Residents of Pender Island learned how to be sustainable and self-sufficient 鈥� and met each other 鈥� thanks to community education classes held last year.
The Pender Island Recreation and Agricultural Hall Association partnered with the Heartwood Folk School Society to develop and deliver the programs.
The goal was to teach practical, earth-caring and community-strengthening skills to adults and children. They included:
鈥� Sustainable food growing: Including water systems, pollinator support, seed-saving, fruit-tree growing, regenerative agriculture and food preservation.
鈥� Sustainable energy use: Including conserving energy in how we move/eat/live, low-tech and high-tech energy device options to decrease carbon emissions.
鈥� Belonging and engagement: Including classes to connect with local Indigenous teachers and participants, drop-in folk and popular dancing, and compassionate communication training.
鈥淭here were some skookum classes,鈥� said Mae Moore, who was the executive director of the Heartwood Folk School Society at the time. 鈥淭here were classes on how to get back to the land, others on solar heat pumps, alternate energy and medicine plant gathering. All well attended 鈥� some even sold out.鈥�
They always tried to draw on members of the community to deliver the classes.
But apart from imparting knowledge and skills, the unspoken aim of the classes was to increase community engagement 鈥� and they succeeded spectacularly.
鈥淲e would have social events where people who didn鈥檛 know each other would dance together. The next time they meet at the grocery store, they would strike up a conversation, something they wouldn鈥檛 have done before.鈥�
The program was funded in part by the Victoria Foundation 鈥� and Moore is grateful for its support.
鈥淭he classes gave people focus 鈥� a touchstone. It gave some the motivation to go out plant a garden, or to learn more about geothermal heating. It enabled others to contribute. It was an investment in the cultivation of an island community.鈥�
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