Horticultural Centre of the Pacific - a regular haunt

The Horticultural Centre of the Pacific is many things and there are many reasons to visit. Ron and I have been members from the first year we arrived on the island and we continue to visit for different reasons.

This visit focused on studying the Butterfly and Insect beds. I was looking for plant ideas for the Water Drop Insectary and Feather Bird Haven hugelkultur beds in our Backyard project

Hmmm... there is a possibility - Amaranth - red to attract hummingbirds, seeds for fall bird feed and it is a dye plant. I am particularly interested in multi-functioning plants.

The Butterfly and Insect bed is right next to the Plant Sale Centre. I whipped out of my bag my plant lists, gave one sheet to Ron and we searched for wanted plants. There was nothing that day but next visit I may find enough to fill the car.

Since I have been building a number of different types of stone walls for the Backyard Project I have been noticing stone walls everywhere. This is one of my local favourites.

We stopped in for a drink at Charlotte and the Quail Cafe before leaving knowing we would be back for the upcoming Fall Plant Sale.

Backyard Project - Planting More Trees

Sammy, the owner of Pacific Ecoscapes , is asking me where I want the tree planted in the Gravel Bed Garden.

It is the focal point of the bed so its position is important. I have been holding off from planting more in this bed until I can what the tree looks like. 

We discuss where it could go and settle on its location.

Sammy has to scrape back the gravel, cut a hole in the filter cloth, and dig out the soil below before settling in the tree.

Strawberry Tree/Koumaria/Koumara/Pacific Madrone/Madrona (Arbutus unedo)

We considered many different trees before settling on the Strawberry Tree. It needed to suit the site - sunny, hot, dry thin well-drained soil. It needed to be multi-functional to fit with the permaculture philosophy - edible fruit for birds and me, lots of summer biomass (falling leaves) to act as mulch on surrounding beds over the hot months, falling fruit to feed the soil, a high resting place for birds and a shady spot underneath for me, tannin-rich bark for me to use as a fabric dye. All of these functions made it the winner. Design-wise it is a smaller version of the larger nearby Arbutus (Arbutus mensiesii).

It is an evergreen but like its cousin the Arbutus, it drops half its leaves over the summer. The guava-nectarine tasting fruit takes a year to ripen so the tree has ripe fruit and the next season's flowers both at the same time over late autumn into winter giving birds food into the cold months.

Sammy brought the feijoa/pineapple guava trees for the hedge. I have been growing in pots fig cuttings collected during a Gaia Organic Master Gardener pruning lesson. The soil in the new bed is not yet ready to plant in so Sammy left the plants in their pots and placed them within the hedge area. It is good to be able to better visualise what the hedge will look like.

Fig - Dessert King 

This has proven to be the best cultivar for our climate. Our summers support a plentiful very sweet brebus crop but there are not enough frost-free days to mature the 2nd crop.

Feijoa/Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana)

This yummy fruit bearing small tree will make up most of the hedge. The green fruit ripens and falls in the autumn. It has soft spiky scarlet flowers which will give the hedge a punch of colour.

Sammy brought and laid some top soil for the 2 meadow beds in front of the studio.

He also planted a native apple tree out the front by the letter box.

So lots of new planting that I now have to keep watered while we wait for the irrigation system to be installed.

Day 2: The Gatherers Meet at the Edge of the Royal Roads University Forest

After Kerry Mason's talk, there was time for a quick lunch at the Habitat Cafe on the Royal Roads University campus before walking across the road to the edge of the forest.

Gaia College instructor, ecological landscape designer and consultant, Manon Tremblay (centre) took the first group upstream for their walk in the forest.

She led the Gatherers through a series of sensory exercises to help them explore the rain forest.

Meanwhile, Gaia College instructor, Ecological Landscape Designer and Master Gardener, Debbie Guedes (centre), took her group downstream to experience the shifting ecologies as they walked towards the ocean.

Debbie sharing her wealth of knowledge.

An excellent example of a wildlife tree seen from the track.

The Skunk Cabbages are in fine form.

At the same time, under the shade of the forest trees, I gave the third group a quick workshop on earth dyeing.

Here I am showing Jean Cockburn a dyed cloth while she massages earth into her cloth.

I use Bengala earth dyes. They are so simple to use I was able to set the workshop up under the trees for 40+ people.

Shamina Senaratne checks her cloth as it dries on a branch.

Debbie and Manon try their hand at earth dyeing.

I could not have run this workshop without my 2 excellent assistants - Sarah McLaren (in red) and Louise Slobodan (in green). For 2 hours, with cold wet hands, they helped people, reorganised the work table before the next group arrived and packed everything up at the end.

These 4 made this an event enjoyed by many. 

After each group had rotated through the 3 activities it was time to return to the hotel to freshen up before the next event.

The post-event survey results had comments from some Gatherers that they wanted a longer time out in the forest. We were lucky with the weather but if it had been any colder, windier or raining the 2 hours would have felt too long. The committee decided to take the risk and allowed 2 hours for the outside activities. We left time the next day for the Gatherers to return to the forest to experience more on their own.

Thanks again to Judi McLeod for the use of her excellent images.

Studio: Pattern Language # 145 Bulk Storage

Pattern Language #145 Bulk Storage

Problem - 'In houses and workplaces there is always some need for bulk storage space; ...- all those things which you are not ready to throw away, and yet not using everyday.'

Marie Kondo would agree this problem needs a solution but those who work with cloth have a much greater need for lots of bulk storage area.

The architect took advantage of the sloping ground and with only a little more excavation we have a 'crawlspace' under the studio. Our municipality does not allow a full height room in an outbuilding but 6' 2" is still a comfortable height to move around freely in.

Coming in through the side door to the left is my natural dye storage station. That is Japanese indigo hanging to dry and walnut dye in the jars, both studio warming gifts from thoughtful friends. The plastic containers are 2 different types of rust buckets.

To the right of the opening is storage room for leftover building materials for repairs and other uses. I am also drying 7-foot tall teasel stems here.

Further along this side is where I placed all sorts of hanging devices and the longest packing materials.

One day I found this boat stored in an empty spot! I was assured it was the perfect spot for it over the winter. It can stay as long as I don't need that space

Straight ahead is where I store completed artworks in their shipping materials. Most of my finished work I prefer to hang in the house because it fares better there.

Into a small alcove is a stack of packaging and shipping materials...

...and to the left my Etsy packaging and shipping supplies, pillow forms and pillow covers.

 In the centre of the alcove are 2 small raised tables where I package works for shipping.

We finished the crawlspace with a polished concrete floor and low-grade plywood on the walls, both hard wearing, low maintenance, low-cost finishes and utilitarian in style. It is completely moisture-proof and there is a small wall heater on a thermostat to keep the room above freezing in winter. It works out about 50% of the whole building area is flexible bulk storage space.

Pattern Language # 145 Bulk Storage Solution

'Do not leave bulk storage til last or forget it. Include a volume for bulk storage in the building - its floor area at least 15 to 20 percent of the whole building area - not less. Place this storage somewhere in the building where it costs less than other rooms - because, of course, it doesn't need a finish.'

Check.

VISDA Current Threads 2015: Garden Tapestry

I want to make another post about the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association's current exhibition because every work is such an excellent example of  the many techniques fibre artist's have to work with.

The above detail is Linda Elias's "Beet Harvest" where she used actual beets and leaves on a Gelli-plate to print on the cotton fabric and she added a layer of stamping. She backed the cotton with a hand woven wool cloth and machine stitched into the layers before adding hand stitching and beading.

Linda's expression of the excitement in bringing in a plentiful harvest moved someone because they bought the work even before the official opening. Congratulations Linda.

Lori Mudrie's "Thistles and Lace" (detail) has to be seen to be fully appreciated. This work is much fresher and softer looking than what you see in this poor image. What you are looking at are all fibres and fine thread. She needle felted a variety of different rovings blending the colours in a painterly way then she incorporated hand and machine stitching to catch the characteristic forms of thistles and Queen Anne's Lace.

Laura Feeleus's "Conservatory" (detail) shows a number of the different ways stitches can be used to attach items to a ground. On the right are dried rose petals trapped under hand-dyed silk. On the left is a vintage lace doily held in place with a layer of sheer silk and french knots. Elsewhere on the work are tree seeds and stones held in place by hand stitches.

Christine Fawcett's "Dawn's Delight" (detail) shows raised surfaces using a number of different techniques: furrowing, Kantha, and spot applique. Silk taffeta was dyed with avocado skins and eucalyptus bark using natural dyeing techniques.

Jo Ann Allan's "Medieval Garden" (detail) has many historical textile references going back to the European Middle Ages. It is also a showcase of exquisitely worked hand stitches, techniques that have been practiced for centuries: Hardanger, blackwork, casalguidi raised embroidery.  In other areas of the work, there are machine embroidered slips, a contemporary take on an Elizabethan technique for applying heavily embroidered pieces to a ground. The old and new have also been combined with a traditional linen ground fabric and an area of hand-made silk fusion fabric.

Jo Ann is the co-ordinator of this exhibition and has done an excellent job in organising the details and communicating them and the deadlines to all of the artists. The theme is gardens and Jo Ann began by sending members a 3-page list of ideas related to this theme which I am sure was a great source of inspiration for many of the works in this exhibition.

The exhibition is on for another week, ending November 10th.

I do hope you can go and see this exhibition if you haven't already done so.

Studio Design: Porch, Electrical Centre, Tea Centre

Continuing with a diary about how I use spaces in my new studio, as requested, I have used the crawl space.

During the Green Shed Open House, a friend offered me some of her Japanese indigo harvest. How wonderful. I visited her and came back with many large bundles of freshly cut indigo. I couldn't deal with it that day, but she had sent me a link to a site with a recipe for dried indigo. 

I borrowed the drill, found some hooks and hung the indigo bundles from the ceiling of the crawl space.

I moved the dehumidifier nearer the bundles to create air movement to stop any mold or mildew (probably the same thing) from forming. The dehumidifier took out of the air the extra moisture created by the drying plants. 

The leaves have dried perfectly to a deep blue.

Another lovely friend gave me a bucket of walnuts from her tree.

I got to use the porch for the first time when I went out there to take the husks off the shells.

I found it to be a pleasant space to work in. 

Inside I plugged in the first appliance in the electrical centre - a wide and deep counter/bench with lots of easy to reach power outlets. The hot plate works by induction heating only the bottom surface of the pot to an exact pre-dialed temperature. If the pot is taken off the element it stops heating. Other things can be programmed too, like a timer, a pre-set temperature and more. This reduces the risk of leaving a hot heating element unattended by mistake.

The window opens out towards the prevailing breeze. The breeze enters the room and moves the heated air up across the room and out the upper clerestory-like windows on the east side. It is designed to be a passive ventilation system.

I think I got so excited about simmering the walnut husks I forgot to take a picture of that stage.

It was time for tea. This is my tea centre with different teas and snacks in the little drawers.

Ron gave me the lovely teapot for this spot.

At the water centre, there is an instant boiling water tap. I drink herb teas that are made at temperatures below boiling point so the thermostat is set at below the boiling point.

This instant 'boiling' water was used to fill the pot to simmer the walnut husks in. It is more energy efficient to heat a small amount of already hot water a few degrees more than to take the same amount of water from cold to hot each time.

I had tea in the 'sunny room' for the first time. I will explain the Pattern Language 'sunny room' term in a later post.

My cousin, who does interiors for a living, helped me find the perfect chaise for this spot. Thank you, Karen. 

It is where I will read, rest, contemplate, and drink tea. 

The little wall heater, bottom right, has its own thermostat so I can set the room to be a little warmer than the main room while I sit still.

So that was the first day in my new studio.

Morocco - Dyeing and Leather in the Fez Medina

The tourist brochures talk of being in the Fez medina as stepping back into the Middle Ages. Many traditional skills are still practiced and old-world services still offered. This likely to be one of the reasons why it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

If you want a worn article of clothing freshened up, visit the street dyer, drop off your faded garment and  pick it up once it has been over-dyed.

The Fes medina has a dyers' district where dyeing skills have been handed down through many generations. Hand-woven woolen and cotton cloth, tanned hides of camels, goats, cattle and sheep are tanned and dyed at a number of different tanneries.

Earthen vats are filled with dye materials - ochre, poppy, pomegranate and henna for reds, date stones for light brown.

Fullers stomp on the hides in the vats then lift them out. It is back-breaking work for only the strongest. And the smell... but you probably don't notice it when you work there every day. Visiting tourists are handed a fresh sprig of mint to help the delicate ones cope with the smell. I found the smell to be not too bad, but I did remind myself we were there in winter. In the summer heat, I may have gagged.

The small yellow hides are saffron-dyed lamb skins to make the softest of leather.

From our high vantage point in a leather goods store's verandah, we stood for a long time watching all of the different activities going on.