Phoenix Riting! – May 9th, 2024

May 10, 2024

Hello dear community, what a week it has been! I just came out of a week of Blues camp (my third year running) and I’m still high. I wrote about my experience at Blues camp in some depth last year, so I’ll give the condensed version: it was awesome! Stellar! Amazing! Life-changing (again)! I hadn’t planned to go this year, but the moment I saw the workshop write-ups I knew I needed to, and I am thankful that I did. My teachers this year were Stephanie Martin and Suzie Vinnick, and they were both excellent. I learned so much! I might even retain some of it.

High point among many: Student night! So many incredible performances, all were excellent this year. Watching Jason Long win the guitar raffle was surreal and wonderful. Julia Rossignol’s gorgeous a capella rendition of her composition ‘River’ was heart rending and a personal peak for me. I played a song of my own, and people seemed to like it. Molly Blaze, our Hornby scholarship recipient, played a sweet banjo version of Plastic Jesus. It was such a great capper to the week. Then we had the ‘cry and bye,’ the farewell brunch on Friday, and it was all over for another year. Every year I feel more at home with this group of folks, many of whom are becoming friends, as I learn and grow as a musician and singer.

Unless I started making a load more money than I do, I would not leave Hornby to attend such a camp elsewhere. But I don’t have to! We are incredibly lucky to have these world-class opportunities right here on the island. We have much to be grateful for here and I am more thankful than I can say. Every day I notice, reflect and am amazed by the simple fact of where I live. It’s impossible to take it for granted! Call it a blessing or a privilege; I prefer the former. We needn’t feel guilty about blessings. Yes, we are better off in so many ways than so many other people. Some of us stumbled on the place by accident, some were born or grew up here, some had parents who vacationed here and grew up feeling like Hornby was home. Others have their own pathways to this magical isle.

I was one who stumbled, back in the eighties. Hornby was truly remote back then. This was a world away from the world, long before the internet existed. I ran to Hornby as a refuge, a place of escape, where I could hide in the woods, let my boys run with the other wild kids (no helicopter parents then), lick my wounds and recover from oh so much. I have no complaints about my life, though. I am full up with experiences and I must write in order to process them, and I am exploding with creative energy, ideas and stories.

It’s time for me to move forward! I’m back-burnering this column. Due to the pressures of ‘cancellation’, the Grapevine is no longer able to pay my small salary. I fully understand, and I support this local avenue for the free expression of ideas and opinions, something I fervently stand for. I may pop back in on occasion, if the Grapevine allows. Right now, I have other things to write that occupy my focus.

I’m shifting focus to my new column at https://phoenixbee.substack.com. Substack is a subscription writing site where writers of all genres and walks of life congregate and write for their subscribers, free and paid. There is a ton of well-written, thoughtful, nuanced writing there and I’m happy to join that community. I am not putting in a paywall, so all who sign up for free can read my writings there. Of course, you have the option to pay if you wish to support my work.

I like that Substack is not social media. There, I know that those who subscribe are interested in what I have to say, and that matters to me. I will continue to advocate for alternative points of view and to express these views from the centremost radically inclusive position possible.

I am shelving my opinions for the most part to finish a series I am writing about the music on the album, song lyric discussions, observations on life, what it is like to carry this brain around with me, and the tools I use to facilitate my growth to becoming a bigger, better version of myself. Once that is done, I will expand the focus of the writing.

Also, my new album kicks, I really wish you would listen (I don’t know how to market, does it show?)! To hear it, go to my bandcamp (phoenixbee.bandcamp.com), or search “Phoenix Bee Late Bloomer” on the streamers. It’s out there now. You can also find it linked from my Substack.

That’s what’s happening! To receive regular more-or-less weekly articles, subscribe to my Substack at phoenixbee@substack.com. You can always reach me at phoenixonhornby@gmail.com.

Self Skillet

May 10, 2024

EXCITING NEWS: MARGARET ATWOOD VISITING DENMAN ISLAND!

May 2, 2024

Prepare yourselves, Denman Island residents, because the rumors are indeed true—Margaret Atwood is headed our way! Organized by the Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival (DIRWF) committee, we are thrilled to announce that the renowned author will grace our shores May 31st and June 1st 2024, for an unforgettable literary experience.

As a token of appreciation for the unwavering support of Denman Islanders over the years, the committee has decided to extend exclusive ticket sales for Ms. Atwood’s two presentations to local residents. We want to ensure that as many Denmanites as possible have the opportunity to attend these special events.

The $30 tickets (with discount for students) will be available for in-person purchase, limited to two per Denman household. Let’s come together as a community to make this experience accessible to a broad number of Denman residents.

But that’s not all! Margaret Atwood has also proposed a Meet and Greet fundraiser on the evening of May 31st. Catered by Erika Bland and the Farm to Family crew, this event promises a delectable spread of locally sourced appetizers and drinks. Proceeds from the $200 per ticket fundraiser will benefit Farm to Family, ADIMS, and Denman Affordable Housing. A charitable donation tax receipt for a portion of the ticket cost will be sent out before the end of the year.

Tickets for all events will be sold in-person at the Activity Centre on Wednesday, May 15th (11am to 1pm) and Saturday, May 18th (11pm to 1pm). Don’t forget to bring proof of residency!

As the event approaches, keep an eye out for more detailed updates. This is a literary event you won’t want to miss!

The Unfaithful Servants coming to Denman & Hornby!

May 2, 2024

MARCH 14^TH 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANTS ANNOUNCE GULF ISLANDS TOUR

WITH SPECIAL OPENING GUEST ADAM DOBRES

BC’s most exciting Newgrass band & one of Canada’s greatest fingerstyle acoustic guitar players, on tour!

Western Canada’s acoustic sensation, The Unfaithful Servants, are set to embark on a tour of the Gulf Islands, accompanied by the exceptional talent of Adam Dobres as their special opening guest. Known for their originality and dynamic performances, The Unfaithful Servants are thrilled to bring this exciting concert to the comminutes of the Gulf Islands. The tour is a celebration of the Gulf Islands and will bring a world class show to these remote locations.

Hailing from Vancouver Island, The Unfaithful Servants have garnered widespread acclaim for their explosive instrumentals, captivating storytelling, and powerful vocals. Praised by industry experts like Kelly Nakatsuka (Islands Folk Festival, CBC host), the band has earned a reputation as a must-see act. Nakatsuka describes them as “one of the most exciting bands from Vancouver Island in some time…gorgeous harmonies and fine songwriting, beautiful instrumental interplay, and some seriously rippin’ solos.”Anchored by the virtuosic mandolin playing of Jesse Cobb and the prolific songwriting of Dylan Stone, The Unfaithful Servants are thrilled to welcome new members, including the talented Quin Etheridge on fiddle and Louis Rudner on bass.

Joining them on this exciting tour is Adam Dobres, a seasoned guitarist with over 20 years of touring experience worldwide. Dobres has received critical acclaim, earning nominations for ‘Instrumental Artist of the Year’ and ‘Best Roots Recording’ at the West Coast Music Awards. Notable highlights of his career include being a member of the Wailin’ Jennies, touring with Blue Rodeo and touring as an opening act for Mark Knopfler, including eight shows at the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London, UK.

The Gulf Islands tour promises to be a spectacular showcase of acoustic music at its finest, featuring the unparalleled talents of The Unfaithful Servants and the mesmerizing performance of Adam Dobres.

Tickets for the tour are available at www.unfaithfulservants.com.

MAY 3 – GALIANO – South Island Community Hall

MAY 4 – PENDER – Pender Island Community Hall

MAY 10 – DENMAN – Community Hall

MAY 11 – HORNBY – Community Hall

MAY 17 – GABRIOLA – Gabriola Theatre Centre

MAY 18 – PROTECTION – Beacon

MAY 24 – MAYNE – AG Hall –

MAY 25 – CORTES – Mansons Hall

MAY 31 – SATURNA – Community Hall

JUNE 1 – SALT SPRING – Mateada

For media inquiries, please contact:

Dylan Stone

dylanstonemusic@gmail.com

250-514-9276

Stanehill Park: New adventures Spring 2024

May 2, 2024

The Stanehill Park is located at the intersection of Greenhill Road and Stanehill Place. The half acre park is owned by the Comox Valley Regional District. It was created in 2012 by volunteers and is primarily maintained by neighbours and the Denman Island Parks Committee of DIRA. The forest has a BC Coastal Douglass-fir habitat. The small size plot lends itself to “interactive” educational walks. To that end a free guide “The Stanehill Park Plant and Bird Guide” is offered to visitors at the North Entry to help you identify typical forest plants and birds in the forest. It shows 78 plant -, 40 bird- and a few mammal drawings. You are welcome to keep it to explore other natural areas on Denman Island. Kids might like to colour the B&W drawings and study our biodiversity at the same time. Why is it called interactive? It has hand-carved, painted birds, mammals and other nature objects dispersed throughout the park for you to find. A nature quiz in a way. The map on the back of the guide marks the location of nature objects with a small “x”, but it does not give away what it is to look for. A winning score means you have found: 1 Barred owl, 1 Anna’s Hummingbird, 1 Red Breasted Sapsucker, 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 1 pileated Woodpecker, 1 Pacific Slope Flycatcher, 2 violet green swallows, 1 Chestnut-backed Chickadee, 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 2 wrens, 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 2 Purple Finches, 1 American Goldfinch and 1 Racoon, 1 Mink, a cast-off deer antler which has been gnawed on by rodents to seek calcium and a deer foot print next to it, a squirrel midden, a big stump with springboard notches and an erratic. You have to look closely for the squirrel midden with the descaled fir cones on a slog. You will see three types of nest boxes for birds. Nestboxes for cavity nesters: Chickadee, Nuthatch, Woodpeckers, violet-green swallows and wrens etc., a half-open box for flycatchers and a shelf nest for American robins. Robin have learned to build their nest “under cover” to prevent crows and ravens see by them flying over and to rob their bright turquoise eggs. Many nests are made in half-open building or wood sheds. By putting up a shelf support helps them greatly. We have one example in the Park. While the Nature Guides are OK to take with you when you leave the carved critters and other nature object are to remain for enjoyment of visitors who come after you. Though, it must be gratefully emphasized that nobody has ever taken any objects or damaged them. It can’t be said for the winter storm which toppled some trees; one of them smashed the Nature Guide box which us now repaired. If you see something that needs attention, please contact the Parks Committee or e-mail pkarsten@telus.net. It has been said there are no scheduled events in nature but Stainhill Park guarantees you “wildlife encounters”! Enjoy your visit and the quiz!

Efficiency in Motion: Unveiling the Future of Delivery with Electric Trucking and Delivery

May 2, 2024

Step into the future of delivery with Electric Trucking and Delivery (ETD), where sustainability meets convenience. Their service is more than just delivering packages or loads of compost; it’s a commitment to reducing pollution and enhancing efficiency while ensuring swift and secure deliveries.

Central to ETD’s mission is electric trucks, revolutionizing the delivery industry by slashing carbon emissions. They will reduce the traditional gas-guzzling vehicles contributing to pollution on the islands. With ETD, every delivery contributes to a cleaner, greener tomorrow.

The owners grew up on Denman and want to make a change. “We need to prioritize reducing commercial emissions and pollution” Alan says “As well as reduce car trips on our ferry service, which also reduces pollution. That’s the core of our mission.”

ETD offers delivery of 2.5 yards – 7 yards of landscaping supplies (depending on weight), construction materials, and they will be launching an all new grocery delivery service to Denman in the near future. Additionally, they offer delivery for almost anything that you need, if it’s too big for your vehicle or you just don’t want to sit in the ferry lineups.

ETD has also brought online convenience to the delivery business through their website www.electric-delivery.ca where you can order and pay with credit cards. Credit card payments are pre-approved and only charged when delivery is made to accommodate possible changes.

Let’s redefine delivery services on Denman and Hornby. Together, we can pave the way for a cleaner, greener tomorrow. Experience the difference with Electric Trucking and Delivery – where innovation meets sustainability, one delivery at a time. Order @ www.electric-delivery.ca or text/call Alan @ 250-898-4392

Fair Trade, Land Reform and Mayan Resilience in Guatemala: Coffee Tasting & Talk on Denman

May 2, 2024

Denman Island has an incredible opportunity to learn more about these topics from Neydi Juracán, the National Coordinator of the Guatemalan Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA). Join Neydi at the Back Hall on Sunday May 12^th at 11 am to hear about solidarity trade coffee and Mayan resilience. Come taste this delicious shade-grown “fair trade plus” Guatemalan coffee, grown in a regenerative polyculture, and learn about food sovereignty struggles in Guatemala.

The CCDA was founded in 1982 during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war to defend the rights of workers on large coffee, sugar and cotton plantations, to recover lands taken from the Mayan communities over the past centuries, and to promote and recover Mayan culture and spirituality. The CCDA is a major force in Guatemala’s Indigenous-led struggle for land reform, food sovereignty and cultural survival.

It wasn’t until after the armed conflict ended in 1996 that the CCDA was able to work more freely on the issues of land reform and livelihoods. The CCDA used the Peace Accords to obtain land for member communities in the Lake Atitlán region. Some purchased the coffee plantations where their families had been farm workers for generations. Today, those plantations, reorganized as cooperatives, produce Café Justicia, a “solidarity trade” coffee, processed by the CCDA for fair prices to producers and exported to Canada and other countries. Profits from Café Justicia help finance the CCDA’s ongoing work for land reform, community development and an end to impunity and corruption in Guatemala.

The “plus” in this fair trade coffee product is the relationships that go beyond paying fair prices to producers, to strengthening the participation of women and youth, and supporting CCDA’s work in defending the land rights of Indigenous communities across Guatemala. Neydi has said that the objective was “to develop an alternative that went beyond just fair trade, beyond just paying more for the coffee… We want people to know where this coffee comes from”, and that in buying this quality coffee, “you are also supporting labour rights, and also the rights of women, youth, Indigenous people and small farmers”.

Join other Denman Islanders interested in the cross-border struggle for social, economic and environmental justice, and enjoy sampling fair trade “plus” coffee. Gift boxes and bags of coffee will be available for purchase.

Neydi is on a speaking tour of BC from May 2-18, co-sponsored by BC CASA-Café Justicia, CoDevelopment Canada and the BC Council for International Cooperation. For more information on the CCDA, visit their website. For information about Café Justicia, visit their website.

Mighty Muffins

May 2, 2024

Mighty Muffins Sally Campbell

Here’s another real food recipe adapted from the repertoire of the late great painter Georgia O’Keeffe. In her earlier years, she spent a lot of time at the family property of her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz, in upstate New York, where they had an apple orchard. She painted, preserved and baked with apples “in a kind of apple fever” according to Stieglitz. I recognize that fever when our 3 apple trees are ready for harvest. The thought of all those lovely containers of applesauce in our freezer, apples peeled, diced and rendered down to sauce with only a little water and some cinnamon, is thrilling to me. Abundance! And to be able to actually include homemade applesauce in a recipe is really something. If I don’t have any in the freezer, I just simmer down a few diced apples on the spot, no need to even peel them.

They add a lovely natural sweetness, just like the dates. In these deeply disturbing and intense times, we need to continue to savour life’s sweetness.

Here’s my slightly revised version of Georgia’s Apple Muffins. 1 ½ C whole wheat flour*

½ C rolled oats (soak in the buttermilk while gathering other ingredients)

1 t. baking soda

½ t. salt

½ t. nutmeg 2 t. cinnamon

¼ C brown sugar

1 C shredded coconut (optional)

½ C (8) Palestinian dates, pitted & chopped

¼ C pumpkin seeds, lightly roasted (optional) 2 + (depending on size) apples, cored & diced

1 C buttermilk

½ C applesauce

1 egg, slightly beaten

¼ C olive oil

Combine wet and dry ingredients separately, then add all together and stir just until everything is well-mixed.

Bake @ 375 for 20 or so minutes. Makes a dozen delicious muffins. Enjoy!

*Lately I’ve been baking a fair bit with Red Fife heritage whole grain flour which is grown on Vancouver Island and milled at Nootka Rose Milling, in Metchosin. (info@nootkarose.ca) Deluxe.

Grapevine letter in response to Perri Gorrara

May 2, 2024

Bravo Perri Gorrara! Thank you for sharing with April 25^th Grapevine readers the excellent and revealing list of questions asked at The World Council for Health conference in Geneva, Switzerland recently. These questions carry a narrative of their own, recognizable for all to interpret.

I second Perri in her hope that an increasing number of people “will become aware of mistakes that have been made and stand together to prevent them being repeated in the future.” Neither the governments, Big Pharma, the medical profession, nor any established body supposedly looking out for public welfare, are able to help us. It is we, the overwhelming majority of humankind who must take charge and be courageous and responsible in governing our own lives. If we are not to be slaves let’s remember that we are the ones in charge. No-one else is going to help us, so please, let us “stand together” as Perri suggests, and help each other. In solidarity with all my fellow islanders, Amanda Hale

Green Wizardries: Dune-Style Water Conservation

May 2, 2024

Green Wizardries, Dune-Style Water Conservation by Maxine Rogers

We had to water the garden in April. And not just my household. April was painfully dry. This made for good weather to get out and prepare the garden beds but soil in the garden in April should never be this powder dry. The whole Province is involved in a serious drought and also Alberta. Being this close to the coast, we should get more rain than other, less favoured, parts of the Province but it might well amount to a lot less than we are used to. In fact, once you find yourself watering in April, I would say it is all over but the screaming.

When we moved here, years ago, I wanted to have the waste water piped out of the house to a tank so we could use it for irrigation. Our plumber friend thought it was a bad idea, a difficult and expensive project, and we gave up on the plan. There was too much technology for my taste. It would have required pumps and a filtration system and it would have been too expensive.

This year, I have been harvesting all the waste water from our house to use on the flower beds and I use the dishwater on the compost bins. A lot of people do not seem to realize how much water compost needs to break down all the carbon and nitrogen into a beautiful, rich, crumbly, soil amendment.

In the past, I have tried using dishwater to irrigate ornamental trees but they did not thrive on the greasy, detergent laden water. I find it is okay to use this water to activate the compost piles. Compost is a living, breathing colony of many life forms and they all need water to live, eat and digest the compost.

If you took the time now to fork over your compost, I bet you would find it is pretty dry. A compost pile exhales moisture as it digests. A large, well made compost pile should have steam coming off it day and night and that means it needs lots of water to replace the what it loses to evaporation.

A few years ago, I also tried using real soap, instead of detergent, to wash dishes and laundry. Modern septic systems do not respond well to this and I was forever borrowing a friend’s drain snake to break up the chunks of reconstituted soap in the pipes. Soap, made from fat is a lot more easily composted and biodegraded than detergent. People used to use a cake of soap to wash dishes and grated soap flakes to wash their laundry. In those days, there were pits dug outside of houses for the sink’s water to empty into as the soap has a way of determinedly blocking pipes.

I found a very simple way to overcome the problems of expense and technology to save my waste water. I put plastic tubs in the sinks and have a bucket beside the sink to receive the used water. People claim that hand-washing dishes takes 14 litres per batch but these people must be water hogs from the city as I find even a large load of dishes only takes me about 6 litres to wash and rinse. That water goes onto the compost piles. The water from the bathroom sinks contains only soap and water so I use that to water my flower beds. The flowers do not seem to mind.

It is May now and I hope everyone had a satisfying Beltane. I have confined our cat to a spacious, enclosed entry porch where he has his own armchair. He is not keen on this but is being philosophical. The cat, Festus, is a great mouse, ratter and voler.

Since we got him, we have had no trouble from the rodents that were chewing holes in the pex water lines under our house. Our poor plumber friend was getting discouraged as he had to crawl under the house a couple of times a month and repair our lines. We were losing a lot of water in the process and his well-earned wages were an extra expense for us and a trial for him to earn. It was a lose, lose situation.

So, my husband, after a determined two-year campaign to get a cat, had his way and we got Festus. I don’t like cats because they kill birds and they have the disgusting habit of playing with and tormenting their pray before killing it. Almost human really… Festus solved my dislike of cats by casting a glamour over me to make me his willing slave.

So, Festus is in the lock up for May and for as much of June as I can manage. My husband hates it when the cat is upset but May and June are a critical time for nesting birds and their fledgling youngsters. If we all kept our cats in for as much of May and June as we can manage, just think of the glorious result of so many songbirds saved from a needless death.