Keeping Our Homes Well-ventilated During the Winter

Submitted by Heidi Mithaug-Cook on behalf of Buildings

Hi Sunnyhill!

In the cold winter months we want to keep the ventilation of our homes clean and operating smoothly. Here are a couple of important reminders:

Make sure you are changing out your furnace filter. This should be done every 3 months. This keeps your furnace in good working condition and eases stress on the motor.

Don't forget to empty the lint collector in your dryer before every use! This ensures lint build up in your dryer and dryer vent is kept to a minimum, reducing hazard and a cleaner exhaust.

Grounds Committee Update

Submitted by Yvonne Sabraw on behalf of Grounds 

Grounds continues to meet virtually on Zoom one Monday evening per month over the winter,  the next meeting is Monday March 22nd 6:00. Everyone welcome. Email us at  shcgrounds@shaw.ca and we’ll send you the Zoom link 

Garbage enclosure murals, anyone?  

We have gotten such good feedback from the greater community on the artwork we  commissioned for the enclosure by the garage, we would like to pursue more artwork on other  enclosures. We know there are many talented artists in our own Co-op community and would  like to explore having one, or many, artists from Sunnyhill paint our enclosures. Perhaps we  could also consider having children’s artwork on an enclosure. If this piques your interest,  please let Grounds know so we can start making a plan to propose to the membership.  

Shears and lawn mower blade sharpening: Everything has been sharpened except the push mower blades which have to be taken to a specialty shop. Aiming to have them done for the  spring as well.  

YardWorx contract for snow removal 

There have been a few hiccups, but most of the feedback on the snow removal contract this  year have been positive. We welcome your general comments to the Grounds email. The leak  next to the 7th avenue SHC sign is being dealt with by the City.  

Spring Dumpster  

Yes, we will be bringing back this very popular spring ritual. However, we were wondering if we  should have some kind of item exchange opportunity before the dumpster arrives (anyone  remember the wild and wonderful SHC yard sales of yore?!) This would help to avoid having  perfectly good items tossed and then damaged so no one else can claim them. Perhaps we  can come up with something that would also address the problem of people leaving items out  by the dumpsters in the hopes that they are claimed by others. If you have suggestions, let us  know.  

SHC Gardening Club 

You might receive a personal invitation to join the gardening club if your unit is located near a  common area that needs a little extra love and attention. But if you don’t, and you’d like to be  part of a regular crew looking after key communal areas this summer, please let us know.  Weeding, watering, keeping branches off of pedestrian ares will be some of the tasks.  

Plan and seed exchange 

This has been proposed by a member who we know is a gifted gardener. Look for a date in the  April Newsletter, and if you have seeds you want to share, or plants that are available for splitting and sharing, keep that in mind as we all look forward to a new growing season.  We would also like to make that an opportunity for members to share ideas on growing fruits  and vegetables in our backyards. Potatoes in compost bins? Vertical hangers for strawberries?  There is a move toward increased food sustainability with backyard gardens, and some  members have had great success which we hope they will share. 

February Recycling Tip: Automotive Chemicals

Submitted by Peter Clyne on behalf of the Education Committee

It is quite icy out there! A reminder that there are some gravel bins available around the co-op to make our walkways a little less slippery. As well, the city has made its sand-salt mixture (called pickle) available for free again this year. There are a number of pickup locations around the city that can be found at this website: 

https://www.calgary.ca/transportation/roads/road-maintenance/snow-and-ice-control/sanding-material-pick-up-locations.html

I think the closest location to us is at the EMS station off of Memorial Drive (1940 Westmount Blvd NW).

Additionally, this month's recycling tip is about automotive chemicals like motor oil, transmission fluid, or coolant. These cannot be dealt with in our garbage, recycling, or composting receptacles. They are disposed of free of charge at hazardous waste drop off locations, either a designated fire hall, or the landfill's throw and go area. Just bring it in a sealed, spill-proof container and label it. https://www.calgary.ca/uep/wrs/what-goes-where/chemicals-automotive.html

Revisiting My 2014 Green Audit

Submitted by Bob Bott

In 2014, I was one of the last beneficiaries of Green Calgary’s “Healthy Home” inspection program that had run for about six years with support from the City. The non-profit then had to stop making individual home visits due to changes in their funding and organization. However, Green Calgary continues to provide other support for communities and households that want to become more sustainable: https://www.greencalgary.org/green-homes-communities. 

The inspection was friendly, thorough, helpful, informative--and free, although a donation was suggested. I undertook it both for my own benefit and to help inform Sunnyhill’s environmental Green Plan then being developed by our Vision 2020 Task Force (which later became the Planning and Development Committee). 

I originally wrote up the following account in November 2014 for the Sunnyhill newsletter, and I have added some updates in italics based on the subsequent six years’ experience. 

The 2014 inspection was conducted by Green Calgary advisor Jori Baum and involved two visits, June 30 (2 hours) and November 3 (1.5 hours):

While signing up, I was also asked to fill out a questionnaire to determine my “ecological footprint.” According to this tool (which they admit is far from perfect) my footprint is well below the Calgary average but only slightly below the Canadian average. That was the first surprise. I thought my recycling, composting, Spark Energy green power, car-free living, etc. would lead to a better score. Things like buying processed foods and taking airplane trips enlarge the footprint. Alberta’s dependence on fossil fuel-fired electricity (coal and natural gas) enlarges all our footprints. Spark Energy is now Alberta Co-operative Energy, and Alberta’s grid now uses much less coal-fired electricity. I no longer do as much air and bus travel. I have signed up for Communauto carsharing but have yet to use its vehicles. Bicycle, foot, and transit meet almost all by transportation needs.

Jori started out by examining my utility bills:

• Electric: She noticed a small increase in my consumption since January compared to the previous year. She suggested checking for “vampire” gadgets draining power when not in use. I borrowed a vampire power tester from the Calgary Public Library, and I found several things that could be unplugged or turned off when not in use. She said Spark Energy was good – less reliance on coal-fired power – and noted most of my bulbs are compact fluorescent. The EnergyStar fridge and stove were good, but she recommended minimizing use of the clothes dryer and air-drying as much as possible. I do some air-drying but don’t have much room for a rack. One idea might be a rack on a pulley in the high-ceiling part of the unit, but I’ll probably try one of those folding, apartment-type racks first. I probably still have too many vampire power drains, and I never followed through on air-drying; maybe this year.

• Natural gas: My gas usage was not too bad for an end unit, considering our insulation and windows, and I do a pretty good job of controlling the thermostat. At her suggestion, I’ve put that shrink-fit plastic on my windows this winter. I’ve also put insulation on the copper pipe from the water heater. In the long run, we need to improve wall and roof insulation in our buildings to become really efficient; windows will just be a start. She was surprised that my furnace, installed a few years ago, doesn’t appear to have an air filter; she recommends the pleated type of air filters. I got a furnace filter, but after a couple of years I stopped doing the plastic on the windows each winter (tsk tsk). Our proposed retrofit will deal with the bigger energy-efficiency issues.

• Water: We couldn’t judge usage because it’s not individually metered and the co-op pays for it. She checked my taps and toilet for leakage (none leaked). She replaced the “low-flow” shower head and sink aerator with more efficient units. She recommended watering yard in the evening, no more often than once a week, and no more than one inch at a time – put out something like a tuna tin to measure how much. I don’t have a dishwasher, so there were no comments about that. She tried to convince me to get a rain barrel, especially for watering the big spruce, but the downspout already empties onto treed and grassy area, so I don’t consider it a priority. No change.

We also talked about things like food, waste, chemicals, yards, etc:

• Recycling: Co-op gets good marks for using Blue Planet (one of Green Calgary’s sponsors). No change.

• Composting: Helen and I share composters. Green Calgary will provide composters if you need them. We now have composting for the whole co-op.

• Food: She tried to convince me to shop more at farmers’ markets, natural food stores, etc., and to buy less packaged, prepared, processed stuff. The Sunnyside Market and Community Natural Foods are located close to the Co-op and Safeway stores where I usually shop, and I’ve started visiting them more often. I used to do more of that stuff, like making my own granola, but it seemed a lot of hassle for just one person. She gave me an information sheet about sustainable food choices that has some good suggestions. I have continued doing part of my shopping at Sunnyside Market, and I do a lot of cooking “from scratch” especially since the Covid restrictions.

• Household chemicals: This is probably the biggest single behavioral change for me. She went through the ingredients of my laundry and dish detergents and the liquid soap I’ve been using in the bathroom, and they were all full of stuff that is either bad for the user or bad for the water treatment system and downstream water users, or both. She convinced me to throw them all out immediately and provided me with non-toxic replacement products. She said Green Calgary used to collect the bad products during their visits but had to stop because the City ruled they would be “transporting hazardous goods” and would require special licenses. I gave them to JP to take to the toxic disposal at a fire station. I’ve been buying the replacements and they work fine. I’ve continued to use less-toxic household products as much as possible and to follow guidelines for safe disposal of things like batteries and fluorescent light bulbs.

• Yard chemicals: We get good marks for our pesticide-free policy. She was skeptical about some of the new non-toxic products like iron-based weed killer, but these have been approved under Ontario’s ban and should be safe to use. No change.

• Yard maintenance: She recommends three-inch grass height and leaving clippings to improve moisture retention and eliminate disposal need. The Grounds Committee has asked Curbside to increase lawn height (still not three inches, but at least two inches). However, they have been insistent about collecting the clippings. Grounds will have to continue discussing this with Curbside. It would be okay if the clippings were composted, but this will have to await large-scale municipal composting. If we were to consider a different contractor, Green Calgary recommends Pixie Gardens http://www.pixiegardens.ca/wp/ or Eco-Yards http://www.eco-yards.com/. The Grounds Committee continues to address these issues, and the Permaculture Pilot Project illustrates how we can further improve.

The visits passed very quickly. I found the presentations effective and persuasive without being too didactic. We should consider getting Green Calgary to do a presentation for the whole co-op when the weather warms up and/or when Covid restrictions ease. Their Community Waste program might also be relevant to us: https://www.greencalgary.org/green-homes-communities/community-waste-exploration 

New Member Welcome Letter from Grounds

Submitted by Yvonne Sabraw on behalf of the Grounds Committee

Sunnyhill Grounds Committee Welcomes You 

How exciting that you are the newest member of our Co-op! To help new members settle in with the fewest complications possible, the SHC Grounds Committee has put together this brief introduction to all things Grounds. This information is meant to supplement the Grounds policies that are part of Sunnyhill’s documents, which you should have received when you moved in, so please also take the time to read those and refer to them for more detail. 

Taking Care of Your Yard 

You are responsible for caring for your yard, driveway, and any garden attached to your unit, including areas just outside your fence. The standards for yard maintenance are in the Grounds policies in the Co-op binder. Please note, you must speak with Grounds before making any significant changes to your yard. 

Grounds provides members with information to identify problem weeds so members can clear out these species yearly. The City can fine us for allowing invasive weeds on our property, so please be diligent. If you need assistance, Grounds would be happy to help. 

Taking Care of our Common Spaces 

• SHC has a contract for snow clearance and lawn care, which take care of our common areas and sidewalks. In the summer, please try to pick up children’s toys and other items around the common areas to make the lawn care easier for our contractors. • We contract an arborist to prune and care for trees in the common areas. We may ask members to water trees that are near their unit. Some of the Co-op trees require “deep root watering,” which needs a slow run of water through the area under the tree for 1-2 hours every week. 

• The playground is open to all, as are the picnic tables and benches scattered around the co-op. Take a wander through, introduce yourself to other members, and if you see a firepit happening in the common space, you are welcome to join! 

• The Food Forest, located along the public pathway east of 7th avenue, was created in 2019. It is in its infancy, and we ask everyone to be careful around the trees and plants in that area as they establish themselves. 

• Several times through the summer, the Grounds Committee hosts working bees so members can come together to take care of our shared spaces. Coming out to these is a great way to meet your neighbours and be an active member of our co-op. Watch the newsletter for dates. 

Water 

Water for Sunnyhill is paid for collectively by the Co-op. Some units have outdoor taps, others do not. Members need to share access to these taps, so please be aware your neighbours may need to use yours if you have one. And if you don’t have outdoor water, check in with your neighbour about access to theirs.

Recycling, Composting, Garbage 

• Sunnyhill, as a housing complex, has to contract our waste management. BluPlanet picks up all of our waste. We have 6 garbage enclosures, any of which can be used by members, and it is also members’ responsibility to keep them tidy. 

• We rely on members to sort their trash correctly. The list of what goes in each container is on the garbage enclosures. The Co-op faces additional charges for items placed incorrectly, including large items left outside bins. Recycling and Compost are picked up every Wednesday. Garbage is picked up every second Thursday. 

• If you have large items to dispose of, please hold onto them until for the Spring Cleanup. Every year we rent a giant dumpster where things such as furniture, mattresses, etc. can be disposed of. The exact date is announced in the Spring. 

The Shed 

You should have received a key for the shed when you got your unit key. You will find tools, mowers, whipper snippers, grass and clover seed, and other useful items in the shed. Please follow the rules posted just inside the door, especially about signing out items. All borrowed items should be returned by the end of the day. 

Pest Management 

As our buildings are aging, and we live near a naturalized area, we are prone to mice infestations. In the summer wasps build nests in eaves, under balcony roofs and decks, amongst other places. Please review the Pest Management Policy in your binder for advice. Pest management supplies are kept in the shed. 

Where To Get Help 

Trying to figure out what an invasive weed is? Concerned about managing the snow removal in your driveway? 

1. Talk to your neighbour about how you can share responsibilities 

2. Call or email the Grounds committee (see your phone list) 

3. Ask the SHC office coordinator to direct you to the best person for assistance. 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

Think you might like to join the Grounds Committee? Excellent Choice! No previous knowledge or skills are required. Call or email us and come check out a meeting to see what we do. 

shcgrounds @shaw.ca

Grounds Committee Update

Submitted by Yvonne Sabraw on behalf of the Grounds Committee

Grounds continues to meet monthly through the winter by Zoom. Our next one is Monday February 22nd, 6:00-7:30 and any member is welcome to check it out. Just contact us for the Zoom link. 

A few Highlights from what has been on our agenda:

Pest Management: We would still like to have a co-op member step forward as the official Pest Management coordinator, but in the meantime we are managing a few mouse infestation situations. Please be aware that there are mouse traps kept in the white cupboard in the co-op shed for members to use as needed. 

Garbage enclosures: We have had a member complaint about items being left inside and outside our garbage enclosures. There is also a lot of grumbling about garbage bins being filled with items like furniture that are not supposed to be disposed of in that way and non-recyclables being put into the recycling bins.  These are perennial concerns, and have been brought to members' attention in the past without our co-op coming to any enduring solution.The Spring dumpster foe large items appears to only be partially effective in dealing with the problem.  We have done some brainstorming about how to manage the issues, but we would like this to be a discussion for the Co-op generally, and then determine if there are practices, policies or procedures that we should put in place.   Once we have prepared a bit more we will bring this to a general meeting. In the meantime, please refrain from leaving things at things at the garbage enclosures!

New Member Welcome from Grounds: We have put together a Welcome letter to be given to new members at move-in, highlighting some of the grounds-related information that is not necessarily in policies and procedures, or that is but which we felt should be underlined.  Our Board liaison suggested that it might be good for all members to see this letter as there may be things of which even longer-term members are not aware. You can read it here, in the SHC Newsletter, and we will distribute a hard copy to members in the Spring.

Gardening Club: The mandate of the Grounds committee is quite extensive, from vetting and managing snow removal and grass cutting contracts to organizing the Spring dumpster to overseeing pest management, to looking at permaculture projects and on and on. The basic care of our Grounds, however, is something that is shared by all members, and frequently when people move into a co-op they see the maintenance of the common areas as an obvious area that the community would be working on together. Co-op Clean-up days are an example of individual members helping to care for our common spaces, but they are limited to specific days. There are many ongoing smaller projects through the summer that need to be undertaken, such as weeding flower beds, watering our Spruce trees, keeping playground gravel within the playground. We are looking at having a repository for the list of these projects and matching them with members who have said they don't necessarily want to be on the Grounds committee (and dealing with contracts and policy, etc.) but would like to be involved in the co-op in this practical way. Please send us an email if this speaks to you, and you would like us to keep you in the loop as we plan what this might look like.

Permaculture Potential #3: Permaculture and Climate Change

Submitted by Debbie Willis and the Grounds Committee

Welcome to Permaculture Potential! The Grounds Committee is excited to help educate co-op members (and ourselves!) about permacultures principles and techniques, with the eventual aim of proposing more permaculture projects to membership. This month, in honour of President Joe Biden rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, we will be discussing permaculture and its relationship to the climate crisis.

It's probably intuitive how permaculture—working with nature in order to grow food and regenerate natural systems—can be an important way to address climate change. Eating local food has long been a known as an effective way to lower your carbon footprint; our food forest at the co-op will be a way for all of us to enjoy local, healthy food that has not been transported by plane or truck.

Also, permaculture tends to include growing trees, shrubs, and other plants that will sequester carbon in the ground in the most natural, life-giving way—there is nothing wrong with carbon, per say, but there's something deeply wrong when we've released too much of it into the atmosphere.

But it's not simply trees that sequester carbon; it's the entire natural system, including the soil and mycelium. Agriculture monocrops do not sequester carbon the same way that complex polycultures do, in part because carbon cannot be effectively and naturally sequestered unless there is healthy soil.

 Soil is full of trillions of living microorganisms, and those beings do enormous work to sequester carbon and communicate with each other, and they don't like to be disturbed. Permaculture—which mostly relies on perennial plants and is often no-till/low-till and organic—allows us to produce food without much disturbance of the top soil. In contrast, industrial forms of agriculture tend to involve using pesticides—which kill microorganisms in the soil—and then attempting to replenish the soil through the addition, each year, of more and more fertilizers. These chemicals are generally fossil-fuels based, and they lead to soil depletion and, over the long term, the death and disappearance of topsoil. The loss of topsoil is a huge topic, as it has led to the collapse of whole civilizations, so preserving our topsoil is one of our most effective ways of addressing the linked crises of climate change and food insecurity.

Permaculture uses natural methods to increase the soil's capacity to capture carbon, such as compost, compost teas, mulch, fungi, worms, beneficial micro-organisms, and sustainably produced biochar. Permaculture also generally involves ground cover, which protects and nurtures the soil. Permaculture is always concerned with building and preserving soil, rather than tearing it apart and letting it blow or wash away.

I highly recommend Kiss the Ground, a documentary that is informative about regenerative agriculture's effect on soil health, and therefore on the planet. It can be found on Netflix.

And of course, there are many other ways in which permaculture can help solve the climate crisis, but these are far too numerous for a short article. Here are just a few, and there's more information at permacultureclimatechange.org:

• Water harvesting, retention and restoration of functional water systems allows for better management of watersheds and less waste (see our last article on permaculture and water management)

• Forest conservation, rewilding, and sustainable forestry and agriculture allows for healthier ecosystems and natural carbon capture

• Community-based economic models—incorporating strategies such as co-operatives, local currencies, gift economies, and horizontal economic networks—allow for citizen engagement instead of corporate monopoly

• Conservation, energy efficiency, re-use, recycling and full-cost accounting (taking more than just economics into account) decrease waste

• Conflict transformation, trauma counseling and personal and spiritual healing can allow for greater engagement with the natural world

Christmas Recycling Tips

Submitted by Belle Auld on behalf of the Education Committee

Bubble wrap – goes in with your stretchy plastic bags.  Bag them all together and tie the bag closed.  They go into the blue cart.

Cards, envelopes, paper gift bags, sticky notes – blue cart.  Except for the plastic windows (please remove them) put envelopes in the black garbage cart. Please also remove ribbons, string handles, shoe strings and metal rivets from any of the above items and put in your black cart.

Foam and Styrofoam packaging – black cart.

Ribbons and bows - black cart.Wrapping paper and tissue – blue cart unless it is foil/metallic.  Foil goes in the black cart.  Remove all ribbons, string and as much tape as possible from the paper first.

For a full list, go to https://www.calgary.ca/uep/wrs/what-goes-where/holiday-birthday.html

Auld Lang Syne

Submitted by Belle Auld

Auld Lang Syne

Auld Lang Syne is a very old song – no-one knows who wrote it, but the Scottish poet Robbie Burns is said to be the first person who wrote it down and publicized it in 1788.

 From Scotland.org:

“The phrase 'auld lang syne' roughly translates as 'for old times' sake’. It has long been a much-loved Scottish tradition to sing the song just before midnight [New Year’s Eve]. Everyone stands in a circle holding hands, then at the beginning of the final verse ('And there's a hand my trusty friend') they cross their arms across their bodies so that their left hand is holding the hand of the person on their right, and their right hand holds that of the person on their left. When the song ends, everyone rushes to the middle, still holding hands.”

There are 10 verses plus the chorus in Auld Lang Syne – I don’t think anyone in Canada knows all verses.  Here are a couple verses plus the chorus: 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne.

Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne,

And for long, long ago, my dear
For long, long ago,
We'll take a cup of kindness yet,
For long, long ago
And surely you’ll buy your pint-jug!
And surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
For long, long ago.

And there's a hand, my trusty friend!
And give us a hand of yours!
And we'll take a deep draught of good-will
For long, long ago.

Permaculture Potential #2: Water Management

Submitted by Debbie Willis on behalf of the Grounds Committee

Permaculture Potential #2: Water Management

Welcome to Permaculture Potential! This is a column from the Grounds Committee; we are excited to help educate co-op members (and ourselves!) about permacultures principles and techniques, with the eventual aim of proposing more permaculture projects to membership. This week we're talking about something that has been on many of our mind's lately, as our sidewalks cover with ice and Sunnyhill Lane fills with puddles: water management.

What is water management, permaculture-style?

Permaculture always focuses on whole systems, and manages inputs and outputs in a way that ensures the health of the whole ecosystem. In permaculture, water is optimally used while respecting the overall health of the watershed. We must always be mindful that water is an essential resource.

At Sunnyhill, we have issues with water on pathways and flooding in the common area and so we on the Grounds and Planning and Development committees feel that it is worthwhile to explore the possibility of managing and using this plentiful resource—wonderful water—in ways that could be productive and beautiful for every member of the co-op. These are all dreams for now; I want to stress that we don't yet have concrete plans or detailed knowledge of what might be possible at the co-op. But in the name of education, I want to give you a general sense of how permaculture approaches an abundance of water like we are fortunate to have at Sunnyhill.

Two approaches:

There are two basic strategies of water conservation and management on a permaculture property: storing water in the soil and diverting surface water to dams, ponds and/or tanks for later use.

First we want to slow, spread, and sink water as it falls from the sky into the soil.

Following this, the secondary goal, as Ben Falk writes in Resilient Farm Homestead, are to:  capture as much water as is reasonably possible, store that water for dry periods, and distribute that water when necessary across the site. 

1) Let's talk about the first objective: slowing and sinking water. We want to disperse the flow of water so it can infiltrate into soil, turning runoff into soak-in. Essentially, we want to make the water stroll, not run, through the landscape and for this we must shape the land in a way that facilitates getting water into the ground and storing it there. In permaculture, one harvests water in this way by directing it through terraces, seasonal rain gardens and ponds, water-infiltration swales, slow moving waterways, and dry creeks. Slowing and sinking the water allows it to feed trees and plants, produce food, and create lush, self-sustaining landscapes appropriate for leisure—children playing, adults sitting under the shade of trees, green-thumbs who want more space to garden.

See below for an image of swales:

(You can also see wonderful examples of swales in the film The Biggest Little Farm, where they make use of the technique in their orchard.)

2) Once you’ve made the best use of the fallen rainfall and stored that water in the soil, you’ll get runoff as the field capacity of soil is reached. (You might get this runoff straight away if your site’s watershed is in a bad shape.) At that point, you begin diverting and storing that water on the surface in ponds, rain barrels, and tanks. Please see below for an image of a permaculture pond:

Right now, many feel that we have a water "problem" at Sunnyhill. By using permaculture principles and design, we may be able to change that problem into an opportunity. This is something that the Grounds Committee and Planning and Development will be exploring to improve our sustainability score for funding as plans for the new-build unfold, with the aim of presenting a cogent and realistic plan to members.

Buildings Committee Update

Submitted by Heidi Mithaug-Cook on behalf of Buildings Committee

Hi Everyone,

A brief note from buildings this month.

Due to current COVID19 restrictions, only emergency-maintenance will be done in the units until further notice.

Andrea will be on holiday December 21st - December 28th.

Should you have any urgent concerns arise during that time, please refer to the emergency contacts:

i. Aurica Bondoc 403-401-4437

ii. Sabine Schlichting 403-862-7533

The buildings committee will reconvene in January.

Take care Sunnyhill.

-Your Buildings Committee

Inexpensive Christmas Ideas

Submitted by Chris Taylor on behalf of the Education Committee

Fleece scarves:

One meter of fleece material costs approximately $10 (Fabricland had it on sale for $7/meter at the beginning of November). You can get three or four scarves out of 1 meter of 150 cm wide material.

No sewing necessary; no pattern necessary – just open up the material and cut three lengths that are approximately 10 – 12 inches wide. Then cut fringe at both ends of each scarf.

Material stores will also sell partial meters, so you could buy .3 of one design, .3 of another design and .3 of another so you have a variety of designs. All for approximately $10. (Most material stores won’t do .25 of a meter.)

Several of us at Sunnyhill have Fabricland memberships that can sometimes get you a good sale price. Contact Belle if you want more information.

Cookie Mixes in a Jar:

Almost everyone enjoys fresh home baked cookies!

Cookie mixes in a jar are easy and inexpensive to make yourself or with your children to give as welcomed gifts to friends and family. To give you some ideas on what you can put in your cookie mixes, here are links to websites that provide some ideas you might like using 1/2 litre and 1 litre canning jars.

Canning jars can be hard to find at this time of year. For a greener gift, consider recycling and reusing any glass jars you have on hand! Decorate your jar lids with scrap cloth, a hand drawn label and some ribbon.

For 1 liter jars:

https://www.delscookingtwist.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-mix-in-a-jar-a-printable-label/

For 1 quart jars

https://celebratingsweets.com/mm-cookie-mix-in-a-jar/

Enjoy!

Sock Snowman:

Here’s how to make a snowman out of a sock, rice, and a couple elastics.

Take a sock and cut it roughly in half (above the ankle), so that there are two sections: a rectangular shape, and a hockey-stick/foot shape.

Tightly close off one end of the rectangular shape with an elastic and fill it with rice.

close off the top end with another elastic.

Use a third and final elastic to shape a “head” and “body”

decorate with pens, paints, buttons, ribbons, whatever.

Now use that hockey stick/ foot shaped part of the sock to make a toque. You can roll the edges or leave it loose. It’s up to you!

Here is a site with instructions and more pictures.

http://www.darkroomanddearly.com/blog/rkroomanddearly.com/2011/12/10th-day-of-christmas-sock-snowmen.html

Recycled Christmas Card Boxes:

I used to make these with my daughters years ago. Rather than describe the process, I found a really good video that explains how to do it. See the link below

Spicy Mulled Cider:

Spicy Mulled Cider Mix (Put in a decorated canning jar)

¾ cups crushed cinnamon sticks

¾ cups chopped dried orange rind

1/3 cup allspice

¼ cup whole cloves

Spicy Mulled Cider (Print out the recipe and glue to a piece of stiff paper; hole punch and tie to the jar with ribbon or twine)

4 cups apple juice; OR red wine; OR ½ apple juice and ½ cranberry juice

2 Tablespoons Spicy Cider Mix

Combine all in a saucepan; cover and bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 20 minutes

Strain into mugs, add honey to taste

Serves 4

Why Don't We Have More Co-op Housing? The Sprawl

Submitted by Eric Moschopedis

Sunnyhill Housing Co-operative is featured in this informative Sprawl article which highlights the unique role housing co-ops play in providing affordable housing. Members Richard Harrison and Bob Bott, as well as SACHA’s Brenda Davies, provide their insights into the ‘third sector’ of housing.

Yard Waste

Submitted by Belle Auld on behalf of the Education Committee

Request from BluPlanet (via the Education Committee):

 “Please remind residents that yard waste must be in certified compostable bags moving forward.”

Musing dashed off in 15 minutes

Submitted by Brenda Willman

Time is quickening, will I get to all I intended?

From poor beginnings my soul needs to be mended;

so often (it feels like) I am being offended

though wiser souls might say I have tended

to take things the wrong way.

How does one misconstrue utter disdain?

Words carry feelings; no one can feign

that they were not intended to cause real pain;

they’re words to let me know that I am the bane

of your existence.

Spending a lifetime trying to please;

Spending a lifetime trying to appease;

looking for acceptance while on my knees

begging, so that someone sees

I just want to be liked.

Broken little girl; an adult now

Starting each day with a firm vow

to continue to genuflect and bow

to those who don’t seem to know how

to treat her with a spark of kindness.

What is the sum total of this wife

who’s lived for six decades rife

with negativity, disease and strife;

constantly struggling to pull the knife

out of her back?

She knows that love comes from inside.

People have pried, they chide and guide;

she tries but there is nowhere to hide

from all pride-filled ones who lied

about who she really is.

She is nothing but good old soul

hiding in her tunnel like a vole or a mole,

or covered up with an overturned bowl,

only wanting to meet her goal

of meeting approval each day.

A smile that is meant for her alone.

Could someone throw her a bone

and leave their perfect comfort zone

and prove to the world she not’s made of stone?

Because she will smile back.

And then she will make her way off to cry.

The small kindness makes her fly

above the heavens, so high in the sky

believing she can ultimately die

with love and joy in her heart.

Permaculture Potential #1: What is Permaculture? And Winterizing Your Garden!

Submitted by Debbie Willis on behalf of Grounds Committee

Welcome to Permaculture Potential! This is a new column from the Grounds Committee; we are excited to help educate co-op members (and ourselves!) about permacultures principles and techniques, with the eventual aim of proposing more permaculture projects to membership.

What is permaculture?

According to Bill Mollison, who was a professor of biogeography and environmental psychology at the University of Tasmania, permaculture is the "conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive systems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems."

In short, permaculture is about living and gardening in harmony with nature. It is a holistic worldview, as well as a set of principles and techniques. It often involves closed-loop systems (a system that provides its own energy needs), rain conservation and usage, the planting of perennial crops (rather than annuals, which involves disturbing the soil every year), and letting nature do the work for you (the human's role is to observe and work with nature's inclinations, rather than to engage in unnecessary labour).

A wonderful example of permaculture is the food forest that co-op members planted last summer—a welcoming space of perennial plants and trees that we expect will produce hundreds of pounds of food for co-op members in the coming years. We feel that further permaculture projects will enhance the beauty and sustainability of our grounds while also reducing maintenance costs and increasing food security.

For a lovely and moving overview of the principles of permaculture, please see the documentary Inhabit, available on Vimeo.

Winterizing Your Garden—Permaculture-style!

To winterize your garden the permaculture way, you want to take advantage of the resources that nature has already provided and to sustainably cycle them back into your garden to feed your soil over the year ahead. According to the website growmyownfood.com, here is a reliable way to prepare your garden space for winter:

After you've harvested the last of your veggies (and presumably you already did this before the snow this year!), cut your annual veggie plants stems off at the soil level. By retaining the root system in the soil, the roots will gradually die off over the winter and provide a ready source of accessible nutrients for next year's plants.

For perennials, perform some last "chopping and dropping." To "chop and drop" means to take extra green leafy growth and drop it directly into your garden as you cut it off.

It's best to refrain from doing any pruning of fruit trees until the late winter when they are more dormant.

Once you cleaned up the old plants in your yard, feed and preserve the soil by keeping it covered and moist. This is especially important during Calgary's dry, cold winters! The simplest (and most inexpensive) way to protect your soil is to mulch with shredded leaves. Shredded leaves decompose faster than whole leaves and so won't rot. According to The David Suzuki Foundation, leaves also provide important nutrients for the microorganisms that keep soil healthy, as well as providing a warm home for butterfly pupae, who need shelter to overwinter.

And voila! You have a simple, low-maintenance way to preserve the integrity and health of your garden over our long winter! :)

Please get in touch with Debbie in unit 34 (debmwillis@gmail.com) if you have ideas for other topics that should be covered in Permaculture Potential!

Murals Project

Submitted by Debbie Willis on behalf of Grounds Committee

Greetings SHC,

As stated in our September and October newsletter articles, the Grounds Committee had planned to address a General Meeting regarding the question of the amount of our donation to the Sunnyhill Mural Project given that the mural was painted on half the enclosure rather than all the way around as we described it. It was our intention to ask that the full amount be paid despite this discrepancy in our understanding. With this, as with so many conversations about money and value, there were arguments on both sides about whether the Co-op should follow through with the full amount or not. In the end, the full donation has been made. To provide transparency to the membership, we wanted to give the background information about those conversations that allowed for this decision's arrival.

How the mural came to be

The Sunnyside Murals Project (SMP) sprung up this past summer, inspired by many of the fence and garage murals painted in Sunnyside over the years. The Project is run by Dexter Bruneau, who is the coordinator of the artist collective. One of our members, Debbie W., reached out to SMP for more information and approached the Grounds Committee about completing a mural at SHC. She presented this at the Grounds meeting on July 6th and received the support of the committee. Following this meeting, we moved forward with a petition to the Board to discuss this item at the July 28th General Meeting.

After a site visit, the SMP picked the northeast enclosure, by the garage, as their preferred mural location. They also designated artist Sarah Johnson to do the mural upon approval by membership and chose the August long weekend to complete it.

Before the July 28th meeting, we received this information from SMP:
SMP had requested a public art grant from the city
The artist would paint the entire enclosure
Previous examples of Sarah's work

We presented this at the July 28th meeting, which was done by Zoom. The following motions were passed:
To approve the Sunnyside Mural Project to paint the garbage enclosure by the Sunnyhill Garage
To make a $500 donation from the Grounds Committee budget to Sunnyside Mural Project
Sunnyside Mural's Project would choose the design for the mural

The following weekend, July 30-August 3, Sarah painted the two sides of the garbage enclosure that face the bluff.

Following the completion of the mural

The Grounds Committee received feedback from members that while they generally were pleased with the mural, they were disappointed that it was on only two sides, not four, as promised. Following this feedback, we communicated with Dexter to inquire about the garbage enclosure's completion. Dexter explained that Sarah felt what was completed fit the scope and timeline of the Project.

Following this discussion, Grounds decided to release only half the donation amount ($250) until we could further investigate how to move forward. After reviewing the artist's previous work, it became apparent that this size project would have cost us thousands of dollars had we commissioned it ourselves. It was now clear that the Co-op receiving local artwork for a mere $500 was a bargain, and we should show our support in valuing our local artists' work by releasing the remainder of the funds. We recommended this position, with our full arguments and support to the Board, who followed our recommendation.

Moving forward, we have discussed the possibility of Sarah returning to complete the remaining sides of the enclosure. SMP said this was a possibility; however, it would be considered a new project and most likely not occur until next year if taken on. There is also the option of members participating in painting our enclosures ourselves, which could be fun.

We appreciate your time and energy in this process and welcome any questions or concerns that members would like to address. Please send any thoughts you have to our email: SHCgrounds@shaw.ca, and we will be happy to discuss them either directly or in future newsletters.

Grounds Committee Update

Submitted by Yvonne Sabraw on behalf of the Grounds Committee

The colder weather has seen us move our meetings from out in the common space to indoors and onto Zoom, and we've slowed down from meeting every 2 weeks to monthly for the winter. But we are still basking in the glow of that glorious and productive summer.

The focus for the fall has been:

1. Getting the Yardworx contract underway. We've received several kudos and a couple of suggestions on the job Yardwox has done so far. Please continue to provide feedback on how the snow clearing is going- just fire off an email to shcgrounds@shaw.ca.

2. Planning the Grounds budget. It's in the draft stages for SHC budget discussions, so it's not too late to weigh in on Grounds priorities for the upcoming year. Let us know if there is something near and dear to your heart that we should be planning for. For example, we are hoping to start digging out and replacing cotoneaster starting in 2021, but the first round we are proposing is to provide members with the funds to purchase new shrubs if they are prepared to take on the digging-out of the cotoneaster themselves.

3. Gardening tools that need sharpening will be taken from the shed soon for their annual schlep to the sharpening shop (say that 5 times fast!)

4. Bartlett's, our arborists, have done a fine job of pruning and otherwise caring for all the trees we targeted from our proposal this summer.

5. New maps to replace the aging and damaged "You Are Here" signs at the entrance to the 3rd Street parking lot and at the sidewalk where 4th street turns into 7th Avenue, will be up very soon.

6. We still have an opening specifically for a Pest Management coordinator, and we welcome anyone who would like to come onto Grounds in any capacity - the next meeting is Monday November 23rd. Drop us an email and we will send you the Zoom link for the meeting.

-Sunnyhill Grounds

Buildings Committee Update

Submitted by Heidi Mithaug-Cook on behalf of Buildings Committee

Hello Sunnyhill!

A few updates of our current activities on the buildings committee:

The one-bedroom units have been inspected for mould, the results showing a few units with potential mould which will be tested and treated accordingly. In regards to the one-bedroom dryer vent installations, we are waiting for possible dates.

Please ensure you turn off your outdoor water faucet from inside the unit. Righty-tighty, Lefty-Loosey. To do this you open the outside faucet, then turn off the inside faucet, and then turn off the outside faucet. This allows all the water that is inside the line to drain and therefore not freeze in the lines.

Happy Halloween from Buildings!

Education Committee’s Prospective Member Orientations

Chris Taylor on behalf of the Education Committee

Two “Prospective Members’ Orientations” were held on the Thursday evening of Oct. 22/20 and the afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 25/20. Being our first ZOOM orientations, they were quite successful! (Especially considering the cold, snowy weather). Between the two sessions, we had approximately 20 attendees.

Using the format of a ten-minute committee presentation with questions after each, there was a smooth and informative package of information provided. The “Question and Answer” idea also worked well. Thank you to Andrea for representing the Buildings Committee and Office Manager …and setting up all of the prospective member attendees… and setting up ZOOM; Jane, for talking about the Finance Committee; Sarah and Lisa for explaining the Member Selection Committee and Bob for representing The Planning and Development Committee. The first-hand knowledge of each is much appreciated.

Depending on the wait list, our next PMO will probably be no later than November of 2021.