Peter McCully: This is The Pulse Community Podcast. I'm Peter McCully. Welcome back. Halloween is just around the corner. The days are getting shorter, and jack-o'-lanterns are starting to show up on porches all over the island.

Dave Graham: And I'm Dave Graham. Some places also have their Christmas lights up, which just adds to the festivity. I know you've been wondering, Peter, and yes, I have settled on my Halloween costume for this year. A scarecrow.

Peter McCully: A scarecrow. Well, that's a classic.

Dave Graham: Isn't it? You can't go wrong with a good old scary scarecrow. But it's also a practical choice, as my yard has been looking abandoned, and just kinda makes sense. And having had some experience in the theatre, I went out the other day, stood still in my backyard, held out my arms, and got into character for a couple of hours.

Peter McCully: Oh, yeah? How did that go?

Dave Graham: Well, the birds weren't buying my act. In fact, I think I attracted them.

Peter McCully: I know you aren't a farmer, and you don't have a freshly seeded field to defend, so that's probably not a bad thing, Dave. Today's podcast is brought to you in part by Tablet Pharmacy, with locations in Parksville, Qualicum Beach, and Nanaimo.

Dave Graham: Visit them online and check their prices at tabletpharmacy.ca.

Peter McCully: Greg Nowik co-founded the Bikes for Kids program, which has put thousands of refurbished bikes in the hands of kids who need them all over the island, from Nanaimo to Port McNeill.

Greg Nowik: I did a presentation to one of the rotary clubs last Wednesday, and the first thing I do is start to well up, right? 'Cause I just find it, it's so emotional. So for me, these kids that don't have a whole pile, and we're giving them something, and it's transportation, and it's a way for them to have some independence. It's been pretty, pretty gratifying.

Dave Graham: Debora Gurrad has been passionate about growing things since childhood, a love sparked by a university botany class. After moving to Vancouver Island about 10 years ago, she completed her training and became a certified master gardener with the Vancouver Island Master Gardeners Association. She joins us to talk about what we should be doing in the garden this fall.

Debora Gurrad: Fall veggie transplants are small seedlings of vegetables hardy enough to survive the winter. The main category of these is the brassicas. Broccoli, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, those kinds of things. But there are also a few others. I have had spinach seedlings that I planted in August or September survive the winter and start growing again very early in the spring, much earlier than if I had planted them from seeds in March. These plants, all of them, the winter ones, won't grow during the cold months, but they will survive and have a great head start in the spring.

Dave Graham: I didn't hear any mention of scarecrows, but I'm sure they could be a part of a healthy backyard.

Peter McCully: Pretty sure they're not, Dave. On a future edition of the podcast, best-selling Qualicum Beach author, Bill Arnott. He's fresh off a Canadian Geographic expedition across central Mexico. Bill wrote the award-winning Gone Viking Travelogues, A Perfect Day for a Walk, and BC's top-selling A Season on Vancouver Island.

Dave Graham: Award-winning singer-songwriter Ryan McMahon of Ladysmith will be joining us soon, and he'll be bringing new music with him.

Tablet Pharmacy: At Tablet Pharmacy, they provide the personalized service you deserve. Check their competitive prices online at tabletpharmacy.ca before you even leave home. They offer free delivery and blister packaging options to make managing your medications easier than ever. With convenient locations in Parksville, Qualicum Beach, and Nanaimo, Tablet Pharmacy has been serving Vancouver Island since 2019. Stop being just a prescription number. Experience the Tablet Pharmacy difference today. Visit them online and check their prices at tabletpharmacy.ca.

Marilyn: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX, Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network, since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally, as well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca.

Peter McCully: Congratulations to Deborah Tenerelli of Mill Bay and Renee Northey of Qualicum Beach. They were the winners in our Piano Man ticket giveaway.

Dave Graham: The show stars Jim Witter with the music of Billy Joel and Elton John, and he is currently on a tour of the island.

Peter McCully: Elton John. Dave, now there's a person who knows how to put together a costume.

Dave Graham: That just became my new costume idea. A scarecrow costume that Elton John would wear. Can you imagine? Oh, it's going to be spectacular. Oh, are rhinestones expensive? I have no budget. It all went to candy, and most of my current scarecrow costume consists of stuff I can pull from my lawn. Hey, here comes a guest who knows a thing or two about lawns and, well, other growing things. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Debora Gurrad has been passionate about growing things since childhood, a love that was truly sparked by a university botany class. After moving to Vancouver Island in 2017, she completed her training and became a certified master gardener with Vancouver Island Master Gardeners Association. Her special interests include pruning, root preparation for successful transplanting, and food gardening. A retired teacher who still loves to educate, she presents workshops on gardening topics from Campbell River to Nanaimo.

Peter McCully: Welcome back to the podcast today, Debora.

Debora Gurrad: Thank you. Good to be back.

Peter McCully: I don't think I got all the dirt out from underneath my fingernails since our last gardening chat.

Debora Gurrad: That's excellent. I'm so glad to hear that. I don't get all the dirt out of my fingernails probably till January maybe. I don't know.

Peter McCully: First, I wanted to ask you about El Niño. I hear a lot about it, and I was wondering what it means for gardeners for the winter. I know what they're saying is it will be a bit warmer and a bit wetter.

Debora Gurrad: El Niño is going to be an issue this year. They're talking about it being a super El Niño, and what that means is the temperature of the ocean at the equator is above two degrees over normal, and they're even expecting this year it might be three degrees above normal. So they're really freaked out about it. It definitely means it's going to be warmer for us here in this area, but unfortunately, it's also expected to be drier, not wetter. And to compound the problem, the warmer temperatures will mean whatever snowpack we do get will probably melt sooner, which means we're gonna have probably a really dry spring and summer. So be forewarned. Perhaps find ways to save water in preparation, things like installing rain barrels to catch the water off your roof, planting more drought-tolerant plants, installing drip irrigation. Drip irrigation's great. It delivers water just to the plants, and when there's watering restrictions in your community, usually that doesn't mean you can't use your drip irrigation. Drip irrigation is allowed. And getting rid of the really thirsty plants in your garden if you can bear to, the things that you just have to water to keep alive. It's sad, but I think that's the way we're going.

Peter McCully: I saw a sign at the local nursery advertising fall vegetable transplants. What veggies are we talking about, and how long do they actually grow for?

Debora Gurrad: Fall veggie transplants are small seedlings of vegetables hardy enough to survive the winter. The main category of these is the brassicas, broccoli, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, those kinds of things, but there are also a few others. I have had spinach seedlings that I planted in August or September survive the winter and start growing again very early in the spring, much earlier than if I'd planted them from seeds in March. These plants, all of them, the winter ones, won't grow during the cold months, but they will survive and have a great head start in the spring. Just be sure you are buying varieties that are meant to overwinter. You can't just throw any old broccoli seed in the ground and have it grow and overwinter. Some of them will not do well. They are specifically evolved to survive over the winter. Usually, they start those seedlings in August in greenhouses, the nurseries do, and then they sell them in August, September. You can also start your own seedlings or your own plants out in the garden. It's just a way to get a head start. Very early spring, you're gonna have broccoli that you can harvest, kale, spinach. It's great. It's a good way to utilize it year-round.

Peter McCully: Dave Graham had a question. He heard recently about leaving the leaves, and he hates raking leaves. I'm wondering what that means exactly for Dave. Can you elaborate on that?

Debora Gurrad: I can, and I've got good news for Dave. There've been lots of evidence and publicity about the benefits of leaving the leaves. I'm very happy to explain why, as well as to spread the word. Your fallen leaves are a valuable source of nutrients for your garden, as well as a wonderful mulch layer to protect your garden beds from soil compaction from the pounding winter rains. Compaction ruins the texture of your soil and makes it more difficult for plants to thrive, so you don't want that to happen. So think of what happens in the forest. Leaves fall, nobody comes along and cleans them up, but they're usually gone by spring. They're decomposed, and their nutrients are returned to the trees. That's what we're trying to do with our fallen leaves in our garden. The fallen leaves are also full of life, such as beneficial insect eggs and larvae, as well as shelter for overwintering critters that call your garden home: garter snakes, frogs, insects of all kinds. If you routinely bag your leaves and send them away with your garbage or burn them, you are not only wasting a valuable resource, but you're eliminating all kinds of life that help make your garden a healthy, living ecosystem. The one place you probably don't want a thick layer of leaves is smothering your lawn. I usually just wait until all the leaves have fallen, and then gently rake them from the lawn right into my garden beds. You don't have to pick 'em up. You don't have to pile them. Some people like to run over the leaves on the lawn with a lawnmower before spreading them on their garden beds. They think it looks better, or they worry about the wind blowing them around, that kind of thing. But this isn't recommended because of all the beneficial critters that get destroyed. It also makes the leaves break down much quicker, and they may be gone while the soil still needs protecting from winter rains. Leave the leaves, absolutely.

Peter McCully: So Debora, I'm going to be pulling my beets any day now. What should I be doing to get my veggie garden ready for winter after I've pulled all those veggies?

Debora Gurrad: First of all, you don't have to pull your beets right now. You can leave them in the ground and just pull them as you need them. They will actually overwinter better in the ground than they will in your refrigerator. Same for carrots, turnips, if anybody still grows turnips, those kind of root crops. The one exception to that is potatoes. You should dig your potatoes. But the first thing you're gonna do in your veggie garden is clean up all the dead and dying plants that are done producing for this year, things like tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, lettuce, all the plants that are essentially annuals. They have a life cycle that just lasts one season. As long as they are free of disease, just do a chop and drop right where they grew. Cut them down. No need to pull up the roots, which will decompose and feed the soil. Then coarsely chop them and spread around the soil. They will do the same as autumn leaves to protect the soil from winter rains while decomposing. By spring, they will be mostly gone with their nutrients returned to the soil. Your root crops that you're gonna leave in the ground, that I'm gonna encourage you to leave in the ground, if you cover them with a thick layer of leaves or straw, that will protect them over the winter, and they will overwinter a little better. The tops won't get so battered, but they will keep better in the ground than in your refrigerator. If you don't have enough mulching material from the chop and drop, then augment with the fallen leaves from your yard or with straw. Just be sure to get the kind that is certified weed free. Whatever you do to cover the soil to protect it from the winter rains will be really helpful for your garden for the next year.

Peter McCully: Just to clarify, the reason that we pull all the beets at once is because my wife likes to pickle beets. She has a recipe where she won some ribbons at the fall fair in Salt Spring years ago.

Debora Gurrad: Excellent. Then pull away, because that's a great idea. But I hear people all the time, "I need to pull my carrots," and then they pull a bunch of carrots and just put them in the fridge, or beets or whatever. They don't realize that they will keep better in the soil over the winter than in the fridge

Peter McCully: What kind of bulbs are folks planting these days at this time of year?

Debora Gurrad: What you're planting right now are spring flowering bulbs, and you're gonna be planting them the last week of this month and into November. Planting too soon can confuse them into sending up shoots too early, especially with climate change causing our fall weather to be warmer longer. Waiting until after Halloween assures that the soil will be cool enough to not immediately stimulate top growth. And then the first thing you need to decide is where the new bulbs will be going. I always take pictures of my garden once the spring bulbs are up and blooming so I know where they are when it comes time to plant more in the fall. I used to think, "Oh, I'll remember." No, I never remember. So I use sticks to assist in the layout of the bulb placement, which will help you visualize where the bulbs will appear once spring is upon us. For tulips, daffodils, snowdrops, crocuses, grape hyacinths, and other varieties that look good in masses, like a bunch, dig a shallow planting area large enough to accommodate five to seven bulbs spaced out a little bit. Make sure it is the proper depth for the type of bulbs. For bulbs planted singly, like hyacinths, the big hyacinths, and alliums, using a regular bulb planter is easier and more efficient since it makes a nice round hole to just plop the bulb into. It also will usually have measurement markings on the side, making it really quick and easy to make the hole the exact proper depth. One of the greatest little inventions ever. No matter the planting method, firmly return the soil to the planting hole, and don't forget to take updated pictures next spring when everything is in bloom.

Peter McCully: It's always a surprise when they pop up, isn't it?

Debora Gurrad: Oh, gosh, yes, it is.

Peter McCully: Is this a good time of year to plant out pots or to move your perennials and shrubs around?

Debora Gurrad: This is actually the best time of year to plant out those pots and to move those shrubs and perennials, or even small trees. Plants are now either going dormant or are fully dormant, which means any kind of disturbance to the root system will be less of a shock than when the plant is actively growing. Planting now will also give them time until their spring growth spurt to get their roots established in their new home without you having to worry as much about keeping them watered. I know it is the most miserable time for the gardener to be out working in the cold and wet, but your plants will establish more quickly and will need less water during the next growing season if you plant them out in the fall. I think there are a couple of reasons why most people plant out or move things in the spring. First is because in spring we are eager to get going in the garden after a long winter, while in the fall we can be kind of just done. Second, because of this spring customer enthusiasm, nurseries have learned to bring in most of their stock in the spring, and by fall, just like us, they are winding down, making the selection of plants available much less. I like to shop the sales in early fall, and even though the selection isn't as good, you can find some real bargains.

Peter McCully: What should we be pruning these days out in the yard?

Debora Gurrad: Well, hardly anything, frankly. The only thing that needs to be pruned in the fall, and actually you can do this pruning year-round, is dead or dying branches, and possibly that rambling rose that had taken over its spot and then some. This is a rose that is much more vigorous than just a climber. Some of the stems will grow 10 metres long. It is just a monster, and I always cut it back this time of year. Pruning in the fall leaves pruning wounds that will be vulnerable to cold, so pruning in the late winter or early spring while they're still dormant is easier on the plants. The exceptions are light summer pruning for fruit trees and flowering shrubs that should be pruned after blooming. You can do some deadheading of things like lace cap hydrangeas, but anything that has seed heads that the birds will eat should be left over the winter for them. This includes things like echinacea, sunflowers, and asters. Also, if you have plants that will re-seed themselves, like poppies, alyssum, nigella, lupine, rudbeckia, snapdragons, you can leave them as well and then look for their babies to pop up in the spring.

Peter McCully: Last time we chatted, you were talking about fertilizers. Should we be fertilizing anything in the fall?

Debora Gurrad: No, because the plants are going dormant and will not be actively growing for the next five to six months, so they won't need or be using any nutrients, and any fertilizer will just be leached out of the soil by the winter rains and wasted.

Peter McCully: We have some perennials at our place that are getting big and crowded. Some are even blooming less, and they look weak and straggly. Is there anything I can do to revive them this time of year?

Debora Gurrad: Yes, you can, actually, and this is a great time of year to dig them up, divide them, and then replant. Just like planting out things in pots, there is less shock to the roots when they are dormant. Plus, they will have all fall and winter to get established in their new beds. Lifting and dividing perennials is also a great way to remove the dead centres of older plants and to help reinvigorate them. If your perennial divisions are prolific, you can also give some to your gardening friends. Every year when I divide perennials and have too many to plant back in my own garden, I just advertise them on my community Facebook Marketplace page as free for the taking, and they're always gone within a day.

Peter McCully: The garden starts to look really sad and colourless this time of year. I miss it. I'm wondering what I can do to brighten it up.

Debora Gurrad: A good way to do this is to plant trees and shrubs with great fall colour or interesting bark that will be visible all winter. Some examples for great fall colour, of course, are Japanese maples. You know about those. Ninebark. Katsura is quite wonderful because it turns golden, as does ginkgo. Ginkgo turns this beautiful golden colour, and all the leaves fall at once, whomp, right onto the ground all at once. It's really quite lovely. There's fall-blooming hardy cyclamen, red twig dogwood, fall-flowering camellia. I have red twig dogwood in my garden. The leaves all fall off, and the branches are this beautiful, vibrant red, and they stay that way all winter. They're just lovely. And I recently discovered a small tree called Seven-Son Flower or Temple of Bloom that blooms in August, these beautiful white flowers. In August, it blooms in August, which I love. The bees and butterflies and hummingbirds love them. August and September it blooms, and when the flowers disappear, they leave behind these vibrant red bracts, these little red structures that make the tree look like it is on fire clear into winter. They're hard to find in Canada, but well worth looking for. And there are also bulbs that bloom in the fall, the most common one being the giant fall crocus with lovely pinky lavender flowers. It's a bulb, so it will come back every year. And don't forget the winter blooming heathers in the Erica genus. There are two varieties of plants that we call heather. One variety blooms in the spring and the summer, and the other blooms in the winter. If you're careful about which one you plant when, and I want a spot over in this part of my garden blooming in the winter, you're gonna plant the ones in the Erica family. The ones in the Calluna family you're gonna plant that bloom in summer. They're a great resource for that colour in the winter.

Peter McCully: Who said gardeners don't have a sense of humour? Temple of Bloom, that's hilarious.

Debora Gurrad: I know. Isn't that a great name? I don't know where it came from. It's an unusual tree, and it's a small tree. It's only about maybe three metres tall at the most, and you can also prune it and keep it kinda shrub sized so it doesn't get giant. I have a little baby one that I bought last year that's gonna be planted out here in the next few weeks, and it'll be a few years before it's any good size, but I'm really looking forward to having it in my garden.

Peter McCully: It sounds like you spend all your allowance at the gardening store.

Debora Gurrad: Oh, yes, I do. Oh, yes, I do.

Peter McCully: Before we go, any non-plant related tasks that I should be doing this time of year?

Debora Gurrad: Do yourself a favour. Clean up and bring in your garden furniture. Clean and sharpen your garden tools before putting them away. Blow the water out of your irrigation system and shut it down for the winter. Drain all your hoses and disconnect them from the faucets. Clean up and organize your garden shed. All of this will have you ready to hit the ground running when that spring gardening enthusiasm hits.

Dave Graham: Debora Gurrad, certified master gardener. Oh, I like that label, certified master gardener. I just get the feeling they must have a secret handshake. And Debora loves to share her knowledge. She runs workshops from Campbell River to Nanaimo. You'll find a link to the Vancouver Island Master Gardeners Association in our story notes at thepulsecommunity.ca.

Peter McCully: So Dave, has that changed your plans for the yard?

Dave Graham: I'm seeing now that being a scarecrow is really a calling, Peter. I mean, who else is going to protect my Brussels sprouts?

Peter McCully: Well, they say it's good to be in service to others, so keep it up, Dave. And we're making it easy to keep up with the world of podcasting here on the island. We've added links to other island-based podcasts to our website. We also have Vancouver Island webcam links available at thepulsecommunity.ca.

Dave Graham: That is the web address you need if you want to reach us to add a comment or a story idea or anything else you'd like to share. Again, thepulsecommunity.ca. You can also find us on Apple, Amazon, iHeart, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube, plus Facebook and Instagram.

Fireside Books: Fireside Books in Parksville and The Bookwyrm in Port Alberni offer used books at just $5 or less. Both locations make growing your personal library easier than ever. New and used books and so much more. Order online at firesidebooks.ca and pick up at either location. Details available online. Ask about returning books for a book credit. Two locations, one amazing adventure in browsing.

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Peter McCully: Our next guest has spent years making sure that kids all over the island have a set of wheels of their own.

Dave Graham: Oh, I'm flashing back now to when I got my first bike, and what a monumental occasion that was. It's the kind of experience no kid should miss. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Greg Nowik founded the Nowik Mortgage Team in Nanaimo, but many islanders know him for something with two wheels. The Bikes for Kids program he co-founded, built with the RCMP, local schools, and volunteers, has put thousands of refurbished bikes in the hands of kids who need them, from Nanaimo to Port McNeill.

Peter McCully: Thanks for taking time out of the garage, fixing bikes, to come and talk to us today, Greg.

Greg Nowik: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Peter McCully: You moved to Nanaimo with your wife, Cindy, and the kids back in 1998. What do you think it was about Nanaimo and the community that made you want to give back?

Greg Nowik: Moving back here was moving back to family. Cindy grew up here, was raised here. I think her great-great-grandfather was the first mayor of Nanaimo, Mark Bates. So for us, it was moving back to be closer to family. And moving from North Vancouver to here was a bit of a transition, but it was perfect timing 'cause our kids were small, in elementary school, and it was just a good time to move over and be more with her family, which is why we came over here.

Peter McCully: Now, you started fixing bikes in your mother-in-law's garage. What do you remember about those early days, and why did you even start?

Greg Nowik: We came over here in '98. I was a mortgage broker with a successful business in Vancouver. Went back and forth for a number of years. Basically, we always wanted to give something back to our community because they've supported us so well when we moved here. And nine years ago, in 2017, was when we started the bike program. But I used to do Secret Santa. So Secret Santa was a program where we would deliver packages to families who needed stuff at Christmastime. They thought they were just getting a courier package. I showed up, I was in a Santa suit, and I had five cars behind me with all the stuff, and it was very humbling. It was a tremendous experience, and I think the first year we delivered, I delivered five families. And then the last year I did it, there was 150 families, which I think I did 25. And what happened was Gary O'Brien, who's the media relations guy for the RCMP in Nanaimo, was helping us do deliveries this last year, and he said, "What do you guys need for presents?" And I said, "You know what we need? We need some bikes." That's what they were looking for. I think that we needed a dozen bikes that year. And he said, "We have bikes." And I went, "Fantastic." So we got the bikes, we fixed them up, we delivered them to the families. And when I went to pick them up, they were stolen, not reclaimed bikes. But just a light went off in my head and I said, "Not just at Christmas time do we need to get kids bikes, we need to do it all year long." So I said to him, I said, "Gary," I said, "This light went off in my head." And I said, "Can we take all these bikes?" And he goes, "What are you gonna do with them?" I said, "We're gonna fix them up and give the kids who need them." And he said, "Okay, but don't tell everybody you get them from us, 'cause right now we recycle and we sell them. We do a bunch of stuff with them and donate them." And that's how it started. We started taking bikes to my mother-in-law's garage on Cedar, and pretty soon the whole garage was full of bikes, and at that time we had a bike shop that helped us, and it just morphed from there.

Peter McCully: When did you realize it was going to be a bigger project than just what you could put in your mother-in-law's garage?

Greg Nowik: We were in and out of the garage pretty well three days a week doing these bikes and dropping them off at a bike shop, and they would fix them for us and then we would allocate them. And we did 89 bikes in our first year, and I went, "Okay, hold on. This is just not gonna be big enough space for us." We were able to locate a second spot, which was 460 Realty in town. They had a main level of their building. They said, "Look, we don't have anybody in the main building. You can use that." And at the time, I would go to the RCMP every second Friday and pick up bikes. I remember bringing one of the gentlemen in from Cool City Cycles to help us out, and I thought he was gonna crap himself when he saw that we had 250 bikes in there to fix, and he walked in and went, "Holy smokes, this is fantastic." And our first year was 89 bikes. I think our second year was 179, and it just grew from there.

Peter McCully: Walk us through a bike's journey when you pick it up or it's dropped off as a donation to the day that a child rides it away.

Greg Nowik: This is our fifth location. We're in Cedar. Howie Davis, bless his soul, has donated a three-car garage and a small little warehouse. So I will pick up the bikes every Tuesday at DBL. We used to pick them up individually. With the cost of diesel, it's a little difficult to pick up one and two bikes at a time. So we've asked people if they can to drop them off at one of the three locations, DBL in Parksville, Jingle Pot, and then on 10th Street. I used to get most of the bikes from the RCMP, but now we probably get about maybe 15% of our bikes from them. So they'll call us and say, "We have 12 bikes for you to pick up." I go pick them up. We're at DBL. I pick them up every Tuesday. We take them out to the shop on Tuesday 'cause that's our fix-up day. All the bikes are gone through. They're power-washed and cleaned by one or two people and then stacked. Then the tires are filled up with air to make sure they hold air. And then we realize what we can keep and what we can't because, unfortunately, we get donated some pretty rough bikes. We try and steal parts if we can, but some of them have to be unfortunately scrapped. DBL's been amazing 'cause they're our donation centre, and then they take the scrap bikes, and then they get rid of them for us. Then they dry out for the week, and the following Tuesday we'll try and take those bikes into our bike shop. We have anywhere between three and seven volunteers that show up every Tuesday, and they start fixing bikes. We fix the bikes, and then we stack them up. In our warehouse, we have a small warehouse which we built a pallet mezzanine, let's call it. All the fixed bikes go up top there by size, and then when we get our orders in for our bikes, then we allocate them, we go pick them off, and off we go. We try and deliver local bikes. We're now not only in Nanaimo, but we're Cowichan Valley. We've had people come down from Port Alberni and pick them up, Port McNeill, Lasqueti Island, Gabriola Island. So we're starting to branch out a little bit, basically, on Vancouver Island.

Peter McCully: The great thing about giving a bike as a gift, if you give it to a family that has small children, and the bike is appropriate for the oldest kid, the kids coming up all get the advantage of riding the bike as well.

Greg Nowik: We've had lots of stories that what we used to do with the elementary schools is we would deliver the bikes to the elementary schools and School District 68, and then 69 a little bit. They would actually have an assembly, and we would bring in a hat, and every kid thinks their name's in the hat. And then we pull the names out, and it's just amazing to see the look on their faces, and other kids going, "You got a bike! You got a bike!" It's just heart-wrenching. Now, with the high schools, a little bit of a different process where we just drop them off for the kids 'cause they really don't wanna be singled out. They know that they're getting a donated bike.

Peter McCully: Now, you mentioned a couple of partners, Cool City Cycles and DBL. How important are partners like those?

Greg Nowik: Cool City Cycles, like I said, when we took Robin in and showed him the bikes that we had at 460, and he went, "Holy smokes, this is fantastic." And I met him at a bike rally where we donated bikes to an elementary school in Jingle Pot for kids that didn't have them. What we used to do is drop off a half a dozen bikes there, and then we would pick them up and take them back. So there was a lot of transporting and transportation. So he was instrumental in helping us get started. He was just wonderful. And then COVID hit, and we couldn't do that. We basically understood that we couldn't drop things off there and have picked them up and whatnot, so that kinda changed our process. And at that time, we had moved to the old Howard Johnson Hotel. So we'd moved from 460 to the old Howard Johnson Hotel, and we were in the old bus depot. And of course, that place was a mess, and we'd get broken into all the time, and they'd steal stuff. But we were okay. And then we all of a sudden amassed some volunteers, and that's where DBL came on board. They said, "Look, you want us to pick up bikes, drop off bikes, whatever you need, we'll help you." And they've just been instrumental in our success. At the same time, I had a mortgage customer who was a manager at Canadian Tire, and he said, "How can we help?" And I said, "You know what we need? We need tubes, we need WD-40, we need oils, we need that kinda stuff." And they went, "Whatever you guys need, we'll do." And they were really helpful in the first little bit, and they've been helpful now. They probably supply us with about 1,500 bucks to 2,000 bucks worth of supplies every year. So they're fantastic. The RCMP, like I say, we get the bikes from them. They're wonderful. So that's been instrumental in what we've done. Now, it's more our volunteers that, guys that are bikers. And we had a ramshack of old bike stands and old crummy tools that people donated. We've got to the point now where we have better tools and better product to help them fix the bikes.

Peter McCully: Now, how do you identify the kids who need bikes?

Greg Nowik: So next week is my starting my phone calls to the school district. And what I do is I get ahold of the counselors and the vice principals. Principals are all really busy right now, and there's lots of change within the school system. They know about the program now 'cause I say almost 4,800 bikes were given to School District 68, and most people know about it. So like I say, I got that call this morning saying, "Hey, we had some bikes stolen. We need five bikes." I said, "No problem. We'll get on it." But what they do is the counselors and the teachers know the kids that need them. We'll send them a fill-out sheet, and then we want their first name, their last name if, you know, if they can, their gender, their height, and what they're looking for. And they fill out the list for us, and then we try and fill that order. Takes anywhere between two and four weeks. And then we will deliver them or have them pick them up. It's a very humbling process.

Peter McCully: I was going to say, it must be pretty emotional for a kid that's never had a bike of their own to receive a donated bike.

Greg Nowik: Yeah. Well, I'm a big crybaby too, so that's a bit of a problem. And I did a presentation to one of the rotary clubs last Wednesday, and the first thing I do is start to well up, right, 'cause I just find it, it's so emotional. So for me, these kids that don't have a whole pile, and we're giving them something, and it's transportation, and it's a way for them to have some independence. It's been pretty, pretty gratifying.

Peter McCully: I understand that the kids are now getting helmets with the bikes thanks to the Nanaimo Brain Injury Society.

Greg Nowik: They're amazing. Most of the cash donations are donations that we'll get. We'll ask people to give them to NBIS because then that buys helmets for all our kids. So all the children in the high schools get helmets. So that's just been imperative. And it's safety, right? As I mentioned, through COVID we couldn't deliver bikes to the schools, and we had all these bikes, and we were amassing stuff. And so we just went through the phone book and went, "Okay, who the heck can we deliver bikes to?" And we found out some social programs. Getting in contact with the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society, which are new immigrants that come into town. We averaged about 35 to 40 bikes every month for six months to them. And that was for families 'cause these people come in with not a lot. So we're able to give families bikes, and that was amazing and has been amazing still. We also give bikes to the Nanaimo Youth Services Association, which are kids that are in foster care. We give bikes to different First Nations groups, which has been fantastic in schools. So yeah, it's worked very well.

Peter McCully: And I know with, as you mentioned, the price of diesel, it's tough to do deliveries, but you have gone a lot further afoot on the island than just Nanaimo.

Greg Nowik: Yeah. There's a First Nations group up in Qualicum which we deliver bikes to every year. They... It's their daycare. They're wonderful people and they're very involved. We deliver about 15 to 20 bikes there every year. So it's just really special. We delivered bikes to Lasqueti. We've been Victoria. We've done some specialized bikes that we can try and fix for kids with disabilities. We've now done Cowichan Valley, so we have, like I say, 13 bikes being delivered to the Cowichan Valley Youth Association. They're gonna come pick them up. And then we've gone to Port Alberni. Dave Cusson, who was the Garage 529 police liaison guy in Nanaimo, now in Port Alberni, and he's amazing, so they've had some school stuff up there. And then as far as Port McNeill. One thing I was gonna mention too is one of our volunteers, Joel Canfield, he was with the school district before and he's retired, and he runs the Garage 529 program. What happens is I get bikes from the RCMP that are stolen and not reclaimed. The reason why they're not reclaimed is because people don't register them. If you register your bicycle with Garage 529, it's an app on your phone, it's really easy, and then you go to the RCMP and buy a sticker for $10 and put it on one of the bikes, and you can put all the bikes in your household on that one sticker. That way, if the RCMP gets your bike, it's stolen, and they get it, and they bring it in, and they know it's yours, you get it back. We have had, out of over 5,000 bikes, we've only had two bikes stolen, and both of them were reclaimed 'cause we had Garage 529 stickers on them. That's another thing that's real important is that if you have a bike, register it with Garage 529 because that way if the police get it, they know it's yours and you get it back. If not, I get it.

Peter McCully: Greg, I understand it's a 100% volunteer-run program.

Greg Nowik: Absolutely. It's completely by volunteers and donations. And like I said, if you see a picture of our guys working, these guys come every Tuesday. Last night there was five of us there and because three are on holidays, and they're all seniors, and they just bust their asses and work hard and love it. And half of them have never seen a delivery, but they show up all the time. They're amazing. We've got some cash that has come in to us from two different sources. One, Rotary Clubs have given us smaller donations, which is amazing, which allows us... Now we've been able to buy park bike stands because the stuff we had before was old and decrepit, and now we have good quality bike stands for the guys to do the maintenance and fixing up on the bikes, and then tools. So we've got some proper park wrenches and that kind of stuff. We had one of the local bike stores donate us a bunch of front derailleurs. So that's been amazing. And tubes and tires from Canadian Tire. Right now we're missing a few parts, and we're trying to find them and source them as we can.

Peter McCully: Greg, you mentioned volunteers, guys who deliver the bikes, guys who are fixing the bikes. Who are some of those people behind the scenes, and what kind of help do you need most right now?

Greg Nowik: Right now, the guys behind the scenes, like I said, we have up to seven volunteers that show up that do different levels of bike repair. There's three guys. Brian is amazing. I won't say last names because they don't like me to do that. Brian, Steve, Peter, they're amazing. Duncan, David, and Tom, and Scott. These guys all have different levels. They're all bikers. They've been on bicycles. And some are better than others at different levels of repair. And the guys really rely on the top guys to give them some advice. We did a Rotary Club meeting the other day. The beautiful thing about that was that there was one guy who said, "Look, I was a bike mechanic in Ontario. I'm retired now. I'm on my way." So he's gonna come out and do that for us. Through the Rotary Club, I think it was 2024, we won the Paul Harris Award, which is for outstanding community service. It was pretty neat. It's more community awareness. What do we need? I was at Mountain Equipment Co-op today 'cause we received some funds from three different rotary clubs. And then the other thing that we'll end up with is we'll get people to donate us higher end bikes, and we will liquidate those and then use that for our costs. So we were able to go in today to Mountain Equipment Co-op and order a bike stand, which is $300, and a set of wrenches, which is $200, and a set of Allen keys, which is $150. 'Cause they're good wrenches, 'cause like I say, the stuff we've been using is, you know, from 1942. So it's been kinda comical. But that's been how we've raised some capital. Like I say, the other part is that anybody who wants to give us a donation, they can give us a small donation and then a larger donation to NBIS.

Peter McCully: Kids outgrow bikes pretty quickly, we know, so what should listeners know about donating a bike, and what condition does it need to be in?

Greg Nowik: Well, you know, it's funny, 'cause we get a lot of big bikes, 26-inch bikes and little small bikes. The problem with the bikes that... We'll go to DBL and we'll go to pick them up. People have left their bicycles outside, and they'll bring out four bikes and they'll go, "These are fantastic," and you can't even move the wheels. The big thing there is that if you can, store your bikes so that they don't get into moisture and they don't seize up. That's the big part of it. What we're missing right now is the middle size bikes. The kids that are 9 to 14, so those 24-inch bikes are the ones we're really missing. So we got lots of 26 and 20s and smaller ones, but we're really missing the 24-inch bikes. So that's what we're looking for. We're looking for donations of those. Can be dropped off to either one of the three DBL locations at Parksville, Jingle Pot, or 10th Street. They've gotta be in workable order. And I understand that some person's treasure is other people's junk, but we end up getting lots of bikes where, bless their souls, they've had the bike for 30 years and it's brand new, and we just can't use it. So we'll strip some parts and do what we have to do with it. But right now we're really looking for that middle size bike. That's what we're really short on, and that's really important for us.

Peter McCully: Greg, I have to tell you, this is an inspirational story, and I know that when you hit 1,000 bikes, I was reading a story where you said you never expected to get that far. Now you're close to 6,000.

Greg Nowik: Yeah.

Peter McCully: What's the next milestone you're dreaming about?

Greg Nowik: You know what? I don't even care. Our guys, every Tuesday... So we have one guy, logistics guy, Steve. He's amazing. And he puts everything up on the whiteboard. So he says, "Okay, here's our inventory. Here's what we have. How many do we gotta get out?" I think that the big thing for us is just education. Every time we phone the school, that's my phone starting next week, I'm re-educating them on it because they've had turnover and people move, and they say, "What about your program?" And it's okay, because that's our job. What's our next milestone? I don't know. Just making sure that every kid that needs a bike gets a bloody bike, and every adult who needs a bike gets a bike.

Dave Graham: Greg Nowik, the driving force behind Bikes for Kids. As Greg says, a bike is more than something to ride. It's a kid's first taste of independence. You'll find a link to Bikes for Kids in our story notes at thepulsecommunity.ca.

Peter McCully: Greg gets choked up talking to the Rotary Clubs about it, and you can understand why. There's a lot of kids with a lot of freedom, thanks to his efforts.

Dave Graham: Oh, now I'm thinking back to the day a friend showed me how to put cards in the spokes to make an engine-like sound. Ah, such good times. Now I'm feeling an urge to have some milk and cookies and maybe a nap.

Peter McCully: We keep the kids busy and entertained with our Skookum Kid's Stories featuring Captain Dave and the crew of the Mellow Submarine, and Peter and Gracie, the Eskimo Dog. And our kids stories now offer colouring pages to go along with each new episode.

Dave Graham: In this week's episode of Peter and Gracie, the pair go to Moorecroft Park for stargazing. Now, that's one of the upsides to darkness falling earlier this time of the year.

Peter McCully: Our Radio Archaeology classic radio series takes you back to the golden age of radio with original episodes of Dragnet, featuring Sergeant Joe Friday, and Gunsmoke with Marshal Matt Dillon.

Dave Graham: The Pulse Community Podcast family includes Cindy Thompson of Parksville and her program, A Resilience Project.

Peter McCully: In the latest episode, Shelley Buck speaks about the rollercoaster she and her husband, Academy Award-winning director Chris Buck, experienced with the loss of their 22-year-old son.

Dave Graham: And Erin Haluschak and Chef Jonathan Frazier of the Comox Valley return to the Pulse Podcast Community with F3: Football, Food & Fantasy Football.

Peter McCully: You'll find these podcasts and more at thepulsecommunity.ca. While you're there, sign up for our newsletter and be among the first to know of upcoming guests and contests.

Dave Graham: Okay, sounds like we're about done here. I have to get home. I've got a costume to work on.

Peter McCully: Yes, that's a wrap on episode seven of season three, Dave. Thanks for spending some time with us folks, and if we don't catch you before then, have a safe and happy Halloween.

Dave Graham: Yeah, Happy Halloween. You know, Peter, I'm really impressed by our master gardener guest, Debora, and I'm going to forget the scarecrow costume. It's kinda been done before, you know? Instead, I'm gonna go as a fall veggie transplant. It's small and hearty and likes to be put to bed for the winter.

Peter McCully: Dave, that's not a costume. That's you in November.

Rockin' Rhonda & The Uptown Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave, oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves, no missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave, so to speak. Laughs and insights everywhere, what a treat. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. All right, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.