Local Delicious

Village Vancouver is offering six workshops with Robin Wheeler this month.

Robin Wheeler is the founder of the Sustainable Living Arts School and runs Edible Landscapes on BC’s Sunshine Coast. Robin is the delightful, engaging and very knowledgeable author of Food Security for the Faint of Heart, and Gardening for the Faint of Heart, and her workshops are a real treat. (Click each book title for my book review of each.)

Workshops are offered on a pay what you can basis (typically $25 – $30 for 2 hrs, $40 for 3 hrs). Your contribution to these workshops make it possible for teachers like Robin to expand and deepen the scope of the important educational and social change work that they are involved in.

For info on additional workshops and events, including those listed below, visit the Village Vancouver website.

Intentional Community – Shapes in Sharing
Saturday, June 5, 2010
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
West End Community Centre

City Dwellers have many skills and resources all around them, but may not have a mechanism for organizing and drawing on those skills in times of trouble. This class will look at the different shapes in sharing that take place so easily in rural communities and may need a boost in the city. We will talk about building trust and safeguarding our precious possessions while opening up to a wider community and its valuable support.

Register online at www.westendcc.ca, in person, or by calling 604-257-8333.

Introduction to Medicine Making
Saturday, June 5, 2010
1:30 – 4:30 pm
Kitsilano neighbourhood, venue confirmed with registration

There are so many plants that are safe, easy to recognize and locate, and effective for personal use. We will learn some techniques, and then how to make teas, poultices, tinctures and infused oils for our own use. We’ll learn about solvents, supplies and storage.
To register, contact Ross at rmoster@flash.net.

Concepts in Year Round Gardening
Saturday, June 5, 2010
5:00 – 7:00 pm
Fairview, venue confirmed with registration

The Whys and Wherefores of food cycles – why we want them and how to get them. We will plan round the calendar food supplies, both in the larder and stored in the garden.
To register, contact Ross at rmoster@flash.net.

Gardening for the Faint of Heart
Sunday, June 6, 2010
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Kitsilano, venue confirmed with registration

We will confront the bare bones of garden needs, and begin our list of things to do, and create a do-able map of how to begin our 2010 food garden. If you’re new to gardening, this is a good introductory course.
To register, contact Ross at rmoster@flash.net.

Seed Saving in the City
Sunday, June 6, 2010
1:00 – 3:00 pm
Main Street neighbourhood, venue confirmed with registration

Seed saving is the missing link in food security. In our current climate of seed patenting and ownership, it’s important that our communities retain their knowledge about how to properly save seeds. We’ll talk about the politics and the joy of seed saving, learn basic skills, and discuss the creation of neighbourhood seed saving collectives in Vancouver. Your donation includes a copy of The Five Levels of Seed Saving by Terry Klokeid. (Draft copies of Robin’s new booklet How to Grow a Seed Collective: a community template for seed saving will also be available.)
To register, contact Ross at rmoster@flash.net.

Intensive Urban Microfarming
Sunday, June 6, 2010
3:30pm – 6:30 pm
Sunset neighbourhood, venue confirmed with registration

Getting the most out of a normal urban garden can take imagination. This class assists us to boost production through a deeper understanding of microclimates, and of lateral growing, food cycles, succession planting, “shoulder” cropping and much more.
To register, contact Ross at rmoster@flash.net.

Learn more about upcoming workshops and events at Village Vancouver.

Spring has sprung and planning is in full swing for another great Stone Soup Festival.  This much loved East Vancouver tradition provides an opportunity for the local community to celebrate food together.

This is the Festival’s 15th year of celebrating spring, food, the environment and importance to the health and”‘culture” of our community, and the associated Stone Soup Film Festival’s 2nd year of showcasing topical films exploring the politics of food.

Saturday, May 8th
Britannia Community Centre, 1661 Napier Street, Vancouver
12:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Film listing, previews and schedule

The Stone Soup Film Festival responds to the enormous interest in food issues these days. Environmental concerns, globalization, economic collapse are alerting us to the fragility of our food system and the urgency of action. Although the realities surrounding our current land and food systems can be disheartening, our films aim to emphasize the positive efforts being made as a way to empower the current generation to take action.

In doing so, the Stone Soup Food Film Festival aims to broaden the community’s awareness and understanding of food issues, its problems and solutions by screening both locally and internationally films on a range of themes including health and nutrition, food economics, agricultural worker rights, sustainable agriculture, and urban gardening.

I spent a little time in my community garden this weekend prepping the soil, turning under the rye I planted last fall to fix some nitrogen, blending in a bit of mushroom and some rich, equine manure, and a little weeding.

Later, I chatted with one of the other gardeners, discussing what we thought we could get to grow this year. (As newbie gardeners both, we  know it’s not necessarily what you plant!)

The last thing on our minds was tropical fruit. I mean, even experienced farmers wouldn’t waste time on plants that don’t naturally grow here. Would they?

Well, apparently yes.

Bob Duncan in North Saanich is doing just that, and having great success at that. I’ve often thought that having a 100% local diet is impossible because there are just too many things that have become staples in my diet that would need to be supplemented from around the globe, lemons being one. Looks like Bob has that all under control. See the  story in the Globe & Mail.

With over 300 tree types to choose from, the 100% 100 mile diet just got a little more likely:

• 200 apple tree varieties
• Over 80 other fruit trees, including: pears, plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, figs, grapes, kiwi, quince and medlar (I don’t even know what that is)
• Over 30 citrus varieties
• Over 15 varieties of hardy sub-tropicals, including: pomegranates, persimmons, loquats, feijoa, jujubes, and olives

Now, if he can figure out a way to grow coffee and the occasional banana, we’re all set.

Brian Harris, internationally acclaimed Vancouver photographer, is working with Farm Folk/City Folk and the Museum of Vancouver to combine a photography contest with his upcoming exhibition Home Grown to show at Museum of Vancouver  starting August 2010.

The Home Grown Photography Contest welcomes everyone to submit their urban agriculture photos and become involved with the exhibition. See website for details and contest rules.

The winner of the photo contest will have their photo in the exhibition and take home $500 worth of Vancouver Farmers Market produce and products. That’s both local, and delicious!

Passing it on to all your gardening, budding photographer friends!

Now here’s a nifty idea, thanks to a post I came across on Twitter by Cooking up a Story. For anyone who loves fresh salad but doesn’t have anything more than a balcony or deck to work with, you can easily grow your own custom salad mix in a container.

For the full story check out Container Gardening: Growing Salad Bowls

Where I’m from, the first name off anyone’s lips when talking seeds is West Coast Seeds, best known for their gardeners’ porn annual seed catalogue. The catalogue IS full of beautiful pictures, but the best part when you’re in the garden planning stage at the start of the season is their regional planting chart.

West Coast Seeds provides valuable information, along with gardening books and tools, but as I understand it, they don’t actually source their seeds locally. There are a variety of companies that produce seeds grown in our own climate, many of which are also organic. Here are some options:*

Stellar Seeds Sorrento, BC

Salt Spring Seeds Salt Spring Island, BC

Full Circle Seeds Sooke, BC

Two Wings Farms Victoria, BC

Sunshine Farm Kelowna, BC

Other suppliers from slightly farther afield…

Wild Garden Seed Oregon, USA

Heritage Harvest Seed Carman, Manitoba

Lindenberg Seeds Brandon, Manitoba

Territorial Seed Co. Oregon, USA

Talk about taking eating local to a whole new level: you can eat regionally adapted plants, while supporting your Eat Local economy! Learn more about organic seeds at Organic Seed Alliance.

*List courtesy of Gourmet Gardens

——————————-

Related Posts:

Why Local Seeds Matter
Let the Planting Begin
West Coast Seeds