Welcome Summer 2019

A message from TCGS President, Kim A:

Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone for coming to our annual Solstice Potluck tonight. The food was amazing and such a variety what a spread! Was nice to see everyone enjoying themselves and showing off the garden to our visitors from Germany. The garden is looking fantastic with all the beds well under way now. Even the black flies were on their best behaviour tonight!

A special thank you to the boss mother nature for keeping a tight leash on the rain!

Cheers everyone! - Kim

⭐⭐⭐        🌞        ⭐⭐⭐

First things first - our old rickety picnic table had a loose board with a screw sticking out, so we asked Terry to deal with it, thinking he'd just take the hammer and remove the offending board.  But nooooo, off he went and returned with a plank, drill and screws. 

That all safely taken care of, we moved on to Kim's welcoming address.

Rita was not feeling well and we truly missed her and her reading of the traditional Solstice Garden Blessing.  It is with appreciation that Juanita stepped up and said a few words of gratitude for the beautiful space we have here in Tahsis and even thanked Mother Nature for the needed rain.  Thank you Juanita. 

Deb and Janet were there and Janet bought 'pails of kale' as a giveaway.  er, thanks Janet! 😉 

Adding an international flair to our party, Thomas and Corrine from Germany joined us. 

The garden has never really looked better, almost every plot is lush, well-tended and growing.  Cheryl's plots are outstanding, as was her clam chowder, made with local clams. Terry's home made bread complimented it perfectly. Thank you Cheryl and Terry! 

Maureen and Merv took charge of our tents, they had recently cleaned and dried them to be ready for the upcoming Canada Day celebrations.  With the uncertain weather, the tents had to be loaded up and brought back to the garden.  Thank you Maureen and Merv - a lot of extra work and your many contributions are always appreciated.  

All in all a really nice gathering and sincere thanks to everyone who made it a success.  Next up...it's our 8th Annual Slugfest!  This is the Tahsis Community Garden's Tahsis Days Event, and is scheduled for Sunday, July 21st at 3 pm.  

Happy Solstice

Today at the garden - great to see everything healthy and even some produce ready for harvest. 

Volunteer Calendula & Poppies

 Scapes! 

 baby zucchini

 Maureen's beans, Terry's rye grass

 Neat & Tidy

 Cheryl's Petunias

 French Lavender with Variegated Oregano in the communal herb bed

 Towering Tarragon

 Kim's Romaine looking swell

 Rita's purple potato blossoms

 Perennial Peas prettying up our portapotty

 the Farm to School garden area

 love this patch of tall grass

 rutabaga seed factory

 this woman mows the entire garden, and then some.... thank you Rita!

  

Don't forget our annual Solstice aka 

Welcome Summer Potluck on Sunday - 5 pm

at the Tahsis Community Garden

Welcome Summer Potluck: 5 pm Sun June 23

heh diddle diddle! 

After some discussion, it was decided to have our annual Solstice Potluck on Sunday, June 23 at 5 pm, and call it the 

Welcome Summer Party! 

The potluck is always a really nice time to sit back and enjoy our garden, and to share food, drink and gardening tips. 

All members are encouraged to participate and are welcome to invite friends and family to the potluck.  

Please let guests know that the garden is plastic free, so bring a plate and a spoon. There are some chairs at the garden, or bring your own.  

Photos from 2018 Solstice Potluck. 

General Meeting May 27 @ 7 pm

agenda will be emailed to all members, thank you. 

A Winner!

Thank you everyone who purchased a raffle ticket (or three!) for the hanging basket.  Congratulations to Sarah F. who won the draw, and many thanks to Rita and Maureen for managing our table at the PAC Spring Bazaar on a beautiful spring afternoon.  

Springtime in Tahsis

Warm spring weather is in the forecast for the next 10 days and gardeners are busy, busy, busy.  Beds are looking good, many already planted, some ready for seeds, and some still resting under their winter mulch.  

Thanks to society directors Kim, Rita, Maureen and Terry - who have all contributed to fixing drip issues at the community garden.  Work has been done on the leaking tap at our main water source, and we are waiting on a part to get the drip irrigation going in the greenhouse.  Sorry for the delay, please continue to hand water greenhouse beds until we get this fixed. 


CMESS students have sown seeds in the Farm to School corner, and students also helped clean up the tabletop beds and one of the raised beds.  Thank you CMESS students, Brooke and Terry for all that you do in support of Farm to School. 

We had a quarrel of gold crown sparrows, and quarrel we did.  The wee monsters stripped leaves off brassicas, peas and even the overwintered kale.  Fast acting gardeners placed protective netting over their seedlings. 

Thankfully, these birds are migratory and just passing through.  And following the theme of man against nature, Kim has placed a temporary cover over the black water barrel beside the greenhouse, as it was full of mosquito larvae.  

The community garden society will have a table at the PAC Bazaar, Sunday May 5 from noon til 3.  Many thanks to Kim who has donated a lovely hanging basket for the raffle, and to Rita who has complemented the raffle item with two potted Bleeding Hearts. Rita and Maureen have stepped up to look after the table, sell raffle tickets and welcome any questions you may have about community gardening here in Tahsis.  

There is one raised bed and two tabletop plots available for purchase, if you need more space, or if you are interested in becoming a community garden member.  

And finally, the next General Meeting will take place on Monday, May 27th @ 7 pm.  Venue to be announced.  Happy Gardening! 

Native Plants Presentation April 13, 2019

On Saturday, April 13^th, the Tahsis Community Garden Society welcomed biologist Todd Carnahan to Tahsis.  

That afternoon, Todd did a walk-around at our community garden with eight garden members.  Under the shelter of large umbrellas, we discussed invasive species (blackberries), food sources (poplar trees!), the importance of recognising our unique and rich environment, soil erosion as it relates to salmon habitat, and wildlife interactions.  

At the evening presentation ‘Gardening with Native Plants’, Todd’s knowledge, humour and suggestions were very well received by all those in attendance.  Todd shared many outstanding photographs including photos of the edible Camas lily, Oregan grape and the four varieties of wild crab apples – some of which may be found around our Leiner Estuary.   To view Todd’s photos, visit his website Todd Carnahan Photography.  

It was interesting to hear how the indigenous peoples harvested, nurtured and preserved edible plants for untold generations; a matriarchal passing of knowledge.   Living in an area rich in natural resources from the land and sea, natives had a very different way of cultivating food than the European practices with which we are more familiar. 

Participants learned that the bumble bee is superior to the honey bee in terms of pollination, and that the top three plants for pollinators are lavender, rhododendron and white clover.  Heather provides good, early season blooms for bees, and beneficial flowers of asters and goldenrod make a stunning colour presentation of blue and gold.

The topic of invasive plants was touched upon, with examples such as broom and the evil tansy ragwort.  Todd suggested a visit to the Invasive Species Council of BC website, https://bcinvasives.ca/ as a great resource about invasive species, and best practices for dealing with them.  

Of special note, Todd brought with him a very old nautical chart of Kyuquot Sound.  He presented it as a gift to the Tahsis Heritage Society, who were exceptionally pleased.  To end his visit to Tahsis, Heritage Society directors Maureen Roth and Judy Burgess gave Todd and his companion a private tour of the museum on Sunday.  When the Tahsis Museum re-opens this summer, be sure to stop in to view this chart from 1863.  

We are very grateful to Todd Carnahan for making this trip up to Tahsis, and offer sincere thanks to the Tahsis Literacy Society for funding the event, to the Tahsis Seniors Centre for making their facilities available, to the volunteers of the Tahsis Community Garden Society who organized the event, and to the villagers of Tahsis who came out on a blustery Spring night to attend the presentation.  

Thanks all, and happy gardening.