FOLLOW DINOSAUR FOOTPRINTS

A dinosaur trackway cast from the Tumbler Ridge area

(one metre stick for scale)

More than 90 million years ago, when dinosaurs

still inhabited British Columbia, lumbering,

cow-sized, vegetarian ankylosaurs and fleet-footed,

 bipedal, carnivorous theropods left their marks

on today’s Tumbler Ridge area.

 

Visitors to the northern community can walk the

fossilized footsteps of these reptilian ancestors at t

rackways along the Wolverine River and Flatbed Creek.

 

The Peace Region Palaeontology Research Centre

 offers guided summer tours, including a night

walk at the Wolverine site; low-cast lantern light

dramatically enhances the shallow impressions.

 

Researchers have verified several dinosaur finds

 in north-central B.C., including one near

Hudson’s Hope, and others in the Fraser Canyon

and Elk River valley.

 

 

Info: (250-242-3466; www.prprc.com).

⎯Shanna Baker

WWW.bcadayatatime.com

BC A DAY AT A TIME

Cheryl C Young, Realtor

SAANICH PENINSULA REALTY

SIDNEY, BC

www.cherylyoung.ca

www.facebook.com/cherylcyoung

www.twitter.com/CherylCYoung

cbythesea@shaw.ca  www.cherylyoung.ca

Devour B.C At Feast of Fields

By Brian Payton

I am sampling the scallop tartare and chenin blanc

when I hear the first wave of laughter.

We are gathered in the sun drenched fields of UBC Farm

on Vancouver’s west side, surrounded by orchards and

hemlock forest, enjoying some of the finest food and wine

in British Columbia.

Then, all at once, hundreds of heads are tilting skyward.

I look up and there it is- a small plane towing a large ad for

Subway sandwich chain.

the pilot actually circles a few times befor flying away,

leaving us to savout the irony.

On a summer afternoon each year, Feast of Fields brings

together come of B.C’s best chefs, farmers, brewers,

vintners and food producers to showcase their

 offerings to the public.

The “wandering picnic harvest festival” is the principal

fundraise  for FarmFolk/city Folk, a non-profit

organization working to connect urbanites with the

 people who grow their food.

Armed with wine glasses and linen napkins,

1,000 feasters stroll UBC Farm between tents

displaying inspired and beautifully presented cuisine.

Many have come with a strategy.

some make beelines for their favourite retaurateurs

 – chefs representing restaurants for Aquaa Riva

 to Zzin – while others methodically work their way

 from one end of the field to the other.

  the rest of us wander happily amid the countless

 canapes, sampling everything from Barnston Island

 Basil and Fraser Valley duck to Kitsilando heirloom

 tomatoes.

Okanagan Vaalley goat cheese, and queen Charlotte

Island Halibut: in short, the full culinary abundance

 of British Columbia

Recent movements such as the 100-Mile Diet

(launched by B.C writers J.B MacKinnon and Alisa

 Smith have made us aware that the farther food

 travels from farm to plate, the higher the

greenhouse emissions, and the fewer the jobs for

 local cummunities.

Local food is also envariably fresher, more

 flavourful, and nutritious.

It helps to preserve agricultural land and llifestyles,

too-part of our heritage as British Columbians.

Back in 1947, 97% of the food we consumed was grown

and produced within the province, according to

B.C’s Get Local business alliance.

Today it’s 40 to 50 %.  Still there are about 20,000

 farms in B.C providing at least 36,000 direct

agricultural jobs and more than 280,000 jobs

 throughout the entire food system.

 

Considered together, agriculture , fisheries, and food

production is a $17 billion slice of the provincial

 economy.

  Feast of Fields is a chance to meet some of the poeple

working hard to grow, catch, ferment and brew

 the best of B.C

After loading up with a selection of desserts, I sit

 down in the middle of the field to soak up

the ambiance.

The satisfied city fold wandering past aren’t just

sophisticated  foodies- there are young families

 and college students, too.

We’ve all come together to try something new, to

 get back to basics, to taste something fresh and

authentic.

It feels like a day of thanksgiving- a day to celebrate

who and where we are.

There are Feast of Fields events in three locations

 each year, in farm country on the Lower mainland,

Vancouver Island and in the Okanagan.

  Contact the FarmFold/City Fold Society for tickets

 and information

Info(www.farmfolkcityfolk.ca

www.bcculinarytourism.com

www.edible-britishcolumbia.com  www.100milediet.org

www.getlocalbc.org

BC A DAY AT A TIME www.bcadayatatime.com

OUR BLOG IS ABOUT BC FOR THE PEOPLE OF BC

IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFO cbythesea@shaw.ca

CHERYL C YOUNG, REALTOR

SAANICH PENINSULA REALTY

SIDNEY B.C

Day 30 Board A B.C Ferry By Frances Backhouse

From British Columbia magazine www.bcmag.ca

With the wind in your face, sunlight sparkling

on the waves ., and a seagull gliding beside you

at eye level, a ferry trip in British Columbia is

much more than a way to get from Point A to

poin to point B. Whether the voyage is long or

short, it alsways feels like an adventure.

It begins with pre-boarding anticipatin and ends

with the excitement of landing on an unfamiliar

shore or the sweet pleasure of homecoming.

Best of all is the journey.

Every ferry trip offers spectacular scenery and a

uniquely off-road perspective on the province.

Bonus attractions may include whate sightings,

impromptu concerts by travelling musicians,

conversations with friendly locals or world

travellers, and colourful marine sunrises or sunsets.

For a cruise experience at a discount price, book

the Discovery Coast Passage with BC Ferries: the

summer route connects Port Hardy to the remote

communicies of Bella Bella, Shearwater, Klemtu,

Ocean Falls and Bella Cools.

B.C’s best-known ferries re those that travel the

coast.

There are also 14 inland ferry routes operated by

the province’s Ministry of Transportation, which

provide free transits for vehicles and passengers

across various rivers and lakes.

Info:www.th.gov.bc.ca/marine/index.ht

Don’t Miss Sampling a classic Nanaimo bar square

at the onboard cafeteria Stampeding to port or

starboard when the captain announces an orca

sighting

Cheryl Young, Realtor

SAANICH PENINSULA REALTY

www.cherylyoung.ca

www.facebook.com/cherylcyoung

www.twitter.com/CherylCYoung

Make a careful list of all the things done to you

that you abhorred.

  Don’t do them to others-.

Make another list of things done for you that you loved.

Do them for others -always

LOVE MORE- HURT LESS!

A RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS

GET GOBSMACKED BY MOUNTAIN LIGHT

There’s something magical about the glow that

bathes a mountain peak at dawn or dusk. 

 

 Landscape photographers pursue this luminous

light as it it were a rare , white spirit bear.

 

“We sleep in the middle of the day,” 

 

Cheam Peak, called Theeth-uhl-kay in the

Halqemeylem language of the Sto:lo and usually

 referred to as Mount Cheam, is the furthest

 northerly peak of the Cheam Range, a subrange

of thte Skagit Range of the Canadian Cascades

mountains.

It dominates the eastern Fraser Valley, rising above

Bridal Falls and Agassiz just east of Chilliwack, and

west of Hope British Columbia.

The north face, plunging 2,000 m (6,562 ft) to the

 Valley floor, has rarely been climbed.

 

 However, an easy trail provides access to the

summit from a subalpine bowl to the southwest.

In the mountains, patience is reqarded. 

 

The quality of mountain light makes everything it

touches appear bright and fresh. 

 

 It grabs your attention. 

 

 It has a clarity to it that comes from lights in

the alpine

CHERYL HOLMES YOUNG

SAANICH PENINSULA REALTY

SIDNEY BC   www.cherylyoung.ca

IF YOU HAVE NOT VISITED MY FACEBOOK PAGE

PLEASE GO TO BC A DAY AT A TIME AND LIKE IT

Boat up Bute Inlet

As I zip up my survival suit. 

I know this will be no ordinary boat ride,  But then,

Bute Inlet is no ordinary destination.

 

 The deep fiord, which carves 75 kilometres into the

Coast Mountains north of the Strait of Georgia, is one

of the province’s wildest more remote attractions. 

 

We begin our journey from Lund, the terminus of

 Highway 101, up the Sunshine Coast. 

 

 As we pass Desolation Sound Marine Provincial

Park Kayakers and recreational boaters wave as they

 bob in the sheltered waters. 

 

 But beyond Stuart Island, at the opening to Bute

Inlet, their numbers dwindle. 

 

 We pass a seal and her pups on a floating log,

 then we are alone.

Only the boat’s wake stirs the teal blue waterway. 

Waterfalls streak the steep granite cliffs that flank the inlet. 

 

 There’s a chill in the air now and the light bow spray

on my face makes me shiver. 

 

 A Lavender sky warns of rain as an eagle rides an

 updraft then disappears into the mist.

 

At the head of Bute Inlet, where the Homathko and

Southgate rivers meet, mountains rise from the ocean’s

 edge like giants from their beds. 

 

 We turn our eyes upward for one final reward: 4.016

metre Mount Waddington the highest peak entirely

 within B.C., about 50 kilometres inland- the enormous

Homathko Ice field.

 

Rob Wood, who used to guide visitors up the Bute and

 is among the elite climbers who have reached Waddington’s

 summit, chose to make his home at the inlet’s mouth.

 

“The size of the mountains and their proximity to the

 ocean is bigger, grander and more magnificent than

anywhere else on the B.C coast,  he says”possibly more

 so than in any other fiord in the world.”

 

Info (www.buteinletadventures.com   

www.marinelinktours.com      www.buteinlet.com

B6y Jane Nahirny  From (British Columbia Magazine)

 

That which you create in beauty and goodness and

truth lives on for all time to come. Don’t spend your

live accumulating material objects that will

only turn to dust and ashes.

Have you met Ollie our mascot, or also known as

Ollie from BC A Day At A Time   www.bcadayatatime.com

 

Cheryl HOLME YOUNG

SAANICH PENINSULA REALTY

SIDNEY B.C  www.cherylyoung.ca

 

Aboriginal artists etched thousands of ancient

petroglyphs into beach bedrock and boulders in

 Coastal b.C and the southern interior. 

 

 Whether they represent real-life people and animals,

unearthly beings, or constellations is, in may cases,

 unclear.

 

“In traditional hunter-gather societies, the human

and ‘natural’ worlds are interwoven by threads of

 spiritual power.” Says Grant Keddie, the Royal

 B.C Museum’s curator of archaeology.

 

 “The natural and supernatural worlds are

 inseparable.”

Very few museums house B.C’s native rock art, but

petroglyphs can be photographed in their original

 outdoor settings at several sites, notably:

East Sook Park near Victoria, on southern Gabriola

Island, and at Cape Mudge on Quadra Island.

 

One glyph at a seal birthing area on Hornby Island

looks like whales, chasing seals out of the water. 

 

 In Sproat Lake Provincial Park outside Port Alberni,

 the petroglyph known as K’ak”awin may depict an

 ancient monster that lived in the lake. 

 

 Our most famous petroglyph, The Man Who Fell

From Heave, is a deep impression of a human figure

near Matlakatla, a short trip from Prince Rupert.

 

Aboriginal rock art is legally protected in B.C  At

Petroglyph Provincial Park south of Nanaimo as well

as Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre on Quadra Island and

Gabriola Museum on Gabriola Island, visitors may take

rubbings from replicas of the genuine carving. 

 

  Wolf-like creatures, fish and other depictions will

appear on cloth or paper that is stretched across the

replica and lightly rubbed with a crayon, charcoal or wax. 

 

 The reverse imprint makes for a mystical souvenir.

 

Don’t’ miss Taking a dip in Sproat Lake after viewing

 the enigmatic K’ak’awin Indian Rock Carvings of the

 Pacific Northwest Coast by Beth Hill.

(Hancock House 1989)

 

BC A DAY AT A TIME  www.bcadayatatime.com

 

Cheryl C. Young
SAANICH PENINSULA REALTY
SIDNEY BC.
Cell: 250-516-7653

 

Website:  www.cherylyoung.ca
Email: cbythesea@shaw.ca