Vancouver

MEETINGS & SPEAKERS

Next meeting: TBA

SOUL Vancouver monthly meetings are held on the 1st Thursday evening of every month (except in August and December) in the Canada Way Education Centre at 5310 Woodsworth St. in Burnaby, BC.

The format for the monthly meetings is as follows:

6:30 – 7:30pm: Executive Committee meets to conduct Chapter business. (All SOUL members are welcome to attend this portion of the evening.)
7:30 – 8:30pm: Featured Guest Speaker’s Presentation.
8:30pm – End: Lending Library opens and Social with tea, coffee and goodies.

Congratulations to our recent SOUL Certified Organic Landscape Professionals.

On Sunday January 23. Five Brave members wrote the 3 hour, 200 question Certification exam. One of SOUL's founders, Heide Hermary, came in early Sunday morning to conduct a refresher course for all. Everyone passed, so a big huge congrats! to

Yukwo Andy Chu, Daniel Romaine, Carolyn Rodger, Kyoung Lee and Martin Harcourt.

Recent Events

Martin Harcourt shared his knowledge of compost teas at the April SOUL meeting. We also watched a video from Great Pacific Bioproducts demonstrating the microscopic differences between soil amendments. Attendees brought samples of their own EM teas and compost to see what life was lurking in their gardens.

Heidi Richter gave us her thoughts and expert opinions on Bats March 3. She dispelled the myths and sold us on the beauty of bats. We even got to hear what bats sound like. After learning about how bats live and feed, everyone participated in building a Rocket Bat House which is the style of bat house Heidi recommends for our climate.
Burnaby education center cleanup. Saturday Feb 12 at 9:00 am members of the board and volunteers landscaped the front and sides our school at 5310 Woodsworth. It poured rain and I have some pictures to prove how wet we all got. We all went for lunch after, thanks to everyone who helped out, I know the staff of the school really appreciated it. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

John Paul of Transform Compost systems, Gave us a wonderful presentation on the attributes and formulation of good compost. A really great slide shop of how he defeated the European Chafer in his lawn, and the amazing properties of worm castings.

We elected a new executive at December's AGM and Christmas Party. Andy Chu was presented with his Diploma in Organic Land Care by the Gaia College teachers of Vancouver. And a generally good time was had by all.

John MacDonald brought some mason bees to tuck away for the winter. We learned about our native mason bees, cleaned their chrysalis, and prepared them for life in spring. This was a fun, interactive workshop.

Ian Wardle, of Effective Environmental Solutions, discussed the benefits of adding the zeolite, clinoptilolite, to soil. This volcanic product need only be added once or twice to the soil, and then provides an amazing amount of benefits: nutrient and water retention, prevents nitrogen burning, improves aeration, absorbs excess salinity, increases cation exchange, provides calcium, locks up heavy metals and other toxins, and the list goes on....

Jodi Peters is a certified Permaculture designer with an avid interest in urban food production. She began developing backyard scale aquaponics systems at the beginning of this year and is continually learning the ins and outs of combining hydroponic growing with intensive aquaculture. She aims to soon be stocking her own backyard tank with edible fish, and hopes it will become a significant and productive part of her urban CSA farm. In this presentation you will get a whirlwind introduction to the concept of aquaponics and a survey of various practical applications and current projects.

Our guest speaker, Duncan Martin of Backyard Bounty Collective, gave a fantastic presentation on backyard Chickens, or Layers, as the pros call them. Duncan's talk was particularly timely as the new Vancouver bylaw regulating chickens came into effect this month. We discussed the responsibilities and joys of owning chickens (eggs, feed, behaviours, life expectancy, etc), as well as the specifics of Vancouver's bylaws (coop dimensions, pullets vs chicks, roosters vs hens, etc). The audience was a great mix of current and hopeful chicken owners, as well as hen-curious. We will definitely be delighted if Duncan were to return perhaps next year when the feathers settle a bit.
Cl élie Murray-Chevrier, a member of the Backyard Bounty Collective, spoke on beekeeping at our May SOUL meeting. Clélie uses low-stress organic hive management techniques that emphasize bee nutrition and health. This allows the bees to maintain a healthy environment within their hive and to fend off disease. A lively discussion followed on the specific aspects of bee keeping.

Martin Harcourt, SOUL Vancouver President, Gaia College instructor and owner of Mainland Landscaping, reviewed organic turf management and fielded questions on turf issues at the April SOUL meeting. Always full of information, Martin shared his extensive knowledge with the crowd and responded to questions on turf, soil, and the environment.

Glenn Murray, of Frogger's Creek Tree Consultants Ltd, spoke at the November SOUL Vancouver meeting on ecological alternatives when working around trees. Glenn covered a wide spectrum of information from the basics of how trees live, to tree protection zones during construction, to a four year plan for moving large trees. The interested audience posed a number of questions, which in turn generated more enthusiastic discussion.

Wendy, from Botanus Inc., gave an engaging presentation on designing with bulbs at the October SOUL Vancouver meeting. Wendy shared how she finds inspiration in textiles, paintings, and nature for her bulb groupings. Wendy also told us the nitty gritty of successful planting. After a stimulating slide presentation and talk, the whole Botanus gang (Elke and Pamela too) was available for bulb buying and discussion.

The Wildlife Garden Project is a collaborative effort of SOUL Vancouver, its OMG program, and the Wildlife Rescue Association in Burnaby. This is an ongoing effort to reclaim and rejuvenate the Rescue Center’s Wildlife Garden by utilizing the skills and elbow grease of our volunteers in helping to turn the Wildlife Garden’s ‘wishlist’ into reality. For more information, or to find out how to participate, we encourage SOULers to contact our Coordinators for this project, Irmgard and Donna, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We continue to be involved with the Canadian Cancer Foundation branches of the Fraser Valley, working on getting municipal governments to adopt pesticide bans in their communities. Part of this dialogue with the Cancer Foundation involves educating the public about how to make the change to Organic practices, so we are trying to organize “Introduction to Organic Land Care” mini-seminars in local municipalities. We will also be speaking at school board and council meetings. For updates on these events, please look under our Upcoming Events section for new listings as they are confirmed.

.SOUL Vancouver Lending Library (Catalog in PDF format, updated monthly

At our monthly meetings, members are now able to check out books and DVDs from our Lending Library for a month at a time. Simply look through what’s available and make your choice, then take it home to read or view at your leisure until the following monthly meeting.

Click on the Catalog link above for a complete list of titles currently available. The list of books is alphabetized by author; the list of DVDs by title. If a title is checked out, the due date for that item will be posted so that members can plan ahead. To further help with selections, information included with each title will include whether or not it has been reviewed and when that review was published in the SOUL Vancouver Newsletter.

As the Lending Library grows, new books and DVDs will be added to the list so be sure to check back regularly for updates.