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10.00

Patio Plants

Potted and ready for you to take Russian Kale $3 Strawberries $2 (4 plants) Sweet Lemon Mint $5 Ornamental Rose bush $5
140.00

Handmade Persian Rug

We bought this authentic rug in an auction from 1960/1970. It has a little wear - but lots of life still DIMENSIONS: 57 x 35 […]

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Latest Local News

Fire News: Chief’s Response Report – 2019 October

Response Report: Salt Spring Island Firefighters responded to 32 calls for the month of October. Operations As part of our ongoing community education and outreach SSIFR is hosting the 1st series of Resiliency training for the community organized by the Salt Spring Island Emergency Program. The first block consists of four three-hour training sessions covering several key areas that will help our community be more resilient during emergencies. Registration is full for the 1st and 2nd series but there are plans to continue this community education program with the Salt Spring Island Emergency Program. Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue conducted our annual hose testing with over 25,000 feet of fire hose tested. Thanks to the testing we were able to find several hose lengths that were in need of replacing and failed the test. The C.R.E.S.T. roll out of the P25 digital radio system is only months away. Our department will be outfitted with new Motorola radios thr…
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2019 Salt Spring Chamber Salty Awards Winners

Salt Spring community members gathered last night at the Harbour House hotel to celebrate business and community award nominees and award winners. The awards and dinner were organized by the Salt Spring Chamber board and staff members to celebrate the best parts of our Salt Spring community and the entrepreneurial spirit of the island. Twenty-nine awards were given out across two business and community award categories. Thank you for voting the Salt Spring Exchange your favourite Local Media Choice again this year. We're grateful for all our supporters and advertisers who help make the service of the Exchange possible. We'd like to thank all the other local media organizations on the island, The Gulf Islands Driftwood, The Fish Bowl and the Islands Marketplace who all work tirelessly to help share the news and events of our very special island community. We all benefit from their work engaging people on and off island in stories about our island. Our Local Media Choice aw…
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Leaves, Mulch for Winter

This is my annual note to remind you to collect as many leaves as possible now, both to mulch your garden for winter and to stockpile for mulching next summer. Here are some notes addressing misconceptions and questions that appear every year at this time: What kind of leaves can be used for mulch? All leaves are usable, but black walnut leaves shouldn’t be used on some plants until the leaves have been well composted first (this breaks down a chemical called juglone in the leaves, which suppresses the growth of some plants). One hardy perennial myth is that maple leaves shouldn't be used (luckily, no one told my garden, which has been heavily mulched with Bigleaf Maple leaves for 18 years). Even oak and Arbutus/Madrone are fine, but they do take longer to break down. Mixing oak leaves with other tree leaves works well for a fluffy winter mulch and I reserve Arbutus leaves for pathways where their toughness is an advantage. Should they be shredded? Not for winter mulching…
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Listen: Changing Our Climate with the Food We Eat

I’m on the Salt Spring Gulf Island Community Radio interviewing people near and far who are making good news on the planet by helping to shift the outcome of our future. These people and companies have created solutions to local and global issues we’re facing at the moment. Sharing the good news that’s happening on the planet is key at this time as there are people out there who are making big changes and we need to see the turning tides. In this episode I’m talking with Dan Jason the owner of Salt Spring Seeds. Dan has a vision to help communities around the world let go of their dependence on the food industry and fulfill their communities grocery needs at home - without compromising the varieties of food we love! He is committed to helping people grow their own food and save their own seeds. In this episode we're exploring how to relate with our future through the foods we choose. We're also diving into: How the design of seeds can effect our longevity on the …
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Make Less Than $80K? Maybe You Can't Live Here

Every month that goes by, fewer and fewer homes for regular people are available on Salt Spring. Rentals continue to leave the market due to the dual pressures of high real estate prices (encouraging homeowners to sell), and tourism / Air bnbs (encouraging homeowners to rent short term rather than long). A few affordable housing projects are happening, sort of, though the one that recently broke ground took 24 years of planning. That's one housing unit a year. As for homes for sale, as this former Islands Trust trustee recently wrote, there are literally zero properties listed for sale today on Salt Spring that anyone making less than $80,000 a year could afford. There are reportedly hundreds of people commuting on the ferries each day (one sailing wait anyone?) while more and more middle and working class people and families are looking at the unthinkable: packing up their lives, in some cases after decades of investing in this community, and moving elsewhere. But it'…
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BC Ferries Awards Contracts for 'Island Class' Hybrid Electric Vessels

Ships are designed to be fully electric when electric charging technology matures - BC Ferries continues to roll out its Clean Futures Plan and has awarded Damen Shipyards Group of the Netherlands contracts to build four more battery electric-hybrid Island Class vessels scheduled to go into service in 2022. In the spring of 2017, BC Ferries awarded Damen contracts to build two “first in class” of these battery electric-hybrid vessels. These vessels have successfully completed sea trials and will arrive in Victoria, B.C. by January 2020. With the extension of the partnership between BC Ferries and Damen now confirmed, Damen will extend its agreement with Point Hope Shipyards of Victoria, B.C. to provide technical and warranty support for the new vessels with their local staff. “Our Clean Futures Plan spells out our strategy to reduce GHG emissions by replacing our legacy carbon intensive fossil fuelled vessels with ships using clean energy,” said Captain Jamie Marshall, BC…
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Breaking: Elizabeth May Steps Down as the Leader of The Green Party of Canada

“Effective today, I am no longer leader of the Green Party of Canada,” said announcing her resignation. “I wanted to choose a moment when we had a lot of success before leaving.” Effective today May is no longer the leader of the Green Party of Canada. The new acting leader is Jo-Ann Roberts. May will be staying on as Parliamentary Leader and the MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

“Effective today, I am no longer leader of the Green Party of Canada,” said @ElizabethMay announcing her resignation. “I wanted to choose a moment when we had a lot of success before leaving.” #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/zdewK28iik

— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) November 4, 2019
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Proposed New CRD Community Safety Service FAQ

The Capital Regional District ("CRD") Board proposes to adopt Bylaw 4325, “Salt Spring Island Community Safety Service Establishing Bylaw No. 1, 2019”. The new Salt Spring Island Community Safety Service is proposed to assist, administer, promote, organize, implement, and monitor community safety initiatives and programs in the Salt Spring lsland Electoral Area. Here is an list of Frequently Asked Questions about the service. Why the need for this new service? A recent increase in vandalism and civil disorder in Ganges Village prompted a series of meetings organized by the Chamber of Commerce, United Church and islands residents, resulting in the formation of an ad hoc committee to share information. These meetings identified constraints on resources for existing agencies (including repeated, unsuccessful attempts by the RCMP to acquire additional officers) and the lack of consistent and focused local funding support for community engagement with the RCMP and social se…
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Voting for the 2019 Salty Awards - The People Have Chosen!

Voting for the Community and Business Awards is Now Closed - The Salt Spring Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that the Salty Awards for Business and Community will be presented at a Gala Dinner on November 14th at the Harbour House Hotel at 6 pm. Online voting took place on saltspringchamber.com between October 8 and 25, and once again the number of votes was significantly greater than in the previous two years. 2840 validated ballots were cast for the Business Awards and over 2300 for the nine Community Award categories Several categories were hotly contested ‐ a dozen or fewer votes separated the top three finalists in several categories ‐ Market Vendor or Artisan, Top Green Business, both Entrepreneur categories (over and under 40), and Top Customer Service. A single vote separated the first and second place Barber, Stylist or Spa Service category and two tiny votes separated the first and second place winners among the 109 Tradespeople that were nominated. …
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Fire News: Chief’s Response Report – 2019 September

Response Report: Salt Spring Island Firefighters responded to 66 calls the month of September. Operations Our wildfire season has come to an end with far fewer fires on Salt Spring and throughout BC compared to 2017 and 2018. Below is an overview of the burning prohibitions over the past three years. Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue follows the BC burning restrictions. This summer we worked with the Salt Spring Exchange and launched a daily Fire Danger Rating public notice that was well received with 751,006 views this summer. With the new changes to the Open Burning Smoke Control Regulations (OBSCR) there has been a change in how the air quality “Venting” is reported. There is now 1 Day venting that displays in blue, as where the 2 day more stringent venting is displayed in a light green. Map locations that are in red are areas with poor no venting. With the new update of the OBSCR Venting is now required for all burning where the material is gre…
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