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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!
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.
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.
UBC Environmental Education students worked with families with kids under the age of 6 on physical literacy and nature education. They had 4 sessions in the Riley Park Community Garden learning about compost and planted a few vegetables. If you have an idea for education or workshops in the Fieldhouse or using the Community Garden, apply online to use our space.
Read moreThe 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.
Built by Robin Hastings (our Bartlett Tree Expert on the right), the Produce Library invites community members to help themselves to produce left in this space. Selina Pope, beside Robin on the right, led the Work Party to harvest the fall planted crops.
A big thank you to Farmer Chris of One Love Farm who donated the plants and worked with us on their planting. Marta Ramos, our Newcomer Community Kitchen coordinator (on the left) is most grateful to use the produce from the garden in her program.
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.
Join us for an information session on March 8 at the Terry Salman Branch. Can't come? Please fill out our online questionnaire.
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.
Monthly donation stations at the Nat Bailey Farmers Market to benefit Little Mountain Neighbourhood House Community Kitchens and Drop-In programs for immigrants and newcomers.
Read moreThank 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!
Gardeners Tamara and Ed animating the space with some fun drawings of the garden.
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!
50 East 30th Avenue,
Vancouver BC, CANADA V5V 2T9
The Riley Park Community Garden is a project of the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House Society located at 3981 Main Street, Vancouver BC, Canada V5V 3P3
We acknowledge that the land on which we garden and gather is the unceded traditional
territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations
Charity Registration Number: 107629925RR0001
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