When I found out that one of the options for LFS 350 was a project on Galiano Island, I was determined to be part of the group that went. Luckily for me, one of the people in the group wanted out because of his work schedule, and I managed to trade in.
Visiting Galiano was absolutely amazing, and I was so inspired and excited by the farmers we met. I would like to have a farm one day, and part of the reason I am pursuing a degree is to figure out what I want that to look like, and where I’d like it to be.
Two farms in particular were of incredible inspiration to me. The first was Cable Bay farm, where the group and I stayed for the weekend. The most exciting thing I learned about there was farming equipment that I had no idea existed – one which builds the beds and covers them in biodegradable plastic, and another which plants the seedlings via a large hydraulic wheel (and two people sitting on it to place the seedlings onto the wheel). These two simple pieces of equipment drastically reduce not only the time to plant in the spring, but also reduce the workload all season since the beds don’t need weeded given the plastic covering. The system also uses drip irrigation, which is put in by the bed-building machine, and thus reduces water usage by 80%!! Amazing.
The second place that truly inspired me was a a farm run by a lady who had moved to the island with her husband in the seventies. They had two children in diapers, and when they got to the property, lived in a canvas tent for the first year. This proved rather miserable in the rainy winter, and so they built a 12×16 cabin in which to live while they built their home. There was no power, and no running water. They had five forested acres, with a steep slope in the middle. Logging the lower portion created an area for the gardens and orchard, where there are now three large garden beds and an orchard of over 50 varieties of apples, all of which they planted. The logs were hauled up the hill and they built their beautiful family home by hand.
When we walked in the driveway, we met this incredible pioneer woman picking figs off of two of the biggest, most beautiful fig trees I have ever seen. She then took us on a tour, showing us the greenhouse with grapes that exploded with flavour, and tomato plants tied up with strings to the ceiling. Her husband was outside with a couple bins of grapes, de-stemming and sorting, as they make their own wine from the vines. Window-box squares with greens growing happily in October were spaced out on the lawn. On the back side of the house, which was south facing, we were shown three massive kiwi trees: two females and a male, absolutely loaded with kiwi fruit, which we were told would be ready for harvest in January.
We finished up the tour with a glass of her homemade kombucha as we sat in the sunshine on the porch of the little cabin that was currently housing a dehydrator full of apple slices and multiple musical instruments. She told us of the incredible amount of hummingbirds she feeds, and we sat and chatted, soaking in her amazing story.
Before leaving we had a rummage through the jars that lined the back porch: preserves and treats of all kinds that she makes on a two-burner hot plate in their wood-heated home. Jams and jellies, all kinds of pickles, dried fruits and even echinacea tincture which she grows and extracts.
I had no idea about Galiano’s incredible micro-climate before going there. It’s an amazing place to grow food, and I found the tiny community to be so hospitable. Waiting for the ferry, I had a look at the real estate listings…