It’s April, and spring is sprunging! Trees are budding, grass is growing, and seedlings are being nurtured and planted in gardens all over Tlell. The nettles are perfect this time of year — fresh and delicious. Use them as you’d use spinach, make nettle pesto, or dry some for tea later.
The farmer’s market in Tlell hosted Seedy Saturday the other weekend, signalling that it’s time to think about our gardens and yards. Funk It is also beginning to get in product to help with your every gardening need.
Roll up your sleeves and get your hands in the dirt. It has been shown that doing so is beneficial for your mental and physical health, offering grounding and exercise. So get out there and help all the things — and yourself — grow.
One place that grass is really growing is on the Tlell soccer fields. Funding has allowed for some significant field maintenance, and residents, dogs, and horses are asked to refrain from using the fields for a few more weeks to give that grass as much time as possible to grow.
A big haawa to Haida Gwaii Recreation and Kenny Richardson for his help in getting this important work done.
Then it will once again be every parent’s most favourite time of the year — soccer season! Parents everywhere will happily say goodbye to leisurely Saturday mornings, packing kids and orange slices into vehicles and heading to the fields.
The early season is usually punctuated by major storms, then swarms of black flies through the middle season, and ends with a high chance of sunburn. Behind basketball, this brief but fierce season of soccer brings all communities together on Haida Gwaii in sport.
My kids strapped on cleats as soon as they could and embraced the challenge of moving a ball toward the small little pop-up nets devoid of goalkeepers. Sometimes the little ones in Division 5 would even run in the right direction. The friends and connections made on those teams are still strong today.
This is also a time to finally figure out whose kids go with what adults — and connect with those other parents who happen to have kids around the same age. Business is conducted, connections are formed, and it’s always with a little sadness that the season ends.
The kids, for their part, learn so much about teamwork and each other. Somehow, over the years, friendly rivalries develop. For my kids, beating Masset was always the goal regardless of how the season was going. I’d always try to remind them that Masset does not matter, that it’s all about having fun and playing the game well, but they would rarely listen to me.
In the end, with usually only a few tears shed, memories will be formed, kids will be active, and parents will remind themselves to never take a leisurely morning for granted.
There are a number of organizations that have interests in and around the Tlell soccer fields. The Tlell Community Association is working to help bring the various projects and needs together. Hopefully, in time, we’ll all be able to enjoy better facilities, better parking, and more coming together.
Happy spring! And a huge haawa, haw’aa to all the volunteers who make events and sporting leagues happen on Haida Gwaii. We see you and appreciate you.