Bylands Turns 50

Byland Nurseries is fifty years old and still growing. It is celebrating its half century in the business this week. Grandfather Adrian Byland came to Canada from Holland in 1953 and bought his first twelve acres of land on the Westside. He brought with him all with the old wise traditions of growing nursery stock from the old country. That history that goes back in the family to the 1700s.

This first farm has grown into three hundred acres and is growing nursery stock for commercial customers all over Western Canada and the mid Western States.

I heard about all the rock he had to remove before he could do any planting, and grandpa was wise when it came to the location of his property next to the main highway and this was before the bridge was built.

They grow almost 100 per cent of what they sell. It was the arrival of the nursery pots that are so familiar today, that created a new industry for nurseries. Up till that point all stock was grown to sell in the spring of every year. Adrian was one of the first in Canada to see the advancement in the new containers and was also one of the first to grow plants in this manner for the commercial market.

The latest technology, facilities, equipment are just part of the strength of this every growing business. Their main strength has always been family. Adrian passed away in 1982, Katie became president of her husband’s business, son John general manager of the operation and his wife Maria the manager of one of the truly great garden centre's in the province.

Byland's have been on the leading edge of anything that would improve the environment. They were the first to employ drip irrigation and water recycling to reduce their overall water consumption years and years before it became the thing to do. It was the first nursery in B.C. to recycle its water. Its two recycling ponds, 1,000,000 gallons and 700,000 gallons allow the company to reduce water consumption by over 25%

In the 1950s and 60s the nursery was very important to the fruit industry in this valley for the large number of the fruit trees needed by orchardists. They still produce fruit trees today. The biggest part of their business is landscaping. The Byland's are truly a family that cares about this valley and its future...

It looks like there will be no activity at the Tower Ranch project anytime soon. It’s difficult to get the people from Intrawest to return calls, but everything indicates the long planned development is once again on hold. Last year's announcement of a go for the project was probably premature. With all the development taking place here and the new golf courses planned, who knows when it will be possible, if ever, to move ahead. There have been at least three false starts reported, or rumoured. With all the changes at Intrawest these past few months it certainly doesn't seem to be a priority on the list of future developments…

It is advertised as the "Okanagan's best kept secret." That is probably true. Mabel Lake Resort, golf course and airpark. It is a beautiful lake, 26 miles long, crystal clear water, great fishing, boating, waterskiing and swimming. Les Furber, the golf designer with a long history of golf developments in the valley, Hyde Mountain, Vintage Hills, Preditor Ridge, Salmon Country Club designed the par 36, nine hole course, that measures 3103 yards. Like everything Les does, he created a challenge. The airstrip was completely renovated in 2002…

I had a call from a friend of mine who had just received their monthly Telus bill and had pages and pages of unauthorized calls charged to the account. This new electronic world we live in seems to get more complicated everyday, no matter how much equipment they sell you. These calls according to officials are coming from countries like Sao Tome and Guinea-Bissau in South Africa, South America's Guinean region, and Nauru in the South Pacific. Another country I can't even find on the map Niue, in the South Pacific, has 2,000 people and 400 phones. Though the criminals could be anywhere in the world. These small countries just supply access to the world through the global telecommunications infrastructure.

When I talked to Telus last month they told me a new system will be in place on the network by July 1 called a direct dial block. An operator will come on the line and inform the caller "This call has to be operator assisted." Here is another fact about these calls: a call overseas can go through eight or nine countries before there is a connect. Yes, the person that called me was happily looked after by Telus and the pages of bills were cancelled...

Ray Charles was one of my favorites, we saw him perform live and that was something I'll never forget. He had a profound influence on the country music scene. He raised the profile of the music that has made an impact ever since. There is really no way to tell how many people. Who probably didn't pay much attention to the music, or even said they disliked it, became fans after Ray's treatment of a song. His country music was a huge seller...