Sea Anemone, Gabriola Island

Today,  I found these sea anemone in the tide pool.  They are a predator animal often mistaken as a terrestrial flower.  They were interesting to look at.  It seems that there are always different types of animals and shells in the tide pools.  You never know what you will find.

Rain

There seems to be a heaviness in the air today.  It feels like the "lull before the storm".

The wind picks up and swirls the leaves high up in the tree tops.  This is the most wind that I have felt  since moving here a couple of months ago.  The wind is now swirling the leaves on the ground, too.  Up until now I have only felt only gentle breezes on this part of the island.

There have been gentle breezes but no strong winds, yet.  Perhaps it is the time of the year and location of our property.  It seems that the wind coming from the ocean hits the high cliffs and bounces up the high trees and then goes right over top of us.  We can often see the tall tree tops moving but feel no wind on the ground.

The only cold brisk breeze that I have felt so far is while standing out on the front of the ferry in the middle of the ocean while enjoying the view.

The wind picks up again, swaying high up in the tree tops.  The rain starts to fall gently.  The rain is plinking on our metal roof.  It seems to be raining heavily but it is only the sound of it hitting metal.  After a very short time the storm moves on.  We have received only a smidge of rain and some relief from the sun for the plants.

Gabriola is dependent on rain for run-off and to fill the aquifers.  Most houses have rain water collection systems running into big water tanks so as to harvest the rain.

Russian Sage Plant, Gabriola Island

Russian Sage

I love this Russian Sage plant that is growing at the Co-op on Gabriola Island.  At first I thought it was a lavender, but after smelling it and checking it out at the local  plant nursery, it turned out to be Russian Sage.  It is a perennial and is a member of the mint family.   It is drought resistant and trouble-free.  It has airy spikes of small purple flowers on tall upright stems.  The small gray-green leaves are aromatic when crushed and remind me of the prairie sage smell.  The plant can grow 3 to 5 feet tall.
Seeing that we are presently in a drought on the Island and this plant looks to be doing very good, I decided to purchase one.  Can't wait see next year what mine looks like as it is just a starter now
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Curry Plant, Gabriola Island

I have this amazing plant called Curry in my flower garden on Gabriola.  It smells like curry, but is not  the Indian spice curry!
The Curry plant, "Helichrysum Italicum" belongs to the flowering plant family of the daisy family.   It looks a lot like rosemary and lavender plant in it's leaf stage, but smells strongly like Curry spice.  The Curry plant is not where curry seasoning comes from!  Curry is actually a blend of many different herbs and spices which can vary from region to region. 
Trimming or touching the Curry plant will leave you smelling like an Indian restaurant.  The leaves off of this plant can be used for a subtle seasoning, but there is no resemblance in taste  or the intensity of flavour of curry.
The plant likes full sun and a sheltered area.  It is a tender perennial and is hardy to Zone 8.  It can be grown in pots outdoors, too.

Brickyard Beach, Gabriola Island

Today, Jake and I went to explore Brickyard Beach.  From the late 1890's to 1951, Gabriola Islanders, Chinese contract labourers and immigrant workers produced up to 80,000 bricks a day - all by hand at the Gabriola Brickyard.  Output was high.  For example, the 1920 BC Report of the Minister of Mines states that Gabriola Shale Products manufactured more than three and a half million bricks for "building purposes" that year.

The labourers were paid $2.75 per day.  There are no obvious sign of the brickyard now, except that over the years the beach became littered with pieces of culled broken and misshapen bricks. 

 

 

Brickyard Beach, Gabriola Island


 

 

 

Picking Himalayan Blackberries, Gabriola Island

There is an abundance of blackberries on this island and now is the time to pick them.  We just have to figure out how we are going to do this so that we do not get attacked and cut up by their thorns.  I have never seen such big thorns and it seems like the stout vines almost reach out to attack you when you reach your hand in to pick the lush berries.
 
These are Himalayan Blackberries and they grow in thick, dense, impenetrable thickets alongside the roads and sometime occupy whole fields.  The berries that we do manage to pick are delicious.

There are also Trailing Blackberries that grow along the ground and have prickles on them, too.  Your encounter with both of these types will often be unpleasant because of the thorns, but the fruit will compensate for this.

The Drought on Gabriola Island

It has been such a dry, hot summer here on the island.  Our grass is parched and ugly looking.  We are lucky to have our own well and not have to rely on water cisterns.  We are watching our water use and keeping it to a minimum so as not to stress the well.

Some properties on this island do not have wells and rely strictly on rain.  Water cisterns are tanks that are filled through out the year with rain water which is collected off of the house roofs.  On this island the tanks sit above the ground.  It would be to hard to bury them in the ground because of the rock formation.  They do not need to worry about the tanks freezing in the winter here.

There has been little rain this spring and the water tanks are getting very low.  There has been some water delivered by truck into the tanks this summer because of the lack of rain.   Talk in the village centers around the lack of water.

Watering my flowers and shrubs has become a daily devotion and the plants have held up well.  The locals tell us that once it starts raining in September/October everything will come back again.  This happens every year, but this year it is exceptionally dry. 

Who would have thought that you could be surrounded by water and still have a drought??

Starfish on Gabriola Island

"Pisaster Ochraceus"  know as the purple starfish can live to be twenty years old.  Today we found them clinging to the rocks and in the shallow waters at one of the bays on Gabriola Island.  There were purple and orange starfish.  I have never seen purple ones before and they truly did amaze me.  There were plenty of  small size mussel beds on the rocks, too.

 

 

Salmon -BQ at Gabriola Community Hall

Saturday, August 10, 2013
We went to the salmon -BQ at the Gabriola Community Hall tonight with our friends Jack and Joyce.  The salmon and salads were delicious... the bands and entertainment were good... True Island Spirit...

Lavendar on Gabriola Island

Lavender is a perennial plant, a fragrance, a color and a seasoning.  It is easily grown on Gabriola.  Lavender is a native of the Mediterranean and a lover of dry, sunny, rocky habitant, but it can adapt easily.  It is a tough plant and is extremely drought resistant. 
With it being so dry this summer on Gabriola Island the lavender is beautiful and is attracting plenty of bees.

Artichokes on Gabriola Island

Today, the artichokes that were growing in the Co-op parking lot caught my eye.  Native to the Mediterranean,  artichokes are a relative of the thistle, also having prickly leaves and a purple thistle-like flower.  Artichokes are grown for their large edible flower buds and are ornamental enough be mixed in with your flower garden.  They can be grown from seed or young starter plants.  Artichokes are considered a gourmet vegetable due to the delicate flavour of the ball-like flower heads,  which are picked and eaten before they have a chance to bloom.  The plants can grow 5 to 6 feet tall and each plant can produce up to 12 edible heads. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Arbutus Trees on the Gulf Islands

Arbutus Menzeisii Tree 

The arbutus trees are very distinctive trees.

Arbutus Tree

There are many Arbutus trees growing on Gabriola Island and they have become my favorite tree here.  The Arbutus tree, also known as the Madrone or Madrona tree is a native species to B.C.  They mostly grow within 5 kms of the sea.
The Arbutus is a rugged tree which shows it's full beauty when it is found clinging to rocky bluffs and cliffs overlooking the ocean.   It can grow to be over 100 feet tall and can grow to be up to ten feet in diameter.  They can live to be 500 years old as they can survive the harshest climates close to the sea.  Wet and windy in the winter, and dry and parched in the hot summer. 
Arbutus is the only deciduous tree that does not loose its leaves in the winter.  The oval shaped leaves have a leathery texture.  The tree is never bare of leaves.
In the spring, the tree has bunches of small bell-shaped white fragrant flowers. 
In the summer, the reddish brown bark sheds. 

Arbutus Bark

Arbutus Tree Berries/Seeds

Sandwell Provincial Park, Gabriola Island, B.C.

Sandwell Provincial Park is located on Gabriola Island, B.C.  There is a 800 metre trail leading through the forest to a long sandy beach on Lock Bay.  The 12 hectare park is located on Strand Road.  The beach has views of the Salish Sea, formerly known as the Strait of Georgia.  The stairs off of the trail going down to the beach are fairly steep.

Entrance Island, view from Sandwell Beach

Lock Bay, Sandwell Beach

Sandwell Beach

Entrance Island Lighthouse

Lock Bay, Sandwell Beach

Plenty of Wasps on Island now!

Just when you sit down outside with a cup of coffee the wasps decide to land right on you.  After getting bit by one I decide to go to the hardware store and buy a wasp trap to catch them in.  My potion of orange juice and a little bit of sugar mixed into it worked to attract them down into the jar.  It didn't take long to trap several of them.

We also purchased a small bottle of oil of cloves to dab on our skin as they do not like the smell of it.  It seems to work but is fairly expensive.

Back on Gabriola Island

We arrived back on the Island to find drought and dust  The earth has dried out with a vengence now. The lawn is brittle and dry.   All of the Island is very dry and flammable now.   There are signs posting "Extreme Fire Hazard" down in the village and there are fire bans on now, too.  This also means that lawn mowers, chain saws, etc. can not be used either.
Most properties on this Island have rain water collection systems in place.  We have a good well but now we know that we want to put in a water cistern just to be safe if this drought happens again so that we can water plants and a garden.
Vehicles on the island are coated in dust and the road swills up a dust storm every time one travels by.
I am loving the heat, sunshine and afternoons spent outside, walking and discovering new beaches, and wearing sandals.   At least part of the day is spent lazing on my gravity free chair, taking in vitamin D, reading or snoozing.