As card-carrying residents of the Gumboot Nation (Roberts Creek Community Association cards available at Eco-Freako and the library), we share many of the same values when it comes to our little slice of paradise.
Putting those values to work for the greater good isn’t always easy for yer average Creeker, there are so many worthy things to put our resources to. Be it housing, mental health or environmental issues, we all want to make our community a better, safer, happier place, and I am proud of the work I see done by friends and neighbours.
As mentioned in previous columns, I like to eat, and we are all, by the nature of being alive, part of the food system. B.C. grows at least 35 per cent of its food but for the Sunshine Coast that number is three per cent. Not great, and for us ferry dependants, we should do more.
Enter One Straw Society! Founded in 1995 by the late Robin Wheeler, OSS wants to see the Coast become a model of a diverse, connected and sovereign food system. The mission has taken a large step forward with the Tiny Farm in the Heart of the Creek, our community’s hub for a sustainable food system. It’s your centre to connect with people of different skills and resources so you may support one another in local food production.
One Straw Society’s current and future projects include: One Tiny Farm, Community Food Box program (with partner farms), a community farm on Ocean Ave. in Sechelt, a children’s garden in partnership with Rainbow Preschool and Roberts Creek Childcare Society, a medicinal plant garden, a lending shed of community shared tools for growing and preserving food, a demonstration beehive and worm farm, an outdoor, safe gathering space for farm-to-table dinners, outdoor family movie nights, Sunday hang with friends, endless learning opportunities through self-guided sign tours and hands-on workshops on creating soil, water collection, permaculture, winter gardening, sustainable weed and pest control, planning or scaling up a farm business, B.C.’s organic certification process, canning and preserving, and lots more.
Inspiring, are they not? Here is how you can be part of the next step. As you clean out your sheds this spring, donate the following: small buildings/sheds, hand pumps, greenhouses or frames, irrigation hoses and parts, gardening tools, wheelbarrows, clean lumber, canners, smokers, dehydrators, freeze dryers, broken garden tools (for an art installation), outdoor decor, garden blocks, benches to make your community space welcoming.
There will be a Tiny Barn Raising in May and there is a need for cash donations to get the materials together. Send any amount, large or small, to treasurer@onestraw.ca
And red paint! It used to be the cheapest because the iron that was used as pigment is plentiful. When you paint something as big as a barn you need value, so you got red barns.
Please make sure your gifts are clean and in usable condition. Questions? Email info@onestraw.ca
Till next week, kellybacks@rocketmail.com
