RESOURCES
The Magic of Soil
Click on the image at right to view a 39-minute video presentation, featuring Dr. Phil Gregory, on the hidden universe of soils. Learn how a recent revolution in our understanding of soil biology and nature's complexity points to a solution to global warming and food security issues.
Regenerative Bowen Island: Helping to Build a Resilient Food System
Click on the image at right to view a 59-minute talk to the Bowen Island Rotary Club presented on Oct. 24, 2022 by Dr. Phil Gregory, based on his 2021 book, Pathway to Regeneration: An Astrophysicist's Journey into Food, Health, Climate, and Complexity.
The talk highlights some of nature's biological systems underlying regenerative agriculture and shows efforts by the Bowen Island Food Resilience Society to implement these ideas on our island.
Earth Month Talks
In April, 2023, the Bowen Island Food Resilience Society and the Bowen Island Public Library partnered to present two Earth Month Talks.
Dr. Phil Gregory gave a talk on Resilient Bowen Island: Helping to Build a Resilient Food System. A PDF of the slide show from Dr. Gregory's talk can be viewed by clicking here.
Dr. Charles McNeill topic was: Climate Change, Biodiversity, and the Future of Food: A Global Perspective to Inform Local Action. A PDF of the slide show from Dr. McNeill's talk can be viewed by clicking here.
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A video of Dr. McNeill's talk can be viewed above.
Growing Food During the Pandemic
During the pandemic, we were fortunate to have Grafton Agricultural Commons, a place to gather safely with neighbors in nature. Many of the memories of gardening at Grafton Commons during 2020 are nicely filed away with beautiful photographs and easy-to-read text in our book, Growing Food During the Pandemic: Bowen Island 2020 – Resilient Together. If you are interested, it can be checked out at the Bowen Island Library, or you can view a copy at Bowen Island Museum and Archives.
Hugelkultur Garden
A hugelkultur is basically a mound with buried wood. The wood holds a lot of water and makes growing in a drought easy. As the wood begins to decompose, it feeds the plants. This book is Jackie and Phil's story of building their own hugelkultur on Bowen.
Click on the book cover obtain a free PDF copy.
This book is available at the Bowen Island Library.
Groundwork Reports
In 2019, Bowen Island Food Sovereignty (now Bowen Island Food Resilience Society) published two reports, The Communication and Engagement Groundwork Report and Toward a Resilient Food System for Bowen Island: Agrarian Analysis. These studies give a detailed picture of Bowen Island’s farm history and include environmental assessments, climate forecasts, and specific recommendations that align with the Metro Vancouver Regional Food System Action Plan.
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“[These] are two of the best reports I have seen from agrologists anywhere, because they cover the wide spread of everything you could think about to
resolve this problem.”
-Harold Steves, 4th generation farmer, Richmond City Councillor, Metro Vancouver Councillor, former MLA
Pathway to Regeneration
If you are vaguely aware that something is wrong with the food system but don’t know what it is or what to do about it, you should start by reading Phil Gregory’s Pathway to Regeneration. ~ John Ikerd, Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri, USA
Phil Gregory is Professor Emeritus in Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Since 2015 he has applied his research skills to understanding soil. Phil is also a founder and board member of Bowen Island Food Resilience Society.
Click on the book cover to visit the book website.
This book is available at the Bowen Island Library.
Click here for a link to other resources he has produced on Regenerative Agriculture which we are employing at the Grafton Commons.
Regeneration Canada
Regeneration Canada is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting soil regeneration in order to mitigate climate change, restore biodiversity, improve water cycles, and support a healthy food system.
The organization strives towards this goal by creating spaces for farmers, landowners, scientists, agronomists, businesses, community organizations, governments, and citizens to learn, connect and take action to regenerate soils.
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Click on the image to visit their site.
