For those who attended the harvest fair I am sure would agree is was a first class event, starting with the pancake breakfast with the many volunteers and the sponsors who made the free event possible.
I was surprised there was not a bigger turn out but possibly, like me, there was an expectation of a long line up but what a treat to get a fabulous meal quickly served by many of the happy regulars we often see at these events.
Everything was cooked to perfection and no plastic cups, plates and cutlery in sight.
That’s right, even wood forks and knives. I commented to one of the volunteers that I had just read an article about the importance of supporting wood based products.
In the latest Logging and Sawmilling Journal an article, Forest industry needs a better communications approach describes how a number of large cities are trying to get away from the habit of single use plastic products.
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The criticism was the billions of dollars spent on cutting edge technology yet the failure to achieve large-scale commercial uptake of this technology — primarily because consumers don’t know they exist and because industry looses interest.
To be fair our local industries have been faced with a difficult time dealing with beetles and the recent wild fires but the author warns the industry should not be lulled into complacency with the record prices on the standard lumber, panel board and pulp products and that business diversification is a good hedge against the next housing crisis and pulp downturn.
Speaking of diversification I had an interesting chat with the vendor of the hemp and wool booth. She described the challenges of her business.
It seems the best hemp cloth comes from China and the Marino wool from Australia.
I have been doing some research on the use of industrial hemp with many residual forest products which could help reduce the impact of the impending shortage of timber for the traditional forest products.
How about some hemp shopping bags to replace those ubiquitous plastic bags?
We have managed to reduce our plastic bag use substantially by using cloth bags for over 10 years.
Now that we are accustomed to keeping them in the vehicle and remember to take them into the store it is a lot less work than dealing with plastic bags that we still seem to end up with through the many packaging products with other items that we buy.
We are guilty of buying some heavy duty reusable plastic bags which did not last like the cloth bags and in retrospect did not help with solving the plastic bag problem.
I think small communities like Williams Lake have the will and the resources to set an example for the rest of the province as was evident from the talent on display at the many booths.
Like the quilting display and the many homemade products, along with the entertainment, which made the whole event a real credit to the community.
Well done Williams Lake volunteers like Ella who showed a remarkable zeal beyond her age at keeping the trash in the bins where it belonged.
Jim Hilton is a professional agrologist and forester who has lived and worked in the Cariboo Chilcotin for the past 40 years. Now retired, Hilton still volunteers his skills with local community forests organizations.
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