Transition Sooke

05/05/2026

Especially looking for any plant donations for the Gardening Supplies Swap! If you have extra tomato starts or other plants, we're interested.
See you at the VI Regional Library Sooke on Sunday May 10, from 11am to 1pm. Bring tools you don't need, seeds, gardening books, and share them. Take home new-to-you gardening supplies that meet your needs!

05/04/2026

Getting ready for the Garden Supplies Swap on Sunday May 10! You can drop off gardening tools & things this week at the VI Regional Library Sooke or bring them on the day of the swap.
See you there!

04/12/2026

There's a Jigsaw Puzzle Trade happening on Saturday April 18 at VI Regional Library Sooke
See you there in the Makerspace (medium size meeting room) from 11:00am to noon!
Bring your old jigsaw puzzles to give away. Take home new-to-you puzzles. (Tell your friends! Pop in for puzzles, then go have the rest of a nice day.)

03/09/2026

Today's Sewing Supplies Swap at the VI Regional Library Sooke was a resounding success.
We had a TERRIFIC time! O wow, there were lots of donated fabrics and notions and patterns. And at least 70 people attended, and we KNOW that because Maddie brought her counting clicker and Jacquie clicked it as folks came in! Thank you to Dorothy and Linn who came early to set up, and Carolyn who stayed with them at the end to finish sorting (and get the boxes ready to haul to thrift stores), and Elisabeth who packed her car with sorted boxes for her friend's thrift stores.

03/09/2026

Here's some insight from a small business owner, about new legislation that would charge provincial sales tax on fabric, yarn, and mending materials.

You may have heard about the BC 2026 Budget proposal to start including PST on yarn and fibre, and other slow clothing/mending items that up to now have progressively been considered an 'essential service' in our beautiful province. This would add an extra 7% on most of your purchases at our store, as well a breadth of other local business goods and services such as bookkeeping, clothing repairs, etc that would impact spending considerably.

In case you thought there is nothing to be done, here is your public service announcement! Take your thoughts to your MLA! Share what matters to you!

The proposed change is going to the Legislature beginning April 17th, so there is still time to make your voice heard.

2026 Budget Proposal excerpt: "Removing PST exemptions for some goods and services that were once deemed essential but are not as commonly used anymore, such as clothing repair materials, services related to clothing and footwear, basic cable television and land-line telephone services.
Expanding the tax to these services is generally consistent with how tax applies to these services in most provinces."

In fact, there are various discussions being had about what the impacts of this will be on the fibre arts industry. It felt quite progressive that our province was one of the few that considered fibre arts, slow fashion and mending as an essential service; and whether or not you even realized that PST wasn't being charged due to its special status as essential, this change will impact slow fashion be it directly on spending habits or indirectly by diminishing the status of clothing we keep out of the landfills.

I'll share more as we go, including ways you could share this information if it is important to you; but for now I urge you to consider this:

How would this impact you? Do you believe you have a hand in our democratic process?

Does BC's future include local businesses that matters to you?

03/07/2026

Here's a program of study from Kwantlen Polytechnic, here in BC.

Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Food Systems and Security

03/02/2026

Getting ready for the Sewing Supplies Swap on Sunday, March 8. See you at the VI Regional Library Sooke from 11am to 1pm!

01/22/2026

Coming up is our Jigsaw Puzzle Trade, on Monday February 16 from 11am to noon at VI Regional Library Sooke. Give away puzzles you no longer need 😃. You can drop off puzzles during the week before Feb 16, or bring them on the day. Take home puzzles that are new-to-you or for gifts to share at gatherings.
We have Puzzle Trades about every second month, at different times of day and different weekdays so people with different schedules can attend. Yes, you can bring friends from other communities!

01/10/2026

Getting ready for the Yarn Swap on Sunday January 11 12:30-2:30, at the VI Regional Library Sooke, with yarn & knitting patterns to donate!
And soon will be the Repair Cafe on Sunday January 18 10:00-2:00 at the Community Hall (downstairs in the dining hall).

01/08/2026

Let's Fix Your Stuff

Repair Cafe Sunday January 18th, 10 - 2, Sooke Community Hall Downstairs

Bring clothing in need of repair, dull knives, broken lamps, small appliances, bikes, electronics and more that you can carry in (except chainsaws and lawn mowers). No guarantees but we can fix many things.