The equinox is behind us, the days are getting longer and warmer but in spite of the temptation, the recent frosts have warned me that winter may yet throw us a day or two and I’m not planting yet. I guess it’s my lingering trauma from living in the prairies, as several Tlellians already have their gardens in although I’ve had no reports of many things growing. My perennials seem to be trying to tell me I’m too cautious. Flowers are blooming everywhere and leaves are popping out, except on the many of the native plants. Oh the mixed signals!
Spring Break is almost over but the bunny will be hopping around this weekend and my Easter eggs are already coloured and waiting for me to boil them up for the potato salad. No, I didn’t colour them but my Americana chickens are laying robin’s egg blue and blue-green eggs. The flock came as chicks from the Lavoies and the mixed heritage hens are laying quite the variety of shades of brown, but my favourite eggs are blue. However, the colour has no bearing on flavour, just the feed and, I like to think, their happiness quotient.
I missed the Farmers Institute meeting last Thursday, but I had only one response to my request for name change ideas and that was to keep the existing name. Since the new logo has the old name, unless I have more input, I will have to recommend that there be no change.
There will be enough changes in the school district to keep us all struggling to cope. A drastic reduction in the annual grant will require serious belt-tightening. But how this will be accomplished is yet to be determined. The series of budget meetings with the public ended before spring break with very little input, but the board will meet with principals next week just before the regular board meeting on Tuesday to get the responses from senior staff. The draft budget will go out shortly after that and I am hoping to see more public input when the actual numbers are available.
Last Saturday I attended the Board Governance Community Training Workshop at the Haida Heritage Centre in Skidegate. I was hoping for information to help me with the difficult task of chairing the school board in these challenging times and was not disappointed. I now have a few new tools and old ones were sharpened, but the most gratifying piece of the session was to see so many community leaders in one place to share the learning. There were more than 25 participants from a wide variety of organizations and governing bodies, which is quite remarkable on a Saturday morning of a holiday weekend. Kudos to Haida Gwaii Community Futures for sponsoring this event.
Kudos also to the refugee sponsors on Haida Gwaii who have raised money, secured accommodation and are getting closer to actually bringing the families to the islands. This is very good news for the school district as the children will be most welcomed in our schools, helping to boost our declining enrollment. Hopefully we can all support this endeavor in whatever way we can.