Aqua July/August 2017

Aqua

COMFOR T FOOD Marcia

Jansen's popular column inside

Gulf Islands

Living

JULY/AUGUST 2017 Volume 12, Issue 4

What it Takes Saturna unites to preserve its maritime heritage

BEAUTIFUL BURLS The tale behind a transforming maple tree

crane + robin Seaside cuisine at Montague Harbour

Arts | food

| people

| history

| f e s t i v a l s | VE N T U RES

at

providence farm in Duncan A THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY

Page 2 – AQUA – July/August 2017

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COVER STORY

From Fog Alarm Building to Saturna Heritage Centre, PAGE 8

contents 23

TANTALIZERS! PAGE 6

THE ARTS

Pender jeweller makes ears look beautiful around the world, PAGE 15 Bruce Edmundson has his eye on your spare burls, PAGE 39

RURAL LIFE

Salt Spring farriers host their blacksmithing peers, PAGE 23

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Crane and Robin cooks up a storm at Montague Harbour, PAGE 31

FESTIVALS

Galiano Wine & Beer Festival marks 25th year, PAGE 45

COMFORT FOOD

Biscuits and gravy from the kitchen of Zak Cutshall's grandmother, PAGE 36

Q&A

Salt Spring ceramic artist Pat Webber, PAGE 46

160 Upper Ganges Rd, Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2S2 Page 4 – AQUA – July/August 2017

46

39

JULY/ AUGUST 2017

Hard work is worth it

I

t was time for the behemoth of a fir tree at the edge of our deck to go. I no longer felt relaxed in the hot tub on windy nights watching the tree’s waving limbs threatening to fall and clonk me on the head.

It took a while, but I finally convinced Michael we should pay some experts to bring it down.

“Look,” I said, “firewood right outside our door. What could be better?”

Michael wasn’t as excited as I thought he would be.

“It still needs to be split,” he said. His grimace told me his shoulders were screaming at the mere thought of the hours of maul swinging required.

Like every problem, a solution was close at hand. Like many solutions, it came in a crate from China. It’s a Champion hydraulic wood splitter and its 20 tonnes of force is our new best friend.

With the Champion’s engine humming we attacked our first pile of rounds with the hi-ho enthusiasm of the Seven Dwarfs. We rolled the rounds over to the splitter, muscled them onto the stand, pulled the lever, marvelled

michael murray photo

Editor’s Message

at the blade almost gently splitting the wood apart, repositioned the remaining fractions and repeated the process before throwing the pieces into a quickly growing pile.

It all seemed so effortless. Three cheers for mechanization! But trading a splitting maul for a machine did not eliminate the pain factor, unfortunately. When I woke up the next day I could not move my right arm more than six inches into the air without feeling like my shoulder had been struck by an axe, ironically.

My wood-splitting experience makes me relate to all of the hard work with hands done by people featured in this issue of Aqua, from the restoration of the Fog Alarm Building on Saturna to the burl harvesting and sculpting activities of Bruce Edmundson to the tools made by farriers at a blacksmithing workshop on Salt Spring this year. Jewellers, cooks and potters all work hard with their hands as well.

With my firewood split, stacked and drying, and a clear view above the hot tub, I’m ready for a relaxing summer. I hope you are too.

— Gail Sjuberg

Aqua Gulf Islands

Living

This issue published July 5, 2017 Publisher: Amber Ogilvie Editor: Gail Sjuberg Art Director & Production: Lorraine Sullivan Advertising: Fiona Foster, Drew Underwood Aqua Writers: Cherie Thiessen, Roger Brunt, Pat Burkette, Marcia Jansen Aqua Photographers: Nancy Angermeyer, Pat Burkette, David Dossor, Bree Herbert, Marcia Jansen, Jen MacLellan, Cherie Thiessen Cover photo of the Fog Alarm Building restoration by Nancy Angermeyer Aqua is published by Driftwood Publishing Ltd., 328 Lower Ganges Road, Salt Spring Island, B.C. V8K 2V3 Phone: 250-537-9933 / Email: news@driftwoodgimedia.com Websites: www.driftwoodgimedia.com; www.gulfislandstourism.com; www.gulfislandsdriftwood.com Publications Mail Reg. #08149 Printed in Canada

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from all musical styles will take the stage, from Juno Award winners like Pharis and Jason Romero, and Jim Byrnes, to classic big band sounds of The Commodores or Turning cream into butter Victoria’s Dixieland at last year's Heritage Day. Express. All shows start at 8 p.m. except on Saturday nights, when they begin at 7 p.m. and are followed by a fireworks show at 10 p.m. See the www.butchartgardens.com website for the complete schedule.

• August is fall fair month on Mayne and Pender islands. Mayne’s famous fair celebrating all things agricultural is on Saturday, Aug. 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Agricultural Hall site. For people aiming to submit entries for the flowers, fruits and vegetable categories of the fair, a seminar has been set for Monday, July 31 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the hall. Julie Schueck will advise people on how to present their exhibits and what judges look for in an entry. The Pender Island Fall Fair is on Saturday, Aug. 26, with a theme of In Simpler Times. A special evening concert presented by Daniel Lapp and friends is part of this year’s fair. The entry catalogue is available on the Pender Islands Farmers’ Institute website.

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• The excitement is mounting for ArtSpring’s 17th annual Treasure Fair. The 2017 version offers more irresistible goods and experiences than ever before, with all money raised helping to support Salt Spring’s arts centre. ArtSpring will be filled with hundreds of silent auction items from Thursday through Saturday, July 13-15, from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The live auction is on Saturday night from 7 to 8 p.m., and a gala socializer begins at 5:30. The auction catalogue is available now on the www.artspring.ca website. The Daniel Lapp Trio will also perform in the theatre on Friday, July 14 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the event.

• Also on Salt Spring in July is Heritage Day. It’s an acknowledgement of the island’s rural history with a focus on old-time skills. Kids can try things like churning butter, weaving baskets and hammering nails into logs, and the blacksmithing group is among those providing demonstrations. This year a tugof-war contest has also been organized.

Heritage Day is on Sunday, July 16 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Salt Spring Farmers’ Institute grounds.

• Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay is once again hosting nightly outdoor China set from a past Treasure Fair. concerts through the summer. Performers

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Island History

DAVID DOSSOR photo

The Fog Alarm Building: it’s FAB!

Many hands create Saturna Heritage centre and preserve island history

By CHERIE THIESSEN Photos as credited

Page 8 – AQUA – July/August 2017

It’s hard to imagine a more halcyon setting than this humped

grassy headland with its sculptured sandstone foreshore and its views over Boundary Pass and Georgia Strait, a favoured feeding ground for killer whales and a magical place for humans.

A whitewashed little building preens at its tip, unprepossessing and at home. The claim that this is one of the most photographed spots in the Gulf Islands does not seem too implausible as I take it all in. It’s one of those sparkling late September days with which the West Coast often gifts us and I’m soon met at the Saturna Heritage Centre’s door by retired architect Richard Blagborne. Immediately the tiny SHC wraps its walls around me while I settle across from its saviour and learn some of the history, trying not to be distracted by the views from the window out over churning East Point and the Strait of Georgia.

The simple structure, originally built in 1939 to house a Canadian invention, the diaphone fog alarm, was called the Fog Alarm Building (FAB). Forcing compressed air through a pipe, these two-tone alarms all had distinctive rhythms along the coast so ships’ captains would know where they were in reduced visibility. The wooden lighthouse built at the top of East Point’s hill in 1886 was one of the earliest coastal lighthouses, but it was not much use in the heavy banks of fog that frequently settled over Gulf Islands waters. East Point, with its treacherous rocks and swirling waters, was one of the last places captains would want to find themselves in foggy conditions, so a fog alarm was the answer.

FAB’s saviour says he prefers the term “community organizer” because “the community wanted to save the building. I illustrated how it could be done and they responded to my suggestions and cajoling,” Blagborne is leaning back in a comfortable chair behind the well-used desk. Behind him a picturesque staircase twists up to the attic where the diaphone foghorns were housed. He’s giving me some of the venerable building’s history and his cogent and focused presentation is another gift.

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“I’m a believer that history can be a great activator, a doorway into lots of useful actions.”

DAVID DOSSOR photo

RICHARD BLAGBORNE

Page 10 – AQUA – July/August 2017

Adirondack chairs at the side of the Saturna Heritage Centre.

Top right: Poster inside the centre.

Page 8: Richard Blagborne and writer Cherie Thiessen explore the grounds of the centre at East Point.

case for saving it by illustrating it could serve as such a centre, we went for it.”

Eventually, the deal was done and the Fog Alarm Building was saved, renovated and reborn as the Saturna Heritage Centre, with the help of a group of 40 volunteers, locally known as “The Fabulous Forty.” They scraped off old paint, replaced rotten wood, rebuilt old windows and re-roofed it before the winter rain and blasts set in. Blagborne says there were actually more than 80 who helped, even if it was only showing up with coffee and cookies for the crew, an impressive number for an island population of just over 300!

“We have a very successful collaboration with Parks Canada. Their park interpreter uses this as a base when she’s here. And the [Saturna Island Marine Research and Education Society] uses the facility as well — installing and monitoring webcams. Fisheries is interested in having something set up on the tower too; all of these things are coming together. We now have our hydrophones being used by the Vancouver Aquarium and the University of Victoria, as well as by scientists.”

It’s fun in here. Only 20’x25’ with around 450 square feet available to

NANCY ANGERMEYER photo

visitors, the miniscule SHC hums with history. A replica of the Spanish schooner after which the island was named, the Santa Saturnina, is encased nearby. Above it hangs a meticulous painting of the ship by Gordon Miller, a well-known marine artist and retired chief designer at the Vancouver Museum and Vancouver Maritime Museum. “What’s for lunch on a ship in 1790?” asks the adjacent sign, and then answers it. Hard to imagine 22 men eating lunch and living on a vessel just under 40 feet in length!

Blagborne sees my eyes drifting out the window. “That window is there because I found the original drawings for this building on the walls in the Coast Guard archives back in Ottawa and that enabled me to prove to Parks Canada that there used to be a window here, so then we were able to reproduce it and put it back in.”

The architect, who has lived on Saturna for 26 years and on Salt Spring for 17 years before that, received a special community service award from the Islands Trust for his work on SHC’s rehabilitation.

There were other forces at work too, however. The lighthouse and former FAB was one of the first historic light stations to be protected under the federal government’s Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act. This was due to lobbying and dedication by past senator and Saturna Island resident, Pat Carney, and the resulting bill. Only six such lighthouses in Canada to have this designation.

“Having Pat Carney on our side was a huge advantage, of course.

She worked hard to convince Ottawa that lighthouse stations could be real assets to communities. And this small station was always very significant because when it was built the merchants wanted to get Nanaimo’s coal down to markets and [East Point] is the worst corner.

There were no lights before then at all.”

From left, island historian Bakhshish Gill, Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May, Fog Alarm Building chair Richard Blagborne, retired senator Pat Carney, Tsawout First Nation rep Lorne Underwood, Parks Canada Gulf Islands superintendent Marcia Morash with a plaque designating the site a "heritage lighthouse" by the federal government.

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From top: The view from East Point; model of the Santa Saturnina, the ship for which Saturna is named.

Next page: The Sirens of Saturna dance to a setting sun and rising full moon at a special event.

Page 12 – AQUA – July/August 2017

It took two years to complete the renovating and renewal of what became the SHC because in winter nothing could be done except for the putting together and planning of archival presentations. “Getting power back down there was one of our biggest expenses,” Blagborne recalls. “It was around $10,000; we needed a trench dug and cable laid, and then because it was a park two archaeologists had to be in attendance. We managed to get done for Christmas of 2009 when the power was turned on and we put all the Christmas lights on.”

The group obtained a $25,000 grant from the federal New Horizons for Seniors program and the Canadian Museums Association has been extremely helpful in finding summer students for SHC and in paying for 75 per cent of the wages of one or two students each summer.

As Blagborne enthuses, lots of things happen here at the centre because it is such a wonderful place. He recalls a magical evening last summer when under a full moon a Montreal artist specializing in video setups projected images on the building to 150 entranced people sitting on the grass. “The centre just came to life.”

While we are talking, it comes to life in another way. A group of island visitors have discovered the door open and have tentatively come in. Seeing as the “organizer” is about to show me the presentation of Moby Doll and how she changed the way people looked at orcas, the group is invited to join us on benches in the other room.

Moby Doll is well documented, professional and well presented. There are other things to see in this room as well: the walls are full of history and a portable exhibit chronicles Saturna’s famous lamb barbecue. Although there is a lot of information everywhere I look, it doesn’t feel crammed in here.

The visitors leave, enlightened and entertained, and as I prepare to leave too, a passionate Blagborne shares this: “History is anything but dead. I’m a believer that history can be a great activator, a doorway into lots of useful actions. Look at the Moby Doll story, for example. We resurrected that story and hosted a symposium, used it as a device to attract people to come to our island. We wanted to show how real evidence led to a change

For information regarding opening times, exhibits, etc. go to

www.saturnaheritage.ca.

For travel to Saturna visit

NANCY ANGERMEYER photo

www.bcferries.com.

in attitude. There used to be a lot of ignorance; people wanted to get rid of killer whales. Now 50 years later they’re iconic and people can’t get enough of them. It was Moby Doll who changed all that. We activated her story as a way of doing something good for our island and it worked.

Now we have a large number of scientists who are honorary citizens to

Want to read about it?

Mark Leiren-Young’s 2016 book The Killer Whale Who Changed the World was partially researched at FAB. (Greystone Books)

the island and who love to come here.

The centre has provided the means for us to find a way to engage our community in a way that has been very fruitful. This island is full of stories and if we had the time we could write some more, host some more symposiums and bring in a whole other crop of new people to enrich our lives here on the island.”

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Taking it Road

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Shirley Searle’s Ear Curls in high demand

By CHERIE THIESSEN Photos by CHERIE THIESSEN, except as noted

❝T

he two crates are eight feet long, four feet wide and five feet tall, on six heavy-duty casters.” Pender Island jewelry entrepreneur Shirley Searle answers my question.

I was wondering if she travelled light when attending her wholesale and retail shows. “They contain 23 sheets of gridwall, track lighting, two cabinets full of inventory with a tabletop that connects them, interlocking foam flooring, a digital frame running a video loop, a cash register, two Ikea chairs, two cases of brochures, desk lamps, ladder, draperies, banners and signs, tools, extra stock and a travelling jewelry workshop so I can make anything we run short of or do custom orders

July/August 2017 – AQUA – Page 15

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“Mine are a continuous piece of wire with beads strung onto it, then bent into shape.”

SHIRLEY SEARLE

With more before, it’s Forester t available i

while customers wait. The crates weigh about 1,600 lbs. each. We need two shipping crates complete with inventory because with shows every weekend in the fall, there are situations where delivery cannot be made in time if there is only one crate.”

So no, she doesn’t travel light. When Shirley and her husband and partner, Russ, take Ear Curls on the road, they mean business. The company has grown way beyond craft fairs, farmers markets and fall fairs. Elevenhour days, the challenges of air travel and accommodations, the maintainingForester of inventory andBase keeping abreastMSRP of suppliers and trends, they’ve 0 on 2017 2.5i Model. includes Freight & PDI of $1,675. Taxes, license, registration and insurance are extra.

Above and page 15: Shirley Searle works on a new pair of Ear Curls. all covered with an itinerary that exhaust most Dealers of us. If it’smay sell for less or may have to order or trade. Vehicle shown solely MSRPgot of it$41,170 including Freight & would PDI of $1,675.

Below: Shirley, right, helps a customer make a purchasing decision that’ll be Toronto.

If it’s March it’ll be Owner’s the Vancouver Gift Expo VictoriaJanuary, for complete program details.

See Manual for complete details on system operation and limitations. Forester and S at her kiosk at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal. first and then the five-day One of a Kind show in Toronto. Moving right along they’ll be heading to Ottawa and then Vancouver for spring craft shows there, and then there’s Red Deer, Fort McMurray, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Calgary in Alberta, and Regina in Saskatchewan in the fall and then back to Toronto in the winter. Does she rest in summer? No way! That’s when you’ll see her tending her busy Marketplace booth at BC Ferries' Swartz Bay terminal.

What’s so special about this jewellery that has spearheaded a thriving business? It’s so simple it’s obvious. Ear Curls are earrings of various lengths fitting into the curve of the ear. While they involve only one piercing, the effect is of multiple ones. Shirley explains: “The earrings go from size 1 to 5, based on the number of beads. Sometimes school groups will come to the trade shows and then we get really swamped because 13-to-15-year-old girls can’t resist them. The appeal is that they can look like their friends with lots of piercings. The parents love them because they’re safe. There’s virtually no chance of infection and only the one piercing. I use Canadian or American sterling silver because it’s purer and hypoallergenic. People can safely wear this silver.”

Shirley, who attends both retail and wholesale trade shows with her partner Russ, says the bulk of her business comes from the former because, unlike most jewelry, hers benefits from being hands on.

“These are not the kind of items you can hang on a rack and have someone buy them. There needs to be some interaction.

When somebody buys a pair of these at the shows, especially the size-5 ones, I make sure the ear curl is the same shape as their ear. I contour and shape and tighten and bend it. And there first step with the wire, he puts the beads on, I bend them and snip the needs to be some education with each sale. I think that’s why a lot of wire and he grinds the ends and puts them on the cards and packages people who try to copy the concept don’t do extremely well.” them.”

Shirley was educated in accounting and computer programming, and Previously they had run the historic (and now sadly demolished) Russ' work history included a stint as a sales representative at Xerox and Port Washington Store on Pender for 10 years, so they were well versed three terms as school trustee on Pender. Between them they have many in working as a team. Shirley also attributes some of her success to her of the elements needed to create a successful business. father’s background and the family store.

“After Russ finished being school trustee he came on as full partner,” “My dad’s business was lapidary and that’s where I learned silversmithShirley says. “He designs the brochures, the banners and my cards. He ing and gemstone cutting, so a love of jewelry was instilled in me at an works all of our shows with me, including set-up and tear down and is a early age.” great salesman. We also work as a team in the creation process. I do the

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July/August 2017 – AQUA – Page 17

But how did she ever come up with the design? “Actually, the concept was not my idea. I saw a picture of an earring developed in the States called an Ear Pin so that inspired me, but [the creator] was using precious stones and the price tag was $500. I loved the concept and the look but not the price, so I reinvented it in wire and beads. Ear pins have a wire going up the back of the ear, as mine do, but the part that sits on the front of the ear is a solid piece of gold (or silver), set with diamonds. Mine are a continuous piece of wire with beads strung onto it, then bent into shape.”

She ran into a few bumps on her road to success, however, the most serious one caused by what she calls her arrogance. “Designing for my ear just seemed like a really good idea, but after several years I noticed that my ear was much wider in the lobe than most people's. I hadn’t realized that there were thousands of ear shapes. So at first, I could not understand why the ear curls weren’t working on everybody.”

Although she has always used sterling silver wire, the jeweller’s beads initially were glass and the little beads on the side were silver or gold plate. Now she uses Swarovski crystal in over 30 colours and selections and North American sterling silver. “And people like to wear gold, so I use a 14-karat gold-filled material called rolled gold in Europe.”

The Searles came to Pender Island via Vancouver and Victoria in 1980, lured by a love of sailing, and Shirley took up beading and embroidery in her spare time in the early '90s, but it was the Pender Christmas Craft Fair 18 years ago that started it all.

“I saw it was coming up and said to my young daughters, ‘Why don’t we make up some jewelry and sell it at the fair?’ I had a nice collection of beads that we turned into funky necklaces and I had 50 pairs of ear curls and they all went. That really got me going!”

This is definitely a family business and neither of the partners is interested in it getting any larger. “All three girls, Katherine, Moe

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and Linda, (and Russ, of course) have been involved in both the manufacture and selling processes to different degrees at various times,” says Shirley. “Moe helped pay her way through university making the ear cuffs, which retail for $15 a pair. She took them to the Calgary Stampede one year and sold a thousand in a week. And we have, on several occasions, done the Filberg Festival in Comox with the entire family running the booth.”

Now Shirley has to go. It’s time to get ready for the summer crowds at the Swartz Bay terminal. You ever notice how people seem to fall into their neatest jobs when they retire?

The best place to check out Ear Curls is at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal's Marketplace area.

The booth is open 7 days a week, 9-5 Sunday through Friday; 9-2 on Saturday until Sept. 12.

Although her ear curls are her biggest seller, along with her mini cuff that slips on the top of the ear, Shirley also markets drop earring styles, sterling silver martini spoons, wine curls (to mark your glass) and popular hair wraps.

The website at www.earcurls.com gives a good idea of the range of products available.

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Traditional Skills

Salt Spring farriers host regional workshop

By ROGER BRUNT Photos by Bree Herbert

There’s something primeval about blacksmithing — the iron from deep inside the earth; the roar of the flames in the forge; the whitehot metal glowing as if it has fallen from the sun.

Add to this the cacophony of sound that arises as the nearmolten metal is shaped on an anvil by strong arms swinging a two-to-four-pound blacksmith’s hammer.

Now multiply this by 15. That’s the number of participants who attended Thistle Rock Forge’s blacksmith tool-making clinic on Reynolds Road on Salt Spring Island on Feb. 3 and 4 of this year. The workshop was hosted by Alison and Jeri Sparshu, both certified journeymen farriers.

The list of attendees consisted of blacksmiths and farriers from B.C., Alberta and Oregon.

July/August 2017 – AQUA – Page 23

The head clinician was Riley Kirkpatrick, who travelled from Salem, Ore. He owns RK Horseshoeing, studied at Heartland Horseshoeing, is a member of the American Farriers Association, Oregon Horseshoeing Association and American Blacksmithing Association.

He designed a two-day tool-making lesson plan that enabled everyone to stay on track and work together to learn his precise method of tool-making gained from countless workshops and competitions all over North America.

“The workshop was a huge success and next year’s clinic is sure to fill up soon,” Alison told me. “Everybody had a great time and learned a lot. Riley Kirkpatrick is a true master. He started off the weekend by congratulating all the attendees on ‘owning their trade,’ and that atmosphere permeated the whole weekend. All the participants stayed right on the farm because of blizzard conditions that dumped a foot of snow on Reynolds Road hill. Everyone bedded down in spare bedrooms, or found couches and floors to spread their sleeping bags. This just added to the kinship and pioneering spirit that goes hand in hand with blacksmithing and being a farrier.”

The experience levels of the participants varied widely. As explained by Thistle Rock press material, “There were rookies starting out, and those who have

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There were rookies starting out, and those who have been shoeing for 40 years. been shoeing for 40 years. No one came away without learning a lot. There were bold, big steps for some, and the small subtle nuances of moving steel and hammer control for others. By the time the workshop was over, the group had gone through a pile of 4140 tool-making steel, 300 pounds of propane for the gas forges and a mound of coal for the more traditional forges. The results were some very fine hand-crafted blacksmithing tools. The first day, blacksmith hammers were made; the second day, blacksmith’s tongs were forged and fitted.”

Seminar leader Kirkpatrick built and signed a hammer that was up for benevolent auction with a starting bid of $550.

Locals attending the session were Jeri's son Owen, who built his first hammer with his dad at the clinic, and Thistle Rock Forge's new apprentice Josie Hunter. She made a hammer to have with her for her first day of farrier school. She starts the course at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Cloverdale in September.

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Both Jeri and Alison are certified journeymen farriers. For seven years, Jeri was assistant instructor of advanced farrier science at Olds College in Alberta. Alison was farrier program assistant at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Cloverdale. These are the only two public post-secondary schools in Canada that teach top-level farrier sciences. To teach there you must be very well qualified, and very good.

The Sparshus’ credentials don’t end there. Canada has its own national farrier team. Jeri has been on it and travelled to England and Scotland to compete in international team competition in the world’s top blacksmithing events against the very best in the world.

Aside from the Sparshus’ credentials as top-level teachers, they have hosted workshops and demonstrations in the past. As well, Alison drove horse carriages in Stanley Park for three years and, while travelling in England, she concentrated on visiting as many farriers and horse farms as possible.

Alison and Jeri married on Salt Spring Island several years ago. “Neither of us had ever seen Salt Spring before,” Alison said. “We fell in love with the island that weekend. My brother Graham, who is a pretty good judge of people’s character, said, ‘I don’t know why you don’t live here already!’” And the rest, as they say, is history.

Being a self-employed farrier demands a real commitment. There are not enough horses on Salt Spring to keep all the local farriers busy, so both Alison and Jeri travel off-island, on a weekly basis, to maintain their business

Above: A pair of tongs is roughed out by workshop clinician Riley Kirkpatrick using only a hammer.

Page 23, from top: Traditional coal-fuelled forge; a set of tongs starts to take shape after starting out as one-inch-round material.

Page 24-25: Jess Fairbanks gets some advice from fellow blacksmith Ben Yager on the finer points of building tongs.

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“There’s an upside in that for me,” said Alison. “Being relatively new here it gives me a chance to become involved in the community, both through my arts and craft work, and with working in the community. I do the window dressings at Mouat’s Clothing store and love the contact that brings me with all kinds of people.”

Both Jeri and Alison spend their time on Salt Spring in their shop creating various artistic works and tending the animals on the farm. On the morning I was there, their flock of handsome Dutch Hookbill ducks were herding one of their three dogs from one snow-melt puddle to the next.

The Thistle Rock Forge seminar was sponsored by the Western Canadian Farriers’ Association and Duncan’s Mighty Forge company. Proceeds from the clinic went to Ross Kettleson, a local farrier going through major health issues. This is a close-knit community of craftsman who look after their own.

For more information about Thistle Rock Forge, email thistlerockforge@gmail.com.

Above: Alison and Jeri Sparshu on their Reynolds Road farm.

Below: Working as a team, father and son Barton and Dan Lybbert from Glenwood, Alta. use a two-person forging style to get the heavy work done at a February workshop hosted by the Sparshus on Salt Spring Island.

July/August 2017 – AQUA – Page 27

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Sidney, BC is the gateway to your Vancouver Island adventure. Below is a suggested itinerary for the perfect Spring or Summer day in this vibrant seaside town.

To fully experience all that Sidney and the surrounding region has to offer you need to spend at least two days to soak it all in.

Rich in history and surrounded in natural beauty, Sidney is the gateway to Vancouver Island. Complete with a vibrant boutique-shopping district (1) and many quaint dining options, you won’t know where to start. To complete the Sidney experience, Victoria Distillers (2), the only waterfront distillery on Vancouver Island offers daily tours and tastings.

Complete with a cozy lounge and outdoor patio with sweeping views of Mount Baker and the Salish Sea, the distillery will impress even the most discerning libation connoisseur.

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The waterfront in Sidney offers many experiences including the Town’s sculpture walk and historic walking tour. Be sure to visit with local fisherman as you stroll down the iconic Sidney fishing pier (3).

You can also hop on a whale watching or guided kayak tour right from the waterfront. If you want to visit the nearby wine region, you can do so on your way to the world-famous Butchart Gardens, only a 15-minute drive from Sidney.

Sidney is known as Canada’s only Booktown so be sure to peruse the 5 independent bookstores during your visit. If you are bringing little ones, the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea (4) the BC Aviation Museum and the Sidney Museum offer special hands-on experiences not to be missed!

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vacation ON THE GULF ISLANDS

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Ventures

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Galiano island's Crane and Robin Restaurant Story and photos by CHERIE THIESSEN Photos as credited

I

Above: Specials board at the Crane and Robin.

At top, from left: Robin Paterson, Douglas Thistle-Walker and Jelena Crane.

t’s 5 p.m. and Jimmy Buffet’s famous hit, Margaritaville, erupts from the sound system, the prelude to a much-loved hour-long tradition at the Crane and Robin Restaurant, the $2-off margarita event.

It’s worth cheering over. The Crane and Robin’s frozen margaritas are unsippable so the first is gone before it has even considered melting. We’re going to need another, but what the heck, it’s margarita hour.

“We specialize in frozen cocktails,” says co-owner Robin Paterson. “We use fresh juices and always have a lime flavour and a rotating flavour. Some of last year’s biggest hits were mango, pineapple, blood orange and pink lemonade. It’s possible to get a slushy without alcohol or you can add whatever booze you like. Tequila’s the most popular. We get packed with locals at margarita hour.”

Last summer, we paired our luscious libations with one of their signature dishes, the succulent fish tacos. It was the first season for the Montague Harbour restaurant, located at the marina where the Sea Blush Café once operated. Now on our second

July/August 2017 – AQUA – Page 31

visit, as we guzzle creamy fish chowder on a cool May afternoon, we’re so glad to be back. The al fresco venue, open to the elements on three sides, has also expanded into a compact space inside so that guests can stay warmer when the weather is cooler. A polished wooden counter runs along the harbourfacing edge outside, flower baskets add a touch of summer, and comfy chairs and well-spaced tables offer options with equally awesome views.

“Yes, we started early, on the Easter long weekend. The marina wasn’t even open yet but we get a lot of support from the locals, so it has worked out just fine because we don’t want to be just a tourist destination place,” Paterson tells us while co-owner Jelena Crane chats with diners on the deck and chef Douglas Thistle-Walker chops up veggies in the kitchen for his killer fish tacos, a signature dish that is definitely back

for an encore. “We’re not at all a typical marina restaurant,” Crane interjects en route to the kitchen. “In the busiest season a lot of people come in expecting hot dogs and hamburgers.

It’s really fun introducing them to something new and totally unexpected.”

Why call this hot new venue the Crane and Robin? You’ve figured this out already, right? You take Robin Paterson’s first name and combine it with Jelena Crane’s last name and look what you get! The perfect name for a venue hanging over the ocean, where robins and cranes are frequent visitors.

The partners met while working on Galiano in 2015. “We just kind of tossed around the idea of how to earn a living,” says Crane, who has now joined us at the table. “We said it would be neat to have our own place here and then all of a sudden this kind of came up.”

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“It was based on a two-minute conversation I had with the owners of Montague Marina, Dan and Mike Byzyna,” says Paterson. “When I served them at the inn a year earlier they had been discussing the building and I said something like ‘I’d love to get my hands on it.’ So when it was empty a year later, they asked if we were interested in taking it on.”

“And all it took after that was another two-minute discussion between Robin and me,” smiles Crane.

“Douglas cares so much about food. He’s a magician.”

JELENA CRANE Thistle-Walker, who was kitchen manager for seven years at Red Fish Blue Fish in Victoria, is the partner of one of their friends, Nyasha. “He was commuting from Galiano and working in Victoria and, like us, trying to find a way to stay on the island and not have to do four jobs,” says Paterson.

“So basically we asked him if he wanted to come chef with us and right away he was saying ‘yes, yes, yes!’ It seems it was all meant to come together.”

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Crane nods. “Douglas cares so much about food. He’s a magician. He makes everything taste so fresh and beautiful, drawing influences from his U.K. and Caribbean background to create his own totally unique style.”

Paterson notices my partner, David, staring dreamily over the harbour. “This is one of the things that makes our place special too, being right over the water. Just to be able to sit and look at this is such a gift. It couldn’t be better.”

There’s got to be a negative here somewhere, so I ask — surely they have challenges getting staff? It has got to be an issue with such a small population. Nope. “No problem at all,” laughs Crane.

“We have friends.” “And they all come back,” adds Paterson.

“Everyone gets along so well. On our busiest day last year we had four people in the front and three in the kitchen.” She talks about good kitchen vibes, but it’s clear the energy is all positive in this humming part of Galiano.

While we pronounce the fish tacos and seafood chowder as excellent, the owners also enthuse over the latest addition, the marinated pulled pork. “Those tacos have been wildly popular,” confirms Crane. “Just a week ago we were nearly sold out. That pork is really delicious.”

The restaurant, which features sustainable seafood, B.C. beers on tap and a small but discerning choice of local wines, also sources as much of its produce as possible from the island’s farms

and forests. “It’s one of my favourite parts of the job,” says Paterson. “Going to pick up from the various beautiful farms on the island. Often the produce can be out of the ground and onto the plate on the same day.”

“And all our fish is from the Pacific Northwest and is caught with sustainability in mind,” agrees Crane. “[Galiano resident] Thomas Schnare — Capt. Tom — is our main ‘fish guy’ and our beef and pork we get from The Village Butcher in Victoria. All of their meat is raised locally without the use of growth-promotants or antibiotics and all animals are fed ‘biologically appropriate’ diets. Basically it’s the healthiest, happiest meat we could find.”

And we feel diners here are probably the healthiest, happiest, people on the island, but we have a ferry to Pender to catch, alas.

We’ll be back soon, though, in time for a repeat of Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville.

The Crane and Robin experience is worth catching a ferry for.

Go to www.bcferries.com for fares and schedules and if staying overnight, be sure to check out the Galiano Inn package on the BC Ferries website.

For all restaurant details, such as menus, opening hours and days, visit The Crane and Robin Restaurant on Facebook.

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From left: Jelena Crane takes an order in the seaside cafe at Montague Harbour; select dishes, including the famous fish tacos (below).

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12

Comfort Food

Cravings for Biscuits and Gravy Breakfast with Tennessee-born Zak Cutshall STORY & PHOTOS BY MARCIA JANSEN

You’d be surprised by how many different nationalities live on Salt Spring Island. And each one of them has their own comfort food.

W

Marcia Jansen is a Dutch journalist and writer who has lived on Salt Spring since 2012.

Page 36 – AQUA – July/August 2017

Zak Cutshall with daughter Wresten and son Aidan.

hen Zak Cutshall was a child, his dad never made dinner. But breakfast, that was his thing. Now that Zak has two kids himself — six-yearold daughter Wresten and five-yearold son Aidan — breakfast is his specialty too.

The 45-year-old carpenter was born in Knoxville, Tenn., but moved to Atlanta when his father got a job there with Coca-Cola. “We were the first of our family to leave Tennessee in 250 years,” says Zak while his kids are riding their bikes in the yard.

“My mom and dad divorced when I was 10, and my mother moved to Vancouver while my sister and I stayed with my father in Atlanta. He was a single dad raising two kids, so during the week we often had take-out for dinner or we ate in restaurants. But on the weekends, when he had more time, he always made us breakfast.”

Zak learned to make a traditional southern breakfast at his grandmothers’ house in Knoxville. “My grandmother was the cook of the family, that was her identity. She showed me how to make biscuits with sausage gravy when I was about 10, but I was

so young, it didn’t stick at that time. When I was in my early 20s she showed me again, but I still didn’t really get it. Later on, when I moved to Vancouver, I started to make biscuits and gravy myself, because I couldn’t get it anywhere. Not in the stores nor in restaurants.”

It took him a while before he captured the essence of the authentic recipe. “Just recently I got the feeling that I really pulled it off. My grandmother made it seem effortless, but I probably wasn’t patient enough when I was younger. I usually make biscuits once a week, on the weekends, just like my dad. My kids like to have them with jam, but I prefer gravy.

They’re terribly fat, not what I actually need at this point of my life, but they remind me of home. Just like iced tea, which I used to make every two days. I don’t go anywhere without it.”

Zak basically grew up in Atlanta, a four-hour drive from his grandparents’ house in Tennessee, and spent all his summers with his mom in Vancouver. After he graduated, Zak moved to Vancouver. “I liked the more laid-back lifestyle in Canada. There is less gun violence, the big cities are safer and I just loved

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Vancouver. Compared to Atlanta there is so much more hustle and bustle there. You see people everywhere, walking on sidewalks, riding their bikes. In Atlanta everyone is in a car; driving to the city in the morning and back in the evening. It’s a different energy. In Vancouver, there are people from all over the world and the food is awesome.”

His mother moved from Vancouver to Salt Spring Island in 1997 and when Zak was contemplating a different step in his career, he spent a few months with his mother on the island. “I never thought I could live here, but in the eight months I was on Salt Spring I met my wife Melissa and suddenly I was happy to stay. A daughter came along, and later our son Aidan, we bought a house and I started putting down roots. I love the relaxed nature of everything here. There are no traffic signals and when I drive somewhere I can estimate my arrival time by the minute. And I don’t even know where my house key is. Do we even have one? There’s an ease of living here that reminds me of Tennessee. The rural friendliness here, you can find it there too.”

Ten years ago friends back in Atlanta thought he was crazy to move to Canada. “They thought I would drop right off the face of the earth,” he smiles. “But now they’re envious of me. Everyone loves this place, especially people with kids. The quality of the schools is great and we live here surrounded by nature. Every year we go back to visit my sister and my dad back in the States, but this is my home now. America is changing. I don’t care a lot about politics, but Donald Trump creates an ‘us against them mentality,’ which I don’t like.

So for many reasons I am very happy to be here.”

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July/August 2017 – AQUA – Page 37

Page 38 – AQUA – June/July 2016

Artisans

Listening to the

Wood

Bruce Edmundson's burl-to-sculpture transformations

By PAT BURKETTE Photos of work in progress by Pat Burkette Photos of finished pieces courtesy Bruce Edmundson

Bruce Edmundson’s elegant wood sculptures begin as bumps on

a log, aka burls, so when he learns I’ve got a felled, super bumpy big leaf maple tree at my place, he’s happy to take a look.

He’s brought along his friend Kent Mjolsness, and they eagerly circle the massive, hollow trunk sections. There are plenty of visible burls, which are actually rounded growths formed when a tree is under stress from an injury, virus or fungus. I tell them I considered turning the maple into firewood. I detect some shudders.

July/August 2017 – AQUA – Page 39

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Burl wood has unusual texture, colour and figure (or appearance). Birdseye, resembling tiny swirling bird’s eyes distributed through the grain, is a much prized figure of wood. Spalting, a dark line at the edge of any rot in the wood, lends definition and is also sought after. Turns out my old maple has all the right stuff.

“It’s an abundance of wealth!” declares Edmundson. In fact, through his art, Edmundson will give the old maple a second life. I can almost hear it whispering “hallelujah” as Edmundson runs a gloved hand over the bark.

He and Mjolsness get out the chainsaws and sawdust flies as they cut off burls and slabs. Edmundson chooses burls that are deep enough to accommodate sculpting.

Edmundson, who lives in Victoria, and Mjolsness, a Salt Spring resident, are old friends. They met in the 1980s while tree planting in the Clearwater area of B.C., where Edmundson also did his first carvings. Mjolsness has continued to work in silviculture through his Caliburn Silviculture company.

Prior to retirement, Edmundson worked in many B.C. government jobs — in the Ministry of Forests, the Office of the Ombudsperson and as chief liquor inspector responsible for public safety in all B.C. licensed premises. He also has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has published a book of short stories

called Two Voices.

Now, he’s creating fine art from wood.

Finding and rescuing burls is only step one in the process. He transports the wood to his studio, where it has to dry.

“I use a moisture meter to monitor the progress,” he explains.

When it’s ready for carving, Edmundson secures the wood, usually with a carver’s vice with a mounting plate that can move on a multi-directional axis.

Even if he can hold a smaller piece in his hand while using a rotary tool, he doesn’t.

“A fingerless carver carves few sculptures,” he says.

The technical side of wood carving involves cutting, shaping, and sanding with power tools. Wood carving videos abound on the internet, if you want to see the variety of tools and techniques employed by carvers.

Edmundson initially cuts out his basic shape with a chainsaw or reciprocating saw. Then he removes bulk wood with carbide tungsten carving discs attached to an angle grinder. Further definition is accomplished with a mini grinder with smaller discs, and a die grinder with carbide shaping burrs. He sands the piece with a contour random orbital sander and various disc sander attachments.

But how art emerges from wood is a little less straightforward.

Above: Piece made from an old burl by Bruce Edmundson called Flame.

Top left: Bowl given to writer Pat Burkette in exchange for use of maple burls.

Pages 39: Edmundson with part of Burkette's maple tree.

Pages 42-43: Edmundson and Kent Mjolsness at work.

July/August 2017 – AQUA – Page 41

“I sketch ideas on paper. I often start with iconic images, for example, a moon, a heart, a cross, a star,” says Edmundson. He keeps a notebook of ideas, and rips images out of magazines for inspiration.

But when it’s time to carve, he lets things happen. The wood speaks, and he listens to the wood.

“I usually draw on the wood with a chalk or crayon. At this stage I often abandon the icon that started things and draw onto the piece what the piece will allow.”

“Burls,” he adds, “aren’t particularly conducive to having predetermined images imposed on them due to their particular shape, which is basically ovoid with one flat surface and numerous irregularities. I like the irregularities and want to incorporate their interesting colours, textures and shapes into the piece.”

Throughout, Edmundson says, “What I am trying to do is to display a human-enhanced vision of the intrinsic beauty of the natural wood. Elegance is a word I often find myself coming back to when I am shaping curves and making decisions about what stays and what goes.”

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His piece titled Heart, finished with tung oil and polished with beeswax, is an example of that elegance.

But it had humble beginnings.

A response to a burl-seeking ad he placed on Kijiji led him to a former turkey farm with rows of timber harvested by the landowner many years before.

“The wood was small and there were no burls. He took me to another shed where he was refurbishing a beautiful old rowboat. He pulled a slab of something from the rafters, about three feet by three feet, three inches thick with a big scar in the middle. It was the right colour to be a maple burl slab. He sold it to me for $10.” A heart evolved as Edmundson tried to come up with something to avoid the scar in the middle.

Another sculpture, titled Ponds, was originally a large, thin burl cut by someone else. At the time, Edmundson was experimenting with bowls.

“I played with numerous circular shapes trying to fit them on in various sizes. The breakthrough was seeing that incomplete circles were what might make it more interesting. The next step was trusting that instinct and carving it out with that as part of the plan.”

A piece called Flame is what he calls “a carving exercise.”

“It came from an old burl, very dry with lots of spalting, which is those black lines delineating lines

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From top: Heart, which is finished with tung oil and has a beeswax polish; an experimental piece called Ponds.

At left: Burl slab cut from Pat Burkette's maple tree.

of mould in the wood. There is a fine line between being too rotten and having that lovely spalt, which adds so much to the piece. This piece was from a thin narrow burl and I challenged myself to create movement.”

In return for my gift of wood, Edmundson presents me with a carving of an unusual maple bowl. It’s open to the world on one side, while the other side is laced with ovoid holes. The wood is silky smooth, figured with birdseye and spalting. I don’t ask him for the story of my bowl. I’ll let the wood speak, and I’ll listen.

You can see Bruce Edmundson’s burl sculptures at The Avenue Gallery, 2184 Oak Bay Ave., in Victoria. www.theaveuegallery.com/artists/sculptors/edmundson-bruce/ Page 44 – AQUA – July/August 2017

HELEN ELIZABETH SCHNARE photo

Supremely Aged Galiano’s summertime wine and beer fest marks 25 years

HELEN ELIZABETH SCHNARE photo

JEN MACLELLAN photo

I

At top and below: The scene at the 2005 version of the wine festival.

Above: 2017 poster.

At left: Local red and white wines.

t’s hard to believe that a quarter century has passed since glasses were raised at the first Galiano Wine Festival, but it’s true!

Now called the Galiano Wine and Beer Tasting Festival, the event held on the second Saturday of August has continued to be a major fundraiser for the Galiano Health Care Centre.

This year’s version is Aug. 12 at the Lions Field, which is located next to the health care centre on Burrill Road.

The $45 admission gets people two souvenir glasses — one for wine and one for beer — plus unlimited tasting of products from some 20 wineries and breweries, finger-food and access to the rest of the day’s fun.

“We will have some Galiano musicians playing to accompany our friendly conversation,” explain festival organizers. “There is plenty of room to move around and lots of cool places to relax. You’ll have plenty of time to talk with the wine and beer merchants and makers, and no long wait for wine and beer you wish to taste.”

Galiano Island Books — which is marking its 20th anniversary this year — will have wine and food-related books to browse. A variety of local artists will show and sell their original artwork and Galiano Coffee will be there again with their fabulous locally roasted beans.

A pop-up wine and beer store will also be on the site.

A terrific raffle prize is up for grabs, with tickets already available. The Air Canada Foundation has donated two economy tickets to anywhere in North America, Hawaii, Mexico and other sun destinations. The winning ticket will be drawn at the festival.

Lions Field is only a 20-minute walk from the ferry terminal at Sturdies Bay. For more details about the festival event and the raffle, visit www.galianowinefestival.ca.

July/August 2017 – AQUA – Page 45

Q&A

Lifetime of Learning

jen maclellan photos

Pat Webber is an accomplished Salt Spring Island ceramic artist whose beautiful pieces often have animals such as frogs and birds incorporated into the designs.

Above: Pat Webber and her golden doodle Teddy.

At left: One of Pat's critter-inspired vessels.

Q. Tell us about your path to becoming an accomplished ceramic artist.

A. Like many children, I was a collector of small rocks, which I kept oiled or in water to see the beautiful colours and patterns and I would arrange them in colour groupings.

Many years later I discovered that these were closely related to reduction fired pottery surfaces, and I was inspired to take lessons. My father also planted the seed by offering to make a potters wheel for me long before I knew what that was. I remembered this many years after becoming a potter.

Q. How has your style evolved over the years? What has remained constant?

A. At first I learned to make all sorts of functional forms, which took years of practise, and gradually I added animal imagery or whole animals to my work as my own voice emerged. Animals, birds and their relationships has become my vehicle for storytelling or for commenting on our inner life.

Q. When and why did you move to Salt Spring?

A. In 1996 my husband Joe and I moved to Salt Spring from Cordova Bay in Victoria because it was increasingly difficult to fire a large kiln or have sales in our small garden.

On Salt Spring we found a beautiful property that provided the space and inspiration for a potter and we proceeded to create our studio, home and garden in the midst of the forest.

The rocks, elevation changes and ponds are magnificent.

Page 46 – AQUA – July/August 2017

Q. When you lead a workshop, what are two things you try to instill in your students?

A. I am able to teach workshops in my flexible studio spaces and encourage my students to find their own voice and inspiration after they have mastered the basic skills. They learn from one another as well as from me, which is the magic of creating together. Standards, functioning forms and beauty are all important aspects of making pottery, and then there is the science and challenge of glaze chemistry and kiln firing. It takes a lifetime of learning.

Q. Do you have a place you like to go to get further inspiration for your work?

A. My inspirations are from nature and observation of animals and people. Then it all mixes together and I make forms that express unlikely friendships, or familiar attitudes. This can happen anywhere.

Q. What is something about your craft that only other potters would understand?

A. Other potters would understand that I still have so much to learn; that I make mistakes now that I remember making 25 years ago but forgot, and that this complex craft is so challenging.

Things can go sideways at every stage. It is humbling. There are many small deaths.

Q. How would you describe a perfect day on Salt Spring Island?

A. A perfect day on Salt Spring might be cloudy and misty. A great day for firing!

July/August 2017 – AQUA – Page 47

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