The Jasper Local May 1, 2017 by The Jasper Local

a lt e r n at i v e +

LOCAL + independent

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thejasperlocal.com

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monday, may 1, 2017 // ISSUE 96

STASH SLASH // TRISTAN TOMKINS SENDS A SLICE OF SPRING SNOW SKYWARD ON MARMOT BASIN’S T-BAR RIDGE. WINTER IS HOLDING STRONG IN THE ALPINE, BUT MARMOT’S CLOSING DAY IS MAY 7. TIME TO BUST OUT THE BIKES! // BOB COVEY

Jasper immigration initiative looking for input A new initiative to create a strategy for immigrant and refugee set tlement in Jasper is looking for input from the people it’s designed to assist.

Doug Olthof, Community Development Specialist for the Municipality of Jasper, wants to help ensure immigrants and refugees coming to Jasper make a smooth and successful transition to becoming full members of the community. “What’s it like to come to Jasper?” Olthof asked a group of a dozen newcomers during a Local Immigration Partnership information session April 27. “What’s difficult? What’s helpful?” (Disclosure: Olthof works as a freelance writer for The Jasper Local). The Jasper Local Immigration Partnership is a three-year project funded by the federal government. Led by the Jasper

Community Team, the project will aim to reach newcomers settling in Jasper and find out what challenges exist as they become included in the social, cultural, economic and political life of the community. But first Olthof and the Jasper Community Team want to know who they’re speaking to. “If we want to know how to make the transition easier, first we want to know who are the people?” Olthof will be conducting research throughout the coming months. He is asking immigrants living in Jasper to get involved. “The energy is going to come from people like yourselves,” he said. Newcomers can email Olthof dolthof@jaspercommunityteam.ca or call his office, 780-852-2100.

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page A2 // the jasper local // issue 95 // saturday, april 15, 2017

editorial //

Local Vocal How well do we know our community? If we’ve lived here for a certain amount of time, we tend to think we’ve got a pretty good handle on the people we share this living space with. We tend to think there’s a common experience in which we all partake. Many of us tend to assume we know what others go through in setting up a life for themselves here, because in a small town, how different could it possibly be? To begin to answer that question, all you need to do is take a walk around town. Start in Cabin Creek. Check out the big homes and double car garages. Next, take a stroll on Tonquin and Turret Streets, noting the vintage of the properties. Then peel over to Maligne Avenue and relish in the picturesque views. Once you’ve got your postcard image of Jasper, beeline it over to Cavell Court. If the gulf between Jasper’s real estate is any kind of indication, it stands to reason that there are major variances in the challenges people have in making a successful transition to becoming full members of the community. This is not to say that owning a $750,000 bungalow versus renting a $750/month apartment has any particular bearing over one’s ability to acclimate into Jasper’s people-scape, rather, it is a reminder that the day-to-day experiences of people who live less than two kilometres away from each other can be as different as night and day. Why does this matter? Because recently, the Jasper Community Team obtained federal funding to conduct research on, and ultimately make recommendations towards, establishing an Immigrant Advisory Table. The Local Immigration Partnership wants to find out what challenges newcomers have to overcome when settling here. This information will be critical for designing the program, and it will certainly be useful for officials and social scientists in Ottawa, but importantly, it will help us get to know better the people with whom we share this community. You may think you know everyone in town, but it’s easy to get caught in a positive feedback loop, experiencing only a small group of people whose similar lifestyles and viewpoints merely serve to reinforce your own assumptions. To break the loop, start by taking a walk around town. All of it. What will determine the success of this working group will be the diversity of perspectives brought forward. What will determine the long term viability of our community is precisely the same thing. bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

RCMP Woes Dear Editor, Look out for the RCMP in Jasper! They like to ticket people for minor infractions. Recently, I was ticketed after turning onto Patricia Street because I apparently didn’t do the one thousand and one, one thousand and two, count at the stop sign. It gets better: I drove down the street, trying to find a parking spot on the street and since there was none, I turned right into the alley by Tim Hortons. I looked in my mirror and a black SUV had its lights flashing. As a young RCMP came over I said “surely wasn’t speeding, how can I help you?” He told me I had two infractions: One for the stop sign I apparently didn’t

stop at long enough and the other from turning into an alley without signalling. Seriously? The stop sign infraction was $400 and the non-signal into an alley when no one was around came to $233. He said he would give me the lesser of the tickets and that I could come back in June to fight the ticket if I wanted to. This is NOT good treatment for a town such as Jasper where regular business travellers and tourists fuel the economy. I’ll be spreading this foul treatment to other fellow business travellers and tourists. Not impressed Jasper RCMP, not impressed! - Warren Becker

The Jasper Local //

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// Local fundraising

monday, may 1, 2017 // issue 96 // the jasper local// page A3

THE RIDE CAUSE //THE KIDS WITH CANCER SOCIETY’S TOUR OF HOPE ROLLS INTO TOWN JUNE 14. THE TOUR IS RECRUITING RIDERS. SEE WWW.KIDSWITHCANCER.CA TO SIGN UP. // SUBMITTED PHOTO

Tour of Hope recruiting for rewarding ride Jasperites have a unique opportunity to make some miles in the saddle while at the same time making a huge difference in the lives of sick children.

The Kids With Cancer Society’s Tour of Hope—a 14-year-running charity bike ride that takes cyclists from near the Fraser River delta to Alberta’s Rocky Mountains—has added a Jasper leg to its tour. On June 14-18, riders with the Tour of Hope will experience Jasper’s incredible road riding. Participants signed up for the eight day push from Hope, B.C. will marvel at the views surrounding Jasper’s blacktop as they roll into town. Three-day tour riders will start in Jasper, using the community as a basecamp for exploring the park. “We’re encouraging anybody that’s a cyclist to sign up,” said Alexx McKay of the Kids With Cancer Society. “It’s a really unique opportunity to form a special bond with the organization.” Bob Maclean can verify that connection. Nine years after he tagged onto the tour as an excuse to put in a week of cycling, he remembers being won over by the cause. “For me it started rather selfishly, I simply wanted to do a big ride,” said Maclean. “But I came to know a very nurturing organization. The society is second to none when it comes to providing support for families all over Alberta.” In the years since, Maclean has enlisted his family on the tour and signed his company up as a major sponsor of the event. He said

the challenges of the 100 km days are trivial compared to what families of sick kids are dealing with. “When you’re riding through nasty weather or suffering through a painful ride, you just put your head down and suffer through the pain, knowing it’s a fraction of what kids with cancer go through,” he said. This year, former Edmonton Oilers captain Andrew Ference will be the event’s special guest host. Ference, known for his dedication to philanthropic causes and activism, will lead the tour out of Jasper on day one. “He’s super involved with the community, we’re really excited to have Andrew,” McKay said. The real reason participants get involved, however, is to ride with the kids—whether they’re able to visit the cyclists on tour or not. Each cyclist rides in honour of a child with cancer. Maclean said he’s been deeply touched by the opportunity to meet some of the kids and families who benefit from the society’s work. “Everybody knows someone whose child has cancer, it’s just a great cause. There’s nothing sadder than seeing kids with cancer.” In order to participate in the Tour of Hope, riders are required to raise a minimum of $2,500 for the three-day tour and $3,500 for the eight-day tour. The ride is fully supported, including a bike mechanic. Register online by visiting www.kidswithcancer.ca

page B1 // the jasper local // issue 96 // monday, may 1, 2017

Local health //

UNGAINLY UNGULATE // JASPER WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER VALERIE DOMAINE FOUND THIS MALE MOOSE, STILL SPORTING ITS SLEEK, ANTLER-LESS LOOK, NEAR MALIGNE LAKE RECENTLY. ACCORDING TO BEN GADD’S HANDBOOK OF THE CANADIAN ROCKIES, MOOSE IS ALGONQUIN FOR “TWIG-EATER,” WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS FELLOW WAS DOING WHEN DOMAINE SPOTTED HIM. // VALERIE DOMAINE

Backing the thin line: Groundbreaking summit to support first responders Three years ago Jasper’s Greg Van Tighem sent a letter to the Alberta Fire Chief’s Association. In it, he wondered aloud how much support volunteer fire fighters were getting when it came to dealing with post-traumatic stress and the aftereffects of being called out to accidents. But even though he was asking the question, he pretty much knew the answer. “I knew that most of them probably had no support,” the long-time chief of Jasper’s fire brigade said. Van Tighem sent his letter shortly after a long weekend which saw multiple traffic fatalities in Alberta. His own department had recently been on a few tough calls. He wanted to know whose responsibility it was to help first responders who may not have the tools to deal with what they had experienced. “How many times has someone had to help someone but they don’t have all the tools?” Van Tighem said. “To have a bit of education goes a long way.” Now, thanks to Van Tighem’s spurring—and with the help of his colleagues across the province— significant steps are being taken to cultivate that learning. On May 12-14, the first ever Mental Health Summit for fire fighters, first responders and community helpers, will take place at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. The summit is part educational conference, part wellness retreat. It’s a chance to take a deep dive into the latest research on managing emergency workers’ occupational stressors and it’s an opportunity to shift the paradigm when it comes to countering the stigma of mental illness. Dubbed “Backing the Thin Line,” the summit recognizes the knife-edge that first responders walk when it comes to maintaining their well-being. Van

Tighem said that the Mental Health Summit will help attendees build up resilience to the kind of post-traumatic stress that is responsible for ruined careers, broken families and lost lives. “If we can armour people, provide them with education, teach them that these are the kinds of things they may see, many of these outcomes could be prevented,” Van Tighem said. For his entire career, PTSD has been in Van Tighem’s periphery. Some of his peers were going on stress leave, others had attempted suicide. However, it wasn’t until Jasper volunteer fire brigade member Ruben Doyle took his life last year that Van Tighem recognized how invisible the signs of PTSD could be. “We had no clue,” Van Tighem said. “I thought I had a grasp on his situation. Maybe I didn’t.” The Jasper Mental Health Summit is designed to help people get a better grasp on their co-workers, friends and family members’ situations. While it began as an idea to help volunteer fire fighters, it quickly evolved into an event aimed at all first responders. Finally, it was recognized that there are many people in the community who, although they don’t wear a badge, also could benefit from mental health education and training. With a distinct stream of seminars and activities targeted to community helpers, Van Tighem believes that the summit will help fill the gaps that people like Doyle are susceptible to fall through. “Volunteers are the ones who slip through the cracks,” he said. Moreover, Van Tighem said the legacy of the summit will be the plan it creates. Although the seminars will offer plenty of tools for participants to apply to their lives as they deem necessary and the various events (golf tournament, fun-run, BBQ, gala) will help raise awareness of mental health issues in first responders, the real take away from the weekend will be a plan to

support fire fighters dealing with PTSD. Three years after he wrote to the Alberta Fire Chiefs Association asking “what kind of support is being offered?” by the end of the Jasper Mental Health Summit, he vows to have an answer.

“We’re going to turn a weekend of support into a working group that comes up with a plan to support volunteer fire fighters,” he said. “And we’re not leaving that room until we do.” bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

WENDY HALL AND CHRIS PEEL OF FREEWHEEL CYCLE ARE RENOVATING THE SPACE AT 606 PATRICIA, DOWNSIZING THEIR STORE AND GETTING BACK TO THEIR ROOTS. // B COVEY

monday, may 1, 2017 // issue 96 // the jasper local// page B2

Local literature //

Expertise, passion and imagery intersect in author’s vision for Alberta’s wilderness Book Review: Our Place: Changing Nature in Alberta. By Kevin Van Tighem. 402 Pages. Rocky Mountain Books. There exists a myth of the “Real Albertan” in the Canadian popular imagination as someone who drives a truck, owns an off-road vehicle, distrusts authority and is, to borrow a word from author Aritha van Herk, a “maverick.” These Albertans are connected to the land first and foremost by the economic wealth they derive from it, as workers in extractive industries or as farmers. This is an image shared by many people across the country and is one that a great many Albertans embrace whole-heartedly. It is one that author Kevin Van Tighem—a former Jasper National Park warden and a former Superintendent of Banff National Park—has long sought to counter. An alternative characterization of Albertans and of our connection to this place emerges through the pages of Van Tighem’s latest offering, Our Place: Changing the Nature of Alberta. The volume contains in excess of 50 essays, compiled over more than 30 years of writing about this land, those who love it and those who let it down.

The many stories that populate its pages are tied together by a number of core ideas and an underlying philosophy of place and connectivity. One of the key ideas that informs Van Tighem’s thinking about environmental stewardship—a major theme throughout his corpus of work—is a true understanding that any living thing must account for both its genetic information and the environmental context in which it finds expression. Thus, without understanding our connection to the land, we cannot truly understand ourselves. Van Tighem has spent a lifetime in the Alberta wilderness and both his love for it and his anguish at its sustained degradation ooze from the pages. The beating heart of his living relationship with the land is to be found in formative experiences accompanying his father on pheasant hunts in the Strathmore countryside of his youth. It was through the immersive experience of hunting that he arrived at a conception of being in nature as conduit to becoming fully human.

“Thus, without understanding our connection to the land, we cannot truly understand ourselves.“ Throughout these engaging essays, Van Tighem upends accepted wisdom on some of the most pressing environmental issues of Alberta’s recent history. Whether on the question of protecting dwindling caribou herds through wolf culls, the role and importance of national parks or whether and how to stop the

//KEVIN VAN TIGHEM HAS COUNTERED THE ALBERTA STEREOTYPE HIS WHOLE CAREER. // SUPPLIED

advance of mountain pine beetle, he marshals the expertise of a biologist, the passion of a lifelong outdoorsmen and the imagery of a master story-teller to produce compelling, if occasionally polemic, arguments. On its surface, Our Place is an account of the magnificent beauty of this province and the failure of its inhabitants to afford it the moral value it deserves. To that degree, it is a collection of often sad tales. The true value of these essays, however, is to be found in the deeper vision they offer of what could be. In Van Tighem and the many individuals encountered in his stories, we find characters who embody that vision. They are characters who are every bit as Albertan as the oil-rich stereotypes with which many Canadians are more familiar. Doug Olthof // doug@thejasperlocal.com

// Bow valley

After a daunting approach, Crowfoot Media founders enjoying the view from up high If creating the inaugural edition of Crowfoot Media’s Canadian Rockies Annual magazine was akin to climbing a mountain, one could say that cofounder, editor-in-chief and writer Meghan Ward had a long approach.

“It was pretty ambitious, we worked behind the scenes for seven months and it was 15 months after we first met that Volume One came out.”

Taking the metaphor further, although Ward and her business partner, designer and art director Dee Larosa, had an idea of what their objective looked like and were familiar with mountain travel, finding their way to the top involved a lot of route finding. “What it would finally look like was a constantly evolving process,” Ward said from her home in Banff. “But it was also a very natural journey.”

On April 30, that journey saw another flag planted atop another lofty summit: the launch of CRA, Volume Two. Although Crowfoot maintains a web presence throughout the year to connect to its readers and the Rockies community, the 100-page, heavy-stock print edition is the magnum opus of Ward and Larosa’s 12-month creative efforts. Mountain culture aficionados will be able to indulge in the essential coffee table accoutrement shortly after May 1. “Volume Two is very different in character than Volume One,” Ward explained. “Volume One was more introverted, thoughtprovoking and personal. Volume Two is more showy, vibrant and fun.” The difference in tone is a reflection of the creators’ collective mindset. The positive feedback Ward and Larosa received from the inaugural edition gave the pair the moxie to push the envelope of wilderness, heritage and environmental writing. “We learned to trust that we’ve created something people will enjoy,” Ward said. Certainly their diverse, far-flung subscriber list attests to that sentiment. As does their recent accolades: In April, CRA Volume One took home Magazine of the Year honours from the

Alberta Magazine Awards, along with a host of other decorations. Ward said it’s gratifying to be recognized, but the most rewarding part of launching Crowfoot Media has been collaborating with other creatives. “There is a magic that happens when you work with other creative people,” she said. “It’s such an honour to be able to tell these stories and give people a sense of joy for the place they live in and love.” Banff is the headquarters of Crowfoot Media, but the scope of the web and print publications is much more broad. CRA Volume One included content from the Crowsnest Pass to Jasper, and Ward says Volume Two is equally as sweeping. While the magazine’s contributors all have a tie to the Rockies, many call home in other parts of the country. Jasper’s Niki Wilson, who writes about wolverines for the latest edition, is one of the more “local” correspondents. “It’s cool to bring all these voices together, united by a shared interest,” Ward said. “There are so many amazing stories here, I really can’t think of a place more saturated with interesting people and adventurous stories.” Now that their own adventurous story is underfoot, Ward said she can’t wait to see what’s around the next bend. “We’re excited for Volume Three,” she said. “We don’t have to prove it anymore, we can just live it.” bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

page b3+B4 // the jasper local // issue 96 // monday, may 1, 2017

FEATURE // STORY BY BOB COVEY PHOTOS COURTESY OF JESSE MILN

Sixteen days into their 200 kilometre ski traverse across the South Cariboo Mountains, Jasperites Jesse Milner and Emma Freeman had only one thing on their collective mind: salt and vinegar chips.

For two days they had been rationing their remaining food. Down to one Cliff bar, half a pepperoni stick, some energy gels and a handful of trail mix, the pair were salivating at the thought of breaking open the food cache that, weeks before, they had arranged to be dropped by helicopter in the remote B.C. wilderness. Since the beginning of their traverse, in the Premier Mountain Range, near Valemount, they’d battled the elements almost every step of the way. For four days,

As such, after safety navigating through several cruxes, including a thousand-metre, 45 degree icefall broken by gaping crevasses, and climbing and descending more than 10,000 metres of elevation—almost all of it in wet, windy weather—it’s fair to say the two adventurers had worked up an appetite. “The night before I dreamed about Indian wedding buffets and stealing food from children,” Freeman laughed. “All we were thinking of was that food cache.” Their focus was singular: get to the food. However, when they skied into the glacier-rimmed valley where their hunger pangs would finally be alleviated, a nightmare scenario washed over them: their food box wasn’t there. The pilot had dropped it in the wrong valley. “I plugged in the coordinates and realized that it was 15 kilometres away, over mountainous terrain, in the wrong direction,” Milner said. They were devastated. The pair had just put in a monster, 30 kilometre day and they were still at least a day’s travel away from a reasonable bail-out point. Apart from a packet of dry broccoli soup, which they had joked they would never resort to eating, they were out of food.

“I plugged in the coordinates a realized that it was 15 kilomet away, over mountainous terra in the wrong direction.”

“It was sheer disappointment,” Freeman said. “Not only because we were out of food, but because I didn’t want the traverse to end.”

at 9,000 feet, they were pinned down by a raging storm, huddling in their sleeping bags and hoping their tent didn’t rip apart. When the tempest finally abated, they had two feet of snow to trench through. Not only did the new snow make it even harder to ski with their 100-pound packs, but it made the avalanche hazard all the more ripe.

Unfortunately, they had no choice. Plan A had been to gorge on rehydrated pasta, beer and chocolate, then take two more days to finish the traverse in Crescent Spur, a small community on the Fraser River. Plan B was to feast on said deliciousness but then bail out to McBride. Plan C, as it turned out, was to split a watery bowl of broccoli soup and the next morning, crank out 20-plus kilometres on an empty stomach. “We had to bail,” Milner said. But there was another concern: a steep, exposed

NER AND EMMA FREEMAN

AN APPETITE FOR ADVENTURE

JASPERITES BATTLE WIND, SNOW AND HUNGER PANGS DURING EPIC TRAVERSE OF SOUTH CARIBOO MOUNTAINS

headwall which they’d now be forced to descend. The last leg of their journey contained some of the most complex terrain of the entire trip. With no food, if they couldn’t get down the committing feature, the only way out would be via an expensive helicopter rescue. “I had been stressing out about the crux all morning,” Milner recalled. “I had heard reports of it being a total sewer.” Thankfully, the line wasn’t as crappy as he’d read about. There was a way down, albeit one which demanded all of their skiing faculties. On the steepest parts of the descent, the pair would plunge their ice axes into the crust for an anchor, sideslip down one body length, and repeat. After they made it safely to the bottom, in honour of the unique brand of “skiing” they had to employ, they named the feature Hillbilly Deluxe.

and res ain,

Thankfully, these hillbillies were packing some critical technology. After they discovered their food was nowhere to be found, Milner satellite-messaged his boss in Crescent Spur to let him know he wouldn’t be showing up as planned. In turn, his boss arranged for two snowmobilers to meet the skiers on the logging road on which they’d be exiting the mountains. The sound of a two-stroke engine never sounded so sweet, Milner said. “We ate the sandwiches and candy they gave us so fast we both got a stomach ache,” he laughed.

Although the traverse pushed the pair to their physical limits, the soggy spring skies made it impossible to dry out their gear and the experience was bookended by epic SNAFUs, seeing the smiles on Milner and Freeman’s faces as they told the tale of their adventures in the South Cariboo Mountains, one would think they had 17 days of sun, perfect corn skiing and all the salt and vinegar chips they could eat. Indeed, although the trip involved some frightening moments, interminable marching and less-than-ideal travel conditions, those elements are only part of the story. When they look back on this adventure they’ll remember the the highlights: watching the northern lights dance above Wells Grey Provincial Park’s Quanstrom Icefield; skiing through the headwaters of the watersheds of the Robson Valley; and the indescribable feeling of looking into the far distance and knowing that they were all alone in the big wild. “It felt like we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere,” Freeman said. “It was so cool to be that isolated.” bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

page B5 // the jasper local // issue 96 // monday, may 1, 2017

Local horticulture //

The seeds of joy, the fruits of labour and the cycle of life and learning herself. A few years ago, Hisey began experimenting with saving seeds from store-bought slicing tomatoes, with the intent of supplying ingredients for one of Alpine Summit’s more popular lunches: tomato sandwiches. By the end of January in that first year, Hisey had grown As any gardener in Jasper would know, this is an monster tomato plants; they grew so large impressive feat in the cold, short growing season of that they needed to be housed in a space of the Rocky Mountains, but Agnes Hisey is nothing if their own. Thankfully—for the tomatoes and not impressive. for Hisey’s hobby—Alpine Summit staff got on Hisey is the principal pruner behind Alpine Sumboard with building a greenhouse to help the mit’s bountiful biomass production, and although she gets a bit of help with the heavy lifting, when it tomato operation flourish. VINE AND DANDY // AGNES HISEY, WHO APPRECIATES HELP WITH THE Years of toiling in soil have taught Hisey to comes to getting the most out of her soil, she’s all HEAVY LIFTING BY VOLUNTEER JESSE OLSON, IS THE LOCAL GREEN develop an attitude towards gardening as one green thumbs. THUMB AT ALPINE SUMMIT SENIORS LODGE. HISEY’S TOMATOES ARE of constant learning—and the octogenarian is Hisey’s roots as a garQUICKLY BECOMING A THING OF LEGEND. HER PASSION FOR GROWING not afraid to hop on the latest dener began in England BRINGS HER MUCH JOY, SHE SAYS. // FERN YIP social media platform to pick during the Second up tips. World War when her volunteers to help Hisey in the gardens. His “People have brought “I learn a lot from Pinterest.” Hisey family was able to give strong back is good for repotting tomato plants or says. “That’s how I get ideas to up their food rations beautifying the space with stones, Hisey says. His me interesting prized improve the greenhouse. I love to by buying chickens for kind smile is a bonus. tomatoes over the years. experiment.” eggs and growing their “Thank goodness I have a hired grunt,” Hisey I save the seed from them Today, Hisey’s tomato repertoire own vegetables. chuckled. has expanded to include seven “That’s where my great While some of the tomato plants that Hisey grows and grow them out the different varieties, some of which love for real food bewill help to provide lunches at Alpine Summit, next season.” she has named herself—such as a gan,” Hisey recalled. any superfluous sustenance will be sold at the yellow, sweet varietal she’s dubbed When she moved to end of May. The sales help generate funds for the “Pointy One.” Friends and family Canada, putting down seniors’ activity program. have picked up on her passion, roots in Tofield, Al“I’m not even sure that the sales cover the costs berta, 70 kms east of Edmonton, Hisey was able to too. Who knew the tomato growers collective was of the growing materials,” Hisey reasons, “but so collaborative? build upon her gardening skills on her stepdad’s this place sure brings me and a lot of other “People have brought me interesting prized toma- people joy.” grain farm. toes over the years. I save the seed from them and Besides whetting her friends’ appetites for sweet, Those early experiences of helping her family’s grow them out the next season,” Hisey explained food security have influenced Hisey’s gardening juicy sandwich filler and supple salad accessories, as she transferred pots of tomatoes from inside philosophies. Today she shares the spoils of her Hisey’s tomatoes are a good reminder that the the Alpine Summit building to the greenhouse. generous garden with Alpine Summit’s senior gardening season is upon us. Jasper, prepare to Before you object at this spunky senior’s schlepcommunity. get your hands in the dirt. ping of soggy soil, know that Hisey has a helpBut Hisey isn’t satisfied with run-of-the-mill hortifern yip // info@thejasperlocal.com culture, this crack crop cultivator likes to challenge ing hand. Her newfound friend, Jesse, regularly

Despite the snow that has been falling at the end of April, tomato plants at the Alpine Summit Seniors Lodge stand half a metre tall.

monday, may 1, 2017 // issue 96 // the jasper local// page B6

Local nutrition //

Foods for mood: Connecting your diet to your mental health Is anyone still fighting the winter blues? At the end of the winter we tend to become moody. We are ready for the transition to spring and are tired of the short, dark days and cold temperatures. It is important to take care of your body during this time as this is typically when people tend to get run down or start to feel some anxiety creep into their lives.

kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, whole yoghurt and kefir can keep our flora happy as well. We must also consider the environment these microbes live ‘in’ or ‘on.’ They live on our intestinal walls in our intestines, making sure our gastro intestinal lining is in good shape will ensure happy microbes. Foods like bone broths, cabbage, good quality meats and fats all have nutrients to help heal the intestinal walls.

KEEP BLOOD SUGAR STABLE

Food plays a huge role in how we feel. As a friend used to say “good food, good mood” and he is exactly right. Here are my top four nutrition tips to keep you feeling good.

KEEP MICROBES IN THE GUT HEALTHY Studies show that 80 to 90 per cent of serotonin is produced in the gut. Serotonin is a hormone that affects all parts of your body. It is best known for being a mood stabilizer— low levels of serotonin are linked with depression and anxiety—but serotonin also plays a big role in digestion. Our gut’s micro flora are responsible for a lot of our serotonin production, and in order for the microbes to continue manufacturing proper amounts of serotonin, they must be fed properly. This means eating whole foods rich in fibre (whole grains, vegetables), probiotics from complex carbohydrates (potatoes and yams, for example) and avoiding foods that are highly processed and high in sugar. Fermented foods like

Build your meals to last! Make sure each meal will keep you full for a good amount of time by making sure each meal includes a bit of protein, good fats and complex carbohydrates. Do the same when you reach for a snack, because as soon as our blood sugar drops, so does our mood. Coffee can also throw blood sugar off. If you can come off coffee, great! If not, try adding things to your coffee that will buffer the effects of caffeine and help it release more slowly into the blood stream. My favourite is bullet proof coffee, you blend a good quality fat like grass fed butter or coconut oil into your coffee to make a delicious, latte-like drink!

AVOID STIMULANTS: Many foods can actually be stimulating to us and cause things like anxiety or low mood. Chocolate, really spicy foods and sugar can contribute to anxiety and insomnia. If you are having trouble with sleep, try to avoid these things close to bed time. Other stimulants in foods can actually be the additives in processed foods, think dyes, nitrates and MSG. These additives have effects on our nervous system, and they’re especially hard on children. Avoiding these foods will take out another damper on our moods.

HERBS, SUPPLEMENTS AND SELF-CARE:

Herbs and supplements can have a significant role in stabilizing mood and anxiety. My favourite herbs for anxiety are passionflower and skullcap, these are both gentle herbs that help with cyclical thinking and restlessness; they go great in a bedtime tea. Turmeric is

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another herb that has been getting a lot of attention for treating depression or low mood as fights inflammation that is the root cause of a lot of depression cases. Fish oils do the same thing and also have good fats that nourish our nerves. Instead of reaching for a coffee in the morning, grab a green tea or matcha latte, these contain l-theanine, which promotes alertness and calm brainwave patterns at the same time, they are both packed with antioxidants as well. Lastly, when we are thinking about stabilizing our mood, we must remember to take time for ourselves. I suggest creating a morning routine, do something active you love, have a bath or read. All of these things count as self-care and self care is essential for a healthy body and mind. Jenna completed a 3-year program of Holistic Nutrition at Pacific Rim College. There she developed a strong understanding of Diet Therapy, Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine and some Western Herbal Medicine. She works with clients to find a permanent and sustainable fix to their health concerns using natural approaches that take into consideration each person’s bioindividuality. Find her at alpenglownutrition.ca