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THE LATEST DIRTTHE LATEST DIRTTHE LATEST DIRTTHE LATEST DIRT
Summer Summer Summer Summer 2011201120112011
THE NEWSLE�ER OF THE GREATER VICTORIA COMPOST EDUCATION
CENTRE
The Compost Education Centre has a brand new look this sum-mer!
Thanks to a generous grant from the Capital Regional Dis-trict, our
Centre has been updated with exciting new ‘greener’ features and an
expanded compost shop and resource area. We’ve grown by leaps and
bounds over the last 19 years and have been in need of a bigger
office and a more energy effi-cient method of heating and cooling
the office for awhile. Plans for the new building became an
opportunity for staff, volunteers and board members to research
energy-efficient features and materials. One of the chosen features
was the installation of light tubes in the inner office which have
become the staff’s fa-vourite feature to point out to Centre
visitors! Light tubes, also known as tubular skylights or
sun-scopes, are derived from the oldest and most widespread type of
light tube used for day time lighting. The concept was origi-nally
developed by the ancient Egyptians. A tube lined with highly
reflective material leads the light rays through a building,
starting from an entrance-point located on its roof or one of its
outer walls. The entrance point usually comprises a dome (cupola),
which has the function of collecting and reflecting as much
sunlight as possible into the tube. Many units also have
directional "collectors", "reflectors" or even special lens devices
that assist in col-lecting additional directional light down the
tube. The first commercial reflector systems were patented and
mar-
keted in the 1850s by Paul Emile Chappuis in London, utilising
various forms of angled mirror designs. Chappuis Ltd's reflectors
were in continuous pro-duction until the factory was destroyed in
1943. The concept was rediscov-ered and patented in 1986 by
Solatube International of Australia and the sys-tem has been
marketed for widespread residential and commercial use ever since.
Other chosen features for the Centre renovations include
energy-efficient ex-terior windows and the addition of a corrugated
metal roof. Our bright red roof ensures that our office can be seen
easily from the street and will help us collect rainwater for a new
rain barrel irrigation system to be implemented this fall. The
interior shop front and resource area will be completed this summer
with cabinetry and shelving constructed using mostly reclaimed
wood. We thank our wonderful community and members for their
patience this spring during the renovations. We are hoping to have
a wonderful Grand Reopening sometime in the summer to show you all
the hard work that has been done, but in the meantime drop by soon
to see the wonderful new additions!
References: Ken Yeang. Light Pipes: An Innovative Design Device
for Bringing Natural Daylight
and Illumination into Buildings. 2003
It’s a light, it’s a skylight - NO! It’s a LIGHTUBE! Our new
BRIGHTER office! by Marika Smith & Kim Wa3
A look at our more space and energy efficient building!
Light bounces through the tube into our office - no electricity
needed!
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Staff
Nadine Collison
Marika Smith
Nashira Birch
Kim Wa�
Marion Wylie
Alysha Punne�
Contact us at
1216 North Park Street
(at Chambers)
Victoria BC V8T 1C9
Hours of Opera�on
Wed. to Sat. 10 am to 4 pm
Closed on statutory holidays,
long weekends,
and the month of December
Phone: 386-WORM(9676)
Fax: 386-9678
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.compost.bc.ca
Board of Directors
Janet Hockin
David Neate
Natalie Cushing
Wendy Dunn
Bill McKechnie
Nik Hill
Contributors to this issue of
THE LATEST DIRT
Nadine Collison
Kim Wa�
Nashira Birch
Marika Smith
Marion Wylie
Newsle3er Forma4ng
Nadine Collison
We gratefully acknowledge the
core funding support that we re-
ceive from the CRD and the City of
Victoria. Addi4onal support is pro-
vided by the Fernwood Community
Associa4on and through the gener-
osity of our Compost Club Mem-
bers and the residents of Greater
Victoria.
Nadine Returns as ED Nadine Collison, our Executive Director,
has returned from maternity leave. After spending 10 months home
with her new son, Cole, she is making the tran-sition from days
full of dirty diapers to days full of dirt. Cole is a happy little
trouble-maker whose favourite activities include resisting naps,
drooling, chasing the cats, and splashing in the bathtub! Nadine
would like to thank Marika Smith, her interim replacement, and the
rest of the staff for all the amazing things that have been
accomplished while she was gone - especially the construction of
the new building. Looks like she wasn’t the only one busy!
The mischievous Cole - likely plotting a sneak attack on a cat
or returning victorious from a daring escapade to watch the
washing machine.
Annual General Meeting - Recap
Our AGM was held in April in the Strawbale building. The
membership passed the proposed 2011 budget as well as reviewing the
2010 financials and looking at the highlights of the 2010 year. We
were sad to say goodbye to both Thomas Maguire and Tim Taylor as
board members. Thomas has been on the board for 3 years and Tim has
served with us for 2 years. We are thrilled to welcome Nik Hill, a
ded-icated Centre volunteer, as our newest board member. Thank you
to Silk Road who supplied us with yummy tea again!
Our 2011 Board consists of: Janet Hockin - President Vacant -
Vice President David Neate - Treasurer
Natalie Cushing - Secretary Wendy Dunn - CRD Rep
Bill McKechnie - FCA Rep Nik Hill - Member at Large
We are short one position - so if you are interested in serving
on our wonderful and friendly board please call or email the office
and speak with Nadine.
Welcome to Alysha - our sunny Summer Site Intern!
Alysha will be joining us for the summer as our new Site and
Program Assistant. She is a Certified Organic Master Gar-dener and
is currently completing her BSc. in Environmental Management
through Royal Roads University. She has worked on organic farms in
the past and has a strong sci-ence background that we are hoping to
benefit from at the Centre. When not immersed in everything compost
or climate change, she enjoys zipping through Victoria’s streets on
her bike, and learning as much as she can about how to create more
sustainable communities. Alysha also enjoys making meals for
herself and her plants. How does she make meals for her plants?
Compost teas of course! Welcome to Alysha - we hope she makes some
meals for our plants too!
After a summer of organ-ic farming, Alysha proud-ly shows off
her summer
harvest of veggies!.
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Volunteer Spotlight
Kid’s Compost Corner
� Explore local farms; � Build your own compost
bins; � Play with worms; � Learn about local food; � Plant seeds
and grow veg-
gies; � Gardening games, theatre, and songs; � Big end of week
field trip � …And much more!
July 11July 11--15, 201115, 2011 9:00am – 3:00pm
Ages: 6 - 9
Sign up by emailing [email protected]
Cost = $175 (bursaries available)
Our SLUGS (Sustainable Living and Urban Gardening Skills)
Program is picking up speed as the season processes. This spring we
have had some exciting workshops on do-it-yourself bio-diesel,
herbalism, pest and disease control, canning rhubarb chutney, and
back-yard honeybees. If you are between the ages of 13 and 30, it’s
not too late to catch some of the exciting upcoming workshops,
including...more herbalism (salves), bioremediation, home greywater
systems, backyard chickens, hoop house construction, and more
workshops of your choosing! Check out slugsyouth.wordpress.com for
more info, or email [email protected].
SLUGS Update
We’ve had a busy spring season so far here at the Compost Ed
Centre! Thanks to the always awesome dedication of our wonderful
volunteers, we’ve been able to attend over fifteen community
outreach events including Seedy Saturdays in Victoria, Sooke and
Salt Spring Island, Wild ARC’s Open House and the Salmon Kings
Eco-Night charity hockey game. Our 8th annual Organic Plant Sale
held on May 14th, was a great success. The growers commented on how
efficient and or-ganized our volunteer team was so a great big
thank you to all of our Plant Sale volunteers! A special mention
has to be given to our honourary canine mascot for the day, Sophie,
who did an excellent job as our ‘meet and greet’ volunteer! I would
also like to extend an enormous thank you to Marion Wylie who has
been the Acting Volunteer Coordinator for the past ten months.
Marion has grown the Volunteer Program and the Grow-a-Row Program
to new heights and has formed wonderful relationships with our
volunteer team. Marion’s true passion and dedication to her work
always shines through and she is truly a pleasure to have at the
Centre. She will be working at the Centre on Saturdays so feel free
to drop by for a chat!
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Giving Goes Green!
Giving to the Compost Ed. Centre is easy! Save 4me and
paper by offering your dona4ons on-line through Canada
Helps.org. Simply surf over to www.canada helps.org and
type in “Compost”. Our name is on the top of the search
results. Or, visit our
website and click the
Canada Helps link. And
of course, dona4ons
are s4ll happily ac-
cepted at our office.
MUST PRE-REGISTER FOR WORKSHOPS BY CALLING 386-WORM OR EMAILING
[email protected]
Upcoming EventsUpcoming EventsUpcoming EventsUpcoming Events
Date Event Time Cost
June 18 Advanced Composting 10am until 12pm Free
June 18 Backyard Food Forests 2pm until 4pm $15 (members refer
to policy)
June 25 Pest and Disease Management 2pm until 4pm $15 (members
refer to policy)
July 2 Composting Basics 10am until 12pm Free
July 16 Chickens in the City 2 pm until 4pm $15 (members refer
to policy)
August 6 Composting Basics 10am until 12pm Free
August 6 Intro to Honey Beekeeping 2pm until 4pm $15 (members
refer to policy)
September 10 Composting Basics 10am until 12pm Free
September 17 Seed Saving 2pm until 4pm $15 (members refer to
policy)
THE LATEST DIRT is published quarterly. Submissions to the
news-le�er can be sent to the Compost Educa4on Centre. Unless
otherwise
noted, ar4cles appearing in this newsle�er may be reprinted only
in other
not-for-profit publica4ons, with the credit given to the author
(when
named) and THE LATEST DIRT.
Printed on-post consumer recycled paper.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONSTHANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONSTHANK
YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONSTHANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS
S Johnson Axis Electric
Now that growing season has finally arrived (better late than
never); we are recruiting par-ticipants for our second year of Grow
a Row. The program allows gardeners like yourself to donate any
extra food they have grown which can then be donated to those in
need in our community. Last year, we launched the program mostly in
Fernwood, but this year we are launching the program region-wide
with multiple community drop-offs for gardeners. The dropped off
produce then gets given to programs in the community that help
those in need. In order to support our participants we are also
offering several free gardening and com-
posting courses and we have a wonderful harvest celebration at
the end of the year. Our summer goal is 125kg of donated food, and
so far we have only 8kg - so sign-up and help us help others!
For more information check out the Victoria Grow a Row website
at victoriagrowarow.org Or call our office and talk to Marion (250)
386-9676
Organic Plant Sale This year’s Organic Plant Sale was another
spectacular suc-cess! Nine organic plant vendors shared their
knowledge and plants with over 800 people. We again had wonderful
music from Dick Pollard and Friends, coffee from Fernwood Coffee,
and homemade goodies from Candace Smith - (mmmmm laven-der
blueberry muffins!)
Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers who make this event
possible each year!
Join Grow a Row!
