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This Saturday, head down to the garden for our usual work party (10:00 am - 12:00 pm), drop some donations off at the donation station (10:00 am - 2:00 pm) and settle into the Three Sisters Potluck lunch (12:30 pm - 3:00 pm). Everyone welcome!
Don't miss out on other garden events. Check out our events calendar here.
This Thursday, come down to the garden and bring a dish from your culture using potatoes. Over dinner and fresh tea, we'll discuss how neighbourhood small grants from the Vancouver Foundation have helped us grow connection in our community. Everyone welcome!
Wondering what else is on at the garden this month? Check out our events calendar, here.
This Saturday, skip down to the garden for our annual Mad Hatter Tea Party from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm. We'll be serving up garden-inspired teas, snacks and curiously crafty activities.
Don't forget to check out our other events here.
This Saturday, mosey over to the garden for the morning work party (10:00 am - 12:00 pm) before tucking into a tasty tomato potluck (be sure to bring a dish!). Shirlene from Earth Apple Farm will also lead attendees through a tomato tasting, revealing the rich tomato varieties grown in the region. Everyone welcome!
Curious about our other upcoming events? Check out the event calendar here.
This Saturday, the garden will host its usual work party from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, followed by a Chinese lunch (catered by the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House line dancers) and informational walk through the garden. Led by our master gardeners, Selina Pope and Tamara Litke, and illustrated by graphic designer Masahiro Kojima, the event will teach old and young about our garden's unique ecological identity.
Don't forget to stop by the donation station from 10AM-2PM too! All proceeds this month go to Little Mountain Neighbourhood House's preteen youth program participants.
Don't forget to check out our other upcoming events here.
On beautiful sunny July 14th, Lori Snyder, guided us throughout Riley Park Garden to introduce us to some of the native plants growing here. Thank you Lori for sharing your native plant stories, as well as your deep sense of connectedness with these plants! As we learned from Lori and the plants, we were inspired to illustrate the plants we observed. Many of the drawings will become a part of a Native Plants of Riley Park Garden Map.
We hope to gather more native plant drawings from community members of all ages! Our Native Plants of Riley Park Garden Artful Mapping Project is continuing throughout the summer and if you are interested in contributing please do. We will have art supplies and easels for you at the garden during our work parties and on Saturdays 10:00 am - 12:00 pm. Perhaps you have native plants growing near your home? The Native Plant Society of BC has put together a list of resources, including field guides that could inspire drawings and further exploration.
https://npsbc.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/native_plant_gardening_resources.pdf
For a list of which plants have yet to be drawn please email Anya: anyachase@yahoo.ca
Or feel free to illustrate whichever plant you are drawn to!
We have about 70 native plants in the garden and we are presently compiling a list.
Here are some of them.
This Saturday, mosey on down to the garden to pitch in at the work party (10:00 am - 12:00 pm) and stay for a corn boil potluck (12:30 pm - 2:00 pm)! Bring a dish from your culture that celebrates zucchini and we'll provide the corn (and butter). Sit back and relax until 3:00 pm when Chris from One Love Farm will lead volunteers in planting a bed for our (soon to be) new neighbours at the Little Mountain temporary modular housing development.
Check out our other events here.
Our next general garden meeting will be held on Thursday, July 26. Open to all community members, we’ll discuss garden decision making and decision makers. Come provide your input and help shape the future of Riley Park Community Garden!
When: 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm | Thursday, July 26
Where: Room 320 | Hillcrest Community Centre
Dance, dine and help water the garden with the Latinx community this Wednesday, July 25. You won't want to miss out on the empanadas and live music so come on down and bring the kids. See you there!
Check out our other upcoming events here.
This Saturday, the day starts off with a work party from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm. From there, wander over to the Farmer's Market and drop off a donation at the donation station (running until 2:00 pm). This month, goods are going to Syrian drop-in program participants at Little Mountain Neighbourhood House.
Bonus points if you donate lettuce!
Check out our other events, here.
It's nearly mid-July and the garden is lush! This Saturday, get a little dirt under your fingernails at the work party (10:00 am - 12:00 pm), lunch and learn with the Syrian community from 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm, and tap into your creative side with Indigenous Herbalist and Educator, Lori Snyder, as we map the garden from 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm. Don't forget to bring the kids!
Be sure to check out our other upcoming events at our Events Calendar.
Put on your dancing shoes! Every Tuesday morning through July and August, the garden will host Seniors Line Dancing. Bring a hat, water and come socialize with other active community members while our talented volunteer leads you through the steps.
All seniors are welcome!
When: 9:00 am - 10:30 am | every Tuesday in July and August
Where: E 30th Ave. at Ontario Street | Riley Park Community Garden
This Saturday promises to be another busy day at the Riley Park Community Garden. Pop by in the morning to help with the work party (10:00 am - 12:00 pm), lunch and learn with the Syrian community from 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm, and dig into the secrets of composting at a workshop led by Master Composter, Angela Hoy in the early afternoon (1:00 pm - 2:00 pm).
Be sure to check out our Event Calendar for other garden happenings.
The Riley Park Farmers Market provides Little Mountain Neighbourhood House with a Donation Station in the market every month. The farmers and shoppers donate produce and funds to support our community kitchen and cooking programs for vulnerable populations served by the House.
On June 23, donations supported the Newcomers Community Kitchen. With an estimated 15 lbs of produce, our Kitchen Facilitator, Marta Ramos, and her group cooked soups, vegetable pakoras and salads for this community. The 15 people participating in the kitchen were immigrants and newcomers from China, Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, Chile, Peru and Spain, all amazed at how flavourful and tasty the dishes were as, for some, it was their first time eating organic produce.
Our next donation station is Saturday, July 21. Feel free to stop by our booth and learn more about how the garden and Little Mountain Neighbourhood House works to support immigrant and newcomer communities.
Riley Park Community Garden’s first Garden Day celebration was a big hit! Volunteers started off the day by digging elbows-deep into general garden maintenance before being rewarded by a tasty honey potluck. From baklava to pancakes, community members used the honey theme to show off dishes from their home countries, while the Honey Shoppe provided a honey tasting.
Park Board Commissioner Michael Wiebe and Minister of Justice (and enthusiastic garden supporter) Jody Wilson-Raybould were among those who partook in the lunch, with the latter receiving a Riley Park bouquet from our resident Master Gardener afterward. The day wound down with kids and adults alike coming together to build a pollinator hotel, thanks to guidance from Hayley Trachsel of Climate Guides, which will eventually host a community of mason bees.
A jam-packed day, it was a great way to kick off a summer full of events! Find out what we have planned for the coming weeks by checking out our event calendar and signing up for the newsletter.
Riley Park Community Garden is happy to introduce our two new garden coordinators, Wendee Lang and Henry Campbell. You’ll see the two of them around the field house and at events throughout the season – be sure to say hello!
A little bit about them:
Wendee is a UBC student currently pursuing a Master of Community and Regional Planning. A nature enthusiast, she’s delighted to join the garden and to support its work in the community.
Henry is a Vancouver Technical grad living in the heart of East Van. Passionate about the environment and its relation to humans, he is excited to work with the garden and to help it grow.
Schedule:
10:00 am – 12:00 pm Work Party
10:00 am – 2:00 pm Donation Station in the Farmers Market
10:00 am – 2:00 pm Scavenger Hunt in the Market for Kids
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm 'Honey Lunch' - Honey-themed potluck (other dishes not made with honey welcome)
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Honey Shoppe Honey Tasting
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm Build the "Pollinator Hotel" with Climate Guides and SPEC
A collaborative event between the Riley Park Community Garden and the Riley Park Famers Market, Garden Day in Riley Park is a time to visit and share your knowledge and passion for gardening and learning more about where our food comes from and who grows it.
Join our Riley Park Community Garden Work Party, the Riley Park Farmers Market and our Scavenger Hunt for Kids (featuring a demo bee hive), Pollinator Workshop and more. Garden Day in Riley Park will have you learning, growing and sharing about the community's gardens and farmers market culture and history.
Member of Parliament and garden supporter, Jody Wilson-Rabould, will also be in attendance from 12-2 to check out our many pollinator-friendly activities.
Bee there!
Help! We need to keep our garden watered. Email info@rileyparkgarden.org to sign up for a morning or evening watering time. Thank you, Amy and Atong, for watering our common area and your beds. The whole garden needs to be watered. This is a community garden. There are hoses and sprinklers for you to use.
We want to have kids activities in the garden. A couple of the Little Mountain Softball League little players and bed member kids are coming to the garden to get their hands in the dirt.
This Saturday, May 26, we have Potato Planting with Anya and Stone Painting with Rebecca. 10-2.
The ReWilders were at it again with fifty kits of native plants going to good homes. Thanks to the Vancouver Foundation, we were able to provide plants and education to residents coming to pick up their new trees.
Michael led a walk through our Riley Park woodland, 'west beach', and rewilder beds. Tamara shared seed blends for alternatives to regular grass, sedum mats and a living roof, which was installed by volunteers on our Produce Library. Thanks to Nat's Nursery Wholesale and West Coast Seeds for having such great staff, resources and products.
I originally started to look for a community garden plot in Vancouver at the start of 2016. Full, full and full. A few of the gardens kept waitlists. One of the responses I got when emailing to get on that list "I am confirming that you are definitely interested in being added to the waitlist as it will be approximately an 8-year wait". Sure, why not was my response. In the end it all worked out, that was my year of hiking every and all weekend.
But last year a car accident stopped my hiking in it's tracks and my body and spirit needed something new. By chance, through a friend of a friend, I learned about a new community garden that was being built. Although the plots were reserved for groups, they were welcoming to individual members to help with the garden at large. One weekend at the end of June I joined a work party in the garden and two hours later I was invited to share a remaining garden bed with some other individuals. I rejoiced!
Digging in the dirt is better than therapy for me. For the rest of the summer and into the fall, the garden became a place not just to ease my mind and gently move my body, but also where I could find connection with the fellow gardeners, make friends and enjoy the most incredible potlucks I've ever experienced. I've gone there after actual therapy session to regroup and re-centre myself by getting some dirt under my finger nails. I've danced in the garden, read books and of course, grow food like tomatoes, zucchini and herbs.
You can have all the plans in the world, but sometimes the universe makes other plans. What I learned is that you should have faith that it will give you something you need in return. When I didn't just want, but needed, a community garden - it appeared. With a community, and friends. I met people (including one of my favorite people in the world) who I would not have met had I not been on this path and who make me grateful that I am.
Keep your heart open to new possibilities.
Here's to another exciting year at the Riley Park Community Garden. I will see you there!
We acknowledge that the land on which we garden and gather is the unceded traditional
territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations
50 East 30th Avenue,
Vancouver BC, CANADA V5V 2T9
Email: info@rileyparkgarden.org
The Riley Park Community Garden is a project of the Little Mountain Neighborhood House Society located at 3981 Main Street, Vancouver BC, Canada V5V 3P3
Funded in part by the Government of Canada's New Horizon for Seniors Program
Charity Registration Number: 107629925RR0001
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