7-10-10

6TH ANNUAL ORGANIC ISLANDS FESTIVAL

GARDEN SCULPTURE

MALAHAT REVUE

HANNAH GEORGAS

CAROLYN HERRIOT

MECHANICAL MOWER MAN

After a blueberry Belgian waffle breakfast, we headed to the Organic Islands Festival, which is ultimately the reason we are on Vancouver Island. We were invited here by the festival's main organizer who read our blog and thought we would enjoy it. She was right and the first day of the two day affair was excellent.

The festival is the biggest gathering of green food producers, green energy producers, green clothing producers, and green advocates on this Island. With over 150 tents featuring fresh farm produce, fair trade clothes, coffees, artwork, and trinkets, information booths, organic fertilizers, compost booths, raw food, and live music, there was something for everybody.

BioFert, an organic fertilizer company, had a booth and we spoke with co-founder and director Yasir M. Syed. He gave us information and lessons about neem oil, which is a natural bug repellant allowed for use on certified organic crops. Neem oil is derived from the pit of the neem fruit grown on the neem tree, which grows in very warm, frost-free climates. Neem oil solutions that one can purchase in a gardening store often contains many other ingredients which are not natural and may be harmful to humans and plants. Utilizing pure neem oil is the most ancient and safe insecticide known to agriculturalists around the world. Spraying pure neem oil properly emulsified and diluted with water is totally safe and your crops will benefit from the applications. However, it is absolutely vital that you use neem oil that contains one percent or less of "other ingredients." Otherwise, you are not getting a pure, organic, safe product. Yasir referenced that in Canada, BioFert is prohibited legally from selling neem oil as an organic insecticide because large chemical companies, namely Monsanto, are trying to patent the use of neem in their concocted chemical insecticides. As a result he was selling neem oil as "leaf shine." After speaking with him and doing our own research on neem oil, we are certain when have our own garden, if we ever have an insect problem we will most definitely go directly to BioFert for some pure and natural neem oil.

Throughout the day, there were different talks and musical performances on the main stage. The Malahat Revue is a collection of eight musicians who are touring Canada and traveling via bike. They are obviously very eco-conscious and concerned about their carbon footprint which is the reason for the biking tour. Their music was great and their bike shorts were hot. They were one of the best live bands we've seen in a while. Their stuff was really fun and really upbeat. If you ever have a chance to see them or get ahold of their music, we recommend you do so.

Carolyn Herriot was the keynote speaker yesterday, and she is going to host us for the next week as we work in her extensive gardens. She has just published her second book, "The Zero Mile Diet" and this event was her book launch. Carolyn gave a stirring and inspiring speech about the dire need to stop our dependance on anything but local organic food, something which is critical everywhere but especially so on an island. After hearing her speak, we are very excited to stay with her and get to talk to her one on one and get to learn more of her theories and practices about gardening and food.