ThINC Nature House - Weekend Events

Saturday, August 12

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Seaquarium Drop-in
Location: The Nature House at The Portal, 254 North Cove Road

The waters are buzzing with activity in the Seaquarium! A shiny school of fish has joined the tank, and we’ll be live feeding them some fresh mussels today. Plus come check out some other new alien-like additions - translucent pods of squid eggs, ghost shrimp, and a flat sand sole.

Sunday, August 13

10:00 am start
Why Save Seeds? with Ellen Cerny (all ages)

Location: The People’s Apothecary Garden, Lot 62

Seeds are essential to our being. Our ancestors treasured heirloom seeds, and the tradition of seed saving goes back to the beginning of agriculture - 12,000 years ago. Today most of us purchase seeds from commercial seed suppliers, but there is something special and empowering about saving one’s seeds for future gardening endeavours. This Sunday, Ellen Cerny will share with us the benefits of seed saving as well as the surprising perks - creating novel plants like pilgrim kale and strawberry spinach. She will also explain the how-to’s - knowing when a plant is ready and how best to clean and store for next year’s garden.

As this activity will take place at the PAG, participants will also be able to take home a small collection of medicinal plant seeds!

2:00 pm start
S4: More Kelp! with Lee-Ann Ennis (all ages)
Location: Forbes Hall

Kelp provides important fish and invertebrate habitat in the nearshore marine environment, and offers other key ecosystem services, including nutrient bio mitigation, production of vital oxygen, curbing ocean acidification, and being ecosystem engineers. There are so many reasons why we need #MOREKELP!

Join Lee-Ann Ennis for an engaging slide show presentation where she will walk us through the microscopic life cycle of bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana, explore the importance of kelp, and highlight some very hopeful kelp research and seaforestation work happening in the Salish Sea and beyond.

Lee-Ann has a background studying marine sciences at UVIC and Bamfield Marine Station, followed by many years delivering nature-based education programs. In 2022, Lee-Ann founded her own company, Vital Kelp, with the goal of applying kelp cultivation techniques to kelp restoration projects in the Salish Sea.

As always, we will be at the Howling Wolf Market on Saturday, between 10am - 2pm. We are continuing to take ThINC t-shirt orders through to the end of August (last day: Aug 26th!), so if you were thinking of picking one up, it's not too late!

Questions? Email Nature House Coordinator, Eden at eden@thetisislandnatureconservancy.org