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Elizabeth May - Green Party MP, is to speak in Victoria, Wednesday May 18 at the Alix Goolden Hall at 7pm. Included in her talk is information about the Kyoto Protocol to be discussed (again) at the next UN Climate Conference in South Africa in December.
Meanwhile, in our own climate dilemma, we had to cancel the Downtown Market in Centennial square - the rain was relentless! Saturday, however was lovely at the Moss Street Market in Fairfield. Here’s hoping for dry weather for the long weekend - Victoria Day in Victoria.

Images courtesy of Moss Street Market.

Our first day in Centennial Square Sunday Market was a celebratory May Day full of sunshine and Victorians. Our best seller was the Eco Chic Tara bag, with the GreenJean Aprons a close second. It was great to welcome back home town customers and to meet up with vendor friends from last year.

Downtown Market

Tara Trio

Grean Jean Aprons on the line

upcycled jean bags

upcycled jean bags

Crafters spend the entire winter coming up with new designs ready for summer markets.  Here is one of my new designs - shoulder bags with adjustable, from hip to under arm, straps.  There are pockets inside and out, of course.   The strap is about 50″ long to start with, the bag bit is about 15×11″.

One of my favorite markets, the Sunday Government Street Artisan Market may be moving to Centennial Square - fabulous location!  Our (vendors) first market day is usually at the end of April.

Elsewhere in this garden city, that is under a foot of snow (what global warming??) University of Victoria’s Francis Zwiers has confirmed that the planet’s crazy weather (my words, not his) is caused by our determination to continue burning fossil fuels aka gas gussling and increasing industrial pollution.  Those pesky carbon emissions that make us act like ostriches, that Al Gore tried to educate us about, that desmogblog makes deniers foam at the mouth about…were was I going with this - oh yes,  my favorite rant…oh well, breathe and imagine an exclamation mark.

Victoria regional district  (CRD) has compiled a list of recyclers for just about everything. You can find out where to take your ’stuff’ at myreclycopaedia.ca Anything you can’t put in the ‘blue box’, this website will help you find it a home .

News just in - Sunday Government Street Artisan Market may have to leave the streets (Victoria city council wants to give the street back to the motorists-bah humbug) and move to Centennial Square this summer.  If this does happen, Victoria will no longer have a “street” market.

view from the street

Government Street Market

Meanwhile, good news - the Winter Covered Market at Market Square (every 3rd Saturday) is a success story for locavors - free range chickens, eggs, veggies, mushrooms of all varieties, artisan breads and  goats cheeses.

Finally, funky Fernwood is hoping  to become a Transition ‘Town’ - the perfect place to downsize the gas guzzler.  Fernwood is also the home of the Compost Centre - a recycling triumph.

Recycle2shop is at Christmas in the Manger at the Saanich Fairgrounds this weekend - Saturday and Sunday November 27 & 28,  from 10 to 4pm.  Come and see our new upcycled products.

Circuit Board Xmas Ornaments

Recycled Plastic Vase

We are taking our eco friendly gifts all made from recycled materials to the Calico Christmas Arts & Crafts Show at Pacific Christian School on November 12 and 13th - Friday 6-9pm and Saturday 9am - 5pm. All the Calico vendors design and make their products. This is Leona’s first time at this show - hope to see our Government and Moss Street Markets’ customers.

Another sunny day at Moss Street Market on Saturday.  Our most popular item

Jane Bag Vintage Wine

 is still the Jane bag made from GreenJeans and upholstery samples that would otherwise be discarded onto landfill.The market association sells delicious coffee which we all need after setting up our stalls and it only costs $1.50 if you bring your own cup - bargain.  All profit at the market goes back into the community and everything is recycled by a team of cheerful volunteers.

Sunday dawned with torrential rain causing the Government Street Market to cancel the entire day - some of us hardy folk showed up at 0830 and I for one was secretly relieved that we didn’t get a chance to get soaking wet!

So back home to hang out with the family with a side trip in the ‘dryish’ afternoon for the Vining Street Festival in Fernwood…in time to catch Celtic Music and to buy organic garlic to plant in October (after I have trenched with compost as our sandy soil does not hold the nutrients, especially through a wet winter).

Back to markets next weekend - Government Street last market is September 26 and Moss Street until the end of October.

A great recycling weekend at weekend markets in Victoria and hello to all the visitors who are now checking out our website.  A weekend of sunshine is always welcome to market traders.  This holiday Monday, I was planning a day of gardening - now I will need wellies and rainproofing - perfect weather for planting winter greens seeds and garlic cloves.  The compost is just about ready for piling onto the rest of the beds to overwinter…unlike the rest of Canada, Victorians can compost all year round - so lucky.  This does mean of course, that when I talk to friends and relatives on the prairies in Winter, they crow about their wonderful days of sunshine and blue skies (ok so it’s 20 below) and pity us folks as we trip through puddles with our umbrellas at the ready.

We are also ‘lucky’ in BC to have comparatively low electricity costs, unlucky in that we lack the incentives to change to green energy.  Solar panel installation  (photovoltaic) costs are high and are only cost effective in remote locations in BC.  However, solar thermal (passivehot water collection) gives a decent return, especially if used in the summer only, which is a consideration in a city like Victoria where winter means cloud cover.  This system is explained simply (for those of us without an engineering degree) on the BCSEA BC Sustainable Energy Association website.

A company in the UK has invented an autoclave system that takes all  household waste (including black bin bags) and turns the organic waste into biomass for compost or fuel and at the same time retrieves, sorts and steam cleans inorganic waste for recycling.  The biomass fibre powers their plant as green energy.  Could be one of the solutions we need.

Another great weekend at Moss Street and Government Street markets.  Here’s Leona, smiling in spite of the weather.

Government Street in the rain

Amazing how many people still don’t know that fleece can be made from plastic bottles and that virgin fleece is made from oil by-products and that includes anti-freeze.

We have been working on building up our library of recycling FAQ.  So far, the plastic info is coming along nicely, still to come: (more) plastic; paper; wood; metal; rubber tire; textiles.

Victoria’s Quakers’ Eco Group are making water the focus for 2011 with particular interest in ongoing creek revivals, such as Bowker Creek.  Uvic is hosting ‘creek walk talks’ about our local bogs, viaduct flats and Witty’s Lagoon in October at the University.  The talks are free and the walks start in February 2011.  Phone 250 472 4747 to register.

Recycle2shop is not at any market this weekend as Leona is off to Saskatchewan for a family wedding. And howcum it’s raining there?? - should be good for at least one thunderstorm, which in Saskatchewan are awe inspiring.  So far, in humyns earth adventure, nature is in charge, not us.