the B.C. Archaeology Branch, a necessary step toward securing a wreck’s protection under the Heritage Conservation Act. The society is currently wrapping up an updated inventory of the waters around the “Greater Gulf Islands” in a project that is three years in the making. July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 7

“There’s a lot of stories on the coast.” JACQUES MARC

Above: A three-dimensional model of the Del Norte, a shipwreck in Porlier Pass. At top: Underwater Archaeological Society of B.C. survey group gets ready to set out with the MV Cape Able.

Page 8 – AQUA – July/August 2019

UASBC was first established in 1975. Despite the complicated coastline and numerous shipwrecks, underwater archaeology was new as a field British Columbia at the time; there was no provincial underwater archaeologist and no one coordinating a comprehensive survey of underwater sites. “The province still doesn’t have a maritime archaeologist as a full-time position,” says Jacques Marc, who is UASBC’s exploration director. “Rather, they give different files to their existing archaeologists, and often they contact the society to find out if they know anything about that wreck.” The society works with a budget of just $20,000 per year, with some funding received through Heritage BC, but projects are mostly self-funded. Over the years the group has maintained two main chapters in Victoria and Vancouver and systematically surveyed different regions around the province one by one. The first section was completed between 1980 and 1982. Since then the society has done 11 regional surveys that include documentation of current conditions and site mapping. Reports on their findings are produced for funders and the BC Archaeology Branch and are also available for purchase. Their publications include titles such as Historic Shipwrecks of the Sunshine Coast, Sailing Ship Artifacts of the 19th Century and The Ghost Ships of Royston, to name but a few. People requesting the information that UASBC collects range from academics researching the topic to regular folks who either have an interest in maritime history or want to find out more about what they’ve glimpsed below the waves. The society often places plaques on significant historic wrecks. “People report all sorts of stuff and start asking questions about what they’ve seen. If it’s local waters, we probably have a good idea. If it’s more remote parts of the province, it’s probably more of a challenge,” Marc says. The society published its first report on the Gulf Islands in the 1990s and embarked on a second, updated survey in 2016 as a three-year project. The new inventory is due out this year.

BC Archives photos of wrecks the UASBC has researched include the John Rosenfeld, left, wrecked in 1886 between Saturna’s East Point and Tumbo Island, and the steam tug Point Grey, which went aground on Virago Rock in Porlier Pass in 1911. Saturna residents reportedly used coal salvaged from the Rosenfeld’s wreck to heat their homes for many years.

“People were still asking for the old report. Twenty-five years had gone by, the wrecks have changed, new wrecks were discovered. We decided to start all over again,” Marc says, explaining that the new inventory stretches from Sidney to Gabriola Island. There are about 20 major wrecks within the area. “We learned a long time ago it’s a lot of water to survey top to bottom, do the diving and create the report, so we narrowed it down to 13 wrecks to re-survey,” Marc says. Many of the bigger vessels that were wrecked along the coast were coal ships, lost in the trade between Nanaimo and San Francisco. These

started with sailing vessels and moved into steam power. One of the earliest the society has located sunk off Vancouver’s Point Grey in 1778, but most of the wrecks are from the late 1800s and early 1900s. They range from the steamship Miami, located near Ladysmith, to little 80foot wrecks near Reid Island. “Probably the most mysterious of the lost ships is the Emily Harris. She was the first propellor ship in Victoria, and sunk in very mysterious circumstances in Trincomali Channel. The survivors had conflicting stories and some crew members were never found,” says Marc. UASBC made an unsuccessful attempt to locate the Emily Harris this

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past spring. According to a report on a previous search that society members made in 2017, the Emily Harris experienced an apparent boiler explosion that sent her to the bottom of the channel on Aug. 14, 1871 after loading coal in Nanaimo. Four crewmen successfully swam to Salt Spring. They turned up on the doorstep of Salt Spring Const. Henry Sampson the next morning. “The resting place of the Emily Harris remains undiscovered, but once again the UASBC narrowed down the areas where the wreck is not,” the 2017 report cheerfully concludes. Other wrecks of interest in the area include the Thrasher, lost to the Gabriola Reefs in 1880, and the Del Norte, which went down in Porlier Pass. “Its claim to fame is it has a very unique engine called an oscillating steam engine. So there’s some pretty neat stuff out there,” Marc says. “There’s a lot of stories on the coast.” Wallace Island’s Panther Point is named after the Panther, a ship that ran aground there in 1874. Survivors from that misadventure also alighted on Salt Spring. The HMS Condor was a naval ship on its way to Hawaii from Esquimalt in 1901 when it encountered a storm off Vancouver. When the vessel failed to arrive at Hawaii, vessels from the Pacific Squadron and the United States Navy made an intensive search but found nothing. Two ships that Marc refers to as “Holy Grails” are the Boston and the Tonquin, which went down in 1803 and 1811, respectively, somewhere in Vancouver Island’s Nootka Sound. Both were captured by First Nations who killed the crews and burned the ships. In 2005 an anchor was discovered that was suspected to be from one of the two, suggest-

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ing the rest of the vessel might soon be discovered. “Everyone got excited, but at the end of the day it was just an anchor,” Marc says. UASBC teams have also surveyed B.C. Interior wrecks. There was a dedicated chapter in Nelson that’s no longer active, but conducted underwater surveys for around 20 years. “What you find there are mostly vessels that were abandoned and then sunk. They remain in good condition because the Interior lakes don’t have marine borers, and they don’t have saltwater to deteriorate the materials — just time,” Marc says. “Here on the coast you could take the same paddlewheel and sink it today, and it would be gone in 20 years.” A new UASBC project will see members inventory non-shipwrecked underwater artifacts such as planes, trains and automobiles. Marc says they know of five or six different locomotives in lakes around the province, and there are dozens of planes lost in Second World War training exercises submerged in Patricia Bay, as well as some in Sansum Narrows. Anyone can join UASBC, whether they are interested in going underwater or not. Around 25 per cent of society members are in fact non-divers, Marc says. The Victoria branch meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 45 Bastion Square for its Underwater Explorers Speaker Series. The public is welcome to attend. UASBC also hosts non-research dive expeditions throughout the year. While they encourage society membership for participation, some spaces are usually available for non-members. See uasbc.com for more information.

Above: UASBC members Holger Heitland, left, and Paul Spencer plot survey measurement results from a dive expedition of the Panther, the wreck for which Panther Point on Wallace Island was named. At right: Eric and Bronwen Young embark on a Panther survey dive. Previous page: Robert Kerr with the wheel boss from the Del Norte.

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Ventures

Turning over a new leaf The Vanilla Leaf Bakery on Pender STORY & PHOTOS BY CHERIE THIESSEN I’m sitting outside, wrapped around a latte on a crispy spring day chatting with bakery owners Anna Law and Sheri Steeves. We can’t do the interview inside because it’s way way too noisy and busy. We arranged this time to segue with the bakery’s “lull,” but there’s a paucity of “lullness” this morning. Six months ago the pair bought the Pender Island Bakery café. They operated it for a few months to give them time to decide what renovations they wanted to make and what their customers might want to see, and then in an amazing two and a half weeks their extensive renovations were completed. They met and became friends when they were realtors at the Dockside Real Estate’s Driftwood Centre office. Law had been on Pender since 2004 and the couple raised their two daughters here. It was Steeves, who arrived 10 years later, who first noticed when the 1,526-square-foot corner venue came up for sale and half jokingly said to her colleague: “Maybe we should buy it. Wouldn’t that be fun?” “Yeah, no,” was the very definite response from Law. “I went, ‘yeah, maybe not.’ A month later, however, Anna asked me if I still wanted to buy the bakery.” She did and they did. “We had worked well together in the real estate office,” says Steeves, “and we enjoyed that immensely, so we started talking about the possibility of doing this and got more excited as we went along, and here we are. We hung on for a couple of months while we made the transition, buying the bakery in

July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 13

Above: Two friends meet by the community notice board in the Vanilla Leaf Bakery. Page 13: Bakery co-owners Anna Law, left, and Sheri Steeves.

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October and then giving up our real estate licences in December.” Law adds: “Being in the bakery and working for a few months really helped us to see what we wanted to change. We had noticed that the previous bakery layout wasn’t always working as well as it could have. There was a bit of confusion with the two doors and which way you go and where you ordered. After we looked at it from a staff point of view it also didn’t work. Staff had to constantly move across the entire length of the space in order to give full service. So we wanted to make it clear to the customer where to order and to make it easier on the staff too. Also, we wanted to ensure that customers sitting and enjoying themselves were not being constantly interrupted with the noise of machines or people trying to get around them to get their coffee.” “We had a plan and it gelled completely,” Law says. “We just seemed to work together that way. One of us would say, ‘What about if we did this? And the other would say, ‘Yeah, I wondered about that.’ The deeper we got into it and the more we started fine tuning it, it just got better and better.” “During the renos,” adds Steeves, “we were here every day so when there was a decision to be made, we made it right away. We had a fantastic

Above: Scone selection. At left: Staff members Haesung Yum, left, and Ella Sokolosky.

crew working on it. We wanted a west coast vibe, warm with a cozy wood feeling.” They’re both in agreement that their number one goal was always to create a place where everyone would want to meet up. Where it was fun and comfortable with good food and coffee. “We wanted it to be a place for islanders. I hope we’ve created that.” Judging from the popularity of the bakery it seems they have. A woman waiting at a table under the message board greets her friend. Two neighbours have snaffled one of the window tables and are discussing their ongoing projects. A worker grabs a smoothie and a wrap and heads out to his truck. A comfortably ensconced couple is chatting in the roomy nook while another lone coffee lover is reading his book at a window seat. “Try the smoothies,” a customer had told me while I was waiting to score a latte. “And get a scone to go with it. They’re awesome.” It’s a daunting challenge to own and run a bakery café, and especially to do it as a partnership, but it seems this pair is up for it and Law knew what to expect. “When I was growing up my mom owned a bakery and later we both owned a restaurant together in Victoria and so I managed that for her for quite a few years. I also worked at other Victoria restaurants while I was going to university so I’ve had food and small shop experience. It was just a matter of re-learning everything.” Steeves, who had always wanted her own business, was in the computer industry for 25 years before she became a realtor. “I thought I would retire early so we moved to Pender. Real estate had always a hobby of mine so I got my licence when I came here. I had no food experience but lots of customer experience.” So it seems their roles in the business were obvious fits.

“I manage the kitchen because of my past experience,” says Law, “and Sheri took on front of house responsibilities. We work together really well and are good at problem solving together.” Steeves explains that she works a shift at 6:30 a.m., cleaning up the area, getting the coffee on and putting all the baked goods out front so that when the doors open at 7 a.m. everything is inviting and ready. “And then through the day it’s front of house. I do some housekeeping and cash and payroll interspersed and otherwise serve customers and keep the place tidy and make sure there is lots of food out.” Law says she starts before 6 a.m. because she needs to get in early to start prepping by baking muffins and scones, for example. “I make breakfast things and wraps and then move into making soups and sandwiches using our own bread. It’s a kind of rush against the clock.” Even during the off season, there’s a staff of 10, but in summer five more will be needed, especially as Law and Steeves want to get creative with ice cream cones and extend outside a little more. “We’re trying to make work a good place to be. It’s important that everyone enjoy their job and get along,” they emphasize. “We have a terrific staff. Dorian Wilde is our baker. He’s been doing this for longer than anyone, for over 20 years. And our pastry chef, Nora Brulotte, is amazing and also has years of experience. I don’t get to meet them. Wilde works all night creating his awesome breads, cinnamon buns, croissants and chicken and beef sausage rolls, and Brulotte, who weaves her magic during the day, can’t leave the kitchen. She creates the pies, the pastries, the cookies, the special order cakes and the squares. This bakery business is 24/7. I’m no longer surprised that in the 20 years I’ve lived on Pender, the island bakery has changed hands four times. However, I have a strong feeling the Vanilla Leaf is going to be here a long, long time.

July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 15

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Nature

Rhen's

Poetry

poetic images of salt spring Island POEM & PHOTOS BY BARB LEVY

MIDSUMMER MOOD

michael LEVY photo

There’s a whisper of moths’ wings and fine pads stirring the gravel path as the midnight air comes alive with its soft animal sounds.

Barb Levy, AKA Rhen, is a poet, musician and photographer who has lived on Salt Spring for 16 years. Rhen's Poetry matches the seasons in each issue of Aqua. For more images by Barb Levy and to connect with her about her work, visit www.facebook.com/ saltspringbarbrhenpoetry/

And as the full moon rises, you can see in her warm, steady gaze, a young Buck with his antler sprouts. And you smile to yourself, recalling the day’s surprises — a fluffy Barn Swallow and a keen-eyed Osprey, fledglings focused on a new world where fairy-dust Dragonflies sail over the hot pink Cosmos while Skippers dart through the flowering Oregano and Thyme. And as you stand on the deck beneath this canopy of stars, you can’t help but marvel as the midsummer night wraps you lightly in its cool, velvet shawl.

July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 17

gulf islands

Discovering a great service or product is one of the rewards of shopping in the Gulf Islands.

COUNTRY LANES ESIGNS

Fashion

ART

C Available at the and 17_00264-04 Ad Mat - full page — 8.5” wide x 11” high

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MEDIA

DRIFTWOOD GULF ISLANDS MEDIA

Alchemy Farm Sound Garden July 18 ~ Sept 15 Visit our website

Two locations in Fulford Harbour Beads, Hats, Clothing & Accessories 250 653-9998

for tickets & info

Alchemy Farm alchemyfarm.ca flowers@alchemyfarm.ca

publishes Fast, reliable TELUS High Speed Internetthe newspaper with Smart Hub Driftwood is here.

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and several magazines both in print and online. DRIFTWOOD GULF ISLANDS MEDIA To subscribe call

Q 250.537.9933

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$60/mo

Plans starting at

342 Lower Ganges Road (Upper Ganges Centre). Get up to 500 GB of monthly data ■ ■

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Stop in and see us and if weDownload don’t speeds haveaveraging what12-25 you need Mbps by the TELUS LTE Network in stock, we can supply it. InPowered addition to our mobility Device is free on a 2 year term DRIFTWOOD GULF ISLANDS sales, we carry: PC laptops, printers, monitors, tv’s, MEDIA insert dealer name and audio Visit networking supplies, hard drives, video to find out if you qualify. cables, drones and many other electronic items. ■ ■

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Page 18 – AQUA – July/August 2019

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ON O

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[Address] GANGES RD • 250.537.8371 [City], [Province] [Postal Code] [Dealer website]

1. Offer subject to change. Expires December 31, 2017. Data plans will only work on the ZTE MF725R Smart Hub, Huawei B882 4G LTE or Huawei B890 4G LTE at eligible addresses. Check with a TELUS Dealer to qualify a service address. If Smart Hub device is moved out of region or if the Smart Hub SIM card is moved to a different mobile device, these data plans will cease working. These data plans do not include any voice minutes or capabilities. 9-11 and 6-11 calls can still be made if a phone is plugged into the Smart Hub unit, but no other voice activities will be possible with these plans. Taxes and pay-per-use charges are extra. 2. Speeds depend on signal strength and distance from cell site. Speed and signal strength may vary with your configuration, internet traffic, environmental conditions, applicable network management or other factors. For a description of TELUS network management practices, visit telus.com/networkmanagement and telus.com/optimization. Additional usage will be charged in increments of $10/5GB (rounded up to the closest GB at the end of the billing cycle). Data usage during a single billing cycle may be capped at $500 of additional usage. Additional usage may be authorized by calling TELUS to remove the data block. 3. If a 2-year term agreement is cancelled for any reason before the end of the commitment period, the account will be charged a fee equal to what’s left on the Device Balance and any remaining unpaid charges for using the service. TELUS and the TELUS logo are trademarks of TELUS Corporation. ©2017 TELUS 17_00264-01.

Be Water Wise

Use Only What You Need Water is a precious resource and supplies on Salt Spring are much more limited than in other parts of BC. Please join islanders as we work together to ensure that this summer, and every summer, we use this limited resource wisely. Try these conservation tips: • Keep showers short. • Run only full loads in dishwashers and washing machines. • Shut off the tap while brushing teeth, shaving, and washing. • Flush less often. • Inform guests about our island’s limited water supply, and ask them to be part of the solution.

Together we can make a difference

www.northsaltspringwaterworks.ca July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 19

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• Brass Also: Your furniture girls • Toys have a great selection of • Sports Cards Canadian-made furniture. • Daguerrotype Photos Stop by soon! • Knives & Swords • Antique & Collectible Smalls

UNCLE ALBERT’S FURNITURE 107 - 2nd Street, Duncan, BC • 250.748.1732 FAX: 250.746.1065 • www.unclealberts.ca

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250.597.7585 • soulfulmemories.ca Page 20 – AQUA – July/August 2019

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Free delivery to Salt Spring Island, details in store. ignite ignit 2390 - 152nd SouthSt., Surrey 2390St., - 152nd South Surrey • Ecotex - Soy •Foam EFFICIENCY Ecotex RELIEF EFFIC RELIEF ALIGNMENT ALIGNMENT www.wrmattress.com 604-385-0112 www.wrmattress.com 604-385-0112 Core ww 604-385-0112 Core 604-385-0112 ‡ 2390 152nd St., South Surrey ‡ *Items may not be exactly as illustrated. ** Some items limited quantity. CR’s (customer returns) 2390 - 152nd St., South Surrey *Items may not be exactly as illustrated. ** Some items limited quantity. CR’s (customer returns) • Talalay Latex• Talalay #503-5301 Chaster Road, Duncan 250.597.8760 ignite #503-5301 Chaster Road, Duncan ignite 250.597.8760 #503-5301 Chaster Road, Duncan 250.597.8760 • CelliantINCREASES IMPROVES SLEEP • Cellian Technology 2.7X GREATER 2.7X GREATER FALL PRESSURE INCREASES IMPROVES SLEEP INCREASES INCREASES PRESSURE OPTIMAL SPINAL OPTIMAL SPINAL HYPOALLERGENIC HYPOALLERGENIC www.wrmattress.com • Ecotex - Soy •Foam www.wrmattress.com Ecotex - Soy Foam •LEVELS QUEEN (Just south ofbehind town behind Smitty’s and Alland Battery) roger@rogersfurniture.ca EFFICIENCY EFFICIENCY PAIN RELIEF FA RELIEF OXYGEN •LEVELS 15 Year Warranty BLOODQUEEN FLOW PAIN RELIEF OXYGEN ALIGNMENT ALIGNMENT 15 Yea BLOOD FLOW (Just south(Just of town Smitty’s and AllRELIEF Battery) roger@rogersfurniture.ca Coreat south of town behind Smitty’s roger@rogersfurniture.ca Coreat ‡ CR’sStarting *ItemsAll mayBattery) not be exactlymay as illustrated. ** Some items limited quantity. CR’sStarting (customer returns) 3 *Items not be exactly as illustrated. ** Some items ‡limited quantity. (customer returns) • 1 /4 ˝ Impression • 13/4 ˝ Im Lots of parking

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• Ecotex - Soy •Foam • Ecotex - Soy •Foam • 10˝ Talal - Soy Foam - Soy Foam QUEEN •LEVELS EFFICIENCY Ecotex PAIN RELIEF PAIN FASTER OXYGENEcotex •LEVELS EFFICIENCY 15 Year Warranty BLOODQUEEN FLOW BLOOD RELIEF OXYGEN 15 Year Warranty FASTER FLOW ALIGNMENT Starting at Starting at Core Core Core Core • Cotton/ W • 13/4 ˝ Impression • 13/4 ˝ Impression $ • Talalay Latex• Talalay Latex • Talalay Latex• Talalay Latex $ • Celliant T Allowance Allowance • Celliant Technology • Celliant Technology • Celliant Technology • Celliant Technology • 25 Year W July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 21 • Ecotex - Soy •Foam • Ecotex - Soy •Foam • 10˝ Talalay • 10˝ Talalay Latex Latex Ecotex - Soy Foam • 15 Year Warranty Ecotex - Soy Foam • 20 Year Warranty QUEEN QUEEN • 15 Year Warranty • 20 Year Warranty • 3/4˝ Bod Starting Starting Coreat Core Coreat Core • Cotton/ Wool Cover • 13/4 ˝ Impression • 3/4˝ Impression • 13/4 ˝ Impression • 3/4˝ ImpressionCotton/ Wool• Cover $ • Talalay Latex • Talalay Latex• Talalay Latex $ • Talalay Latex • Celliant Technology Allowance Allowance Allowance Allowance • Celliant Technology • Celliant Technology • Celliant Technology • Celliant Technology • Celliant Technology • 25 Year Warranty • 25 Year Warranty • 15 Year Warranty • 20 Year Warranty • 15 Year Warranty • 20 Year Warranty • 3/4˝ Body Impression • 3/4˝ Body Impression

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“It’s the very best toyshop in the whole wide world” 5141 5141 Polkey Polkey Rd. Rd. Duncan Duncan 250.597.2994 250.597.2994 mcphersoncabinetry.ca mcphersoncabinetry.ca 5141 5141 Polkey Polkey Rd. Rd. Duncan Duncan 250.597.2994 250.597.2994 mcphersoncabinetry.ca mcphersoncabinetry.ca

JUICERY RESTAURANT

WE’RE MORE THAN JUICE! Organic • Made to Order Now more seating! 3-5380 Trans Canada Hwy., Duncan BC 250 597 2595 www.GlowJuicery.ca Summer hours Sunday 11-4:30 • M-F 7:30-7 • Sat 9-6 Page 22 – AQUA – July/August 2019

Come visit SEE WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER!

ENJOY THE WATER,

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250-597-2848 53 Station Street | Duncan | BC

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149 Kenneth St. Duncan, B.C. V9L 1N5 | 250-748-1533 volume1@islandnet.com | www.volumeone.ca

125 Station Street Downtown Duncan 250 748 9411

for conscious living July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 23

Imagine a scenic hike along an undisturbed Galiano Island coastline trail, surrounded by the

Community

endangered Coastal Douglas-fir ecosystem, above the sparkling blue waters of Trincomali Channel. Along

for

Learning

Seventh annual event runs Aug. 31 Story by Suzanne Fournier Photos courtesy Galiano Conservancy Association

Page 24 – AQUA – July/August 2019

the trail you will meet nature interpreters with expert information about birds, ecological restoration, archaeology, marine life and renewable energy. Farther along the trail, you can enter the Coast Salish-carved gate of the Galiano Conservancy Association’s Forest Garden to view an established hugelkultur permaculture-style garden and chat with head gardener/holistic nutritionist Cedana Bourne, while you sip her herbal teas harvested on-site. You can meet restoration coordinator Adam Huggins, who has established the Nuts’a’maat Forage Forest with traditional Coast Salish-utilized plants centred around a talking circle and a giant old-growth cedar. Now imagine that as you walk, you come to several magical spots along the ocean where you are serenaded by classically trained musicians playing the harp, flute, violin, cello, percussion instruments, accordion and flugelhorn. This scene is not just a midsummer’s dream: It’s the GCA’s seventh annual Musical Walkalong for Learning, this year to be held on Aug. 31. Registration fees and all funds raised go toward children’s outdoor education. Well-known Galiano musician Jack Garton plays trumpet, accordion and flugelhorn, Rob Greenwood has a blues guitar and haunting voice, while Philip Buller plays his own compositions and jazz standards on upright bass. Joan Robertson and her daughter Annie harmonize on flute and Celtic fiddle. Juno award winner Ben Brown and

Galiano-based percussionist Dan Gaucher show their improvisational skills, using a range of percussive instruments, some created on the spot from nature. Other musicians come from diverse backgrounds, including area symphony orchestras, chamber music ensembles and jazz groups. Kayakers and small boats halt in the ocean in 2018 to hear harpist Esther Ruth Teel and her sister Elanor perched on a rocky bluff, creating ethereally beautiful music in their long white dresses. The Teel sisters’ scenic natural stage lies just above Chrystal Cove, named after paediatrician Dr. Chrystal Kleiman, whose generous bequest preserved the oceanside trail you have just walked along. Other musicians choose spots nestled into natural forest amphitheatres, below arching arbutus and giant cedars. Cellist Catriona Day, a classically trained cellist who comes to the Walkalong when she is not at sea for Canadian fisheries, lent inspiration to the Walkalong concept when she attended a similar event as a naturalist in Pacific Spirit Park. Nelson Boschmann’s mandolin draws attention, as does Kathy Chen on violin, or flute music by Vania Levans or GCA director Stephanie Cairns. And as you hike, taking in the music as it blends into the coastal setting, know that you are also helping to extend this experience to a host of schoolchildren who otherwise might never spend a night under the stars, watch whales in the wild or climb a mountain. The Musical Walkalong for Learning is a key fundraising event, offering hikers the chance to benefit inner-city chil-

Esther Ruth Teel plays harp above Chrystal Cove during the 2018 Musical Walkalong for Learning.

A Garden for all Seasons

Open every day at 9am

butchartgardens.com 250.652.5256 July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 25

Teachers say the Galiano Conservancy’s outdoor education can be life-changing

Above, well-known bassist and visual artist Philip Buller performs on the walkalong last year.

Page 26 – AQUA – July/August 2019

dren, Gulf Islands schools or any school feeling the pinch of restricted funding. Islanders and visitors often compete to see who can raise the most money. All funds raised go to bring students to the Galiano Conservancy’s hands-on outdoor education programs. No other funding source is available specifically for student bursaries. That means busloads of excited kids and teachers can afford to come from Surrey, Delta, Victoria, Saturna, Salt Spring, and even from the Galiano Community School, to hike and learn outdoors without steep fees, the cost of camping equipment or even transportation. The intrepid GCA school bus will meet students at the end of the ferry trip, which also is often subsidized. Programs offered include The Edible Forest, Quest for the Mountain Top, Coastal Forestry of Pebble Beach, Renewable Energy in Action or Galiano Backcountry Experience. This spring, the GCA began offering renewable energy courses, teaching students all about electric vehicles or the workings of solar panels on homes and schools. Teachers say the Galiano Conservancy’s outdoor education can be life-changing, getting elementary school kids totally engaged with nature and even bored urban teenagers off their phones. Says Lower Mainland teacher Carrie B.: “Receiving the bursary from the Galiano Conservancy Association’s Quest for the Mountain Top program made this trip possible for our class. Coming from an inner-city school in Surrey, many of our students had never hiked a mountain let alone been on a ferry, and the cost of the trip was out of the question without the bursary. The trip to Galiano was unbelievable. Students were engaged the entire time and learning was taking place from morning to night. Not only was it a new experience for all of them, they all became more aware of native and non-native species in the ecosystems around us and what we can do to play a role in protecting the environment. Many of them saw their first whale on this trip!” The Walkalong trails trace the coast and heartland of the Galiano Conservancy’s 188-acre Millard Learning Centre, the site of the GCA’s central schoolhouse, which has its own extensive solar energy installation and soon its new office, slated to open this summer. The GCA has purchased or protected over 1,000 acres on Galiano, and has reached over 37,000 schoolchildren to date with its multifaceted outdoor programs. Galiano’s proximity to major urban centres has boosted Walkalong attendance as news of the event circulates. In 2018, over 200 hikers walked the conservancy’s trails and forest paths, which are graded by difficulty and designed to accommodate either individuals or groups. “Never have I hiked through the woods and come upon a bass player standing in a clearing, or a harpist perched on a bluff above a crystal blue bay,” wrote Carol Pucci in the Seattle Times in 2017, describing her three-hour guided musical walk. Many islanders mark the Walkalong on their calendars in advance, looking forward to a last summer outing. Upon finishing the hike, participants are treated to the delicious food of Galiano chef Martine Paulin and the homemade,

hand-cranked ice cream provided by Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson at the end of the trail. Loren, a theologian and co-founder of the GCA, has been one of the driving forces behind the Walkalong for all seven years, choosing the musicians and arranging their transportation and lodging, often at the Wilkinsons’ own nearby home. Neighbours of all ages walk the trails, exchanging news about garden harvests, new babies and the latest farm-to-table recipes. For those who prefer to enjoy the sounds of the forest in silence, there is a quiet section of the trail, perfect for meditative walking or listening to the birds. The North Galiano Volunteer Fire Department has its members onsite with radios for safety and water is provided along the trails. Hikers return at their own pace to the conservancy’s schoolhouse building, where the musicians gather for a big communal jam session. Registration for the event begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 10825 Porlier Pass Drive at the Galiano Conservancy’s Millard Learning Centre, so named for conservancy co-founders Ken and Linda Millard. Ken Millard, a baroque luthier and instrument maker who first came to Galiano in the 1970s, was a key figure in the land trust movement in B.C. and Canada. Ken died suddenly at home on Sept. 27, 2015, but not before he had helped to preserve the 188-acre mid-island site from approved plans for a subdivision. After personally overseeing two years of the Musical Walkalong for Learning, Ken would have enjoyed seeing the event continue to attract more and more hikers, drawn not just to the trails but also to the music he loved, with every step bringing a child closer to nature.

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Leading Best by Example Lawrie and Aileen Neish of Salt Spring Island STORY BY ROGER BRUNT Photos as credited

Page 30 – AQUA – July/August 2019

Lawrie Neish, Salt Spring Island’s high school shop teacher from 1968 to 1990, is best known for starting the Salt Spring Island Sailing Club. The club is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Lawrie is quick to agree that although he and his wife Aileen have been an inseparable team for almost 60 years, the accolades have mostly fallen on his shoulders. Talking to him I soon found out what he thinks about this. He told me, “Aileen is the heroine of the family. People tend to credit me, but if it wasn’t for Aileen none of this would have happened.” And with a twinkle in his eye he adds, “I used to be a long-distance runner, and a fairly good one. When I caught up with Aileen, I stopped running.” This was back in Scotland before the young couple came to Canada. Later, here on Salt Spring, Aileen was a runner too. When she and her girlfriends used to run to keep fit, her friends ran up to seven and a half kilometres. Aileen ran up to 10, this despite no longer being quite the spry young lass she had been in Bonnie Scotland. She explains: “Our first winter in this wood-heated

driftwood archives photo

Above: Lawrie points to the Ganges Fire Hall clock tower in 2012. At left: Lawrie as a callant at Glasgow, Jordanhill College, Faculty of Education, Strathclyde University 60 years ago. Page 30: Aileen and Lawrie on the Walker Hook Road property in 2019. At left, below: Aileen and Lawrie at an event in 2001 that honoured Lawrie's efforts to make the ArtSpring arts centre a reality.

photocourtesytheneishfamily

driftwood archives photo

house at Walker Hook, there was no firewood, so we burned driftwood off the beach. Lawrie cut the wood; it was my job to carry it up the steep 100-yard bank to the house. Had my running mates known, they would have quickly stopped wondering how I stayed so fit.” The founding of the sailing club was the result of Lawrie and his students building sail boats called Sabots, more than 100 of them. A Sabot is a sailing dingy that is sailed and raced single-handedly, often by young sailors. Lawrie and Aileen taught the students how to sail, how to look after the boats, and safety on the water. A big part of sailing is racing and in order to compete with other clubs, the students had to be members of a recognized sailing club. This led Lawrie to creating the sailing club and becoming its first commodore. Club student members went on to win the B.C. 13-andunder championships for many years. Lawrie’s students included kids from the outer Gulf Islands who stayed in the dormitory where the old Lady Minto Hospital was located up Ganges Hill. “I wasn’t only teaching the kids to be fine sailors but also keeping them off the streets,” says Lawrie. “They were so busy they had no time for mischief!” Lawrie tells me how he and Aileen ended up on Salt Spring Island. “Aileen and I arrived on Salt Spring on Canada Day, 1968 after a year’s teaching in Langley. We rented a house from Jim Spencer and weighed our options. I wanted to teach in Canada to add foreign experience to my resume, but eventually going back to Scotland was still very much an option. On the other hand, the weather was nice, the sailing good, and we wouldn’t be uprooting the kids, so we stayed.” Aileen adds, “When we bought this house, the first one or two years felt like a holiday. We worked hard, but it was so beautiful, and it still is. The huge arbutus tree now towering above the steep bank I used to climb with armloads of firewood was just a twig. We transplanted the cherry tree that now sweeps high above the house when it was little more than a struggling sapling.” To say Lawrie and Aileen worked hard is an understatement. Over the years, they renovated their entire house from the ground up, including the foundation. That there was no woodpile that first winter was the least of their concerns. Their source of fresh water was across the road on another property. Albert Kaye had witched a well location closer to the house for the previous owners that Lawrie dug by hand the first 10 feet. The house had been built in 1929, and during renovations they came across an old piece of siding that seemed to capture the spirit of the place. On the back of the board was written in faint pencil: “The woods are wonderful in their fall colours and it’s Satur-

July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 31

day and bath night.” There were four names on the board, one a Hedger, whose family lived nearby. Being Salt Spring Island’s new shop teacher had its challenges. In fact, the teacher Lawrie replaced had pointed out some of the shortcomings. Says Lawrie: “The Industrial Education shop was the result of several failed referendums. The school district initially partially overcame the situation by renting a large portable. However, there was a shortage of hand tools and machinery, no dust control and a certain amount of overcrowding in some classes. Over the years, some of the problems were solved with, in one case, senior students building a dust extraction system while working on their course requirements, and still winning many awards.” There were light moments with the students to ease their hard work. In the Power Mechanics 9 class, a student had brought in an old chainsaw. Working on it, Lawrie pointed out it still needed

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further repair. The student started it anyway, throwing the connecting rod and part of the piston through the gas tank. “Oh no,” he groaned. “Dad’s been trying to fix that saw for six years and now that we nearly got it running, I’ve ruined it.” In woodworking class, student Perry Booth was asked why he had built a sailboat instead of a coffee table as his class project. He replied, “Because it sails faster than any coffee table!” As the students and sailing club acquired their fleet of sailboats, the need for Sabots continued, but Lawrie made time for his many other interests, which included making model racing yachts, Celtic harps, fine clocks (including building the clock in the Ganges fire hall hose tower). Lawrie was also a metal engraver, engraving all the trophies for the school and, for 40 years, the Fall Fair’s trophies too. The story of how Lawrie resumed building harps on Salt Spring after an eight-year hiatus is typical of his dedication to fine craftsmanship.

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“In Scotland, Aileen had been a very good Highland dancer. As we got settled on Salt Spring, she expressed an interest in taking up a musical instrument instead of dancing. I had been working on a Celtic harp and offered it to her. A Celtic harp is traditional to Scotland and Ireland and requires skill and long practice to play it properly.” Aileen began taking lessons in Victoria. A friend of her teacher soon ordered a harp, as did several other people, including a customer in Seattle. Lawrie delivered the Seattle harp just as the group of musicians were having a party after completing their Christmas concert season, and everyone wanted to play it. Just then, the harpist for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra entered the hall and asked where the concert harp she had heard being played was located. “There isn’t one,” she was told, “there’s only this Celtic harp that Lawrie has just made.” She was so impressed she played it for half an hour and by the time Lawrie left Seattle that night, he had orders for six more. Lawrie’s son, seven-year-old Alex, had accompanied him on this trip and, on the way home, he said, “Dad, those people in Seattle really like your harps, don’t they?” It was work that paid off handsomely in so many ways. Eventually Lawrie received an invitation from the Vancouver Harp Society to attend a recital by the very famous Mary O’Hara. She offered to perform on Salt Spring. Her recitals were the same as those she’d given at a university in Boston and Queen Elizabeth Theatre (singing with harp accompaniment), but the setting was slightly more modest, our very own Mahon Hall! As I sat talking to Lawrie and Aileen in their lovely home overlooking Trincomali Channel I began to realize there was a connection back

to Scotland in almost everything we had talked about, including the fine clocks in the room with us. Lawrie had not only made the clocks; he had cut all their gears and machined the other components himself. When I asked how he could possibly learn to do this, along with all his other accomplishments (like building more than 100 Sabots and 38 other yachts) he said, “My grandfather, Robert Neish, showed me how to build boats. When I was eight, he was supervising me building a plank-hull model yacht. Grandpa died before we completed it, so Dad helped me finish it. Dad was a civil engineer, and very talented himself. He was a good singer, and he knew musicians who helped develop my interest and skills in harp making. Grandfather had made a fine clock too. As a boy living in the village of Kennet, after he passed away, every Saturday morning I wound the clock he had made for my grandmother.”

While attending the Royal College of Science and Technology (now Strathclyde University), Jordanhill College and teaching at Hermitage and Bearsden academies, Lawrie continued to design and built boats. He coached sailing at Inverclyde, Scotland’s National Recreation Centre. While teaching he also served as the weekend warden at Bendaroch, the U.K.’s first outdoor recreation centre for schools and youth clubs, offering sailing, canoeing and climbing courses. On Salt Spring, Lawrie and Aileen’s interest in the arts extended far past the making and playing of harps. Lawrie became very active in Artcraft, which the arts council of the time was considering abandoning. It was felt it was too much effort for the return. Mahon Hall, where the craft fair is held, was used as a gym by the elementary school so Artcraft’s time was limited to part of the summer.

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Keep Growing Lawrie took on organizing Artcraft, designing all new display equipment, changed inventory sales control and adopted a point of sales program. The result was that today Artcraft is more successful than ever and provided funding for ArtSpring and Pender’s community hall. As well as looking after Artcraft, Lawrie involved himself in the creation of ArtSpring. Working with Bob Hassell (who also designed Moby’s Pub) a proposal for a theatre, gallery and future crafts centre was produced, initially with Windfall and GOBC funding. “The ArtSpring committee decided that if we could raise an initial million dollars, which would get the building to lock up, ArtSpring would go ahead and become its own fundraising device,” says Lawrie. The result, after 10 long years of hard work, is what we see today, the finest theatre space in the Gulf Islands. All their lives, Lawrie and Aileen have demonstrated dedication and determination to do well whatever they have set out to do, be it sailing, teaching, fine craftsmanship, raising a family, or working for the community. If teachers lead best by example, there is no match for this industrious couple.

Lawrie and Aileen have four children. Son Alex and daughter Morven own Embe Bakery. Daughter Doreen lives in Nanaimo. Son Robert passed away at age 49, almost 10 years ago.

Laurie and Aileen have been recognized on the ArtSpring Wall of Major Contributors,with the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, UVic VERA Award and Life Membership in the Salt Spring Island Sailing Club and Farmers' Institute.

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Comfort Food

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Page 36 – AQUA – July/August 2019

Anna and Anthony Wilkinson at their Salt Spring Island home.

hey lived in Hong Kong and Thailand and have travelled all over the world, but since 2014 Anna and Anthony Wilkinson have called Salt Spring their home. Anna and Anthony Wilkinson live in the south end, close to Fulford, where their waterfront house overlooks Fulford Harbour. Anna has just finished cooking a simple Chinese dish in their spacious kitchen. “Chinese cuisine is very rich and very diverse, every region in China has its own specialties. My family, for example, originates from the south of China where stir-fried and steamed dishes served with rice are traditional meals, while in the north, noodles and dumplings are more common. I don’t cook Chinese food every day,” she confesses. “Now that we live on the west coast we enjoy the fresh organic produce here in B.C. and on Salt Spring,” adds Anthony. “We have lived in Thailand for several years and once travelled almost monthly to Japan for my business, so Thai and Japanese food are also favourites.” At 11 years of age, Anthony left England where he was born, for Europe with his parents. “Eventually my parents moved to Hong Kong. At that time I was attending university in England. When visiting Hong Kong during the summer months I hurt my back when someone accidentally jumped on me in the pool. As a

rugby player, my back had already suffered some damage and so spine surgery in Hong Kong was needed. Long story short, after the recovery I never returned to England except for business.” Anna and Anthony met in 1977 during a shoot for a cigarette commercial. “Both of us did not smoke but a friend asked if I would be interested to take part and it paid well,” explains Anna. Anthony was plucked off the street by a model agency. “I really had absolutely no interest in being a model, but I was into sailing and flying planes and this part-time job, until I landed a job in the electronics industry, paid for many hours of flying,” says Anthony, who went on to become a search and rescue pilot with the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force. The couple married, had kids and to mix things up even more, gave them Japanese names. They started a number of successful businesses and after retiring Anna and Anthony left buzzing Hong Kong behind and moved to Thailand, spending six years in Phuket sailing boats, before moving to Salt Spring Island four years ago. “The kids had left the house and we were ready for our next life adventure,” Anna looks back. “I wasn’t ready to leave Asia yet, so we decided to go to Thailand where it is warm year-round and where the food is great. However, we both enjoy a change of seasons and liked the idea of a holiday home in Canada.”

“When our daughters were young we visited Canada to ski and then later started to visit Canada twice a year, spending time here in summer as well,” says Anthony. “One year we took the ferry from Tsawwassen to Vancouver Island and when passing through Active Pass were taken aback by the beauty of the Gulf Islands. That was 20 some years ago. Shortly afterward we bought an ‘almost waterfront’ piece of land without seeing it and without even setting foot on Salt Spring Island. Years later the property of our neighbour came up for sale and it was right on the water. Our initial plan was to renovate that house, but we ended up building an entirely new house.” The Wilkinsons loved their summer home and Salt Spring so much, they decided to make it their current permanent home. “One daughter lives in Australia and the other in Switzerland, so we travel a lot, but when we’re here, we absolutely love it. The fresh air, the beauty of the islands, clean waters and safety make it a great place to live. Yet what we love most is the friendliness of the people. It’s such an eclectic international group of people who live here and we’ve made many great friendships.” They often invite friends over for a Chinese hot pot, a fonduestyle dinner. The more traditional meals from her childhood Anna doesn’t serve to her friends. “In China, people use the whole animal: like pig brains, ears, trotters, tongue and tail, nothing gets wasted. Or duck feet, fish lips, and fish cheeks. In China out of a sign of respect, the older people are

Ingredients: Medium firm tofu (1 package) cut in ½” cubes 450 grams minced pork (or substitute with chicken, turkey or mushrooms for a vegetarian option) 1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger 3 garlic cloves, minced 4 green onions cut in ¼” lengths 1 Tbsp. chili bean paste 1 tsp. Sichuan peppercorns (ground to powder) - optional

The Wilkinsons loved their summer home and Salt Spring so much, they decided to make it their current permanent home. served fish cheeks as they are so tender and delicious. I remember when I was young I helped my mother to prepare pigs brains, picking all the veins out with a toothpick. We then cooked them in rice wine or stir-fried with fresh ginger. It really is quite a tasty dish. Now that we live in Canada I don’t eat those dishes anymore. Although we do have a pig’s head in our freezer. Maybe we should have friends over for dinner soon,” she laughs. Mapo Tofu, the dish Anna prepared, is easy to make, not expensive and doesn’t require ingredients that are hard to find in Canada. “Some Chinese dishes take many days of preparation,” Anna says. “But when you work, it is simply impossible to spend so much time in the kitchen. This meal you can prepare in 15 minutes and it is one of our daughters’ favourites. What I definitely miss most about Hong Kong is the food. The dishes they serve in Canadian Chinese restaurants are good but just not quite the same.”

the pork is cooked. Add chili bean paste, mix together and gently incorporate the tofu. Once mixed, add the sauce and very gently stir until the sauce is thickened but still runny. Add green parts of the onions to finish and a little bit of sesame oil to enhance the flavours. Serve with steamed rice.

Sauce ingredients: ½ c. chicken broth 1 tsp. cornstarch 2 tsp. light soy sauce 1 tsp. sugar Prepare the sauce first by mixing the ingredients and set aside. Put 2 Tbsp. cooking oil in a wok or a skillet. I prefer sesame oil, but be aware, it can easily burn. Cook on high heat. Add ginger, garlic and the white parts of the spring onions. Stir fry until fragrant. Add pepper. Add pork (or chicken, turkey or mushrooms) and continue to stir fry on medium heat until

July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 37

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Volunteerism

Anchored in the Community Saturna Island’s Robert Bruce STORY BY CHERIE THIESSEN Photos courtesy Robert Bruce

Above: Robert Bruce with humpback whale researcher Jackie Hildering. At top: Robert out in a kayak in local waters.

f you arrive on Saturna Island, it probably won’t take more than a day before you either bump into Robert Bruce or hear his name come up. Part of the island community since 1981, Bruce is no stranger to volunteerism and seems to have had a hand in almost every island enterprise. He started a recycling program, helped the island obtain a new park, and built the replica longboat to the island’s namesake, the Santa Saturnina. He is a member of the Saturna Island Tourism Association and a founding member of the Saturna Island Marine Research and Education Society. A skilled and avid blue water sailor and kayaker, he operated Saturna Sea Kayaking for 11 years, then partnered for several years with Brian Henry, owner of Victoria’s Ocean River Sports, when the two of them built a kayaking outstation at Saturna’s Lyall Harbour. He’s part ideas man and part facilitator and coordinator, bringing people together, inspiring them and then rolling up his sleeves to help. Today we’re meeting at Saturna’s Lighthouse Pub, staring down Plumper Sound and savouring fish‘n chips washed down by Lighthouse Lager. Bruce is thinking back over his various involvements since arriving on island, while modestly questioning why anyone would want to know.

July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 39

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I prod; he reluctantly volunteers information. “When we started the recycling centre in 1989, the late Doris Ackerman was chairing the recycling committee. She was with me from the beginning and was a real steadying force. In those days we had a garbage dump here and they were still burning garbage in an incinerator and dumping it in the landfill. Recycling was beginning to get going on Mayne Island and over on Pender so my neighbour, Anne Popperwell, urged me to go to a meeting at the community hall. Then I volunteered to look into it. First I contacted the Department of Highways because they had a small piece of land across from what is now the General Store and a few days later the CEO flew over in a helicopter. We had a meeting and he stunned me by saying, ‘You can have the land.’ Right on the spot. So then we needed to get some money, so a friend of mine and I put together a proposal for $10,000, which covered bringing over the old building on skids that had been in the original landfill, doing some grading and putting in a gate. Then we needed more money because we wanted to put up a large building as well. We went back to the CRD and said: ‘Sorry, but we need another $10,000.’ They were so happy with what we’d done with the first $10,000 that we got the second lot too. By then we had a committee and I chaired it for the first year. I organized all of the initial construction, including the large building where we store cardboard and other recyclables. We actually got started up just before Pender.” In 1994, Bruce was very busy in helping to obtain a park for the community, Thomson Community Park. With its popular swimming hole, Saturna Beach, it was a legacy for islanders, preserving an idyllic and popular spot with a long community history. Now I want to know more about an initiative back in 1991 when he, Bahkshish Gill and John Wiznuk came up with the idea of obtaining the plans of the Santa Saturnina from Galiano’s Greg Foster. (Saturna is named after this Spanish schooner.) “We arranged for Greg and Shay Foster from Galiano to bring two long boats down to Saturna. The boats went around the island and people could go on legs, so they signed up for that and afterward we had a celebration dinner at the hall. The Saturnina Symposium grew from that. That was the beginning of the push for a replica longboat for our community. Greg drew up a set of plans for a 16footer and a little crew started building it. We got a grant from our community club to start off with and started building the boat on my living room floor. We had two

Above: A kayaking group at the Saturna Kayak Shack. Below: Robert with granddaughter Siena.

He's part ideas man and part facilitator and coordinator . . . .

July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 41

little kids so it was not practical to build it in the middle of the house we were building. Bits and pieces got done by various community members and Richard Blagborne wound up taking it under his wing. Used for community events, it’s now the flagship for the community. It’s sitting in the General Store now but in the spring it goes back to its mooring in Boot Cove.” Kayaking came next for the busy Saturna Islander. “The island’s original doctor, who had started Boot Cove Kayaks, decided to move to Galiano and asked us if we wanted to take over the kayak business, so we got Saturna Sea Kayaking going in 2000 and ran it for 11 years.” Bruce, who had also been working in construction, says he just did what he could on the island, working at several different things. “Then I sold the business and partnered with Brian Henry of Ocean River Sports, one of the pioneers in the sea kayak industry.” “We worked on this project together,” recalls Henry. “We towed over two used docks we got from Harbour Air, from Victoria to Saturna, then modified them into one and built our existing shack on it in the spring of 2016. Bob is stepping back a bit now but I’m pleased to say he is still very much involved and so very important for the success of the Saturna Kayak Shack and Ocean River Gulf Island tours on Saturna.” He may be stepping back a bit from kayaking, but moving into his seventh decade has not stopped him from being the instigator of one of the island’s most recent initiatives, Saturna Island Marine Research and Education Society (which was covered in Aqua’s Septem-

ber/October 2018, issue). He has been a director of SIMRES since its inception, initially working with Maureen Walton as coordinator of the Sea Talks program and in general lending a hand as needed. How did lucky Saturna ever manage to lure him to its shores, I want to know. “It was July 1st and my wife, Beverly Birch, and I went to our first Saturna Lamb Barbecue. Well it was pretty fun and exciting, people were friendly, and we liked the feeling of the island. We were living in Sidney then, keeping our boat at Canoe Cove, but we had been looking for property, and then near where we had anchored we saw ‘Boot Cove – lot for sale.’ It had beach access and boat moorage. Three months later it was ours. There was a little shack on the property with a 30-amp service so we moved in there and I hooked up some water and we had an outside shower. Saturna was paradise in those days. Between seafood and venison and the garden, we had all we needed for food. In the summer we would take off in our boat, Strophe, and head off to Desolation Sound. (Strophe comes from Sir Philip Sidney’s 1580 sonnet and means “star lover.”) “Then,” he continues, “We started to get involved in the community.” No kidding! Bruce, who is also on the Saturna Tourism Association board, says he’s stepping back due to his advanced age, but I think the senior, who looks over a decade younger than his years, is always going to be an ideas man.

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AQUA 65

Shot on location at Peninsula at Norgarden

Newly acquainted Eileen and Joyce share piano keys and laughter.

Recreation

s e v a W

For the love of

Surf craft maker inspired by environmental responsibility and connection to ocean Story and photos by MARC KITTERINGHAM, except as noted

LeeAnn Norgard Photo

H Above: Carol Adam with a hand plane made from reclaimed wood in her studio. At top: LeeAnn Norgard uses a Snarky Mermaid board.

igh in the hills on Salt Spring is the last place anyone would expect to find a surf shack. However, Carol Adam has made her home into a laid-back shaper studio where she turns reclaimed wood into beautiful and fun bodysurfing craft. A truck covered in surf stickers sits in the driveway outside Adam’s home and studio. Inside the compound are a few new prototype bodysurfing boards called paipo (pay-poe) boards in various stages of completion, one of which has the trademark dings of a recent surf session. The only thing missing from the surf shack image is the soft crash of waves on a white sand beach.

July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 43

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“I spent a large portion of the time shaping this baby up,” Adam says, describing a recent surf trip to Tofino to test one of her Snarky Mermaid company prototypes. “[It] definitely saw some good use.” Adam started surfing in her 20s. After trying conventional surfing on and off for years, she fell in love with bodysurfing and the feeling of being a part of the wave. Eventually, Adam discovered hand planes online. The problem Adam encountered was a lack of North American manufacturers. Her options were either to order a board from New Zealand or to try making them on her own. “I made my first boards and just thought ‘Oh this rocks.’ It made such a huge difference because now instead of bodysurfing until I get thrashed, I’m bodysurfing and I’m actually able to get away. The hand plane makes you go so much faster.” A hand plane is a small board that straps to a bodysurfer’s hand, creating a pocket of air beneath that allows the rider to glide across the surface of the wave. While bodysurfing is possible without the small boards, having a hand plane makes a world of difference to the rider. Adam started making the planes for herself, experimenting with different designs until she found one that fit her style. Eventually, she began making some for friends and has moved on to selling them online. While she would like to expand her range into bigger boards, her focus has been mainly on bodysurfing. “In my early 20s I had gone to L.A. and my boyfriend at the time had a beach house in Malibu. I got rid of the boyfriend, and really picked up the idea of surfing,” she says. “I was terrible at it. I remained somewhat terrible at it because I was not consistent enough in going . . . I just love being in the water . . . the simplicity of it, and the fact that you’re part of the wave and not just riding on it.” Bodysurfers do not need to be able to stand up on their boards to ride. This opens the sport to surfers who have had injuries or are otherwise incapable of popping up onto a surfboard. Adam has been known to gift some cosmetically damaged hand planes to people with injuries or other things keeping them from surfing. “Once you get past a certain age, you’ve probably had a few injuries where you’ve fallen and popped your shoulder. That pop-up in surfing is really challenging for so many. These, you don’t need that. If you can raise your hand above your head, you can bodysurf with a hand plane. Strike a superhero pose!” Adam says. Snarky Mermaid’s surf craft are modelled after traditional Hawaiian boards. Adam says she was drawn to traditional surfing because it fosters a deeper connection to the ocean. Additionally, traditional surfboards are all made of wood and do not contain any foam like modern boards. “As soon as you start going into the traditional ways of surfing, you start getting away from foam,” Adam says. “The one thing I can’t stand is going to a popular beach and seeing how people take $20 cheap foam boards with crappy nylon fabric, they go out and the board snaps on their first wave and then it becomes garbage in the ocean. Either that or I see them on the beach. It just makes me cringe.” That philosophy extends into her manufacturing process. All

of Adam’s boards are made from off-cut wood from Salt Spring job sites. Her workshop is solar powered, and all of the webbing used for leashes are recycled from rock climbing gyms. Even the bags that the hand planes are packaged in are made of old towels from a local resort. “I don’t ever want to buy a plank of wood,” Adam says. “I don’t like waste. If you go to the ocean, it’s shocking to see the amount of garbage.” Some islanders may recognize Adam’s name from the art world on Salt Spring. When she is not making boards, Adam works as a visual artist. That talent is evident in the artwork and craftsmanship of her boards. Her hand planes are painted with west coast-inspired designs of mountains, trees and the ocean. “Some of the art on my first hand planes was so nice that people refused to use them in the water. It’s kind of sacrilege, but I kind of get it. Now I offer ones with art and ones without. I have a branding iron with my logo, but that’s it,” she says. Adam currently sells her boards online through her Facebook and Instagram pages, and she is working on getting them into surf shops in the area. Though Adam’s home is far from any breaks, it has all the tell-tale signs of someone who loves the water. Hanging up in the corner of her studio is a wetsuit, a pair of flippers and her personal hand plane, showing wear from countless sessions, but ready for more.

"I DON'T EVER WANT TO BUY A PLANK OF WOOD." CAROL ADAM

Carol with a traditional paipo board surf craft, which she prefers because they foster a deeper connection to the ocean.

Resident Johnny Lee and his son David (Health Care Assistant)

SIDNEY All Care Residence We’re All About Care ... When asked what David likes the most about having his dad Johnny live at Sidney All Care Residence he replied “The staffcare for him as if he a part of their own family.” This is one of the reasons David chose to be part of the Sidney All Care Residence team. David has been making moments matter and caring for our residents as a Health Care Assistant since 2017.

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Resident Johnny Lee and his son David (Health Care Assistant)

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ELIZABETH NOLAN photo

Q&A

At the Helm

Derek Sweet is Senior Master of BC Ferries’ Salish Orca based on Salt Spring Island. Q. How long have you been a BC Ferries captain and what route did you take to get to that position? A. I have been a captain with BC Ferries for 11 years now. I came up through the “Hawse pipe,” as they say, gathering all my sea time from probationary seaman to captain. I started out wiping tables in the cafeteria on the Queens of Tsawwassen and Nanaimo in 1987. It was supposed to be a summer job between semesters at college. At the end of the summer, the company asked if I wanted to stay on as a casual employee. I had already been invited up to the bridge by some of the officers to check out the wheelhouse. These longtime mariners were very supportive, and inspired me to transfer to the deck department and start a career path that has led me to where I am today, Senior Master of the Salish Orca. During my time with BC Ferries, I have had the opportunity to work out of Salt Spring, Tsawwassen, Swartz Bay, Prince Rupert, Port Hardy, Bella Coola and on over 30 different ships within the fleet, from oldest to newest. Q. While growing up on Salt Spring did you ever see yourself working for BC Ferries? A. Actually, no. Ironically, living and going to high school on Salt Spring Island, I often travelled for sporting events, shopping, family trips and so on using the ferry system, but really never looked around and thought about a career with BC Ferries. I did have a friend at the time who worked as a casual catering attendant while going to university who gave me the application. That’s really how I got introduced to the possibility of working for BC Ferries as a summer job. Q. What are some of the things you like best about your job? A. I believe I have the best office anyone could ask for. The view out of the bridge windows is second to none. At times while navigating in thick fog or heavy weather, it can be challenging Page 46 – AQUA – July/August 2019

on the bridge, but really it’s a small percentage of the time. Sunrises, sunsets, and full moons, all seen from the Salish Sea, are spectacular. I really like interacting with the passengers and crew as well. It’s nice to see people relax and enjoy the ride when travelling with us. I’ve seen passengers doing their morning yoga routine on the outside decks of the ferry while we are transiting Active Pass in the sunshine with whales in the backdrop. It’s also gratifying to see various crew members able to attain their personal goals and progress through the ranks, if they so choose. Q. Do you ever get tired of seeing the sunrise as you leave Long Harbour in the mornings? A. Never. The bridge team and I often comment on how lucky we are to start our day this way, with the sun coming up over Maracaibo across the harbour (at least this time of year!). Working in our environment really makes you take note of the changes in length of days and when/where the sun rises and sets. It’s really never the same twice. Q. You were among the crew members bringing the Salish Eagle from Poland to B.C. in 2017. What was most memorable about that trip? A. Wow, everything. When you spend your entire career in coastal navigation and you wind up in the middle of the Atlantic on a ferry, it’s pretty spectacular. The city of Gdansk in Poland itself was fantastic, transiting the English Channel, the Canary Islands, the Caribbean Sea, Panama. If you would have asked me if I thought I’d get sent to Poland to be a part of this project when I started out my career at BC Ferries 32 years ago, I never would have imagined it. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be involved and to have been a part of it. Q. How else would people on Salt Spring or the other Gulf Islands know you? A. Attending Gulf Islands Secondary School from grades 9 to 12, I met a lot of outer island students, some of whom still live in the islands or have family there. It’s always nice bumping into old friends who are travelling home for the holidays with us. Others may know my wife Dominica, as the creator/owner of Dom’s Deodorant, and of course mother of our two boys, Jackson and Harrison. Both were born and raised on Salt Spring Island.

July/August 2019 – AQUA – Page 47

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