Summer fun

Some of what comes up on its own in our pathways is great for the garden, like White Dutch Clover. Bees love it and where there are bees, food follows.  Some folks plant it in pathways instead of woodchips or the like. What would you like on the pathways of our garden?

Red Clover

Red clover is actually more pinky-purple. European and aboriginal herbalists value this highly as a blood cleanser. Do Chinese herbalists use it too?

You grow girl!

Crystal has to be at least 6 feet tall.  Our sunflowers were spectacular all summer. If we leave the stalks standing, the birds will feast on their seeds this fall.   Their droppings will add to the organic material which feeds our soil. We can also harvest and roast some for snacks for us too. Yeah sunflowers!

We didn’t expect the raspberries to fruit this year but there are more ripe everyday. Next year is going to be tasty.

You have to be quick to find a ripe berry before these three fans.

 

ready for the picking

Hello Folks!
The peas are perfect- first come, first serve.
The calendula is a golden glow that halos our raspberries-
these petals are so happy to be picked- once dried we can
make them into a salve!
Come on by and see what’s shaking on the garden grounds next wednesday!
Keep growing Everybody- what’s the alternative?

 

Bee Appreciation Learning Party

You are warmly invited to the Bee Appreciation Learning Party on Saturday, June 27th from 10am to noon! Brought to you by your neighbours who participate in the Sustainable Living Arts School.

Come to the whole learning party or join us for a picnic afterwords in Clinton Park. We’ll be stopping by Garibaldi garden as well as other neighbourhood gardens to learn about how we can make the Garibaldi neighbourhood friendly to bees. Why? Because we all like to eat! Children are very welcome to come with their grown-ups.

To find out more about this learning party and the Sustainable Living Arts School: http://slas.ca/2009/06/19/you-are-invited-to-a-bee-appreciation-learning-party/

To register: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/369963571

Suggested donation: $25.  Donate generously- learning parties are 100% participant supported. Yeah!

 

In the begining…

In the beginning there was a learning party to share ideas for the garden.  Robin Wheeler, who runs an edible landscape nursery, founded the Sustainable Living Arts School, writes books like Gardening for the Faint of Heart and Food Security for the Faint of Heart led the session. We started with a walk around the garden site in the snow, then came back to my house for tea and map-making.

The kids are fierce about garden design

One of the designs.

Robin urged us to think about berries, herbs for tea that kids will like, and plants that kids like to touch, smell and taste.

A couple of weeks later some boxes arrived.

The first of many work parties.

The home learners stopped by after class and helped to make the central mound- where we now have a little butternut tree.

More child labour.

 

the Garden is the Goods

The city sings with summer. Ecstatic flowers sting the air with perfume.
Sun hats, bare legs, watermelon seeds scatter and the kids are already
clambouring for beach time.
It was a long winter, complete with snow. April arrived with a farewell sprinkling of white.
So when May opened up with it’s characteristic warmth, we rejoiced duly!
And now the optimism required while sowing peas in March pays off.
Beans and peas shimmy up trellises and fences. Tomatoes perk with yellow flowers;
kale waves it’s crooked edged leaves in the June breeze and blossoms of blueberries and raspberries litter the bushes on my wooly, glorious backyard.

In another garden, not so far away, a young butternut tree stands newly planted.
Some young children stood around it,giving it blessings and making wishes.
Come visit this new beauty in our midst.
Share the magic of the Garibaldi Garden.
Bring a book, spread out a picnic blanket.
Listen to the rustling of leaves.
Peek at what is popping up, notice what needs a little care.
Dig a little dirt or give it a drink.

 

You’re invited to a party!

A work party that is…

We are going to try and regularly meet in the garden on Thursday afternoon, starting at 2 and continuing once the kids get out. This Thursday we can plant some raspberries and other plants that were donated at the garden party. We got given a bunch of seeds too, mostly without labels. Help! Eva told me quickly and they instantly flew out of my head. If any of you donated seeds, please drop on by and tell us what they are.

I’m excited to start planting seeds, grown in the neighbourhood. Many of our elders have been saving seed from years. It would be a great honour to carry on their seeds at our garden.

 

The future needs to be made out of food

Forgive my parental pride here! But Harry’s video about the future of food pretty much sums it up for me. The future does need to be made out of food for all of us. I feel that learning how to grow plants for food, medicine, materials to build and make art, is important for all children, not just those growing up on a farm.

We live in this wonderful neighbourhood where there are so many people who never stopped growing a garden for food and flowers. I hope the Garibaldi Garden will be a space where we can share this learning with each other so we all feel confident that our children’s future will be made out of food…treats like ice-cream and hot-dogs included with the salad and broccoli, of course!