The pigs have arrived! For the second year in a row, we are partnering with a local 4H group in Maple Ridge by housing their pigs on our property. Keeping the pigs here means that 4H students have a farm to visit everyday to learn how to care for and interact with them, while we have the benefit of having adorable animals around that poop in and dig up our fields which is GREAT for our soil.
I snapped this shot of two of the pigs running through our field, ears-a-flying. I’m in love.
Photo credit: BCLocalNews Christian Cowley, executive director of the CEED Centre, plants potatoes in a photo taken before last year’s Earth Day events. This year’s second annual Cheers to the Planet event will be raising funds for the CEED Centre again.
Whew! Life is busy right now. I’ve got a lot of farm updates to share (sooo many!), but those updates will have to wait for a few more days because right now I’m going to plug some great events that are going to be happening this weekend in Maple Ridge.
This coming Sunday is Earth Day and there’s lots to do to celebrate! Here’s the low-down:
Celebrate Earth Day festival from 10am-2pm at Memorial Peace Park on Saturday, April 21st. Come down for lots of family-friendly activities and displays from local environmental groups, including the CEED Centre and GETI. This date will also mark the opening of this year’s Haney Farmer’s Market – yay!!!! Can’t wait to get some locally grown produce to munch on! The festival will also celebrate 40 years of the Ridge Meadows Recycling Society.
Cheers to the Planet: Eat, Drink and be Eco is the second annual food and wine fest fundraiser for the CEED Centre. This year’s event will be held at Meadowridge School, 6-9pm, Sunday, April 22nd (Tickets $45 in advance, $55 at the door). We’re DEFINITELY going to be here! Find out more on the Cheers to the Planet facebook page.
And if you’re going to be in Vancouver instead of Maple Ridge, Chris K. and I are giving our first workshop: Permaculture 101 at the Collingwood Neighbourhood House in East Van from 3:30-6:30pm on Saturday. Fun times!
Happy Earth Day everyone!
This Saturday, March 25th, is the newest workshop in the Growing Food course series that Gail Szostek is teaching in Maple Ridge. The Growing Food course is a 12 month workshop series that teaches hands-on gardening skills every step of the way through all four seasons.
This month’s workshop will focus on growing and transplanting seedlings with the hands-on part of the session taking place on our farm! FUN!
The indoor part of the workshop will be held at the CEED Centre (11739, 223rd Street in Maple Ridge), beginning at 12pm. After that, the group will head over to our property to learn how to build a hotbed – a great garden structure that helps seedlings get established even when spring weather isn’t. The class will officially wrap up at 4pm (but we’re happy to give farm tours to anyone who wants to linger for a little while).
The workshop costs $40. RSVP’s aren’t neccessary, but are helpful. If you’d like to RSVP, please email Gail at greenspaceconsulting@live.com.
We hope to see you at the workshop and at our farm! For more info on the Growing Food course, see the workshop event link on the GETI website.
UPDATE: Here’s some more info from Gail…Hi all!
The next Growing Food Session is this Saturday, March 24. This time we will be talking about starting your garden plants early. We will be starting at 12:00 noon at the CEED Centre, in the outside shelter area; we will be looking at different types of containers and soils to grow seeds in; we will be learning how to avoid “damping off” and learning how to “prick out”; we will be learning about what to watch for in seedling growth; and you will each get to take a seedling home with you. We will learn which seeds you can plant out in your garden now, and which ones need to wait. About 2:00 we will be travelling over to the Moerman farm to build an old fashioned “hotbed” which is the perfect place to start plants early without added electricity but still ensuring unseasonal warmth for the little seedlings. We will be digging, shovelling, hammering and constructing, so wear your work clothes and bring your gloves and shovels. The weather is supposed to cooperate and give us a nice sunny spring day, so it should be AWESOME!!