Friday, April 9, 2010

Garden plot and number images

On the April 8th meeting of the society, the membership approved the number of plots at 56 and the dimensions of the plots at 4' x 18' x 8". Here are some images illustrating this (note that the layout has not been decided on yet, this layout is just for purposes of illustration).




Here's what a garden gnome looks like in one of the plots:


And here's the dimensions of the garden overlaid on the actual garden site:

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Upcoming events at Village Vancouver

There are a number of seminars coming up on Saturay, April 10th 2010 at Langara College that would be of interest to community gardeners. For a full description and to RSVP, go to Village Vancouver's events page.

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 throughout Vancouver. Your donation includes a copy of The Five Levels of Seed Saving by Terry Klokeid. (Copies of Robin's brand new booklet Grow Your Own Seed Collective will also be available for $10.) Part of Spring Cultivating Food, Cultivating Neighbourhoods series.

City dwellers have many skills and resources all around them, but may not have a mechanism for organizing and drawing on those skills at the times when they're most needed.

We'll look at how the sharing of resources takes place so easily in rural communities, and how this can be applied to building a wider community in an urban area and the valuable support it can provide. Part of Spring Cultivating Food, Cultivating Neighbourhoods series.

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.

Part of the proceeds will help support SPEC's School Gardens Project.

Food storage is missing from our modern habit and building design. We will discuss food preservation (tubers, grains, onions, etc.) and how to choose locations for many food types so that appropriate storage areas can be created in apartments and houses. We'll also examine common problems and strategies to reduce waste.