Watering Our Garden; Kids Activities at Work Parties

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. 

ReWilders at the Park Board Tree Sale

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.

'New possibilities' by Marieke van der Velden

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!

Hiring Students for Garden Coordinators

Do you want to get involved in a community garden?  Do you enjoy gardening and want to learn more?  Do you want to help organize potlucks, work parties, workshops for kids to seniors, be the friendly face meeting and greeting our garden members?  We are hiring 2 students to work this season. For more information email joanne_mackinnon@lmnhs.bc.ca and check out the job description. Please share with your networks.  Thank you for funding from Canada Summer Jobs.  

Seed Library for our Garden Bed Members

Attention to all our Garden Bed Members and veggie gardeners.  check out the list of seeds we have available for you to plant in your garden bed this season.  Thank you to Village Vancouver for providing a lot of the seeds.  Also, we will be getting beautiful organic tomato plants towards the end of May/ beginning of June, so no need to start from seeds or purchase any plants.

Ecological Literacy Through Gardening

The education project “Ecological Literacy Through Gardening” is a pilot project that involves the SPEC school garden program, Charles Tupper Secondary School and the Riley Park Community Garden. This project is designed to promote ecological literacy among high school aged students, and enhance their access to healthy and wholesome food. An additional purpose of the project is to encourage youth to develop critical thinking about the land, its history and the protocols of community relations and responsibilities. Pictures and more information to come. Visit their garden bed at #5.  

Garden Information Session Thursday, March 8

Join us at the Terry Salman Library Branch at Hillcrest Community Centre to learn more about the garden and our activities.  Meet garden volunteers, tell us what you want to see and do in the garden and take home seeds. 6pm - 8:45pm. 

Share your ideas to help grow our garden.

Join us for an information session on March 8 at the Terry Salman Branch.  Can't come?  Please fill out our online questionnaire.  

Christmas Tree Chipping Event to benefit Community Garden

Saturday, January 13 10-2 bring your tree to Riley Park Parking Lot and have your tree chipped by Bartlett Tree Experts.  Be sure to share with your friends.  A by donation event. 

Connecting to Place Dance in the Garden

Thank you to everyone who came out to this event,  where choreographer Eleanor Hendricks taught us how to connect to our garden space through dance. Lori Snyder was also there to help us learn about the importance of connecting to plants and the Earth as the First Nations have for centuries. 

Special thanks to Anya and her family for preparing hot food for our enthusiastic yet chilly group. We ate pierogies, squash soup, and cabbage rolls in the fieldhouse while chatting and drinking tea.

To round off the end of the day, we began painting on the murals around the fieldhouse, inspired by themes we explored throughout the day through dance. 

Our fieldhouse neighbours Merakos Fieldhouse were also hosting an upcycled market and pop-up cafe in Riley Park. The market was a breath of fresh air in this time of consumerism and waste, so congrats to Rebecca and Selina who crafted it. Some highlights of the event were the "Buddy Booth" where you can buddy up with people looking to get involved in similar activities, the florentines at the fieldhouse cafe, and local organization Melt Collective which repurposes disposed-of plastics into objects of use (check out their website here). 

Overall, a great wintery day leading up to the holidays! 

Season Wrap-up Celebration!

Wow- what an evening! We had the pleasure of celebrating the inaugural season of the beautiful Riley Park Community Garden- thanks to the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House for hosting our large turnout. There were snowflake decorations, incredible food provided by Chickpea, apple cider pressed in the garden and fermented by gardener Robin, and much more. Read on! 

Delicious vegan middle eastern food enjoyed by all- thanks Chickpea! 

A line of hungry and happy volunteers with Joanne MacKinnon at the helm! 

Happy volunteers Lloyd and Felicia enjoying the meal. 

Some festive apple cider bottled by Rob. 

MC for the evening and project manager Joanne MacKinnon started off the event proceedings acknowledging key volunteers and introducing Lori Snyder, who spoke in relation to our garden and its connection to First Nation communities.

Lori Snyder speaking to the volunteers. 

Then we had a presentation of a slideshow made by Erika, which featured highlights from the 2017 season- and will posted to this website soon! 

We also heard from Art and Allan about "Riley Park through the Ages". This project has required a lot of work and is ongoing- so stay tuned where to see more of this topic! 

Art and Allan in front of their project. 

We also heard from Len who discussed our Shed project, which will be an opportunity for our community to gather even closer. 

For the rest of the evening, volunteers contributed to the ongoing "Riley Park storybook" spearheaded by Anya- a visual scrapbook of memories drawn/written/put together in all shapes and forms representing the 2017 season. Guests were also encouraged to share feedback by way of post-it notes on the walls responding to certain questions pertaining to the garden and their experience. 

An example of a contribution to the 2017 storybook, done by volunteer Susan.

Thank you so much for everyone's hard work this season. Make sure to check the calendar for more events happening through the winter!

Harvest Party + Riley Park Through the Ages: a Recap!

Thank you to everyone who came by and participated in our last "official" work party of the season here at Riley Park Garden! We had an amazing day this past Saturday. Here are the details! 

The morning started with the UBC Rewilder Group gathering in the garden to transplant the native plants from their garden bed into the communal northern bed. Thank you to the Rewilders for providing coffee, yummy stew, and knowledge about how to "Re-wild" our city's green spaces!

Shown below is a slideshow of some of the photos from the garden work party in the morning. The UBC LFS students were hard at work finishing the produce library, and garden bed members were hard at work harvesting and taking out plants. 

After working hard in the garden, we had a wonderful "Heritage Potluck", where community members were encouraged to share a dish representing their family background. Some highlights included Anya's pierogies, Amy's chicken curry, Mary's cake, and Felicia's soup + crumble. 

After lunch was the highlight of the day: the presentation on Riley Park Through the Ages! We were lucky enough to hear from Lori Snyder, Dr. Art Bomke, and Allan Buium about how the space has changed throughout the centuries. Thank you very much to these presenters for their time researching and contributing to this very educational activity! 

What a great way to officially wrap up Riley Park Community Garden's first growing season. Stay tuned for upcoming events throughout the fall/winter- and especially look forward to our Season Wrap-Up Celebration: November 29th at the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House! 

October 7th: Salmon Caravan Celebration

We had a really wonderful cozy day at the garden last Saturday! Our open-door work party was led by Art, who taught us how to cut cover crop properly and talked about harvesting methods. The UBC LFS students were hard at work building the produce library under Robin's direction. This structure will be ready later this month for gardeners to place produce they can't take home! 

After the slightly damp work party, the weather let up in time for an educational presentation from Blue Comet seafood at their tent at the Farmer's Market. Learning about sustainable seafood is important for us in order to respect the oceans and the spirit of the salmon! This led us to a Three-Sisters Potluck lunch featuring dishes made with squash, corn, and/or beans. Highlights included Amy's vegan casserole and Anne's cassava and corn fritters. 

Special thanks goes out to The Fish Counter, who provided us with some beautiful salmon and spreads. The leftover fish platter was donated to the community kitchen program at the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House. 

We were very happy to celebrate the spirit of the wild salmon as they return from the sea up the rivers. Salmon is a very important resource of the Pacific ocean, and we respect the First Nations traditions honouring their spirit. Pictured below are some paintings of salmon that were done by kids from the "Art of Tennis" summer camp, which will be "planted" in an installation around the garden.

Lastly, we had a great time in the audience and participating in the Shakespeare-inspired original play by Varouj: "The Garden". Make sure to come see the final production on October 21st! 

We are taking this weekend off as the rain will be giving the garden quite the drink. Stay tuned for the events and activities planned for the next garden day on October 21st! 

September 30th Recap: Garden Fun + Garlic Workshop!

Lots of fun was had in the garden this past Saturday, despite some typical Vancouver fall weather! There were many tasks to take part in, such as "topping" our buckwheat cover crop (seen above being done by Aiden). This ensures that the buckwheat, now gone to seed, does not disperse in the wind. 

Committee member Felicia getting up close and personal with the buckwheat cover crop. 

Other jobs included painting and assembling the produce library, which is still in progress. Thanks to Robin for spearheading this project which will provide a place for garden members to store surplus vegetables for anyone in the community to share. 

LFS students from UBC working on the produce library under Robin's direction. 

There was also lots of harvesting to be done- and certainly more to do in the coming weeks! Come along to help us harvest at the last two work parties: October 7th and 21st! 

Radish season! Thanks Rebecca for helping harvest!

After the work party, many gathered for Master Gardener Selina's workshop on garlic. We learned a lot about the different (and best) varieties of local garlic, and tasted some too! Some fortunate garden bed members planted some garlic in their beds with the hopes of a delicious bounty next summer! 

Learning about, tasting, and planting garlic! 

Lastly, the Shakespeare in the Garden Original Play was rained out this week, but is set to go next Saturday, October 7th at 3:30!

Make sure to come out to the next two work parties, which both have special events afterwards:

• October 7th: 10am Work Party followed by Three Sisters Lunch and Salmon Caravan Celebration, followed by The Garden (an original play)
• October 21st: 10 am Work Party followed by a presentation on "Riley Park Through the Ages" and then Artful Community Reflections

September 23rd Recap: Apple Festival!

We had an amazing time at Riley Park this past Saturday working in the garden and celebrating apple season! We are so lucky to live in British Columbia, where there seems to be beautiful apples growing in every direction! The sunny, crisp autumn day started in the morning with our weekly work party, led by Peter. We accomplished several tasks, including working on the compost structure, assembling our new wooden entrance signs, weeding, and measuring beds for irrigation plans. We also welcomed the UBC LFS students who will be working with us for the semester! 

Right after the work party, Norm Dooley presented an apple varietal tasting in addition to teaching us about apples. Norm brought down 8 varieties of apples in bulk from his favourite orchards in Keremous, B.C. 

Once the tasting was finished, the apple-themed potluck began! There were several dishes, including two salads, baked apples, homemade pastries, and the contest-winning dish: Felicia's gluten-free apple crisp!

Other activities happening at the garden during the apple festival included decorating paper bags for carrying apples home, as well as pressing apple cider juice using an old apple press! Thanks to Robin for bringing that to the garden. The wasps were definitely pleased as well! 

Thank you for everyone who came out and participated! See you next Saturday!