#WellandCommunityOrchard #PollinatorGarden

Great #volunteers #WorkParty today!
We got lots done together. Orchard has no more fallen fruits for now. We got a bunch of weeding & pruning done too.

Learn more & join us at future orchard work parties or come out for free tours sometime!
https://lifecyclesproject.ca/our-projects/welland-community-orchard/

I met 3 people who are also from Vietnam today too. Julie & her daughter are from South Vietnam - they live in a rental here that's only 5 minutes from our home. Phanh is from North Vietnam & works on a farm in Metchosin. She's moving out to live on the farm soon, with her husband.

I also found out that River, the orchard coordinator, knows my good friend, Lyrica & her partner Talia too. They met at local Queer Crafternoon gatherings. Lyrica regularly attends those & River teaches some crafts at them. I'm going to attend some of them in near future as it's open to LGBTQ2S comrades & a few friends have invited me to go.

Rex Welland was a longtime local resident who loved collecting lots of #HeritageApple species. He spent a lifetime, collecting cuttings & grafting to grow in his large backyard. He donated this land, which was his backyard, as part of #LandConservancy agreement with the Town of View Royal to keep it as a heritage orchard for the community to steward & share.

There's 125 heritage #apple species growing there.

#IcebergPoint on the south end of #LopezIsland is among 1,000 acres in the #archipelago now #protected under a #ManagementPlan for the #SanJuanIslands National Monument.

Remember the #BarackObama era? When he was president 10 years ago, he signed a #proclamation #establishing the San Juan Islands (SJI) #NationalMonument on March 25.

https://salish-current.org/2023/03/15/management-plan-in-place-as-san-juan-islands-monument-turns-10