Dr. McDougall on Health

Compassion Farm - Leaving Lantzville

This is DISGRACEFUL that anyone can do this to another citizen with apparent impunity.

Leaving Lantzville and larger issues

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Dirk Becker	Jun 1 (1 day ago)
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Hello folks,

Just so you know!

Here is the letter we just sent to council:

Yours in service,
Dirk Becker

www.dirkbecker.ca
www.synergymag.ca

Check out our past radio shows...
"Heart and Mind: Tools for Change"
http://www.synergymag.ca/radio-heart-and-mind-tools-for-change/

Begin forwarded message:

From: Nicole Shaw <nic@synergymag.ca>

Date: May 31, 2014 4:08:55 PM PDT

To: Jack de Jong <Jackdejong@shaw.ca>, Andrew Mostad <andrewmostad@gmail.com>, Joe Bratkowski <joebratkowski@shaw.ca>, grahamsavage@shaw.ca, Brian Dempsey <bdempsey@telus.net>, Jenny Millbank <jpmillbank@shaw.ca>

Cc: Twyla Graff <twyla@lantzville.ca>, Fred Spears <spears@lantzville.ca>, Meredith Seeton <Meredith@lantzville.ca>

Subject: Leaving Lantzville and larger issues

Dear Mayor de Jong and council.

We have now moved away from Lantzville. 

At the beginning of this week, we received the letter (postmarked last month - ?) from your lawyer informing us of the District proceeding with an injunction against us to force compliance -- despite my having emailed you what we have been dealing with for the past five years with the Brash's (what the police characterize as) "borderline criminal behaviour". The fence has brought us immense relief from the invasive, aggressive and even violent harassment from the Brash's. Quite some time back we stated that we'd be happy to reduce the height of the taller section if they could prove for a year that they could stop their behaviour. They did not stop.

DOL's dogged pursuit of us over the past few years -- this campaign of intimidation and selective enforcement -- has been a terrible example of what happens when the political ambitions of some, compel them to go against the wishes of the tax payer and the clear mandate they gave in the last election. Led by the Haimes, with the Brash's as their henchmen, this campaign has now successfully forced us out of the community.

This began over 3.5 yrs ago, from citing our gardens as "unsightly premises" and "filth", to then demanding we stop "all agricultural activity" to ordering VIHA, Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Agriculture to inspect our property, to pursuing us for selling rainbarrels, then our chicken coop, etc. Despite us signing three different agreements, you have continued this campaign. You, Council, have made good on each of Brash's threats to us... of which there were more... so we realized it would never end. And despite us putting our house and property up for sell, you then came after us for our fence. And now, despite SELLING our home and property, you the Councillors of the District of Lantzville, continue. 

On Thursday, May 29th, the last day we had possession of the house, we cut the fence down to six feet (and lower in areas), measuring from our side of the property line. 

When we were well over half way along, Brash Junior -- Ronnie Brash -- came home and began yelling at Dirk. Dirk was balanced on a ladder, on uneven ground sawing. He shut off the chainsaw to hear and Ronnie Brash demanded he clean up the pieces that had fallen on their side of the fence. Dirk reminded them that the last time he stepped a foot on their side of the line while building the fence, that they called the police citing his building the fence as "trespassing". Ronnie Brash then began cursing at high volumes, picked up a piece of lumber, slowly took aim then whipped it at Dirk's head. I happened to look up from getting my camera at the moment Dirk's head and shoulders jerked out of the way and the wood hit me squarely. I called the police, they attended and are following up with charging him for assault.

We then completed lowering the fence. As we drove away, Jim Brash was throwing the pieces of wood over to our side of the fence. We came back a few hours later to find out that a friend of ours had caught Brash red-handed, up on a ladder with his own chainsaw, sawing OUR fence even lower. I again called the police, and they attended the scene and added charges of mischief to the existing assault charges. 

As we have stated in previous letters, we have no doubt that Council's campaign of selective enforcement, making good on many threats Brash has screamed at us over the years, has encouraged and emboldened the Brash family to acts of harassment (many are in the criminal code) and acts of violence. Their sense of entitlement and violent behaviour has, essentially, been rewarded, time and again, by the District of Lantzville and we think that is shameful. 

In future, for the sake of the community, if you, our elected representatives, ever come across a chronic complainer targeting numerous complaints against one residence for bylaw infractions, please do some proper investigation to find out what the real problem is before squandering over $100,000 in tax payer money. Seek advice from other municipalities to see how they handle situations when it becomes obvious that the complainer has a personal issue.  

This chapter of our lives has been a nightmare that we hope we are now done with. 

Nicole Shaw and Dirk Becker

Organizing Your Refrigerator

To Avoid Wasting Foods, Print this page and tape it to your refrigerator.

1) Use post-it notes. Use up what you have first, before buying more. Post-it notes on your fridge remind you of foods that need to be eaten and what meal ideas to make from them. Check your fridge contents and cupboards on a regular basis and use post-it notes to keep you on track about using everything you have, rather than always buying more.

2) Put foods in their right spot in the refrigerator. The basics:

Left side - Carnivorous foods; meats, eggs, dairy:                     

Right side - Vegetarian foods; grains, seeds, fruits, nuts and vegetables:  

The Door - This is the warmest spot in your fridge, so don’t put anything perishable there and do not store eggs in the door, even if your fridge has an egg compartment. And keep condiments highest, drinks, etc. lowest

Upper Shelves - Temperature there is constant making it the best spot to store leftovers, dairy   products and greens in the middle shelf.

Bottom Shelf - This is the coldest spot in the fridge, so avoid putting cucumbers there or celery as they will often freeze! But It’s a good place for meat, fish, and eggs.

Crisper drawers - Set them to high, medium or low humidity. Some fruits and vegetables emit ethylene gas, so they need to go in the low humidity drawer.

            Low Humidity         

            - Avocados,

            - Bananas, ripe

            - Bell peppers

            - Grapes

            - Mushrooms

            - Pears

            - Squash

            Medium Humidity  

            - Lemons

            - Limes,

            - Melons

            - Oranges, citrus

            - Sweet potatoes

            High Humidity 

            - Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green onions, hard vegetables (cabbage, etc.)

            - Fresh herbs

            - Greens, leafy (with additional protection, such as inside a plastic bag)

3)  At the end of the week, use up what you’ve got before buying anything else.

            If you shop on Saturday, use up everything on Thursday and Friday. The fridge            works best when it’s nearly empty and then gets filled with fresh stuff.

The Salish Sea

Like the native, First Nations people, their foods, herbs and medicines have been around here for a long, long time. As such they are well adjusted to the local coastal Salish Sea climate and microclimates around my home base of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It is my desire to fully understand the tribes and customs of those who have lived here for so long. So here are the peoples:

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/native-people-northwest-coast

The Canadian portion of the Northwest Coast is a region of extremes in topography, from wide beaches to deep fjords and snow-capped mountains. Temperatures are moderate, the January mean above freezing and July less than 18° C. The northern coast and outer islands receive 155-655 cm of rain annually, and the protected Georgia Straits 65-175 cm, mostly in winter. Heavy coniferous forests thrive, and beaches and streams are lined with dense undergrowth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salish_Sea

The Salish Sea (/ˈseɪlɪʃ/ say-lish) is the intricate network of coastal waterways located between the south-western tip of theCanadian province of British Columbia, and the north-western tip of the U.S. state of Washington. Its major bodies of water are the Strait of Georgia, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Puget Sound. It reaches from Desolation Sound at the north end of the Strait of Georgia to Oakland Bay at the head of Hammersley Inlet at the south end of Puget Sound. The inland waterways of the Salish Sea are partially separated from the open Pacific Ocean by Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula, and are thus partially shielded from Pacific Ocean storms. Major port cities on the Salish Sea include Seattle,Vancouver, Tacoma, Bellingham, and Victoria.

We invite you on a journey...

 Aboriginal Tourism BC·

Green Smoothie Ingredients: Fruit in 7 months?

A picture is worth a thousand words, this from: http://www.rawfamily.com/news/2012/08/espalier.jpg

Victoria Boutenko writes: "Now we realize why she (Valya) was so excited. From the trees and bushes that Valya received in the mail only six months ago, we are already harvesting our own apricots, figs, mulberries, black currants, peaches and grapes. We are now looking forward to our own pears, persimmons, and pawpaws".


Having read this post Learn to Espalier with Valya, I immediately thought of friends Dirk Becker, Nicole Shaw and Compassion Farm and what use I could put this information to and wrote:

"I remember your regrets about not planting fruit trees years ago. I too have similar thoughts, but here is an answer Learn to Espalier with Valya. Fruits in just 7 months?"

Espalier? My pruning books talk about this, but I was under the impression it was a long term project and too labour intensive for me...

So I decided to do my own research and as usual I began with Wikipedia: Espalier

(/ɨˈspælɪər/ or /ɨˈspæli.eɪ/) is the horticultural and ancient agricultural practice of controlling woody plant growth originally for the production of fruit, by pruning and tying branches to a frame so that they grow into a flat plane, frequently in formal patterns, against a structure such as a wall, fence, or trellis, and also plants which have been shaped in this way.

• 2010-10-10 05:04 Andyvancleve 640×480× (266695 bytes) Belgian Fence being trained at the flowering shrub farm. Andyvancleve www.floweringshrubfarm.com

More information on fruit tree forms are here.

I am most interested in keeping my neighbours and their animals out of my food garden. To that end I've erected a fence and gate, netting and planted scarlet runners, climbing nasturtiums, Himalayan Blackberries and am utilizing the Hawthorn tree already there.

Thanks to Valya, Victoria Boutenko and Wikipedia for getting me thinking about how I can train more permanent trees to produce earlier than I ever thought possible.

It is now September, 2012, time to think about planning my First WINTER GARDEN...

boka hotell berlin

Joel Salatin And Dr. Mercola

Two of my favourite personalities talking about things near and dear to my heart. Discussions about farmers market and how food is distributed. Food and the Health connection... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gBwCQspdwo&feature=player_embedded#!