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The Newsletter of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy Number 33, Autumn 2006
http://saltspring.gulfislands.com/conservancy
President’s Page
Autumn 2006
Natural History
Bent Twigs
The Open Window sluggish insects among the bottom debris, and once in a
Summer days were often hot. The family worked through while dark fish swam by.
them, each day much like the last in its hopeful start and At pond’s edge the father showed the boy how to loop
listless finish, but changing as time strode between first seed the worm onto the pin and, with a lifting pole, arc the line
and final harvest. The young girl laboured steadily, filling and worm outward into the amber trembling water. The
the spaces between her own chores with hours on call at boy waited. He was fascinated by the reflections of leaves,
garden, kitchen, poultry run, hay wagon and milking barn. branches and bits of sky that painted themselves from his
Sometimes the quest for a straying heifer took her out among feet out to open water.
the daisied distant fields. Mostly she worked immersed in the Then his father, watching the line, whispered, “You have
smells of chaff and dust and diesel, the sounds of harness and a fish!” As if a trigger had tripped, the boy jerked the pole
horse and tractor, the sights of buildings and machinery. over his back, and with it, a small fish. He dropped the pole
At night, in her room, she would open her window and rushed to pin the flapping fish to the forest floor. He and
wide. It seemed to her that news of a different world came to his father bent together to marvel at its glistening colours:
her on the night breeze. In the barn the cows were quiet, in greenish black on back and tail, yellow-orange on the belly,
the darkened farmyard the outbuildings and machines were sides speckled with green, yellow and red; where the gill
shadows sought by silent, wide-eyed cats. Something wild covers opened and closed, a single blue dot.
crept across the sill, something in the space between firefly Six decades passed. The boy never forgot the revelation
and star, something not of the workaday world. She never that summer day of the busy lives lived secretly around him
could paint that feeling in words, but its nightly presence became a never-satiated curiosity about nature. He became a
brought peace and yearning. research biologist, then a teacher. He committed himself to
The schoolgirl liked biology. The endless variety in the conservation. No matter what work kept his mind busy, he
forms of life, in their ways of living and in their combination learned to welcome nature onto the paths of his senses and
of self-reliance and depthless dependence amazed her. High into the depths of his heart.
school opened into college, college to graduate school.
There she first ventured into the wild country to the north Spreading Corn
- “This must be where the night wind is born,” she thought Since the 1920s these broad fields, reclaimed from
- studying birds in Algonquin Park. The short years brought boreal forest, have grown the grass that feeds the cows that
long steps west and north, marriage, a move to Alaska, make the milk for the people of this northern town. In the
children. Always the air from far fresh places, the spacious farmer’s annual calendar are days marked early each April
beauty of alpine heights, the discovery of new forms of wild for spreading the winter’s accumulated manure. Dark on
life, filled her with joy. Garden flowers bloomed for her. The the gleaming white fields, the manure absorbs the sunlight
countryside’s bounty came into her house, onto her table, and melts the snow earlier here than anywhere else in
into the growing bodies that sat around it. hundreds of wilderness miles. The early banquet of stubble
Bless this food, and all food. and barn sweepings entices exploring geese, cranes, ducks
Bless this family, and all families. and shorebirds. People drive or stroll from town to see them
Bless this life, and all life. tumble out of the sky, so empty all these months, and to
listen to the bird’s happy clamour.
Pumpkinseed Early one Sunday morning late in April two boys, 4 and
All of the grown-ups the boy knew worked hard. His 7, walk onto the fields with their parents. Each boy carries
father, a car mechanic for wages, maintained house and a pail of corn in two hands. At every tall-booted step the
garden. His mother created and tended the home. The boy pail swings and meets a shin, but the excited boys carry the
and his sisters had small chores. Rarely did the family relax awkward weights far out into the snow-blotched field. The
together, but one summer Saturday, out of the blue, the boy spread the corn, sometimes throwing it toward a skein of
father said to his son, “How would you like to go fishing?” fence-skimming geese as though hoping the birds will catch
The answer was an incredulous but loud “Yes!” it in mid-air. Father and mother tell the boys about the far-
With a peeled sapling, 10 feet of string, a safety pin, and flung rooms in the homes of these migrants, interrupting the
six earthworms dug from a shady corner of the garden, they tale to point to a flight of pintails, a dart of golden plovers, a
walked to where a brook had been dammed to supply water harrier teetering as it scans the ground for mice.
for a cloth-dying factory. The boy knew the pond contained The corn is spread, the family walks to field’s edge and
fish, because once in winter, after he tumbled while skating, the birds in hundreds move in to feast.
he peered through clear ice into the depths. He could see The boys become men. One is a painter of houses and
Autumn 2006
Conservancy Events
Autumn 2006
Inside SSIC
Autumn 2006
Stewardship
Ten-year Members
New friends bless us with fresh perspectives; longstanding Continued from page
friends give the gift of loyalty. Checking back to our first year a donation by a generous Conservancy member.
of reliable records (1997) we discovered that 70 people are The Conservancy is proud of our school program. We
now completing their 10th consecutive year as participants are proud of the job Kate Leslie did with the first school
in our Conservancy. Among them, 17 have been directors
program two years ago at the middle school level, and then
and many have volunteered in other ways. Let’s thank all
last school year the elementary component of the school
these long-time friends with a smile and greeting when next
we meet. program. We are proud of Deborah Miller who ran last
year’s Stewards in Training program at the middle school
Nancy Achilles David Kerman and who taught this autumn’s program to 4/5 students. We
Paul Adams Jean King are especially proud of the 50+ volunteers who altogether
Chris Anderson Juliette & Rick Laing volunteered almost 1300 hours of their time to the program.
Rita & Leon Aptekmann Peter Lamb With out their commitment and passion this program would
Birgit & Robert Bateman Walton Langford not be possible.
Maureen Bendick Ilse Leader We are so happy we can continue to offer this great
David Borrowman Sam Lightman program. Thank you to everyone involved.
Nancy Braithwaite Heather Martin – Jean Gelwicks
Debbie & Harry Burton Sharon McCollough
Grace & Pat Byrne Cate McEwen
Deborah Cran Maureen Milburn
Bill Curtin Art Morton
Dorothy Cutting Judy Norget
Susan Evans Alisa Pearse
Don & Fiona Flook Anton, Eva & Karen Pedersen
Jim & Noni Fogarty Briony Penn
Jean Gelwicks Andrea Rankin
Sharon Glover Carole Reiner
W. Thomas Gossett, Jr. Ann Richardson
Donald Gunn Margaret Schubart
Ted Harrison Art & Marg Simons
Frances Hill Judi Stevenson
Gary Holman Bill Turner
John, Anne & Sara Bob & Judy Weeden
Humphries Nicola Wheston
Gavin Johnston Doug Wilkins
Charles Kahn Irene & Tom Wright
Nona, Sada & Gordon Keel
Autumn 2006 11
Inside SSIC
Autumn 2006 13
Inside SSIC
Office Update
Garry Oak Seedlings Items Wanted:
Thanks to a very generous donation by Paul Linton, the Donations of any of the following gratefully received.
Conservancy now has about 600 Garry oaks, gathered as Office Items Other Items
nuts in 04, planted, and now potted in 8” pots in good Air Miles Saws, clippers
dirt. We are selling them as a fundraiser for $10 each, or Speaker phone Canadian Tire $
3 for $25. We encourage Salt Spring landowners that live Laptop computer Field guides
in current or former Garry oak ecosystems to plant oaks, Small refrigerator Hand secateurs
and we can provide information on the best way to do so.
Please call 538-0318 to arrange purchase of oaks, or for We would also appreciate donations of gifts, such as new
more information about endangered Garry oak ecosystems books or items related to nature or conservation, to give to
on Salt Spring. our educational speakers, who volunteer their time.