This is the Farmers' Institute newsletter for the Fall. Outside with my bar of soap and my swimming trunks (conserving water doesn't go away easily)
We welcome the SSI Agricultural Alliance to our newsletter. They are always digging up something.
Please FOLLOW THE RED LINKS TO WEBSITES OR VIDEOS. Below is a handy content list. .

Contents

Mark your calendar for this very important talk from the BC Assessment Authority

“What Farmers Should Know About Farm Status”

Wednesday, November 30th – 2pm at The Farmers' Insitute

This talk will be of interest to all farmers, whatever their scale of operation and to landowners who would like to see their land farmed. There have been some major changes in reporting requirements made a few years back. Reporting of income now matches the income tax year. There are also changes in the farm products that count towards tax status.
This talk will cover defining a farm and the income required for farm tax status for farms of different sizes as well as an overview of business plans for registering as an emerging farm. Also to be discussed will be what has to be deducted from income to calculate the amount that can be claimed.
Sponsored by the Salt Spring Island Poultry Club.

SSI Farmers’ Institute Fall Fair

by Tony Threlfall

Imagine, 120 years of producing a Fall Fair !....The Farmers' Institute has done that starting in 1896 . The first Fair was held in a purpose built community building now known as Central Hall which is still serving the community . We are already busy planning the 121st.

Rather than reviewing all of the various categories in the Fair, we thought that an overview of the whole Fair process and how that process has contributed to the Fair becoming such a long standing integral part of our community.

The Fall Fair Core Committee meets in January of every year and, after much discussion, determines the Fair theme for that year. The theme has to be determined early in the game so that all sections have an opportunity to include theme related entries. As an example, a quilter would have to know, well in advance, what the theme is so that their entry could reflect the theme.

Many of the areas in the Fair involve a lot of advance planning. For example, the two day stage presentation, which features many of Salt Spring's best known and busiest performers has to be carefully structured to avoid last minute cancellations and no shows. Since our Fair grounds are small and space limited, advance work with the food vendors is done early to ensure the best variety possible. Other commercial exhibitors have to be screened and numbers controlled to prevent chaos on set up day. March and April sees all section co-ordinators reviewing their section's catalogue information. The Fair theme has to be inserted into the pertinent categories and all other revisions completed before the rough catalogue draft is presented to the Driftwood for layout. At this time, all of the articles included in the catalogue have to be written, submitted and proof read. The catalogue is released and distributed on the last Wednesday of June. Between January and September, all co-ordinators meet with the Fair core committee every other month. Hopefully, these meetings give the co-ordinators the opportunity to address their concerns and to arrange any new or altered display concepts. While all this detail work is in progress, the maintenance crew is busy preparing for Fair day. Clean up, paint up, repair and build is the order of the day ! Late in August, the collection of entry forms begins and our computer crew starts to produce all of the cards, forms and records necessary to ensure the proper placement of entries, cards for display, and documents for the judges. All of these preparatory activities advance on their own schedule but magically come to fruition by the second weekend in September and we're ready for the exhibitors to bring their contributions which are paramount to the Fair's success. As we have often stated, the Fair committee merely supplies the venue. The community, with their exhibits, provide the show !

The Farmers' Institute has certain principals that are the back bone of the Fall Fair. We do not encourage sponsors as most of the Fairs in B.C. do. We do not offer grand prizes to entice people to attend the Fair. Some Fairs offer new cars, and other exotic prizes to entice attendance. We do not have any paid employees. Most of the Fairs in B.C. have, at the very least, a paid manager. Our community Fair functions totally with volunteers. Even the professional entertainers provide their talents voluntarily for the benefit of their community.. The Girl Guides wash the dishes, so that our Fair can reduce garbage, thereby making our Fair one of the greenest in the province. We feel the Fair is all about local participation. All of the advance preparation, briefly described above, is designed to make participation simple and pleasant. The section co-ordinators put a lot of effort into displaying and presenting the exhibits. We want your florals, produce, craft, hobbies, preserving or baking to be presented in the best possible and most attractive way.

The Farmers' Institute's objective is to present an unpretentious community event. It is an opportunity to show the community what you do. The vast majority of the attendees to the Fair are local residents, coming to see their relatives, neighbors or friend's entries, or, maybe, we hope, just to spend some time celebrating Salt Spring's unique life style !

POULTRY CLUB

by Mike Hogan

On Thursday the 27th of October at the Farmers Institute meeting room the Salt Spring Poultry Club hosted a talk by Tim McGiffin of Mile End Farm in Cobble Hill. http://mileendfarm.com/index.html Mile End Farm, in the Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island BC, is known for top quality laying hens, pork, lamb, meat chicken, eggs and purple striped hard-necked garlic.

Tim spoke to 30 people on his methods and thoughts for raising healthy meat and egg producing chickens. Tim talked about production type breeds, heritage breeds and the pros and cons of each. He covered feeding, housing, predator protection and general husbandry. He past on several useful tips such as how to make a dozen eggs look their best for sale and how to introduce new birds to a flock. Tim imports several thousand birds a year, both meat and egg varieties which he sells as day old chicks or 4 week old which no longer need heat and are ready to go to pasture. Most of his sales are to small back yard flocks for families that want a few roasters in the freezer or enough eggs for the family.

An interested note from Tim regarding the debate about chickens in more urban areas.

https://www.chickensandyou.com/7_Myths.html There is an interesting precedence for employing family flocks as part of trash management. One example is the town of Deist in Flanders Belgium. The city buys laying hens to give to residents who want them. The chickens "job" is to divert food waste from the trash stream and eliminates it from having to be picked up by workers, transported and then disposed of. The savings is significant.

Tim is a knowledgeable fun presenter and left us with some great information that made for an enjoyable afternoon.

A big thanks to Margaret Thomson for having organized this event.

The next poultry club presentation (organized by you know who!) is November 30th and will be a presentation and discussion of farm tax status by representatives of BC Assessment Authority. This talk will be of great interest to the agricultural and farming community. If you have land that you would like to see qualify for farm tax status plan on attending.

SALT SPRING ISLAND BEE KEEPERS

by Wendi Gilson

What's The Buzz
This week we had the pleasure of a visit from Paul van Westendorp our provincial apiculturist. Paul came to Salt spring as part of a larger tour of bee clubs in our region .His intent in visiting and in accordance with the ministry of agriculture/ apiculture'a mandate to prevent the spread of disease ,was to speak to bee keepers about bee health ,especially the number one threat to colonies today - varroa destructor .
Many bee keepers question and discuss whether the issues bees face today are more a result of other factors such as environmental dedegration, pesticide use ,monoculture and lack of nutrition.
While these things do play a part and are of concern - the fact remains - varroa is the problem . On a scale of 1-10 - varroa is 10 .
Paul made the decision to visit the bee clubs on Van island and salt spring based on the inspection reports he received from myself and David macDonald which indicated that so many colonies were faced with such high varroa counts that it's almost certain that they will all perish before Christmas .
The reason for this dismal state of affairs is that many bee keepers have adopted a " hands off " approach to bee keeping .No action is taken towards controlling varroa .They disdain the use of treatments in the colony and consider a policy of " not interfering with the bees" a sound option .
As well ,beekeepers who do monitor for varroa and treat as required are faced with mites arriving from collapsing colonies that were not attended to .
Keep in mind that beekeeping is a communal activity . Bees are not isolated on properties like chickens , sheep and other livestock . They meet in the fields and on flowers and diseases spread fast , especially varroa .
I urge all beekeepers -whether just starting out or more seasoned -to compare their well intentioned and lofty values to the answer to the simple question - what is best for the bees ?
Answer - varroa control- we have the tools to deal with it .
I encourage new beekeepers to take a course or two . Beekeeping is now one of the most detailed forms of animal agriculture .
The ministry of agriculture / apiculture offers a free webinar on beginning beekeeping . The details are on their website . There are many other courses and possibilities for education - here on Saltspring I offer a season long apprentice beekeepers course .Details at Black Horse Apiary fb page .The combination of the webinar offered by the ministry and the field visits available through our course could give a new beekeeper a pretty good start to the fascinating world of bees .
They are getting ready for winter now .Most queens have stopped laying and they are forming their winter cluster . Bees don't want to be disturbed right now while they prepare their domestic affairs .
The bees in the colonies right now are winter bees .Unlike their sisters - the summer bees - whose lives are brief , adventurous and daring , these winter bees live in the hive all winter - up to five months . They will take care of everything ( the queen ) until she stirs - sometime around solstice and begins to lay their replacements .
On a sunny day they will take cleansing flights and forage on things like Heather and English ivy .
Now is a time for reading about bees . Learn about their biology . How many eyes do they have ?What is their favourite colour ?
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions
Wendi
Wendi Gilson
BC Ministry of Agriculture
Apiary Inspector
250 882 2852
wendigilson@yahoo.ca

FARMER'S CLASSIFIED ADS

Organic straw for sale

Large square bales of wheat (Marquis) straw. Grower can be delivered to Salt Spring Island. Hopefully we can pool orders to have a trailer load delivered. If interested please contact Ben at Treasure Life Flour Mills. cherrerageo@yahoo.com Tel 250 428 4414

NOV., 2016