gabriola island: Native Plants on the Gulf Islands
- 05/26/10 10:04 AM
Tomorrow (May 27th), our Coast Realty Office on Gabriola will be closed and all the Realtors ® and staff will head over to the Gabriola Museum give back to the community by caring for the Native Plant garden at the Museum. I thought I would get a head start and do a little web research about a few of the native plants I've seen on walks and came across the Chocolate Lily (one of my favourites) on the The Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team (GOERT) website. The website has great information on how to beautify your garden with native plants, removing invasive … (0 comments)
gabriola island: Groundhog Day
- 02/03/10 06:31 AM
The old folklore suggests that if the Groundhog sees his shadow today, we're in for 6 more weeks of winter, apparently it's a 39% chance of correctly predicting the weather. Well, I guess it's great news for the Winter Olympics that the groundhog saw his shadow today, although I was trying to dodge my shadow this morning in hopes that Spring would be here. Oh well, just more time to plan a low maintenance, draught tolerant garden on Gabriola. … (2 comments)
gabriola island: New Tax Credit for Public Transportation (BC Ferries)
- 02/03/10 05:10 AM
A friend of mine just let me know about a new tax credit that the Federal Government has brought in for use of public transportation. The BC Ferries website has information about qualifying your ferry trips for a tax credit and it looks like you will need to have 16 round trips in a 31 day period, which will effect residents on Gabriola that commute to Nanaimo for work. These will need to be paid for using an electronic payment card. You will need to register your BC Ferries experience card online or by phoning the Customer Service Center (1 … (0 comments)
gabriola island: Canada Home Renovation Tax Credit - Making the most of it.
- 01/19/10 05:03 AM
It's that time of year, when I'm rifling through my pockets, purses, drawers and files looking for every last receipt. This year, I'm making sure I set aside a stack that I can use towards the Home Renoation Tax Credit. I wanted to check what I could include towards it, and it was suprisingly more than I had realized.Canadian homeowners can get up to $1,350 in tax credits for home renovations made between January 27, 2009 and February 1, 2010 (so you have two weeks if you haven't done your home renovations yet).The HRTC allows families to claim 15 per cent … (2 comments)
gabriola island: Coast Realty - Future Focus Group
- 10/19/09 06:50 AM
Last week, Jennifer and I went to Coast Realty's head office in Nanaimo to take part in a future focus group. This group included 17 Coast Realty Representatives from all of our offices. We're looking at helping our company to come up with a strategic plan and a clear vision for the future, and ensuring that we stay up with technology. We feel that by participating in this process we can help to ensure that our company continues to meet the expectations of our clients, and that our company can support us in the level of customer service we strive to … (0 comments)
gabriola island: Beauty beneath the waves: Diving on Gabriola
- 10/16/09 10:27 AM
It’s a different view when you explore what lies under the surface, can you believe that another world exists so close to us ? It seems so easy to miss this, until you see photos of the beauty below. Shannon Poirier & Don Knowles came to the Island as dive enthusiasts, quickly they decided to buy property and began building their home. They now have a company called Ocean’s Blue Diving which offers diver training from beginner to Divemaster. As someone that’s a bit reluctant to learn all the technical components of diving, I was excited to see that they … (0 comments)
gabriola island: Time is Running
- 03/14/09 07:13 AM
In January, one of my girlfriends signed me up for a facebook running group, a group of 6 of us that have been through the good times and the bad during our 20 year friendship (and I’m young). How could I resist joining these friends when I looked and saw the picture of the girls running a race in heels, I knew this was going to be fun and another one of our group adventures. Three of us live close enough to join the Running Room in Nanaimo together, close means I’ll hop on the ferry once a week and that … (0 comments)
gabriola island: Relocating Homes
- 03/05/09 06:49 AM
Over the years several homes to Gabriola have come as reclaimed homes from various areas. As real estate values have soared in parts of the Province, the land value is so great in some cases that it affords home owners the opportunity to build new. But with all the “green” and recycling initiatives, the idea of relocating homes, instead of demolishing them, has had a strong appeal. Many of our relocated homes to the island have come from the mainland, via a barge, allowing a home to be relocated a greater distance than by trucking it. It’s quite the site to … (0 comments)
gabriola island: Greening your Title
- 03/05/09 06:40 AM
Kate Emmings of the Islands Trust Fund was on Gabriola this weekend, to provide information on, “The Natural Area Protection Tax Exemption Program,” which offers an incentive for island landowners to protect natural & geological features of your property while reducing taxes.Through the program NAPTEP, an island landowner can receive up to 65% property tax exemption on the portion of land of their property which is protected through covenants.Properties that are eligible may include; relatively undisturbed natural area that is a good example of an important ecosystem, important natural area that provides key habitat to rare native plant or animal species, … (0 comments)
gabriola island: Gabriola Island - Holiday Shopping
- 11/26/08 05:35 AM
With the holiday season upon us, we wanted to share some of "island ideas" & showcase some island businesses, over the next couple of weeks, to help make your holiday shop easier....New Society Publishers http://www.newsociety.com/New Society Publishers, is now a 20 year old island company who's mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society. They employ approx. 12 island residents, including the two owners. They offer a wide variety of books & some fabulous green building books & cookbooks - that we have in our personal collection.Greenbeans http://www.greenbeans.ca/This relatively new island … (0 comments)
Tomorrow (May 27th), our Coast Realty Office on Gabriola will be closed and all the Realtors ® and staff will head over to the Gabriola Museum give back to the community by caring for the Native Plant garden at the Museum. I thought I would get a head start and do a little web research about a few of the native plants I've seen on walks and came across the Chocolate Lily (one of my favourites) on the The Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team (GOERT) website. The website has great information on how to beautify your garden with native plants, removing invasive … (0 comments)
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