A visit from local high school students

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One of our dreams for this farming project is that it may serve to inspire and educate others about growing your own food, permaculture and living in harmony with nature. It’s been exciting to see our space (and our experiments) used for some educational purposes in the last year: first as a field trip destination for a permaculture class and a master organic gardener class and more recently, as a field trip destination for the grade 12 social justice class from Thomas Haney Secondary School in Maple Ridge. 

Matt and I were on hand when the students came by so we gave them a tour, spoke to them about our project and filled them in on some of the different methods we’re experimenting with on the farm. Teachers Mark and Jenny gave questions to the students in advance that they were supposed to be thinking about and asking us about while at the farm. The questions included:

Why ducks?

What is a food forest anyway?

What are those rings of plants around your fruit trees?

Benefits of composting?

Permaculture what?

Can we eat the lasagne garden?

Hugel-what?

What’s up with square foot gardening?

What do chickens need a tractor for?

Why use heritage breeds?

SUCH great questions! (The lasagne garden one was the most popular :) The visit made me wish that I could have been learning about this stuff when I was in high school. I’m pretty sure I would have gotten started with growing my own food a lot earlier if I had. I think it’s fantastic that high school students are getting exposed to issues of food justice, health and environmental protection. It makes me feel hopeful about the future.

All in all, the visit was a success (at least we think so!) and so much fun. Matt and I had a blast talking to the students, watching them eat nasturtiums and kale straight from the garden, introducing them to our baby chicks, testing their knowledge about compostable matter, and enlisting them to move our chicken tractor for us. 

To Mark, Jenny & al
l the students who came to visit us – thanks for coming! We hope you’ll come back again soon and continue to explore ways in which we can pursue healthier, happier lives that benefit each other and our environment.

Vancouver Urban Farming Forum 2011

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Okay, so the policy geek in me is SO excited about this upcoming Vancouver Urban Farming Forum (Nov. 25-26). Transitioning cities towards future planning and policy practices that include (and even prioritize) urban farming is so important (in my opinion) and something that is so fun to daydream about. I love thinking about all the un-utilized and under-utilized space in cities being transformed into healthy, green, food producing plots. The list of potential benefits is varied and inspiring: improved aesthetics, air quality and soil quality; increased availability of healthy, locally-grown food that tackles food security issues related to affordability and decreased dependence on fossil fuels as part of the food production/delivery model; improved biodiversity levels in urban areas; elevated opportunities for reconnecting ourselves emotionally, mentally and spiritually with food and the environment; etc. I’m SO glad that Vancouver’s city officials are interested and open to exploring this important topic and I’m excited to hear what they and the urban farmer presenters will have to say.

I’ll be in attendance at the forum, taking notes and tweeting conversation tid-bits that I find inspiring and intriguing. In addition to listening to and being part of the discussions taking place, I’m really looking forward to the networking opportunities at the forum. I’m sure there’ll be some cool farmers with good advice and ideas that I’ll be able to take back to our farm with me.

Register for the early bird price of $25 before Oct. 21st if you’re interested in attending.

GETI FEST Review

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Last weekend, we attended the first annual GETI FEST and participated by having an info booth set up about our Farm for a Year project. Sort of our first, official, face-to-face, public promotion of ourselves. It was a lot of fun!

GETI FEST was set up to promote the Golden Ears Transition Initiative, and I’d say the first-time event was a pretty great success. We were one of a handful of local ‘action groups’ who had info booths set up at the event, but in addition, there was an artisan craft fair (where I bought myself a sweet tie-dyed tank top benefiting orphans in Uganda), an organic food bbq, live music and a parade. 

As is our style, we threw together a very last minute display board that ended up looking pretty colourful and fun. Our friend Chris K., who’s involved in another cool permaculture experiment in Maple Ridge, helped us set it up and kept Julie and I company manning it for the day – thanks Chris!

Our dear friend Kailey came by to show her support and Chantalle, Canaan, Chris and Kai came by to check things out after the boys had had their afternoon naps. Chris and Kai made their entrance by participating in the parade (which I forgot to photograph!) and later in the evening, Chris sat down at the live music stage’s piano to play some of his music.

All in all, a fun day with an encouraging number of local residents attending to learn more about GETI. Hopefully, more opportunities to education people about transition towns will continue to spread through Maple Ridge this year. Looking forward to seeing how the second annual event unfolds!

To see a lot more photos of the event, visit GETI’s photo page.