Over the weekend I volunteered to collect camas seeds in Uplands Park under the direction of Margaret Lidkea and in the company of nearly a dozen volunteers. Margaret is the head honcho of the Friends of Uplands Park. She has won awards for her work - most recently the BC Provincial Award for Community Activity. Over the decades Margaret and the 550 or so members of the Friend of Uplands Park have labored mightily to remove invasive species and in so doing helped to restore the park eco system: Garry Oak meadow, wildflowers and grasslands on the land the Songhees people cultivated for thousands of years.
It was a lot of fun and I learned a good deal about the park on that day. Learning of my interest in green buildings, Margaret clued me into a Passivehaus that was built by the son and daughter-in-law of her friend, the notable Oak Bay architect, Allan Cassidy. See this nice Times Colonist feature story about the house on 5th Street and its inspiration. Reed Cassidy went to the Winter Olympics at Whistler and took note of Austria House - a Passivhaus. He built his house in 2017 and now has his own energy advising business.
In the class with the U Vic students a map template was created to identify local sustainable buildings and resources. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a self-guided walking tour of them one of these days? If you come across an interesting project, drop me a line. We’ll be glad to add it to the roster.
