The beautiful sound of kwak'wala flows from the mouths of fluent speakers, filling the air and my heart. Among our ...
If your knowledge of chicory is limited, allow me to introduce you to this family of vegetables full of complex, ...
My name is Ryan Rasmussen and I help people with cancer looking for a holistic approach to treatment. I support ...
“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.”
— ...
Cultivating stillness
We experience so much in our lives. Sometimes life’s momentum is so fast that we miss ...
“A river is water in its loveliest form; rivers have life and sound and movement and infinity of variation, rivers ...
The story of the Awakeneers starts more than 30 years ago on an off-grid homestead in the mountains of BC where ...
Words by
Isa McKenty
Photo courtesy of
The Awakeneers
Our devices can bring music and news from almost everywhere in the world. But most of the content is ...
When I first rolled off the assembly line decades ago, I couldn’t wait to hit the road for a life of adventure. ...
Words & photos by
RJ Herron
LIVING FROM LINEN
I’m Karla, and I create linen. That’s right, I start with a handful of unassuming flax ...
BEYOND THE PLATE AT HA’ME‘’S (RE)OPENING
The eagerly anticipated (re)opening of Ha̱’me‘ Restaurant, in its ...
Words by
Camilla Sampson
Photos courtesy of
Ha̱'me'
In 1979, a certain smell sustained the herring gillnetters of British Columbia. It hung from their bibs and clung ...
A steady stream of people stops in front of a typical home in Courtenay’s Old Orchard neighbourhood. They come by ...
As the editor of the Strathcona Collective, it is my privilege to help writers and community members throughout ...
A BEAUTIFUL MOSAIC
This is my first time writing in my own magazine. Writing has never been a passion of ...
Words & Photo by
Ian Adams
Finding a family doctor or health care professional is difficult enough in urban centres, but it’s even harder for ...
The ROAM team has selected some of their favourite winter items that we think everyone should know about. All are ...
In the summer of 2023, approximately 70 local emergency services personnel from the Comox Valley were deployed to ...
The earliest inhabitants of the Comox Valley lived lightly on these lands for millennia and didn’t capture their ...
i will always choose the trees
if i have to choose
between society
or the forest.
it makes sense
to me in ...
As I’m writing this, it’s October 24, and it’s snowing—the earliest snowfall I have experienced in the Valley—and ...
Reflections from an older resident.
Congratulations to the Comox Valley Collective on ...
Reflections from a younger resident.
As I hear my feet crunch on the frosty ground beneath me ...
Born and raised on Hornby Island, Kali Wexler is a self-taught Canadian wildlife conservation and nature ...
Jared was born and raised in Saskatchewan but spent his adult life in various pockets of British Columbia before ...
The Comox Valley has undergone some big changes since we published our first issue back in December 2014; many of ...
Words by
Zoë Cooper
Illustrations by
Alex Maertz
When I catch up with concert pianist Sarah Hagen, she is sitting on the floor of an airport concourse, halfway ...
In October 2023, I had the chance to speak with Wedlidi Speck. Wedlidi is Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuu-cha-nulth, and ...
Interview by
Dave Flawse
Photos courtesy of
Wedlidi Speck
I’m here to talk about winter squash: the wondrous genetic diversity they display, the dedicated farmers who grow ...
I was asked to share my story with you, and to keep it short at that. Bit of a hard ask for an old clock, but I’ll ...
Men’s broadly defined health issues—heart troubles, diabetes, liver disease—are deadly. So is depression. Many of ...
Paul Vroom grew up on Vancouver’s North Shore, ripping the slopes of Mt. Seymour. As a kid, he loved hanging out ...
Comox Valley Transition Society (CVTS) was founded in 1987 by a group of caring community members concerned that ...
Imagine two scenarios. The first is a quiet suburb of single-family homes—the Canadian dream—but with vans, ...
There is pure magic when the storm winds begin to blow from that direction. The sky glows and the air smells ...
One of the oldest buildings in the Comox Valley stands silent vigil on the highway to Campbell River. You can see ...
Words & Photos by
Jim Whyte
A group of women were gathered around a propane fire pit on Kye Bay in the fall of 2022. The sun was setting; they ...
The mountains beckon me throughout the year, but somehow their call in winter is different and holds a special ...
Words & photos by
Joanne McElroy
My name is Doris Wagner and I was born in Innsbruck, Austria. I grew up with parents who loved the music of our ...
Words & photos courtesy of
Doris Wagner
As we go into our 10th year of publishing this magazine, I am stepping out of my comfort zone. It’s often assumed ...
Publisher's Introduction & Photo by
Jenn Dykstra
Tyler and I stood crouched at the start line in Winnipeg this past April. Snow blew sideways, but our nervous ...
When I was 17, I was accepted to participate in the Tall Ship Millennium Challenge out of Southampton, England; a ...
Tradition is a funny thing. It's something we hold on to when the lights go out—guiding, connecting, grounding us. ...
Bob Wild considers himself a late bloomer—photography wasn’t on his radar until he was in his late 40s. As a kid ...
Kimberly Thompson moved to Campbell River in 2020 after many years as a resident of Sooke. Born and raised in ...
My name is Shaelynne and I am in my fourth year of running a wild kelp harvesting operation off the coast of Port ...
Communities in the Pacific Northwest are essentially human settlements in logging clearcuts. Whack down trees, lay ...
A curtain flutters through broken glass as fiery flakes litter the snow-covered ground. Despite the cold, ...
My phone is set to a special sound just for Search and Rescue calls and, while I have learned over the years to be ...
Words by
Tim Fairbank
Photo courtesy of
Daniel Gelson
As the owners of The Lost Faucet Sauna House in Courtenay, we are constantly seeking out more knowledge and ...
In the fall and winter, most people don’t immerse themselves in the Salish Sea, but for geoduck divers, it’s ...
PHOTOS BY GWEN MONNET, SANDI PHYE, & CRAIG SOROCHAN
We respectfully acknowledge that the land we gather on ...
Reflections from an older resident.
I grew up and lived for much of my life in northern ...
Alex Guertin is the newest proprietor of Beaufort Vineyard and Estate Winery. On a warm evening in July, he tours ...
Reflections from a younger resident.
Nests are everywhere when you spend lots of time ...
Nestled among the trees on Cortes Island is Hollyhock, gently nurturing the ancient lands of the Klahoose, ...
My draw to the water started at the age of 17. My stepfather owned a tugboat company just outside Victoria, and he ...
Chuck Burdick is a self-taught photographer working in multiple genres including macro, landscape, and abstract ...
WORDS BY LOIS TAYLOR, TRACY SINCLAIR, & JUANITA MACLEAN
PHOTOS BY CARLA DUFFEY
Established in 1895 by Mr. ...
As a creative generalist working in an array of art practices, Sarah Clark is less interested in becoming an ...
It was late summer when my husband and I first rolled into Cumberland in our old Ford pickup. The year was 1996 ...
There is a mystery that surrounds pregnancy and birth—a real sense of wonder. Cross-culturally, the practice of ...
Many witches, including myself, when asked how and why we became witches, will answer that they didn’t become a ...
We used to live in Cumberland when we were little. It was fun! We would walk to our friends' houses to play. One ...
Ancient DNA (aDNA). The term immediately brings to mind visions of dinosaurs, ancient civilizations, megafauna, ...
PHOTOS COURTESY OF KATHLEEN O’REILLY & FAMILY
My husband, Michael (Mick) Taylor, was an avid traveller, ...
Adam Swift has been bow hunting and fishing on the West Coast since he was a kid growing up in Campbell River. “My ...
Words by
Alison Bell
Opening photo by
Scott Bell
It takes a special kind of person to teach. If you're teaching in the public school system, you're likely signing ...
Twin Islands, tucked against Cortes Island’s southeast shore, has been a haven for a fascinating cast of ...
The year was 1990. On the steep, raw edge of a Mount Washington ski slope, summer wildflowers stood in stark ...
I’m writing these words in the height of summer, when I barely have enough time to juice a cucumber. But it will ...
Nature, specifically the ocean, has long been the undercurrent of photographer and sailor John Kelsey’s life. It’s ...
Words by
Camilla Sampson
Photos courtesy of
John Kelsey
Seated in one of my college classrooms, I received an email from Canada Olympic Park—a confirmation that I would ...
Darren Howlett is sitting in Locals Restaurant, a place he has a long history with. He’s worked in this dining ...
It is a universal truth, I think, that the further you move through adulthood, the more you’re aware that life is ...
Since 1983, Comox Valley Hospice Society (CVHS) has been working to support the physical, psychological, ...
At Cumberland Chinatown’s peak in the years just after the end of World War I, around 1500 residents bustled down ...
Words by
Erica Keen
Photos courtesy of
The Keen Family
At its root, tradition is the sharing of stories. Perhaps our oldest tradition is exactly that: storytelling. ...
The practice of pressing and drying flowers and herbs dates back centuries and is part of many Indigenous cultures ...
“Fungi make worlds. They also unmake them. There are lots of ways to catch them in the act. When you cook mushroom ...
My husband and I sometimes travelled with our kids when they were tiny. If we ever stayed in a motel, we would ...
It was April 1912 when Hilda Mary Slayter packed her travel trunk with an elegant trousseau in preparation for her ...
Words by
Claire King
Opening photo by
Alan Hustak
Paige Whitehead was 13 years old when she saw bioluminescence for the first time, during a midnight dip in the ...
Photos courtesy of
NYOKA Design Labs
Did you know that in the heart of Courtenay, a local recording studio—decked out with audio and video gear, and ...
In my opinion, no fruit or vegetable epitomizes all that is sweet and ephemeral about summer better than the ...
Memories from a life well lived.
It started prosaically enough. Frances, at our dinner table ...
Born in the iron jungles of Vancouver, Rem Skolney, aka “The Western Skirted Tiger,” has been passionately ...
This quiet, unsung artist was born in July 1939 in North Vancouver. After a troubled time in boarding school, he ...
Della and Winter Podmore-Goggins have grown up here and attend Cumberland Community School, where Della is going ...
The vision for the Gravity MTB Garage sounds like a mountain biker’s dream. After a fun afternoon in the ...
In this Community in Action feature, we’ve profiled dozens of charitable organizations who work to improve various ...
Have you ever wondered what your body is physically and mentally capable of handling? I asked myself this question ...
The term “harm reduction” refers to a range of practices and policies with roots going back to the 1960s, when ...
When I phone Dave Hall to chat about his Comox Valley-based camera repair business, we struggle through a minute ...
People from all ages and walks of life are drawn to horses. I think it’s because horses seem to be able to touch ...
On a special day once a year First Credit Union (FCU) branches across Vancouver Island, Bowen Island, Hornby ...
An invasive plant is defined by context. A plant considered a noxious weed by one person or group may be used for ...
Words & Gallery Photos by
Juliana Bedoya
Opening photo by
Juan Martinezguerra
The nine-acre Filberg Heritage Lodge and Park is one of the most picturesque places in Comox. This historic ...
The Vancouver Island marmot has lived on Vancouver Island for hundreds of millennia. In all that time, it has only ...
Around the world, many children study dance from an early age, learning the vocabulary, foundational movements, ...
“Energy moves in waves. Waves move in patterns. Patterns move in rhythms. A human being is just that energy, ...
Dance is a language that transcends borders, barriers, and abilities. We use it to share stories, communicate ...
An enlightening interview from our last issue led me down a rewarding rabbit trail. The conversation was an ...
Welcome to our ZEST issue, which has nothing to do with citrus fruit and everything to do with gusto, enjoyment, ...
All of us who love the alpine have our own reasons for getting out there. A hiker I once passed in the Kweishun ...
Words & featured photo by
Eryn Tombu Haigh
My name is Farrah. I am eight years old and right now I am living in Granada, Spain. I started the third ...
Articles in this issue (my first as editor) feel like a love letter to our region. A testament to the vast melting ...
Does the phrase “you are a product of your environment” sound familiar? Many cultures have long recognized the ...
Vancouver Island has remote valleys, salmon streams, and mountainsides that, in summer, are ripe with plump ...
When I think of innovation, I think of the external: technology and system upgrades that make our lives better. ...
Words & Photos By
Hayley Zumkeller
Although Cumberland-based Black Cat Skateboards is a relatively new entity, its founder’s love of skateboarding ...
Terry Lewis sits in his home office, staring at a computer screen displaying a GIS map that’s a spider’s web of ...
40 Knots Winery is alive with potential energy. I sit in the glassed-in terrace across from Layne Craig, who owns ...
I remember the sweet satisfaction of pushing peas into the slowly warming spring soil of my first garden “plot,” a ...
Words & Art by
Sally Podmore
“Deputy Minister Department of Mines offers services of H. M. Laing of Comox [to] accompany Expedition … to act as ...
Introduced in 2018 by Comox Valley Nature (CVN), this event encourages Comox Valley residents to pay attention to ...
GALLERY PHOTOS BY REGAN HATLEY, DARREN HULL, BEN POWELESS, CHASE TERON, & DESTINATION CANADA
You’re greeted ...
It’s a beautiful summer day and, just as I’m arriving home, Jonathan and the kids call me from the backyard. I ...
Content warning: this article speaks about suicide prevention, self-harm, addiction, and genocide.
My name is ...
As a small collect-and-release aquarium facility, displaying a selection of animals in an ethical and sustainable ...
The ocean is full of creatures. Humpback whales, orcas, barking sea lions, playful dolphins, and curious seals ...
Born in Campbell River, raised on Cortes Island, and now living in Victoria, David Ellingsen is an artist whose ...
Kiley Panziera is the woman behind the lens of Panziera Photography. Her photography journey sprung to life in ...
Meeting the growing demand for sustainable food production is becoming increasingly important for our global ...
Hi, my name is Autumn, my mom is Francesca, and we love to go hiking and adventuring together. We have been hiking ...
Rolling into another year living aboard our 34-foot sailboat, we often reaffirm why we moved from the mountains, ...
It’s just past midnight when I wake to a familiar sound; R Clan is back. Jumping out of bed, I scurry down the ...
As I look in the mirror to wash my face, car loaded, kayak on roof, ready to embark on the drive to Gold River, I ...
Words & Photo By
Dave Prothero
Wanderlust. We’ve all heard of it, and many of us dream of packing a bag and heading out into the wilderness for ...
You sit in a softly lit theatre; a buzz throughout the red, velvet draped room. You sip wine, whispering to a ...
The first thing I remember hearing about Maya was that she kept goats. As I got to know her better, and eventually ...
Words & Photo by
Dood Turner
On the northeast corner of Campbell River lies Snowden Demonstration Forest. For mountain bikers, the Snowden ...
To call Hornby Island “ferry dependent” is not just a figure of speech. If you live on this idyllic Gulf Island, ...
The Comox Valley is known for its abundance of fresh seafood and farm produce. At the right time of year, shoppers ...
In 2017, I attended a Soldier On ski camp at Mount Washington that changed (and maybe even saved) my life.
It ...
Words by
Nick Holyome
Photos courtesy of
Soldier On
Hi there, I’m Max and I was not born in St Joseph's Hospital. I was, however, born in Addenbrooke's Hospital, ...
We live by stories. By stories we understand the world, and ourselves. Each culture has its cosmology: an ...
I am willing to hazard that you enjoy the results of fermentation in some way, shape, or form. What I'm not going ...
After our vegetable gardens has pumped out all of the food and flavour it can, one very important job remains: ...
As a Canadian living in Hong Kong in the late 1970s, I was regarded as a gweilo, a “white devil.” Even though I ...
The merry month of May is highly anticipated in the Village of Cumberland. Since 1888, Villagers have gathered on ...
Many people might be surprised to learn that one of the most successful astronomy news sites on the Internet is ...
Words by
Ryan Stuart
Featured photo by
Sara Kempner
Night riding can be eerie, there’s no question about that. Casting shadows as I pedal through the forest ...
I first sensed how landscape affects us while studying writing at the University of Saskatchewan. The ...
As we rounded the northern tip of Nootka Island, we were struck with sizable swell, wind, and refracting waves ...
Words & Photos by
Erica Keen
Strolling through Macdonald Wood Park, with its giant trees and verdant flora within town boundaries, is one of ...
INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIVING A LIFE:
PAY ATTENTION.
BE ASTONISHED.
TELL ABOUT IT.
– MARY OLIVER
In the ...
The Beaufort Range sits temptingly in our backyard. If you’re a backcountry skier, then you’ve probably gazed at ...
Words & Featured Photo by
Andrew Findlay
Gallery photo by
Chris Istace
Have you ever noticed that the flowers you see in local gardens—maybe even in your own yard—are rarely available ...
Words & photos by
Lydia Jackson
I first heard of silent disco headphones while working in Toronto’s music industry several years ago. When the ...
No vegetable family is as diverse and versatile as the brassicas. While you may not know the word, you’re ...
Curling saved my life. Sounds like an outrageous statement to make, but in 1999, the year I first threw a curling ...
Luc is a transplant from the prairies who made his way to the Comox Valley seven years ago in search of the ...
Shannon Ford is inspired by the magic of discovering beauty in chaos: “Walking up to a huge, empty canvas is pure ...
Words & Artwork by
Shannon Ford
Restful interludes are integral to the rhythm of life.
In the natural world, winter is ...
The dictionary says rest is “to cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength.” ...
Except for Indigenous people, Canadians are settlers—immigrants themselves, or the descendants of immigrants. ...
There are two basic ways to look at a forest you manage—as a tree farm or an ecosystem.
To see the difference, ...
Homelessness can happen in many ways: job loss, injuries and accidents, mental health issues, and substance use. ...
Music and theatre provide an environment where, through collaboration, we are encouraged to celebrate diversity, ...
In the early morning hours of the winter solstice, December 21, 2021, my life and health changed forever. I was ...
Things are often done a little differently on the Gulf Islands. Partly by necessity, partly by inclination, these ...
The legend of the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship doomed to never enter port, has been told and retold since the ...
I first became drawn to mead because of my Scandinavian heritage: mead plays an important role in many of the ...
While some of us were out celebrating Valentine’s Day this past February, Eugen Sushko was feverishly drawing at ...
Words by
Vivian Dean
Photos courtesy of
Supermod
Colin Garritty has an enviable job. Four days a week, all winter long, he gets paid to ski and snowmobile the ...
For decades, the renowned Campbell River surged past the small neighbourhood of Campbellton all but unseen by ...
When we think about hunting and gathering, the season we usually think of is fall. For many of us, there’s nothing ...
My husband and I moved to the Comox Valley four years ago. From the start, we’ve enjoyed navigating our way around ...
When I was a kid growing up in the ’70s and ’80s in Montreal, stores were closed on Sundays. Every single store. ...
Laurie is a “late in life” painter who moved to the Comox Valley after retiring in 2015 from a busy career as a ...
Jim is a fifth-generation Comox Valley resident, born and raised here. His interest in photography began in junior ...
It is usually late May when I embark on the first mountain trip of the season. In this particular year I was ...
Words & photos by
Claire Gordon
Starting in 1888, a vast labyrinth of extraction tunnels was carved beneath the village of Cumberland, the old ...
Eating local is a popular concept in the Comox Valley, with its long growing season and wealth of farms producing ...
When I was a kid growing up in the northern boreal forest, my mother took me and my siblings out foraging for ...
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
– Søren Kierkegaard, 1843
I don’t ...
This past January, I received an email from the organizer of the BC Epic thanking me for my registration.
Which ...
Words & Featured Photo by
Dave Nowak
Gallery Photo by
Gary Egli
Opening up, embracing new ideas, and making time for wonder.
I spent most of my career trying ...
Hi, my name is Dakota Blomgren. I was born in the Comox Valley and I am nine years old. I am a proud member of the ...
Over a century ago, on a Monday in late September, crowds of young and old thronged Vancouver’s sidewalks. Mothers ...
My first home in Cumberland was on Camp Road, in a row of rough cabins that were built in 1888 when the coal mine ...
What an ugly night. It’s dark, pouring rain, and there are still remnants of slushy snow melting in the driveway, ...
Words & photos by
Kyle Hansen
You don’t need to be an oyster farmer or sport fisherman for the daily ebb and flow of the ocean to impact your ...
Decades ago, I was sitting in a cinema seat in Toronto, gripping the armrests as the tension heightened, and ...
Words by
Mac Newton
Illustration by
Ian Adams
When David and Angela Mackenzie open the door to their new home, they will bring with them an unwavering ...
Words & Photos by
Karen McKinnon
As I pull through the gates of Smith Lake Farm, I’m greeted by the sounds of chickens clucking and disc golfers ...
Words by
Sara Kempner
Featured photo by
Meredith Rose
Back in 2013, I started shopping around for healthy nutrition options to supplement my gym goals. I’d never given ...
Do you laugh when you hear the word sasquatch? Do you believe that sasquatches exist? Do you think that a ...
I’ve occasionally yearned to wear a Davy Crockett-inspired coonskin hat. The reason I don’t isn’t that I fear I’d ...
It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon as I make my way through Alex Blais’ yard, following the sound of laughter toward an ...
Words & Photos by
Sara Kempner
Our new Cumberland home came with a view of the crisp Beaufort Range mountains, Mount Apps standing tallest above ...
The very first time I dipped my paddle into the Salish Sea, wedged awkwardly in the belly of a dragon boat, I was ...
On Friday, May 13, 2022, a group of paddlers from many backgrounds made their way, in two interconnected voyageur ...
It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon as I make my way through Alex Blais’ yard, following the sound of laughter toward an ...
Words & Photos by
Sara Kempner
Like most woodworking spaces, Sandpiper Studio is an organized-but-dusty collection of equipment designed for the ...
I-HOS GALLERY
K'ÓMOKS FIRST NATION
Owned and operated by the K’ómoks First Nation, I-Hos Gallery showcases a ...
Hi, my name is Darragh Tormey, and this is my love essay.
Love can mean a million things, and it means ...
K’ómoks First Nation (KFN) members Sean Frank and Trevor Hardy, assisted by master carver Joe Martin of ...
I'm Emese, and my husband Géza and I are the proud owners of Freyja, a new croissant shop in downtown Campbell ...
Sophie Whittingham is an illustrator and storyboard artist born and raised on Quadra Island, British Columbia. Her ...
Colin Somers was born in Powell River and has lived in Campbell River for 50 years. He has spent most of that time ...
For more than 35 years, Campbell River Children's Choir (CRCC) has provided children and young adults with the ...
The gritty exfoliation of sand between toes, the softness of dewy grass underfoot, the wet flecks of mud that ...
Canada’s dark history of Indigenous people and government authorities is riddled with violence and mistrust. ...
As I look down at my crampons kicked solidly into the thin ice, I feel the exposure of being hundreds of metres ...
Flip through the spectacular pages of A Taste of Life on Quadra Island and you'll never guess the heroic efforts ...
The Strathcona Food Hub, put simply, is a group of collaborators working on contemporary food issues in the ...
I'm entering Grade 10 and I go to Timberline Secondary School. I have lived in Campbell River my whole life. It is ...
An ice climber hangs from a mountain cliff so remote, so otherworldly, that its location is kept secret. A chef ...
Opening Introduction by
Trevor McMonagle
Photo by
Alex Brennan
We are blessed to live on an island with so much wild food at our fingertips. An outdoor table is spread before us ...
Words & Photos by
Jade Berg
Photos by
Jesse Bone
Here follows the abridged story of the evolution of the Sayward Valley from as near the beginning as we dare ...
Life on Earth exists from and because of soil, yet many of us go about our lives with little thought about its ...
Cruising over the turbulent waters of Discovery Passage is a familiar activity to many Campbell Riverites. The ...
Words & Photo by
Eiko Jones
In February 2018, Lucas Schuller drove from Campbell River down to Cumberland to see the Lonesome Ace Stringband ...
When Chris Goulet was 14 years old, his brother put a set of clippers in his hand and said, "Give me a mohawk." ...
Five years ago we made a quick decision to sell our house on Salt Spring Island and seek out a more peaceful home ...
Words by
Sarah Carty
Words and Photos by
Dwayne Roberge
If a crow flew from Campbell River to Bute Inlet Lodge, he would aim for Mount Doogie Dowler. Doogie resembles a ...
For more than half a century, Special Olympics sport training programs and competitions have empowered athletes ...
The Comox Valley in the 1960s was remote, beautiful, and serene. It was also secluded, with no major highway ...
Glean (v.): Gather (ears of grain, etc.) after the harvest.
I recently attended an inspiring symposium hosted ...
Some of my dearest early memories involve water. My dad would tie a rope on my sister’s and my life jackets as we ...
Words & featured photo by
Erica Keen
Marianne Enhörning is a West Coast Canadian artist. Born in Sweden, she split her work life for many years between ...
As an adventure, wildlife, and sports photographer based in the Comox Valley, Nick chases the thrill of unique ...
Mastering the art of love starts with yourself.
Every day, we hear and say, “I love ...
In 2008, novice paddleboarder Norm Hann hatched a plan to travel by stand-up paddleboard (SUP), with boat support, ...
We’ve all done it. Bragged about how we used to go somewhere when it was still cool and undiscovered, before the ...
Deep in the heart of Utah Mormon country, in a place called Temple Square, sits an unusual statue known as the ...
The ferns have their fresh, feathery leaves and everything in sight is electric green. This is Vancouver Island in ...
Words & Photo by
Jennifer Jellett
Two “very pregnant” cats. That was the delivery at the door of the Kitty Cat P.A.L. (Prevent-A-Litter) Society at ...
In 1992, an eclectic group of local artisans joined together to form The Potters Place Gallery. “There was already ...
There is a natural intimacy to be found at the Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival. Readers, writers, ...
Land is on my mind a lot these days, as a dad and freelance journalist. I recently interviewed an old Findlay ...
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably driven past the community halls north of Courtenay along Highway 19A ...
My dearest Yarden, It wasn’t just one of your plants that snared me. Nor did my love for you hit all of a sudden. ...
Bark! Bark! Bark! We are an hour and a half into our wilderness validation search; Rudy has already found two ...
When LOVE was suggested as our summer theme, I jumped on it. I planned to write an inspiring intro that would ...
One of the most iconic locations in the Comox Valley is Goose Spit, a long finger of land that shields Comox ...
In 2021, I decided to travel across British Columbia with my bike and my skis—or, more accurately—with my skis on ...
Words & Photos by
Damien Jannet
“Restoring land without restoring relationship is an empty exercise.”
– Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, ...
Born and raised on British Columbia’s West Coast, Christian grew up with a deep appreciation for nature, thanks to ...
We meet in the shadows and plan our route for the late afternoon, prowling the alleys, neighbourhood by ...
Wi'yugwa̱mala dłuwa̱n, - Baby with me,
Łax̱wa̱lanukwa̱n tłus. - I love you.
Mu'la̱n gax̱a'aḵus. - I’m ...
Eighteen-year-old Morgan, a Comox Valley resident, started taking photos with a smart phone when he was 12 and ...
One of my earliest memories is playing under my grandmother’s quilt frame while she and her friends sewed a quilt ...
I’m 11 years old and I’ve lived in Cumberland my whole life. I LOVE art. It’s one of my favourite things to do. I ...
A lone modular office building with blue vinyl siding rests at the end of a gravel driveway on the edge of Homalco ...
Last year a friend messaged to let me know there was a promotional Walking Dead backpack at one of the thrift ...
Most of us gain confidence when our skin looks and feels good, and this sometimes reflects how we hold ourselves ...
If you stand on Saratoga Beach and look out at the water on a calm day, the Salish Sea appears silent, steady, and ...
JIPSI TREE
It all began when JoAnne McElroy simultaneously left both her teaching and tree-planting ...
When you enter the Gardens on Anderton, you are greeted by a volunteer host who offers a smile, an orientation, a ...
When we invite young people to visit the engineered landfill at the Comox Valley Waste Management Centre, we ask ...
When Kermit the Frog said, “It’s not easy being green,” he wasn’t talking about investing, but he might as well ...
I don’t remember the summit of Mount Colonel Foster.
I know I stood on it with my friends, Chris and Sean. I ...
Not long after I moved to Cumberland, when it was easier to get lost in the forest, I was riding my dirt bike down ...
“Expect mountain bikes, hikers, runners, dogs, children, and elders on these trails.”
—excerpt from the Interim ...
Seaweed is a food resource long celebrated by traditional coastal peoples across the globe, including throughout ...
Words & Photo by
Angela Willard
In a field next to the ruddy red barn of the Black Creek farm owned by Margaret Douglas and Fred Hinz, a group of ...
If you’ve ever spent time with a toddler, you’ll know they ask “Why?” about seven thousand times a day. When my ...
Born in Hay River, NWT, Shelley has lived in Edmonton, Switzerland, and five Canadian provinces.
Her work, both ...
Originally from Poland, Ania of AniuEmilia Photography has lived on beautiful Vancouver Island for 30 ...
Most people are shocked when they learn our family of five lives in a tiny home. “How many square feet?” they ask ...
SCOTT BELL
Scott Bell is an outdoor adventure filmmaker who has a commitment to capturing the beauty of the ...
Terri-Lynn Papagiannis (TL PAPA) is an artist and art educator, born and raised on Vancouver Island. At a young ...
River Love
After yearning for decades
to say I love you and mean it, today
on my practised water’s-edge ...
True Dennison has been in love with photography and film for as long as she can remember. Growing up on the ...
“I never knew what I wanted to do,” Valerie Lamirande confided to me. She had dabbled in photography, woodwork, ...
Like the daily ebb and flow of the tides along the shores of Vancouver Island, there is constant movement of ...
Nestled amongst the towering forest on Galiano Island and backing onto Bluffs Park, Leña Residency is a retreat ...
Located on the West Coast of Vancouver Island within the traditional territory of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First ...
Words & Photos by
Kira Marshall
Island Clayworks would like to acknowledge that we operate our business in the traditional territory of the ...
Building custom homes in Campbell River and the surrounding area is a gift not every craftsman gets to experience. ...
The honeybee, or apis mellifera, is what we call a pollinator. Flying from flower to flower collecting nectar and ...
When I moved to Vancouver Island in 2009, finding like-minded “horse folks” to ride with was top priority. I ...
My family and I have lived on the northern end of Quadra Island for two years. We moved here from Manitoba, and ...
THE GARDENING NARRATIVE
HEATHER KELLERHALS–STEWART
Behind every widely held belief there is a narrative—true ...
The Campbell River Area Angel Group (CRAAG) was founded in February 2019 when Campbell River Economic Development ...
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
— Mary Oliver
“Shhh, listen … ...
Words & Photos by
Lisa Levesque
Oh no! What? Wait for another traffic light? Simultaneous laughter, as our eyes connect, and we realize we have ...
In a way, a farm is like the ocean, a fixture of the landscape, yet in constant motion. Every season brings a part ...
When you walk into the cavernous room at Robron Centre in Campbell River—which feels part warehouse, part ...
Thanks be to Ron Burrell, a former provincial Forest Service Manager, who, in the early 1990s, took on the job of ...
Words & Photos by
Bob Dice
Words by
Trevor McMonagle
Stay home, we were told. Travel was not advised. Flooding closed highways. Fires forced road closures and ...
The beginning of winter, with its transition from warmth to cold and from growth to decay, is a reminder of the ...
Not many people know this about me, but I’ve got a real penchant for fine, stiff Italian boots. This confession ...
Like many Vancouver Island folk, I’ve made plenty of happy memories in Strathcona Provincial Park. In the summer ...
My name is Ava, and I am ten years old. I was born in Vancouver and moved to Cumberland with my mom and dad when I ...
If there is one truth the pandemic has disclosed, it’s that, as humans, we yearn for connection to the elements. ...
Growing up in the Comox Valley, Mal Irvine, who uses they/them pronouns, often felt uncomfortable. They were ...
Hornby Island local Jake Berman first encountered onigiri while visiting his sister in Japan in 2006. This ...
Every poem tells a kind of story, but poems are not short stories. They are a unique medium which is concerned ...
In 2015, on his way to Whistler, Duncan Hague flew over the Rocky Mountains and peered out the plane’s little oval ...
We’ve all heard the adage “It takes a village to raise a child.”
Now imagine we’re talking about your child. ...
I respectfully acknowledge that we are on the unceded traditional territories of the K’ómoks First Nation, and I ...
The late autumn sun lazily streams through dwindling golden leaves. Live music drifts across the smiling, ...
When I wrote The New Brewmox Valley for the inaugural issue of this magazine in 2014, I told a hopeful and ...
Imagine noticing smoke in the distance, then, less than ten minutes later, your property is fully consumed by ...
I grew up on Vancouver Island, the fourth of five generations of my family to have done so. I have had the great ...
I pull up to Kelsey Epp’s Merville farm, and, before my feet hit the ground, the silence of the long, verdant ...
May 31, 2021: “Hey, Meaghan, we’re thinking if some restrictions lift this summer we might try to book some shows ...
In case you haven’t noticed, the Comox Valley has been experiencing a population boom of late. Newcomers choose ...
The first time Tom (not his real name) had someone call the cops on him was in the winter. He was several blocks ...
This is a tale of resilience. A tale of how, if your resolve is true, you can make it to your destination.
Even ...
Everyone remembers the first time they met Thomas Dunn. He was a rare individual who made an impression—mostly ...
Does the thought of walking in the forest at night make you feel uneasy? Does it sound strange? And if you were to ...
The ashen moon hung low that brisk October night. Despite the obscuring fog, I could see my breath. The chill cut ...
Curtis was born and raised in the Comox Valley, where he pursues a number of hobbies and seasonal interests, ...
t’s 7:30 a.m. and my 11-year-old daughter skips out to join our 74-year-old neighbour for a sprightly walk around ...
Sharon Lalonde has been creating all her life, using all forms of artistic expression.
The medium she chooses ...
Etched into the fabric of Comox life, the Northeast Woods are considered by many locals, especially newcomers, to ...
For over 5,000 years, the written word has carried knowledge and information to readers, supporting the ...
MY DELIGHTFULLY DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY
AUTHOR: LORAINE HARTLE
GENRE: MEMOIR
A fascinating and engaging story ...
I am age nine and go to Miracle Beach Elementary. I have a younger brother who’s eight named Callum, and we have ...
On a sunny summer evening, Janeth Recinos served up delicious pupusas filled with shredded pork and fresh salsa ...
Words by
Andrew Findlay
Photo collage courtesy of
Sue Rambow
After the year that was 2020, we’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel—a return to the way life was ...
Things are changing in the Comox Valley: our population is growing as more people move here in appreciation of the ...
For British Columbians, whether or not we are directly involved in the industry, forest products are us.
When I ...
If you take a moment to reflect upon the immense amount of organization, dedication, and perseverance required to ...
Words by
Kevin Flesher
Featured photo by
Jim Whyte
BECAUSE I AM QUEEN
I wear a crown of many eyes
that sees right through your bullshit lies.
My ...
for S’ólh Téméxw (the traditional territories of the Stó:lo-)
out in the valley
plump drupelets fall into ...
Born and raised in Quebec, Françoise is a self-taught wildlife/landscape photographer. Her first career was as a ...
A member of the Taku River First Nation by birth, Brian was adopted as an infant by Linda and Perry Jessop and ...
In August 2020, I travelled to a magical corner of the world where there are more glaciers than anywhere outside ...
Words & Artwork by
Tracy Kobus
Photos by
Malcolm Johnson
In 1845, Henry David Thoreau went into the woods of Massachusetts and built a simple cabin beside Walden Pond. For ...
Fighting the urge to crawl back into my warm bed, I force myself to grab my camera bag and head into the chilly ...
Words & photo by
Sara Kempner
March 4, 2021: “This is not good. I’ve just gone to look at the area. The flagging starts about 50 meters beyond ...
My parents were notorious collectors. On any given Saturday, they would pack up our silver E150 Ford Econoline van ...
It’s better to burn out than to fade away? Not always. New alternatives to cremation allow bodies to return to the ...
Bannock: a simple quick bread made with a few ingredients most people will have on hand. But bannock, for all its ...
Watching John Waters scramble up a rock face is like watching a monkey climb a tree. A moment ago, he stepped off ...
Words by
Ryan Stuart
Featured photo by
Sara Kempner
I’m so glad you’re here. As many readers know, each issue is part of a cycle with four linked themes.
COVID-19 ...
When Sarah McLoughlin passed away on February 10, 2021, at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital in Vancouver—her husband ...
Words by
Kerry Hale
Featured photo by
Susan Healy
We moved to the Comox Valley a little over three years ago. I spent most of my childhood living in Nelson, BC, ...
You pretty much can’t have a conversation anywhere in the world today without one of our global crises popping up ...
The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit. – Nelson Henderson
This ...
Kevin MacKenzie is a self-taught musician and multimedia artist who learned how to weld at a young age from his ...
Jake Tinkler- Josephi is a photographer based in Courtenay, British Columbia (BC). Growing up in the country ...
It’s 2:45 on Tuesday afternoon, a treasured day for my twoyear-old daughter, Emerson, and me. Just after the ...
Beginning in 2019, the Art+Earth Festival has been a series of interactive, public events that provides an ...
On the territory of The We Wai Kai nation, the original peoples of this land have harvested medicines on Vancouver ...
I love fermented foods. Fermentation is one of the few processes that can make things tastier and healthier at the ...
Words & Photos by
Brandon Pirie
Are you the daredevil type with a fearless personality? Are you unafraid of flames? Does standing in a ring of ...
Words & Photos by
Bob Wild
When the nights grow cooler and the roads become less lively, the savvy local traveler packs their bags, knowing ...
Working with wood has been a long-standing family tradition that I almost overlooked as a career choice. In fact, ...
I wade into the Campbell River, fly rod in hand. The cold snap of the morning breeze matches the fall temperature. ...
It’s hard to say when the first beings took an interest in sliding down the slopes around Mount Cain. I’m sure it ...
Wildflowers & Co. is an Indigenous business owned by Alissa Assu, who belongs to the Wet’suwet’en First ...
My name is Madison Lucas, I am 11 years old, and I am from Huuayaht First Nations. My favourite hobby is soccer, ...
Bastian, a helicopter pilot at 49 North Helicopters in Campbell River, began paragliding in December of 2019. He ...
Words & Photos by
Bastian Fleury
Words by
Carly Caron
We are standing on the Baikie Island Trail, about one kilometre down river from the Haig-Brown House where ...
I don’t get island fever. Quite the opposite, actually. There is a feeling of safety that transpires with the last ...
Spring brings variable weather and an itch to cast off the mooring lines. Except my itch goes beyond sailing. I ...
When the global pandemic first hit the Strathcona region, the local performing arts community was faced with many ...
Life on Vancouver Island ebbs and flows with the life-cycle of the salmon. In the warmth of the late-September ...
Imagine three siblings—Cumberland, Courtenay, and Comox—who tolerate each other, but aren’t exactly brimming with ...
North Island College’s (NIC)’s Indigenous language courses are bringing together students and building a community ...
A few years ago, a fog rolled in on me, gradually placing a dim, grey mist over my view in all directions. I ...
Urban agriculture can mean a number of things depending on who you ask and where in the world it’s occurring. To ...
What separates SOS Gear from other outdoor stores is not what it carries, but what it doesn’t.
Like most gear ...
The secret’s out regarding Vancouver Island and its amazing mountains. While all alpine environments are ...
Words & Photo by
Shane Johnson
There’s no real place to start this story of sailing. I never would have predicted that I would be writing this ...
Words by
Judith Wright
Featured photo by
Jenn Dykstra
A few years ago, there was a local kerfuffle because a new sign on the Inland Island Highway proclaimed: “Welcome ...
For over a year, we’ve all been dreaming of getting away, and perhaps Island adventures will once again be ...
One of the most iconic summer activities in the Comox Valley is tubing down the Puntledge River.
There’s no ...
At the end of a dirt road, minutes from the sea, sits an idyllic farm.
Youthful alder, fir, hemlock, and pines ...
I remember well the pitter-patter of tiny toad feet on my lawn when I was a child growing up across from the swamp ...
At the end of a meandering gravel driveway tucked among lush cedars stands the Deep Bay Marine Field Station, a ...
After so many months of navigating an ever-changing pandemic landscape of worries, warnings, restrictions, and ...
THE TIME OF THINGS
A masked woman reaches toward the fabric hanging on the art gallery wall.
“Don’t!” ...
Words by
Glen Sanford
Featured photo by
Kyle Little
I enjoy the practice of traditional karate for many reasons, including what it teaches me about Japanese and ...
Behind every non-profit there’s at least one driven, talented founder willing to make sacrifices to chase their ...
Haida art is internationally recognized as part of the Indigenous artistic tradition of the peoples of the Pacific ...
Words by
Keisha Everson
Featured photo by
Zac Whyte
1. Field’s sawmill
A burial site with ghost bodies
on platforms in trees
retaining walls at the river’s ...
Michael was born in Campbell River and currently resides in Fanny Bay with his partner Anna and cat Sophie Bean. ...
Living on a Gulf Island is a dream come true to Shannon. Slowing down her lifestyle has allowed her the time to ...
Your recent travel plans may have gone down the toilet, but was there ever a better time to start planning another ...
My name is Olivia. I am nine years old and I adore art. It is one of my favourite things to do. All of my family ...
The Comox Valley has long been home to an impressive array of local restaurants that have made highly valuable ...
“We so rarely get second chances,” says whale researcher Jackie Hildering, the co-founder of Port McNeill-based ...
Often in an instant, an acquired head injury can change everything. How do you make sense of so much loss? Where ...
Editor’s note: Rick Zyvitski, now retired, used to fly fighter jets out of Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Comox. We ...
Words by
Rick Zyvitski
Featured photo by
Sara Kerr
There are many ways to spin a wheel. Even within each discipline of cycling—BMX, mountain and road, to name a ...
“Hi, I’m Sam. I’m trans.” I start quite a number of conversations this way, and although it’s an unfortunate ...
There’s money in honey (sometimes), and for several beekeepers in the Comox Valley, keeping bees is a full-time ...
It is no secret that the Comox Valley offers us a unique opportunity to work, play, and revel in the natural ...
Sarah Wilson always loved her veggies, even as a kid. She attributes the craving to growing up in Rivers Inlet, a ...
Welcome to the 25th volume of our ongoing love letter to the Comox Valley.
In 2014, Ross Bodenmann had the ...
In the late ’90s, while Marshall Toelle and Nate Cherrier were teenagers growing up on Quadra Island, ...
Having been born and raised in Campbell River, Tyee fishing has always been a tradition for me.
On a warm ...
Coral reefs in Canada? That seems like a contradiction to most people, but under the surface of the Salish sea ...
Words and Photos by
Eiko Jones
Growing up we had chickens, the familiar pets that simultaneously bring life to the yard and yield breakfast to ...
Most Campbell Riverites know the iconic blue cottage, nestled by the beach in Willow Point. For Sybil and Walter ...
Our names are Annabel and Brynlee. We are nine-year-old identical twins born one minute apart and have lived on ...
From construction on some of the region’s most iconic establishments, such as Mount Washington and Painter’s ...
I was introduced to flameworked glass, in 2004, when I first meet Mook of Mook’s Glass.
After seeing his glass, ...
I’ve spent many years exploring all over the Island, looking for wild places that make me feel small. While I ...
Words & Photos by
Michael Hack
When you drive west along the winding road that skirts Lower and Upper Campbell Lakes, as it hugs the rock face of ...
My Husband, Keith, and I had been working in the Hotel & Resort industry for over 22 years when we attended a ...
The year 2018 was the beginning of something truly special — it was the year I met Evangeline Clifton.
Clifton, ...
For 24 years, Spirit of the West Adventures has been offering multi-day kayaking tours in the Johnstone Strait and ...
Captain Vince Kehn’s four decades of working in the marine industry on the coast of BC has greatly influenced how ...
Lukas Mouka is a Czech-Canadian painter currently based in Campbell River. Over his career a unique style has ...
There are more than 100 people living without shelter on the streets in Campbell River, its regional parks, and ...
As we pedal our bicycles through the rambling, majestic forest of Campbell River’s Beaver Lodge Lands, our minds ...
Long before they call “Action!” and the cameras roll on a movie shoot, someone has to find the places to film the ...
A mind at peace, a mind centred and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the ...
Words & Photos by
Erin Wallis
My mom used to make stuffed mushroom caps at the drop of a hat. “We’ve been invited to so-and-so’s for dinner. ...
Words & Photo by
Darren Howlett
My adventures used to involve adrenaline. Like the time I hitchhiked from Kamloops to climb Mt Forbes in Banff ...
Devin Burton grew up in the Comox Valley but only recently discovered the Bevan trails, a network of paths winding ...
On the longest night
Tuck tiny love notes
Written with winter berries
Into the dark earth
Whisper them ...
Originally from Comox, Zoey currently lives in Victoria. Her work is inspired by nature, the seasons, the cycles ...
Jarrett Lindal is a Vancouver Island-based outdoor adventure and wildlife photographer who grew up in the Comox ...
One day, the Itatsoo Lake Trail will connect the community of Hitacu, near Ucluelet, to the lake hidden in the ...
Words by
Ryan Stuart
Featured photo by
Scott Horley
My name is Zoë, and I am nine years old. I have lived in Cumberland my whole life and I really love winter in the ...
It was late August in the Great Bear Rainforest and the salmon were starting to return to their nascent streams ...
Words & Photos by
Oriana Smy
In the last few years, you may have noticed the resurgence of vinyl records and local record shops. What is it ...
On January 1, 2019, a large group of adventurous Cumberland residents gathered on the shores of Comox Lake. ...
Famed feminist leader Gloria Steinem is quoted as saying: “Revolutions that last don’t happen from the top down. ...
It began in a small kitchen on a small island, with peanut butter, honey, and oats.
It was 1993 when Trish ...
Few manmade structures have the universal allure of the lighthouse. We are drawn to them, as much for their ...
I never know what to expect during our visits. Often, she is not home; her tiny body is present in a mobile chair ...
I’ve been intimately involved in the ground-source heat pump (GSHP) industry for 20 years. I began with mud up to ...
Katherine Kirk suspected the roof of Forbidden Plateau’s day lodge was going to collapse. “One day, a woman in the ...
Words by
Mike B.
Featured photo by
Lindsey Pattinson
I began to write this letter on a rainy, blustery day in early November—possibly not the best time to reflect on ...
The rising sun cast a pink glow on the cliffs as we prepared for landing on a crisp November morning. Just five ...
When I'm under the water, I feel at home. As soon as my head goes below the surface, an almost instant calm comes ...
Words & Photos by
Ryan Miller
Why travel makes us love home.
The very first thing she told us was that the monkey didn’t like kids. Of course, ...
Words by
Zola Findlay
with help from her sister
Sabine
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Fossil Beach Farm is a-bustle with activity. People are sitting at long picnic ...
One of the many big questions of 2020 is how we adapt and evolve as consumers, locally and globally. Whether we ...
I used to write science fiction (which means I know little about science, but I liked playing with ideas). In one ...
Full disclosure: I am a Traci Skuce fangirl, but because one of the things I love so much about the way she writes ...
When you first look at a Waterman surfboard, you wouldn’t expect it had been crafted by a guy who grew up on the ...
The last in our series imagining how the Comox Valley’s communities could look 20 years from now.
It’s hard ...
The famous French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau once said, “We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are ...
“Now gently let your breath out and slip beneath the surface. I’ll go under first and be ready for you to join ...
Words & photo by
Lisa Graham
One of my twins’ favourite meals is tacos. They are easy to prepare and a great way to incorporate all the colours ...
Early in 2020, our editorial team envisioned the general look and feel of the covers and themes for the year ...
There’s something that connects me to a greater world when I fire up the smoker. I can’t put my finger on it. ...
By all accounts, Johnny Bannerman is a very nice young man. He’s a member of the Cumberland Volunteer Fire ...
Oh my god, this hurts so bad... Why does this hurt so bad?? Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Uggggggghhhhhh, this burns so ...
Words & Photo by
Sarah Seads
Running a tourism business, especially in an area as remote as Kyuquot Sound, is challenging at the best of ...
“I take a lot of my inspiration from the natural world around me,” says Gordon Hutchens, Denman Island’s ...
Words & Photo by
Trish Weatherall
Richard Mravik was born in 1973 in the city of Nove Zamky, Slovakia. Of Hungarian descent, he was noted from a ...
Glynnis was raised on a hobby farm on Vancouver Island by parents who were "hippies" of the day. Their ...
The fire that forged the earth
holds the space between us
ancient atoms
in our blood and bones
pulled to the ...
“All along the way, where the deep green forest used to stand, lies a waste of mangled trunks and branches, enough ...
The third in our series imagining how the Comox Valley’s communities could look 20 years from now. ...
Earth, air, water, fire. In the extreme, these elemental forces can be either ineffectual or catastrophic. They ...
Burning sage, summer heat, and the vegetal scent of the plants in the traditional Indigenous tea garden of the ...
True story: my first-ever sauna experience included pitchers of gin Caesars and a waterslide—a really steep one. ...
Before the headlines were screaming “Murder Hornets!!!” (officially known as Vespa mandarinia, aka “Baskin bees” ...
From the expansive windows of Courtenay resident Tom Grimmer’s dining room, the Comox Valley is laid out below ...
When I wrote the last Editor’s Letter, things were still reasonably normal in the Comox Valley. But some time ...
If you’ve never taken in a concert in a small town (think 400 peoplesmall), you may be interested in exploring the ...
"I would never have expected that house to be so inspiring...I haven’t had that much of a productive writing ...
A passion for exploration made the decision to live in a camper on the back of her Tacoma truck an easy one for ...
At 18 years old, Matt is fully submerged in wild island living. A ski instructor and fishing guide, Matt also has ...
Summer in the Amberson-Volk household is a very busy time, full of celebration and good energy. Between wedding ...
Picture a howling January morning in Campbell River. Rain pelts down on snow-covered rocks, the streets are full ...
My name is Jonah. I’m 11 years old and I live at Blind Channel on West Thurlow Island. My family has lived at ...
A community builder is someone who brings the community together, who loves to connect people with one another, ...
From the moment my head hits the pillow until first light shines through my bedroom windows, I’m thinking of food. ...
Please be advised that the following story contains a graphic description of a grizzly bear attack from the summer ...
Convincing a stone to become something else is no small task; it’s noisy, it’s dusty, it’s dirty. It is my labour ...
Campbell River photographer Moira Le Patourel has spent the last decade working around the world as an expedition ...
Sonny Assu (Ligwiłda’xw of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his ...
“Never let it be said that to dream is a waste of one’s time, for dreams are our realities in waiting. In dreams, ...
I’ve always been engrossed by the viewpoints that higher elevation grants. One of my first childhood memories as a ...
Words & Photo By
Colin Filliter
Twenty-nine and a half pounds. Twenty-four and a half pounds. Thirty-eight and a half pounds. Thirty-seven and a ...
Words & Photo By
Laurel Sliskovic
Sleeping soundly, Cole nuzzled into the duvet and Archie was curled in his favourite blanket—you would think ...
“Everything changes once you have kids.” It’s such a cliche, but one that holds true. After I had my kids I found ...
“Huh,” I think as my gaze follows the path squirming off into the forest. “I’ve never seen that trail before.” I ...
My butt sticks straight up in the air in the middle of our living room. Everyone is awake and milling about, ...
It’s only been a month since BC Minister of Education Rob Fleming announced face-to-face instruction would be ...
Family doctors are busy folk under ordinary circumstances, but with the COVID-19 pandemic about to arrive here, ...
My quads burned. I stared up the seemingly endless, brutally steep stairs, then I glanced back down the valley and ...
I’ve always loved eggs. Hard-boiled. Scrambled. Sunny-side up. Anything but poached—well, unless they’re smothered ...
How many times have you thought about how nice it would be to drive less? Maybe you want to reduce your carbon ...
Words & photo by
Dave Prothero
My name is Sam and I am 11 years old. I love to go fishing, play basketball and ride bikes, but my very favourite ...
We got together in the living rooms of cabins, converted barns, half-finished homemade houses. We ate date ...
Jo is a Comox-based artist with a passion for exploring colour, texture, and light. Using primarily acrylics, ...
Nature has always been a key part of Matt’s life. Growing up on Vancouver Island has given him countless mountains ...
Curled against you under the night sky
your touch reminds me
that my flesh is made
from the spark and dust
of ...
A rare beam of sunshine reflects off a long steel blade, catching the eyes of a pair of observers who press their ...
One of nature’s fundamentals is the way matter flows in loops, supporting life as it transforms from one state to ...
I grew up in a house where bookshelves reached the ceilings, with cascading spider plants tucked in among the ...
Words by
Nora Bingham
Cover painting by
Harry Heine
The second in our series imagining how the Comox Valley’s communities could look 20 years from ...
Soft whitecaps glisten atop cresting waves, tall green grasses dance in the wind, an eagle swoops low across ...
Words & photo by
Sophie Vigneau
Musical wizardry is something I’ve always admired, and after meeting Comox Valley luthier (guitar maker) Wyatt ...
GALLERY PHOTOS BY COLTON WILS
& TOM LAPLANTE
Throughout history, humans have been fascinated–even ...
As the sun breaks through in a brief respite on a day of steady rain, the 11 acres of the MARS Wildlife Rescue ...
I'm inching along the narrow ridge leading to 5040 Peak, a ski on either side of the crest, mushy spring snow in ...
When my kids were younger, I logged long hours at the Rotary Skypark, going half-dizzy as they performed endless ...
Air. When it’s good, we often don’t notice it. Think of a spring hike through Paradise Meadows: we may be aware of ...
History was made recently at Kumugwe, the K’ómoks Bighouse. On October 16, 2019, a ceremony was held marking the ...
Ah, spring. It’s the time when the light begins to spill over our valley again—a little longer every day—and the ...
Did you hear? Campbell River has one of the highest rates of volunteerism in the country. Therefore, by the ...
My name is Matthew Fox and I am a Sprockids Leader volunteer and overall community enthusiast here in Campbell ...
Words & Photo By
Matthew Fox
I like to refer to Vancouver Island as my beautiful corner of the world. Having grown up here in Campbell River, I ...
To the uninitiated, cricket might seem the strangest of games. In what other sport could matches last five days ...
I live near the estuary, so I walk the Raven Trail and Baikie Island on a regular basis. The estuary is also my ...
The pounding of heavy footfall, crunching on inclined gravel, is loudly competing with the sound of your laboured ...
Hi, I’m Raegen Collins and I have lived in Campbell River (CR) my whole life. It is an amazing place! I am a ...
Words & Photo By
Raegan Collins
North Island College (NIC)’s expanded and renovated Campbell River campus has transformed the look and feel of the ...
Each seed is a true miracle of life. One weighing a mere 0.8 micrograms that grows into a beautiful orchid ...
Words & Photos by
Leslie Cox
As I sit on the dock of Sonora Resort prepared for a day of fishing, I look north to see Mt. Estero looming 1649 m ...
Big cities often have large central areas where citizens can congregate. New York has Times Square, London has ...
The sky is alive with distant storm clouds, purple, broken by pockets of sunlight. Looking west across the ...
Words on the Water Writers’ Festival is typical Campbell River: unpretentious and accessible, but when experienced ...
With a big emphasis on water-based photography, Eiko Jones’s work includes images of mountains, lakes, rivers, and ...
Cathy Holfeld is an Irish graphic designer and illustrator. She was born and bred in Ireland until the Canadian ...
When thinking of where we live, I can’t help but conjure up images of lush greenery, diverse ecosystems, and ...
Bula! Pronounced “boo-la,” this is Fiji’s version of “aloha,” an all-purpose word that makes you feel instantly ...
Words and Photos by
Paige Owen
Have you ever parked at Mount Washington’s Raven Lodge and wondered about the impressive, yet solitary, building ...
My name is Kellan and I am 8. I was born here at the old hospital in Comox and have lived here my whole life. I ...
Q: What do beets, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, carrots, yuca (cassava), kohlrabi, onions, garlic, celery root (or ...
A former dog sled and kayak guide, Anouk’s paintings amplify her love for the outdoors. If she could, she would ...
Brett Kroeker is a photographer based in the Comox Valley. His deep love for outdoor adventure is perfectly paired ...
“What was that?” says Scott. His head swivels in the direction of the sound.
I raise my hand above my head and ...
Even in the darkest winter
under the frost-hardened earth
the roots are deep in discussion
through mycelium ...
You have been stuck on the glacier for three days and whatever has been stalking you is closing in. Night is ...
The stopwatch on the computer screen read four minutes and counting until the Great British Columbia ShakeOut. ...
It’s two in the morning. I just turned the last page of Kim Bannerman’s book, Bucket of Blood.
I flip through ...
This year, we’ll be exploring possible futures for the communities of the Comox Valley based on current community ...
A quick Google search on turning 40 will tell you everything from “You’re on the brink of a mid-life crisis” to ...
Gaining popularity in the mid-1950s, the modest A-frame, with its inherently simple aesthetic, defined a way of ...
The first thing you need to know about Glen Alwin Farm is that nobody involved is named Glen. Or Alwin. The people ...
It’s a Tuesday, and when the doors of St. George’s United Church hall open at 11:30am, Gail, who is 70, comes in ...
Driving north out of Courtenay on an October day, one really notices the changing seasons. The wet leaves and ...
While looking at a 1931 photo of a crew of men seated on a logging raft, long-time Cumberland resident Karl ...
Almost all the ancient civilizations identified four similar basic elements: earth, air, fire, and water. I ...
Last summer my family and I embarked on an epic journey. 10 months, 10 provinces, 25 US states, 17 Mexican states, ...
Words & Photos by
Alice Grasby
Despite the perpetual spotlight that the world of technology enjoys for “changing the world”, few technical ...
I have lived in Cumberland my whole life. I was born in October, even though I wasn’t supposed to come until ...
Board riding culture and the visual arts have always held a natural alliance, sharing a rejection of norms to ...
I’m a social guy. I love people. I love interacting with kids, adults, animals—most anybody really. If you’ve met ...
Local hunter, fisher, conservationist, and author Ralph Shaw once said, "The role of the successful fisherman and ...
Fall gives way to a darkness, where fairytales operate best. As the days grow shorter and the sun slips behind the ...
Sarah is a Comox Valley-based artist primarily working in oil painting. At the core of her practice is an ...
Viktor came to Canada from Switzerland in 1978, eventually immigrating here. He spent 13 years in Calgary before ...
“Every child, every person, needs to know that they are a source of joy; every child, every person, needs to be ...
Words & photos by
Alex Nataros
Rain: we know it well in our part of the world. But beyond the typical “wet coast” reality, water is very top of ...
[On Judgement Day] …men will cast away their idols of silver and gold—the idols they made to worship—to the moles ...
As concern for our environment spreads, we’re becoming more conscious of the ripple effects of our lifestyle. Fast ...
The idea that the dead remain with us in spirit is ancient. Cultures the world over document the presence of ...
Would you be less frightened of a ghost if you were able to greet it by name?
The Comox Valley contains many ...
It’s a long and lazy Saturday. The kids are sleeping off another busy week of school. Looking out the window, you ...
If you know what to look for, the signs of the Comox District Mountaineering Club (CDMC) are everywhere. A new log ...
Words by
Ryan Stuart
Featured photo by
Ryan Stuart
Our heritage house was built in 1895 with the proceeds of a hip-length gold chain carried over the Chilkoot Pass. ...
Owls are a fascinating subject rife with symbolism, mythology, and contentious conservationism. No Halloween would ...
PETER GEE: CONNECTOR
If you recently arrived in the Comox Valley and found a family doctor with little trouble, ...
My boyfriend, Curtis Blackburn, and I love to be in the mountains. Although we spend most of our time in ...
As I roll over a small bump in the slope, a voice calls out to move out further to the edge of the run on skier’s ...
“I discovered mountain rivers late, for I was a prairie child… All I knew was that it was pure delight to be where ...
It was a warm summer afternoon when I first met Comox Valley Art Gallery (CVAG) Executive Director Sharon Karsten ...
Nearly invisible, a fishing net drifts within the dark waters off the western shores of Vancouver Island. As a ...
Jessica likes to eat her pot. Preferably in a gummy. But it could be years before she can buy them legally at a ...
Escape. Run away. Get lost. Get free.
Last winter, when the long stretch of darkness was at its most ...
Ian McKenzie sees things.
These hallucinations started when he was a kid. He would hear voices while sitting ...
Desperately pinching limestone tufas and underclinging stalactites, I tried hard, like full-body core-strength ...
I have lived in the same place my whole life, in a smallish house in deep west Courtenay, near the river, forest, ...
Ava Luna is a professional henna and visual artist born and raised on Vancouver Island and new to the Comox ...
Dave Ingram is a photographer and naturalist based on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He currently works as a ...
It is amazing to stand on the shores of Comox Lake and consider the vast amount of water it contains. With a ...
Many people living in the Comox Valley develop a sense of adventure. We are blessed by forests, beaches, ...
In 1927, it was a day like any other for Peter Bardesonno as he clocked in alongside his father Jossepi for ...
For two decades it traveled and camped with couples and families, as most RVs do, but for the past 10 years the ...
The world of photography is broad and has no boundaries. Perhaps this is why so many people are drawn to it. But ...
What is yarn bombing? Some people call it art. Others call it craft. Some call it a nuisance and a waste of ...
Standing in the golden hayfields that roll down to the ocean’s edge, I look over the sparkling water to the ...
When it comes to doing drugs, Adam isn’t interested in getting high. “I’m a busy man,” the 49 year-old creative ...
No one wants to be told what to eat. Food sharing is at the core of culture, group identity, and pleasure. Just ...
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, thriving mining, logging, and fishing industries in the Comox Valley led to ...
MO MOSHIRI: EXPLORER
“I’ve been a traveller since I was three,” says Comox-based MC, songwriter, and producer ...
We descended into a magical underworld. Giant, spider-like cave crickets filled the vast corridors of karst ...
Words & Painting
Nick Hutton-Jay
My heart races and my hands shake as I check my lines for the third time. My speedwing is neatly laid out on the ...
Storytelling originates underground. It’s the job of a writer to drag little known stories to the surface. ...
No matter where I’ve ended up on this journey, the coast has always called me back and the surf has kept me sane. ...
Words & Photos by
Andrew Talbot
Once upon a time, my grade seven teacher took our class on a road trip from our interior town of Kamloops to the ...
The 2014 annual general meeting of the Comox Valley Road Runners (CVRR) was winding down when something ...
My name is Justin, and I am a very active boy who loves the outdoors. My favourite summer sports are BMX racing ...
Alex Maertz is an illustrator based on the west coast. Born a stone’s throw from the woods, she instinctively ...
Paige Owen is a photographer and graphic designer based in the Comox Valley. She takes inspiration from her ...
We live in an incredible rainforest. Part of the wonder of our local geography is the amazing old-growth trees ...
Take a moment and listen to your breath. Inside it is the cadence of the ocean, the push and pull of an endless ...
Words & featured photo by
Laurissa Cebryk
Gallery photo by
Mélina Lamoreux
The Baynes Sound herring spawn in March is a spectacle, and the largest of its kind. About 38% of all the herring ...
For the past 15 years, I’ve spent summers working as a kayak guide leading multi-day trips, mostly in the waters ...
It was the 1880s and “The Great Salmon Industry” was in its golden years on the British Columbia coast. Entire ...
Words & Photos by
Oriana Smy
His name is Kumugwe (pronounced “koo-moo-gwee”). He lives in a mansion made of precious metals, is revered as a ...
The red embers of cigarettes glow through a thick fog. It’s 6am and workers outside the processing plant at Mac’s ...
Since 2011, Victoria Hospice Society has been organizing the Cycle of Life Tour, in which people from all over ...
I’d heard of Ecuador for years: stories of great rivers, easy transportation, and friendly people. Now was the ...
Words & Photos by
Dave Prothero
The life of a Tibetan Buddhist monk is often assumed to take place in a remote monastery with complete detachment ...
Every person is made up of water. The Comox Valley Art Gallery Youth Media Project is nine folks coming together ...
Words & Photos by
Paige Brown
At one time she was probably a sporty trimaran, moored inside Comox Harbour. Then, during a fall wind storm her ...
ERIC RUSH: EXPLORER
To put it mildly, Eric Rush is pretty fond of road biking. A member of Courtenay’s Riverway ...
I’m tied to the dock as a gale grows outside the protection of the bay. Snow is piling up on the sailboat, but ...
Words & Photo by
April Bencze
Under the steady gaze of the Comox Glacier, looking east to the Strait of Georgia, the airfield at Canadian Forces ...
Walk into any garage in Canada and you’re likely to find a hockey stick or two, tucked in a corner or shoved ...
On a late October day, a pale sun shines through sparse golden leaves, making sparkles on the Orford River. I know ...
When my Mom asked me what I wanted to write about for the CV Collective, I said climate change! It’s a big problem ...
I am a mother bear, yoga instructor and acrylic artist living in the village of Cumberland. I spend as much time ...
Living in the rugged, rain-soaked wilds of rural British Columbia, Sheryl finds ample inspiration in her own ...
When people in the community fear getting sued for speaking freely about a controversial land development ...
Have you ever wondered about parked cars at the side of Highway 19, near the bridge about three kilometres south ...
Words & Photo by
Pat Trask
I can safely say that mountain snow sports are for pretty much everyone. Think about it. With downhill skiing and ...
Around 11am on a sunny Monday, Dan Espeseth, Sean Manara, and Chris Hancock show up for work. Instead of riding to ...
If you live close to a ski hill, the couch surfer is a species you’re intimately familiar with. Much print space ...
Despite living on the water in the Valley, you have few options for surfing and it helps to get creative. I met ...
NAZANEEN DIZAI: CONNECTOR
Nazaneen Dizai brings ideas and people together. Whether in the corporate heart of ...
Words & Photos
Ross Bodenmann
We are made of the place we came from. If you eat locally and don’t drink bottled water, your body becomes a ...
Jane Wilde and Monika Terfloth are waiting for me at a patio on 5th Street. Not far from here, Terfloth once ...
Words by
Allie Jenkinson
Photos courtesy of
Jane Wilde
It’s a crisp November morning and the autumn sun has just breached the Beaufort mountains, casting gold and pink ...
Dance has always been a significant part of Cathy Stoyko’s life. Her mother was a ballroom dance teacher, and with ...
The rivers of the Comox Valley are made in the winter. All season long, drop by drop, the rain falls and they ...
Our trip to South Africa was twelve years in the making. In 2006, my mother returned to her native homeland to be ...
Words & Photos by
Andy Phillips
Mt Colonel Foster is among the most impressive peaks on Vancouver Island. Its east face rises over 1000 metres and ...
Words & Photos by
Tyler Bellows
Driving on Comox Road along the Courtenay River estuary and through the K’ómoks Nation’s Number 1 reserve, it’s ...
Corwin Fox is very hard to get a hold of.
If you’ve emailed him recently, you’ve received an automatic reply ...
The dough stretches and resists my hands as I roll it on the floured surface. As I work, the aroma of yeast ...
If there was ever a time to exercise your democratic right to vote, it's now. Across the globe, research has shown ...
Words by
Andrew Findlay
Illustration by
Ian Adams
I enjoy a good local holiday, and one of the best things about living on Vancouver Island is the abundance of ...
I came across a photo box recently containing pictures of a summer my family spent in a rented cottage at Penn ...
I was sitting in a ceramics class attempting to blow into a hand-built vessel when the spark for glass blowing ...
On a sunny afternoon six years ago while riding my motorcycle home from Campbell River on the Old Island Highway, ...
I am a true introvert, my husband a true extrovert. Which means we spend a lot of time telling each other how ...
I feel most at home in vast wilderness landscapes. Here, the bears and wildflowers alike are my equals, and the ...
Words & Photos by
Leah Ballin
If you live on Vancouver Island, you are blessed with an abundance of places to experience the raw and rugged ...
Hi, my name is Naomi and I’m currently a student at Cumberland Community School. I've lived in Cumberland for ...
“You know what I’ve been doing,” says Sarah Neufeld exuberantly, on the phone from the back of a Toronto taxi. ...
134 years ago, the Canadian Government introduced legislation to ban the P'a_sa, or Potlach, in an attempt to ...
When you think about your high school experience, what comes to mind? The friendships, sports, or parties? Maybe ...
Drive northwest past the ferry line-ups, strip malls, and highways choked with RVs. Carry on until you’re out of ...
Words & Photos by
Tim Ennis
Let’s face it, cycling is less of a chore when you have a growler of local craft beer, fresh herbs, and a few ...
Fresh water flows through the Kingfisher Oceanside Resort and Spa’s new Serenity Garden. The soothing sound of ...
If you could divide people into two categories, there would be those who spend their lives taking from the planet, ...
The A-frame is an architectural style that needs little explanation, aptly named for its high peak and steep ...
If you dare to live a life of infinite possibility and opportunity, it is essential to understand how comfort can ...
In December 2016, discussions in my house revolved around setting goals to keep active. Friends had completed the ...
In Cumberland, the community and forest are inexorably linked. Whether we explore the woods as athletes or ...
I don’t think I truly understood the word “bittersweet” before I became a mother. When I watch my son play with ...
Antarctica is the coldest, driest, and windiest of earth’s continents. Though it’s a region of extremes, it’s much ...
Words & Photos by
Gordon Ross
Every second week, a group of adults varying in age and background meets at the beautiful Abbey Studio, a ...
Eric Greene’s mornings are different from most people’s. The New York city-based 36 year-old wakes before dawn, ...
Words by
Mike B
Photos by
Lucy Laucht
For many, spring means decadent chocolate Easter eggs and sunny daffodils. For others it’s the first taste of our ...
When the days grow short and the nights grow long, the foggy village of Cumberland starts to slow down. But in a ...
Near the end of July 1918, the blackberries were just starting to ripen, a welcome development for the hungry ...
Though the Comox Valley leaves little to be desired for the Island’s mountain biking community, our excitement ...
At 11 years old and growing up in the Comox Valley, I am lucky to be exposed to a lot of culture and experiences. ...
Both of my parents emigrated from Europe to Canada soon after WW2. People of the Netherlands, like other ...
A herd of Roosevelt Elk browses willows in a bog near the Mount Cain turnoff. Nearby, a pack of wolves lie hunched ...
Blissful, haunting, enchanting, and tranquil are just words on this flat piece of paper in black and white. ...
We’re familiar with boom and bust on the west coast, with the effect of a fluctuating economy challenging us all. ...
Words & Photos by
Ross Bodenmann
In the small coastal towns of BC, long-time locals are often suspicious of newcomers. Yet when former professional ...
American sociologist Matthew Desmond said that housing is absolutely essential to human flourishing. These days, ...
Words & Photo by
RJ Herron
High on the verdant slope of Forbidden Plateau rests a craftsman lodge overlooking the Salish Sea. Though the area ...
Long known as “the cultural heart of Courtenay,” the Native Sons Hall is the most historical and iconic building ...
Bowen Technique involves a gentle yet dynamic system of muscle and connective tissue moves, which balance the body ...
A barefoot walk in the soft moss, slowly and with intent, senses heightened, just to witness the scampering of a ...
To some, it’s the Village in the Forest, to others simply “Cumby.”
But to those of us who crave the mud ...
Words by
Ryan Parton
Image supplied by
DODGE CITY
Do I love my mountain bike or dirt bike more?
When I was four years old, I saw a dirt bike in a book and became ...
Open. It brings to mind not one singular definition but a refusal of its opposites. Stubbornness. Inflexibility. A ...
In the late seventies, Sandra Dykstra skied into Skoki Lodge, an historical backcountry destination in the ...
Words & Photos by
Jenn Dykstra
Nala'atsi is a word in the Kwak'wala language with more than one meaning, but one in particular conveys what we’re ...
My favourite things about living in Black Creek are that my house is close to my school, which is nice, and also ...
Hallucinations. Feelings of bliss or excitement. A turbo-charged memory. Chocolate and cheese, those classic ...
“Nature abhors a vacuum.” This is what Jeff Jones, the secretary of Mount Cain’s board, used to say. And then ...
What a difference a year makes. I’m watching a small train of two-foot waves roll through a pack of paddlers at ...
If you’re of a certain age, you’ve likely watched Flashdance. As a full-blown Gen Xer, I’ve watched this iconic ...
Words & Photo by
Bevin Clempson
Calm gravity of a misty morning rise —
Waves tickle the shoreline into a smile.
Cricket song lingers, entangled ...
While California’s Marin County is credited with the invention of mountain biking, there is little debate that ...
Words by
Mike B
Photo by
Amy Kumler
Armed with a limited budget, dedicated volunteers, and a substantial amount of exuberance, the Downtown Courtenay ...
Words & photos by
Ross Bodenmann
GALLERY PHOTOS BY SARAH KEER
& KAIN MCCOLLUM
There is a well known Western idiom that “work is a means to ...
Words by
Dave Nowak
Opening photo by
KAIN McCOLLUM
Shinrin-yoku, sometimes known as “forest bathing,” is simply the act of being mindful and present in the forest ...
“I just want to wake up one day, open the company’s books, and not see the Field Sawmill property there,” John ...
Words by
Tim Ennis
Featured photo by
Robert Lundquist
YANA’s Executive Director Marcie Dumais has agreed to meet me at their office in Tin Town. I’m a few minutes ...
Avalanche forecasting on Vancouver Island is getting a boost this winter thanks to the installation of two remote ...
I grew up in a cheaply thrown together subdivision in Fort McMurray, erected during Alberta’s oil boom. Surrounded ...
In my 20s I was thrilled by the promise of a blank slate. I moved often, believing each new location was rich with ...
Back in the seventies, Glen and Kathy Beaton got married then saved enough money to buy 47 acres in Black Creek. ...
My first impressions of Peru came on a domestic flight between Lima and Cusco. Bleary eyed after 20 hours of ...
Words & Photos by
Sara Kempner
I met Cyril Werlen from cascadianwoodtech almost a year ago in our favourite coffee shop. Unbeknownst to me, this ...
When I was a little girl in the 1960s, we’d play hand games to amuse ourselves: cat’s cradle, shadow puppets, and ...
The sun rises from the east, cresting over the peaks of Salt Spring Island to bring light to the little village of ...
Words & Photos by
Chris Istace
My husband Kyle and I grew up in the Comox Valley, both of us lovingly raised on the family farms started by our ...
I have always loved reading, but fell hard for books when I was eight. We were living in an amateur’s converted ...
The Purple Martins swirl and swoop in the air above my head, their bright chirping punctuating the sound of the ...
By his own admission, James Emslie has a knack for making modern things from other people’s discarded items. His ...
There’s a new sign up at the Harbour Centre building in Comox that maybe doesn’t quite fit with the other ...
Summer lays down to sleep in the cool woods. The crisp fall air wakens. Trails of dark wet earth wind through the ...
The map of British Columbia is festooned with splotches of green, and we've got the granddaddy of them all—2500sq ...
In 1874 in Kirksville, Missouri, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still pioneered a form of manual therapy that emphasized the ...
We live in an agriculturally rich region where traditions converge to create a sophisticated local food culture. ...
Words by
RJ Herron
Photos by
Amy Shaw
Over the years, I’ve quietly contemplated whether I have the skills—and the lady balls—to try roller derby. It’s a ...
After returning from an extended period of travel, in our case driving a van to South America for 18 months, one ...
“I had no idea they made planes this small…it’s so cute. What a lovely scenic flight. Oh, look at Quadra and ...
I’m standing at the sink, doing the dishes, washing out the plastic yoghurt pot before tossing it into the ...
As we stood at the bottom of the twenty-one steps leading to the main entrance of the former Royston schoolhouse ...
We have much to celebrate in the Comox Valley.
Aside from spectacular scenery and a host of ways to amuse ...
As You Like It Products & Catering epitomizes the farm-to-table approach to food production and service. Chef, ...
Words & photo by
RJ Herron
1 Start with a stainless steel saltwater hook, in sizes 4 to 8. Pinch the barb with pliers to produce a smooth ...
It was sometime in April, while I was sitting in my chiropractor’s office, having just injured my back filling our ...
When I arrived at Material Creative’s studio in Cumberland, an unseasonable rain was falling and the air was cool. ...
My journey to Denman begins on their new cable ferry, and while that part is surely different than the journey in ...
It's 5:30 a.m., April 15, 1942. The full dark of night is just lifting. Suitcases are packed and weighed and ...
Many can say they have travelled to countries and continents around the world, tasted food from the most exotic of ...
Words & photos by
Ben Neufeld
On the water, the fastest way between two points is rarely a straight line. Sailing, surfing, paddling, it's all ...
Picture a small boy sitting on a tall drafting stool, drawing rocket ships, submarines, and houses – sculptural, ...
They say you should stop and smell the roses if you want to enjoy the journey. I’ve discovered my own ...
Words & photos by
Wendy L Macdonald
The setting of The Fanny Bay Candle Company is pastoral. Donalda Lauzon and her husband Randy greet me while ...
As editor of the Watershed Sentinel, B.C.’s award-winning “scrappy” environmental magazine, Delores Broten has ...
The Comox Glacier is such an iconic mountain for the Comox Valley. Since moving here in the fall of 2006, it’s ...
Words & photos by
Sarah Hauser
As a very young child, I enjoyed my mum reading to me the story of Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling. It is ...
Words & photos by
Tim Ennis
Our world is busy. We invite stress and then wonder why our bodies fail us. We refuse to listen, but expect ...
Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society (MARS) is a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre where over 700 injured and ...
I am not sure if Kerouac had any idea when he was writing his iconic novel On the Road, that the idea of the road ...
The air will be fragrant with the smell of smoking salmon and the shores lined with thousands of visitors who’ve ...
EARLY MEMORIES
One of my earliest memories is on the beach. I am six years old and I am standing next to my dad ...
It's about time. We're a food region. But the food truck movement is only just starting to make itself felt in the ...
At the tender young age of eight, while attending Quadra Elementary School, Cody LaFrance (Beaver) was assigned a ...
There's always a day in mid-March when I peruse the veggie aisle at the grocery store feeling dejected. Despite ...
Each issue of this magazine is a journey of its own. It takes its first steps with simple ideas, drifts to making ...
Bryan Walwork got serious about photography when he learned to develop film and print at age 12. In 2002, he ...
Merville Organics is a food grower cooperative made up of several Comox Valley farms including Amara Farm, Ripple ...
Julie Sabey's creative work has, until recently, only been viewed on screens. Her writing and directing career has ...
The principals of rainwater harvesting have remained the same for centuries: collect and contain clean ...
Words by
Mark Miard
Illustration by
Ian Adams
Keep a childlike curiosity in search of life’s miraculous delight.
I celebrated my 85th ...
In the 1980s, I was living in a subdivision in the suburbs just north of Toronto. On any given Saturday afternoon ...
Tucked away in the northwest corner of Vietnam, with China to the north and Laos to the west, is the frontier town ...
Words & Photos by
Lindsay Elms
You know the expression, "Never trust a man with a moustache?" Well the same goes for a wealthy man in a top hat. ...
When I was a Merville-raised teenager turning 19, my father wanted to take me for a beer on my birthday. Becoming ...
Daffodils, snowdrops, pussy willows, and crocuses are popping up madly, desperate to attract the attention of some ...
Do you love walking along the ocean while the tide ebbs and flows? Are you a fan of sunsets pouring spectacular ...
The idea of market farming became a possibility for us after visiting the Comox Valley and falling in love with ...
Words & photos
Sarah Kehler
It doesn’t feel like there are 500 seats inside the fairly boxy, grey, glass building at the corner of 5th Street ...
The kiln has been firing for six hours. Brilliant orange light is emanating from every crack in the brickwork. The ...
Words & Photo by
Jeff Brett
With stunning visuals and captivating words April Bencze is reconnecting humans with the natural world. Her ...
Interview & photo by
Ross Bodenmann
“Man must make himself small and humble to live in [nature] rather than a ruthless giant to conquer it”
– ...
Words & photos by
Tim Ennis
Ever since I can remember, the Comox Valley has been growing and expanding, but it’s only in the last four or five ...
Comox Valley Transition Society started in 1987 with one employee and a small group of volunteers. Today, in its ...
Before the Coal Hills BMX Track in Cumberland opened in 2007, my loving parents shuttled me to Nanaimo several ...
What is that? A question often posed by onlookers as Comox Valley Canoe Racing Club (CVCRC) members cart a 44ft, ...
We’re spoiled for choice when it comes to high-quality food and beverage producers in the Comox Valley. ...
The first time I ate an heirloom tomato I had my doubts. I was never a tomato lover.
I’d seen too many sandwiches ...
So often we think of hypnosis as a magic trick or simply good for a laugh. My first experience with hypnosis was ...
When I moved to the Comox Valley as a new-ish parent, thinking about things like good schools felt far off. Since ...
I hold my breath, feeling a trickle of cold that distracts me for a second; there must be a hole in my suit from ...
This season, rivers and streams swell and grow like open hearts and minds, reminding us what we’ve left behind and ...
Vol. 10 Intro by
Julie Sabey
Photo by
Tim Ennis
At the end of a road in Black Creek, in the heart of our region’s agricultural belt, my daughter Cadence and I ...
Announce to the world that you're unwell, whether via a hangover or an outsourced ailment, and there's a good ...
The coffeehouse dates back to the Middle East, with origination suggested as early as the late 1400s, where they ...
If you're a true powder junkie, you're always on the hunt for the deepest, softest, and fluffiest snow. I live my ...
Words & Photos by
Max Oudendag
The rain patters the roof. Again. It feels like every morning for the last week started this way. Me lying in bed, ...
Mention to someone that you want to live off-the-grid and it will conjure up images of a smoke-filled tarpaper ...
In its infancy, much of the development of Vancouver Island was the result of exploration and the search for ...
They’ve been compared to a hive of bees trapped in a mailbox. If there’s truth to this metaphor, don’t be ...
Words by
Kerry Hale
Photos by
SauvAir
Smooth leather reins are held tightly in the hands of a nervous six year old who is guiding an eternally patient ...
Words & Photos by
Kyle Hansen
I’ve been a knitter most of my life. I consider it a sort of meditation. In the past, it felt novel, or cute, to ...
Whether it’s hanging out with High Lamas in the Himalayas, studying palaeontology in Drumheller, hosting poetry ...
Interview & Photo by
Ross Bodenmann
A high level of competency and skill is required in order to function in the high-risk environment of search and ...
Hi, my name is Zakary Wallace Baikie and I live in Campbell River.
My favourite sports are skiing, mountain ...
As you walk through the sliding door of the barn, the smell of the earth is the first thing you notice; then, the ...
Navigation is integral to our daily lives. It’s not just for seafarers, mountaineers or explorers, but a learned ...
Upon moving to the Comox Valley at age seven, I developed a newfound appreciation and sense of amazement at the ...
Fall, winter, and spring storms rolling in from the Pacific push strong winds up the Georgia Strait, where they’re ...
By the time you read this I will have awoken from my first ski dream of the winter; the one where I’m ...
Mind. Body. Heart. Spirit. The experience of communal singing nourishes them all. The Comox Valley is rich in ...
The opportunities we have, the choices we make, and the decisions we face each day determine how our life will ...
As the light dims, we must find ways to fill our hearts, challenge our minds, and keep our bodies healthy. We turn ...
In these days of shifting consciousness around food production and consumption, it’s encouraging to meet a young ...
Turn waste into earth! Composting completes the life cycle as organic waste becomes humus, and feeds new organic ...
Words & photo by
Joyce McMenamon
Dialect is a small design studio based in the Comox Valley that was created by Alex Dunae and Nik Szymanis in ...
Words & Photos by
Jamie McCue
There are really only two ways to understand what’s going on in the world. Argue about it over good beer (my ...
Roll into Cumberland on Wednesday evenings from late April to early October and you will spot a group of about ...
My first experience hunting was with my dad. Over the years I've made many great hunting buddies, but the biggest ...
Cyclocross, as a type of racing, tends to be limited to a clearly defined race season here on Vancouver Island. ...
Port Alberni is no stranger to overcoming adversity. In 1964, a powerful tsunami flooded homes, flipped over cars, ...
If art is the reflection of community, the Comox Valley Community Arts Council holds the mirror. For almost 50 ...
The stalwart CEO of the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce has been going to bat for local business people since ...
As a tour guide for the Cumberland Museum, I am drawn to stories of people within our local history—I read family ...
In the past I have waxed poetic about the beauty of wood; how it can be shaped, molded, and finished. But wood is ...
My earliest memory of holding a fly rod was on the Cowichan River, at the age of seven, in April, with a lively ...
The local food movement is often seen as the antithesis of ‘fast food’. These three Comox Valley food providers ...
Hello, my name is Molly McCue and I am 10 years old. I have lived in the Comox Valley my whole life. First we ...
I once practiced yoga regularly. During good stretches, I was attending class two to three days per week, and ...
Words & Photos by
Bevin Clempson
Imagine a library. Books lining the shelves, open ceilings, and the wonderful smell of endless possibilities ...
Monday night in the Comox Valley means it must be orchestra night! Over 60 community minded musicians from across ...
British Columbia is home to more biological diversity than any other Canadian province or territory. This ‘species ...
Words & Photo by
Tim Ennis
The slightly dewy grass is freshly cut, filling the air with the sweet smell of familiarity. The painted white ...
I love the way our mysterious and beautiful world works. At a time in my life when I am practicing being evermore ...
Fishing may be one of the planets oldest professions, but Estevan Tuna is all about innovation. Bruce and Dianne ...
Growing and canning their own fruits and vegetables has been a tradition in the Brown Family for over four ...
A great thing about living in coastal British Columbia is the awareness that we inhabit ecological communities as ...
Vancouver Island is both a world-class tourism destination and desirable place to work, live, and play. Its 30,000 ...
When it comes to 3D printing it’s easy to fall into the trap of simplicity. When I first got involved with this ...
“I don't film what I see, I film what I feel” explains Marek Zaleski, as I carefully navigate my rusty old '94 ...
An experience in cultural, historical, and outdoor exploration, Alert Bay on Cormorant Island is a photographer’s ...
I was raised by an artist. She painted signs, designed graphics, papier mâché'd masks, and rearranged and ...
Everyone knows the old adage that eating an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Would you eat ten? How about ten or ...
If you ask any local about things to see in the Comox Valley, there’s a strong chance they’ll mention places like ...
Words by
Keisha Everson
Featured photo by
John Kelsey
They say necessity is the mother of all inventions, and that’s ever apparent when hearing the story of how the now ...
Words by
Dave Nowak
Featured photo by
Jenn Dykstra
If you’ve been in the valley for a while, you’ve most likely heard of Bronco Moncrief. He grew up in the Village ...
The leap of faith challenges just about anyone. Standing at the top of a telephone pole, at the Tribune Bay ...
They have distinct products and personal journeys, but their motivation is shared: your skin is your body's ...
The most profound way of connecting with myself and with the natural world is through kayaking. Part of the ...
I’m nine years old and sooooo lucky to be born in the Comox Valley. Everyday there’s some new adventure. We have ...
Imagine living a childhood without water flowing from the tap or food in the fridge. Imagine having to huddle ...
The Museum at Campbell River is a pure gem with outstanding permanent gallery exhibits, inspiring and thought ...
Words & Photos by
Mary Ruth Snyder
For those of us fortunate to live in the Comox Valley, we find ourselves encompassed by mountains, lakes, ocean, ...
Words & Photos by
Sara Kempner
The air is electric and alive with energy. Cumberland is packed with people. 600 competitors from all over the ...
PHOTO BY SVEN KARSHOLT
Branches of the same tree, nurtured by roots from the same source.
While many people ...
With an abundance of arable land, an increasingly motivated farm to table food scene, and an array of seasoned ...
Many of us fear to take risks. Fear to surrender. Fear the outcome.
Although this life is altogether calm and ...
From the coasts of the Indian Ocean to our north Pacific paradise, Ceylon Cuisine brings the warmth of their ...
“As a family physician, death is a part of my every day at work. As a father, it was the furthest thing from my ...
This story has the feel of a fairy tale. For some it’s been just that, a tale of unrealized dreams. Until now. ...
An endless coastline, mild climate, and constant ocean breeze are all part of life on Vancouver Island. Most ...
Words & Photos by
Sarah Seads
As my floatplane touches down in Sechelt Inlet on the Sunshine Coast, a feeling of calm comes over me and I am ...
Being outside is one of the most important parts of my life; it’s the only way my body works. I’d crack if I ...
I love my job.
Not only do I spend five mornings a week with preschoolers, I get to do it in the beautiful ...
The process and eventual outcome of furniture craft provides a necessary staple around which some of the most ...
“It’s getting too damn warm in the Salish Sea,” explains aquatic ecologist Bill Heath. He goes on to tell me about ...
Words by
Tim Ennis
Opening photo by
Grant Callegari
A light rain is trying to fall, but it’s more of a mist in the air that clings to eyelashes and hangs, tremulous ...
While the idea of collecting fresh eggs at home sounds idyllic, don’t think you can wing it. Like most things ...
Words & Photos by
Rebekah Kenway
Since it was first discovered, fire has been heating our caves, huts and homes. But wood-burning heat has not been ...
Memories line a wall of Gord Schreiner’s humble office; the decorated history of one man’s relationship with his ...
When the dismissal bell rings at Cumberland Community School, the day is far from over. Students gather for ...
I was a child of the ‘80s and ‘90s. If you were too, your childhood was probably filled with cartoons, sugary ...
In my happy place, I’m away from the world and all its noise. I’m free from unnecessary thought and distraction. ...
Not so long ago, before real estate prices in Vancouver entered the realm of the absurd, the band Bob’s Yer Uncle, ...
One of the things I love about living in Comox is being able to ride my bike to the marina to go sailing.
Like ...
There's a simple metric for the health of a river—can fish live in it?
The Tsolum River meanders lazily through ...
Floating lazily in the glassy, calm waters of Shearwater Passage, our boat tied off to the mooring buoy, we get ...
Words & Photos by
Eiko Jones
One of my crewmembers refers to spot prawn fishing as sea gambling, and in many ways it’s true. Our industry is ...
In our work to protect and conserve forests around Cumberland, arguments are presented about water quality, ...
To make things happen, we connect. It’s the spark from these connections that makes us feel alive. I came to be ...
Handmade, gluten free and using 100 per cent certified-organic ingredients, Abuelo’s tortillas are a delicious, ...
Words & Photos by
Ross Bodenmann
Strike inwards on foot from Vancouver Island’s inhabited perimeter and, in a few hours walk beyond the strip ...
Words & Paintings by
Clive Powsey
The summer months have faded into fall as many look forward to the winter adventures the Comox Valley has to ...
When I arrive at Horne Lake caves, I’m warned by the guide that “it will be wet.” Myles leads us to Main Cave. ...
Quadra Island is the kind of place that offers free wood, free books, free money, and free hugs; the kind of place ...
Contrary to the expansive vision of the young, it’s often the tiny details where we live the largest parts of ...
It took momentous effort to get to the top of this hill and I celebrate the fact that I haven’t vomited on Mt. ...
Words by
Sandra Szabo
Photo by
In a list of quintessential Comox Valley events, it can be argued that the World Community Film Festival sits ...
There may be no finer view in the Comox Valley than the one from the top of Mount Becher in mid-winter. On a ...
Words by
Ryan Stuart
Illustration by
Ian Adams
Desperately clinging to a blob of wall-mounted epoxy plastic can be considered a contrived experience by many rock ...
I pulled up to my desk with a fresh Earl Grey and Carolans. It was a sunny afternoon to begin what I thought would ...
It was a moment that I knew I would cherish long after the crowd departed. I stood in Village Park during The Big ...
An authentic Italian Circus Tent was shipped half way around the planet to Vancouver Island this past summer. It ...
Roaming north along Royston’s Union Colliery Line, the air is damp and heavy with the scent of smoke wafting from ...
Words & Photos by
Bevin Clempson
Adventure is dirty business. With piles of gear comes the need for novel ways to store, stow and transport gear ...
Emilly Johnston is a force of nature on local singletrack. At only 13 years old, Johnston is quickly establishing ...
A bucket bumps gently against my hip, filling slowly with ripe purple-black berries. This is high summer gathering ...
Words & Photos by
Kristy Pedersen
The wearable art of jewellery has been a form of self-expression for millennia. These adornments have been seen as ...
Oscar was a beautiful, flamed point feline who lived out his days on sunny counter tops and in the laps of locals ...
Three years ago I first laid eyes on a Kindred snowboard in a local sporting goods consignment store. The top ...
It’s Saturday morning at Mount Cain. The 50 centimetres of new, inbound snow is becoming tracked out. You begin to ...
One of our most memorable experiences in the Comox Valley began on March 1, 2015, when we received an email from a ...
I was born in the Comox hospital overlooking the ocean and trees and mountains. As soon as I was born I was ...
Marla Limousin and her husband George are the fermentation alchemists conjuring up the innovative wines coming out ...
While it is a small community of athletes, it is a passionate community that craves what most others dread, the ...
When I moved up to the Comox Valley from Victoria over 10 years ago, I noticed a huge lack of what I call ‘good’ ...
Dull, dark and rainy days are inevitable during winter on Vancouver Island, but thanks to a local gem shining ...
In the fall of 2011 I walked away from my role as the director of a big-budget video game production at a studio ...
There is a deep-rooted satisfaction in food production for both commercial and personal use. On the outside, the ...
Words by
Nik Dunn
Photos by
Nik Dunn
Though Comox Lake is a short drive from Cumberland’s west end, past the Chinese town site and a quaint collection ...
Trail building in Cumberland dates back to the 1980s, when a freewheeling group of tree planters and mountain ...
Our associations with the notion of inspiration are more fiction than fact, made evident by the familiar image of ...
Lia Cormick launched Clever Crow about three years ago at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market selling herbs, spices ...
Words & Photos by
Ross Bodenmann
Four ingredients: water, malt (usually barley), yeast, and hops. Beer. A simple recipe but such a complex ...
Halfway through Joy District's set, the power to their bass, both guitars, and all four microphones cut out. On ...
From a converted classroom on the second floor of NIC’s Discovery Hall, Albert Balbon is changing the way students ...
Why not tea? Growing up on a farm on a Hornby Island farm with summers spent working on a commercial fish boat ...
It’s the last weekend in October, and like so many salmon to their spawning grounds I find myself once again in a ...
Spring rolls around and you find yourself back in the truck, bouncing along on your way to the cut-block. What ...
I moved to Powell River when I was 12. At that time it was just another mill town where the primary goals in life ...
“Colby is a Swiss army knife. He pretty much does it all. James is our IT guy,” explains Jason (‘action’) Jackson. ...
Get on Board is a Comox Valley based registered non-profit organization which uses board sports-surf/skate/snow ...
The cats were intensely focused, only glancing at me before returning their focus to my dog Taz, a large German ...
We all have a virtual playlist running through our minds that gets us from one day to the next. Music can inspire ...
The intrepid leader of the Pantuso Dance Studio is a professional dancer, singer and performer in his own right. ...
There are many reasons to make fun of the French–their philandering presidents, that air of cultural superiority ...
The Comox Valley enjoys a reputation for clean living, and rightly so. With inviting beaches meandering along vast ...
Imagine no commute to work, more time for sleep and leisurely mornings, flexible hours, no boss, more family time, ...
Screen-printing is enjoying a resurgence on a worldwide scale, in part because the industrial/functional side is ...
Walking along the old Wellington Railway trail where alder, hard hack and osier dogwood create a bower of ...
Words by
Dawn Copeman
Featured photos by
Ed Brooks
It doesn’t matter whether you have tried yoga, or not. Whether you’re good at it, or not. Yoga isn’t really about ...
I once met a witch in a cafe in Cairo who told me that I was a lot like the season autumn. She explained, that for ...
Arguably one of the only constants that exist in our world is the reality that nothing is constant. Change itself ...
Rolling down the Comox Valley Parkway in a white stretch limousine isn’t a regular occurrence in my every day. ...
From skipping stones to devouring ice cream cones, Comox Lake is a fond place for childhood memories. I enjoyed ...
Words & Photos by
Amanda Shpeley
It can be defined as ability, force or potential. Some call it influence or pressure, others relate it to ...
The Comox Lake watershed is beautiful. The bird’s eye view is truly epic. Crystal clear icy water flows down from ...
1. CHOOSING YOUR SEEDS
A blend of Mesclun mix, oriental greens, or lettuce mix for raised beds or container ...
Words & Photos by
Rowan Helliwell
When Sandra McClintock wanted to build a cottage dairy at the family farm, there was too much business ...
The streets and alleys of downtown Courtenay look considerably different in the first week of June. It could be ...
It is almost unfair to attempt to capture the extraordinary beauty of Elk Falls in photos or film. Neither come ...
I can’t imagine our backyard without the sweet scent and gentle hum of the hives. At this time of year our girls ...
Healing Bliss Botanicals inspires people to nurture their bodies and restore themselves and the planet through the ...
It is perhaps one of the most quintessential views in the Comox Valley. The spit wrapping its sandy arm around the ...
“I used to race Lasers when I was a kid” is what I wrote on the new member release form. A half-truth. It should ...
Gone are the days of bundled up rides, getting home with frozen toes, and wet rain jackets. Today, we leave the ...
Words & photo by
Kyle Hansen
Galiano Island rests half way between the urbanized areas of Victoria and Vancouver, and yet retains a splendid ...
After two ferry rides and a quick jaunt across Denman Island, you arrive on Hornby Island, the gem of the Gulf ...
You see their work in commercials and movies but you never know who they are or how they do it. They represent the ...
On a summer afternoon with life jacket-less tubers bobbing by, teenagers jumping off cliffs and dogs fetching ...
It’s go time. I have to drop off my Delica at the shop to get a skylight leak fixed. I was planning to sell it, ...
It’s go time. I know the big day has arrived when I see canoes in the parking lot of Mount Washington Ski Resort. ...
Words by
Sarah Seads
Illustration by
Ian Adams
Follow winding Hawkins Road up and over the hill to Goose Spit on a sunny day, winter or summer, and you’re bound ...
Words & photos by
Kristy Pedersen
The first bike I ever owned was a black triumph BMX with yellow gum-wall tires and matching grips. I have always ...
Daniel Kooman is a local filmmaker and a partner of Unveil Studios, an independent studio finding its roots in Red ...
Interview & photo by
Ross Bodenmann
Looking out over the sheltered waters of the Comox Bay, is there a better place to experience the ocean and all it ...
Ahhh...the iconic swimming hole. Each one of us, especially those fortunate enough to grow up along Coastal BC, ...
Nestled between Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park and Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on the west side of ...
Words & Opening photo by
Jennifer Netherton
Gallery photo by
Josh Grafton
For the past 90 years Royston’s rusty monuments to Vancouver Island’s nautical history rests on the Comox Harbour ...
North Americans love their cars. No matter how hard we try to avoid it and might hate to admit it, the automobile ...
When I was asked to go commercial salmon trolling with my boyfriend and his father, my mind flashed back to the ...
With a spirit of excellence and determination Darcy Lange has overcome serious illness and found legendary status ...
Interview & photos by
Ross Bodenmann
What do you get when unruly people meet unruly bees? If Dave and Andrea Brimacombe, the creative geniuses behind ...
The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.
– John Muir
Silent Season is a music label ...
Most of you don’t know much about us. You like to talk like you do, gazing at each other over the plate. There’s ...
It was a hot day in May. My first spring as a resident of the Comox Valley and it felt as though summer was ...
It was the perfect storm for backcountry success on Vancouver Island; a skier’s dream.
Okay, ...
If you’re rattling down the back roads of Merville on your way to Mount Washington or searching the Tsolum River ...
Words & Photos by
Ross Bodenmann
Old school, new school, ski school no school. Freestyle, freeride, slopestyle, no style. Front side, back side, ...
Words by
Eugene Chung
Opening photo by
Jenn Dykstra
A few months ago I traveled all the way from Norway to visit Vancouver Island for the first time. My Islander ...
Some say it’s simply where they grew up, the place they remember most or where they count most familiar. Others ...