We’ve created this short video tutorial on how to modify, stop or remove your listings from the SaltSpringCommunity.com Exchange. Enjoy!

Photo: bmann on Flickr

Salt Spring Island’s very own Bruce Wood, Chef/owner of Bruce’s Kitchen writes to the editor of the Globe and Mail about cooking from scratch vs. highly produced foods common in many of our diets.

“I disagree that these sorts of dishes are causing the obesity epidemic. As a chef and cooking instructor, I teach balance, sustainability and, most important, cooking from scratch in addition to knowing the integrity of your ingredients.” Read the full story at the Globe and Mail.

Christmas Fairs are in full swing on Salt Spring. Enjoy our short video from the Fulford Hall Fair which is running through until Sunday. Find out details on all island fairs this weekend on Salt Spring by reading our short guide.

Wordles are a tool for generating “word clouds” from content within SaltSpringCommunity.com and from the SaltSpringCommunity.com List. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear most frequently. You can see some interesting rhythms in language that the community here on the island are using to describe what we’re interested in, what is happening, what we’re looking for, what we’ve found, etc. Here are some examples of our community “word cloud” art;

SaltSpringCommunity.com Postings – November, 2009

50 Random Messages Sent to the SaltSpringCommunity.com List – November 2009

“All the postings on the community list, petitions, letters and support paid off! It was announced today that Saltspring Island will be given a security portal during the Olympics.

We will be allowed to fly direct to and from Vancouver during the Olympics, no detour to Nanaimo. A few more visitors to the island in February will be welcome too, we can show off the island to visitors drawn to the Olympics from all over the world.

So a big thank you to all who helped including Minister Lunn and credit to the community board for being the way to get a message out to the people that can make a difference  –’Islanders.’”

Thank you
Philip Reece
www.saltspringair.com

Message Courtesy of Philip Reece from the SaltSpringCommunity.com List

Read more about this story from our local paper: The Driftwood

Watch the Video – Take the Flight with Saltspring Air from Vancouver to Ganges

Learn how to get automated email notifications from BC Ferries when ferries that serve Salt Spring are late or canceled. Watch our short video tutorial which teaches you how to sign-up on bcferries.com – Enjoy!

Robert Birch will be launching a ten-week class for men called Sustainable Masculinity in January 2010. The project will include topics on father-son relationships, health and healing, communication skills, the value and expression of appropriate anger, personal vision and community service. Call 653-0036 or contact Robert by mail for more information. As an international educator in the field of community development Robert brings over twenty years of experience to the table. Birch says, “This project is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic group of men to gather on a weekly basis to offer one another encouragement, support and inspiration.”

Here are the program details:

Weekly Topics

1. Creating a men’s container: confidentiality, respect, participation, trust building, boundaries & communication
2. Becoming the father you wanted: fathers and sons
3. Time out: friends and play
4. Stepping into the fire: anger and rage
5. Money
6. Sex
7. Passion and purpose
8. The privilege of service 1: defining our rights, roles and responsibilities
9. The privilege of service 2: men supporting men supporting our world
10. Closing night ritual

What are some of the things we’re going to do?

• Check-ins
• Swap stories
• Experiential trust building
• Talking circles
• Body-centred learning
• One–on- one conversations
• Small group activities
• Outdoor activities
• Games
• Some light ritual
• Some weekly preparatory readings and journaling

What participants can hope to get out of their commitment?

• Role relief/stress relief as men in today’s gender-hyped society
• Improve over-all self-confidence
• Develop a stronger, and potentially on-going, support system among island men
• Practice more effective communication skills
• Build emotional intelligence
• Identify, focus and/or re-tool their personal life mission
• Put together pieces of past experiences in a way that serves present and future directions
• Have both deep meaningful experiences -and fun doing it while learning in a safe, cooperative setting

Dates and Times: 10 Tuesday evenings starting January 5, 2010 (Jan. 5 to March 9th)
Cost: is between $230-325 sliding scale (some scholarship is available).

Call 653-0036 or contact Robert by mail for more information.

More About Robert Birch

Robert Birch, M.A., travels throughout North America and around the globe leading group trainings and retreat programs that support and challenge participants to take more healthier and more imaginative risks in their lives and organizations. As a social activist and educator he trains and facilitates a variety of cutting edge cultural-enhancement projects. On a one on one basis, Robert also gently supports individual clients to evolve through self-limiting beliefs and chronic social patterns in order to step more intimately and more radically into the adventure of their own lives.

He feels honoured to serve many diverse populations including men’s groups, chronic health sufferers, youth, coastal native organizations, the LGBT community, women’s organizations, federal prisons, Canada World Youth as well as guiding visionary government, religious, business, youth and educational leaders to follow their visions of making their programs and services more creative, accessible and effective.

Robert received his M.A. from the University of Victoria in the fields of Applied theatre and Educational Psychology; a B.F.A. from Toronto’s Ryerson University and is a graduate of the International School of Playback Theatre in New York, as well as an active member of the Mankind Project. During a rigorous eight-year apprenticeship he researched and developed several highly effective approaches to group communication. Over the past twenty years Robert’s primary areas of interest include personal and social health and well-being; conflict as a creative tool for constructive change; fostering social diversity; tracking personal and cultural mythologies and promoting community mentorship.

He is presently offering a series of community projects over the coming months:  Sustainable Masculinity; exploring men’s social health and well-being; Ritual Studies and Rites of Passage;The Velvet Rage, based on Alan Downs research of how gay men can “overcome the pain of growing up gay in a straight man’s world”; The Artist’s Way, based on the international best seller by Julia Cameron; and with Jamie Capranos, DCH,CCH,RCSHom, Body Intelligence, reclaiming our authority for one’s own personal and family health; Ancestral Healing; and The Elements of Magic.

Robert lives with his partner Mark on an organic heritage seed farm on Saltspring Island, BC. For more information please visit www.playbacktraining.com

Coming to Salt Spring Island in 2004 straight from France (Pyla sur mer) with her family (husband Bruno, 3 children and 2 cats,) Brigitte sells french pastries on the Farmer’s Markets of Salt Spring Island every Saturday and Tuesday. Her specialties are from french traditional recipes. Brigitte and Bruno opened a new bake shop one year ago on Salt Spring Island, Rendezvous (Located at the Salt Spring Marina, across from Moby’s), where you can buy canneles de Bordeaux or chocolate Incroyable. Brigitte likes to take photos about the two Farmer’s Markets in Ganges and is happy to share her hobby on line.

And what is Brigitte’s hobby?… video! She’s sharing some of them for all of us and will let us know when she makes more! Enjoy!

Salt Spring Island Saturday Market

Drums at the Saturday Market

French Bohemians at the Salt Spring Saturday Market

Rendezvous at Salt Spring Island (Learn more about their wonderful shop)

See all of Brigitte’s photos and videos.

You asked for it, now here it is. The islands very own SaltSpringCommunity.com Board discussion forum for lively online conversations on issues and ideas that we all care most about.

Again and again, we’ve been asked to facilitate discussions on the SaltSpringCommunity.com List and while the list is a powerful community building tool, its not ideal for ongoing discussions that can generate many hundreds of emails on any given topic. So we’ve created the SaltSpringCommunity.com Board for you to have those conversations and share opinions.

This is a new experiment for us, if you’re interested in using it, we’ll support it and we’ll all need to take time to learn how to use and make the most of this resource. To get us all started we have created 7 new forum topics:

Salt Spring – Making it Better
Salt Spring – Sustainability
Salt Spring – BC Ferries
Salt Spring – CRD
Salt Spring – Islands Trust
Salt Spring – Real Estate
Salt Spring – H1N1

Contact us if you have suggestions about additional SaltSpringCommunuity.com Board forum topics. You will need to Register with the SaltSpringCommunity.com Board to participate in the discussion – Click here to Register. If you have questions about how the SaltSpringCommunity.com Board works – Click here to read the Frequently Asked Questions.

We’ll add more forum topics if there is interest in doing so, but please, jump in, start a conversation and please be patient with us as we find a way to manage this appropriately for all of us.

Set an Salt Spring Island, the exterior metal skin of this single room cabin will be allowed to weather naturally. Inside, wood-finished surfaces create a cozy refuge. Outside a stunning outdoor shower. A large, weathered steel panel slides across a window wall, securing the space when the owner is away. The cabin is the work of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects with Photos by Tim Bies and is featured in the November edition of Dwell Magazine.