To Make A Farm- VIFF Movie Revisted Oct 20

To Make a Farm was featured last weekend as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival. The movie received such amazing response from the audience that Vancity Theatre decided to screen it again. It will be screened on Thursday Oct 20 at Vancity Theatre at 6:30pm. Advanced tickets only. Buy tickets online or in person at the Vancity box office. View the trailer of the movie here: http://vimeo.com/2901.

Curtis Stone, An Urban Farmer

Curtis Stone, an urban farmer, is coming to Victoria on November 10, 2011 for an evening talk about how he grows food for market, restaurant and CSA on city lots and makes a good living doing it.

Nov 10, 2011 - 6:45pm - Fernwood Community Centre - Victoria - $15pre - $20door

http://permaculturebc.com/SPIN-Farming-Evening

Permaculture Basics and Small Space Sustainability

September 27th, 2011 6:45pm-8:45pm

Join Permaculture activists Erin Innes of passionatepermaculture.ca and Jill Whitelaw of Cascadia North Permaculture to discuss and explore how to use Permaculture in small spaces. Using the basic principles of Permaculture, we will discuss ways of achieving a high yield and a low carbon footprint in small urban spaces. The only limit to yield is your imagination. Please join us to discuss organic gardening, micro gardens, and preparation for spring.
$15 no one turned away


Kiwassa Neighborhood House
2425 Oxford Street, Vancouver, BC

Bird Walk, August 27

Bird Walk, 10 a.m. meet at the Garden entrance of Van Dusen Gardens. Join Jeremy Gordon for a birding exploration in the Garden. Rain or shine. Free for Members or with Garden admission.

Mayne Island Permaculture Course, August 27-28

Saturday to Sunday August 27-28
Red Spectral Serpent, White Crystal Worldbridger, Blue Cosmic Eagle
Fairview Farm, Mayne Island bc

Out on the Land, Permaculture Basics for a Small Farm

led by

Jill Whitelaw of Cascadia North Permaculture, and

Erin Innes of Passionate Permaculture

Step into natural time on Mayne Island... we will be observing the land and the area as it is in the Islands Trust, and working in a gentle manner. We will talk about somethings, get our hands dirty with others, take some walks and maybe go on a field trip to see a great pond and garden. Land observation and intuitional surveying; keyline dam discussion and exploration; no dig gardens; using wood and organic matter to create a sponge to hold water, eliminating the need for watering; orchard care and maintenance; primitive systems; aligning structures for maximum heat gain; and the mulch pit tree system. kids welcome.

Course fee: $75 + 50 for food, includes camping. Other accomodation is available on the island. http://www.mayneislandchamber.ca/

This course is appropriate for Permaculture graduates and non graduates also. The techniques in this workshop can be used anywhere in urban backyards or community gardens, and are mostly small designs by their natures.  

To register please contact Jill at greentempledesign@gmail.com

Music In the Garden- From Cuba to Denmark, August 14th

MusicFest Vancouver:BMO World at the Garden: From Cuba to Denmark (produced by MusicFest Vancouver) On the Great Lawn at 7 p.m. (gate opens at 5:30 p.m.) Cuban pianist Ernán Lopez-Nussa is one of today’s most remarkable jazz pianists. His deeply sensitive style has its roots in Cuban and Afro-Cuban musical traditions, European classics and contemporary music. Direct from Havana with his Trio, Ernán’s fusion of rhythm and beauty, strength and lyricism, will be unforgettable. Touché Vocal Jazz, a 14-member a cappella ensemble from Copenhagen, is known for big band-like arrangements, awesome swing and tender ballads. Hot and sweet, cool and lyrical, vocal percussion and smoky voices – Touché embraces the best jazz styles and arrangements. Ernán and Touché – it’s the recipe for an unforgettable evening of jazz al fresco in the Garden. The BMO WATG concert is festival seating on the Great Lawn. Seating is not provided. Patrons should bring their own blankets or low (8” max) lawn chairs (seated in the centre section). Full-size lawn chairs will be seated at special section on the sides. Please note that the ground is uneven and could be challenging for people in wheelchairs and walkers. Admission at 5:30 p.m. includes the opportunity to explore the Garden prior to the concert - bring a picnic and make an evening of it. Rain or shine - dress appropriately for sitting outside. Prices: Advance - $37/$32. At the door - $42/$37. Tickets for all concerts are available on the Festival’s web site www.musicfestvancouver.ca or through Ticketmaster (code EFEST 4) at 604.280.3311 www.ticketmaster.ca with service charges. Buy by July 29 and be entered to win a VIP reserved parking spot. More information on these and other MusicFest Vancouver concerts and to enter the contest, visit www.musicfestvancouver.ca

Music In the Garden- Family Day, August 14th

MusicFest Vancouver: Music in the Garden: BMO Family Day: 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. on the Great Lawn, presented by Music Fest Vancouver. BMO Family Day is back with even more to entertain children, parents, and even grandparents that love music and nature. Surrounding the Great Lawn you'll find a craft tent, an interactive drumming circle lead by Groove Masters Percussion, and the very popular Tom Lee Instrument Petting Zoo, where kids young and old can get their hands on an array of musical instruments.  MusicFest Stage Performance Schedule: 11:30 a.m. Bobs & LoLo; 12:45 p.m. Will Stroet and the Backyard Band; 2 p.m. Bobs & LoLo. Regular Garden admission charges apply. Children under age two are free. Tickets only available at the gate on the day of the event. For more information contact MusicFest Vancouver www.musicfestvancouver.ca

Orchid Society Orchid and Companion Plant Sale, August 13th

Vancouver Orchid Society Orchid and Companion Plant Sale,Floral Hall, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Information: Wayne Riggs 604.597.5709riggskw@interchange.ubc.ca

Zimsculpt

Zimsculpt - Zimsculpt returns to VanDusen for its third and final year bringing stunning stone sculpture from Zimbabwe. More than 300 pieces by several Zimbabwean sculptors are artistically displayed throughout the Garden. Two artists from Zimbabwe, Passmore Mupindiko and Patrick Sephani, will be in attendance throughout the exhibition and carving on site daily. All pieces are for sale with partial proceeds going to support the VanDusen Botanical Garden Association. This will be your last chance to see and purchase these stunning sculptures.www.zimsculpt.com

Poetry In A Chinese Garden, August 11th

Cedar Lecture: Poetry in a Chinese Garden, with noted Sinologist Dr. Jan Walls and calligrapher Yim Tse. Floral Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tonight’s presentation celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden; the only full-size classical Ming Dynasty Chinese garden outside of China. Dr. Jan Walls explores how poetry is used in classical Chinese gardens to examine nature and garden elements. Dr. Walls’ presentation is followed by a demonstration of the Chinese art of calligraphy by Yim Tse. Tickets: in advance from the Administration Office or, subject to availability, at the door on the night of the lecture. Individual tickets: Members $10 and non-members $15. Trio Pack: includes three tickets which can be used on any three lectures in 2011 - Members: $25 (for 3), Non-members: $40 (for 3). Information: educate@vandusen.org

Urban Permaculture Design Course

Urban Permaculture Design Course

With Erin Innes and Grant Watson 

Dates: Sep 9 - Oct 28, 2011 (Wednesdays 10 to 5:30 plus a weekend retreat Sep 30-Oct 2)
Registration: call Langara College at 604 323 5322 - course # 70849

Creating abundant urban communities that don't just sustain themselves, but heal the ecology around them and the people who live in them, is the frontline of sustainability activism; Permaculture gives us the tools to do it. Through 72 hours of experiential learning, earn your internationally recognized Permaculture Designer Certificate and learn what sustainable living really looks like in both urban and rural settings, as well as how they interact and support each other. Growing food in the city, ecological restoration and remediation, green building, community leadership, and sustainable settlement design are just some of the skills you'll learn in this demanding and inspiring course which will take you from urban farms and community gardens to the Fraser Valley, Sunshine Coast, and your own backyard.

In the field: A portion of course material will be delivered onsite at the following locations and will include hands-on activities:

• Langara Community Garden
• Farmers on 57^th, George Pearson Hospital, Vancouver
• Glen Valley Organic Farm, Abbotsford
• Rolling Earth Farm, Roberts Creek
• Deer Crossing at the Art Farm, Gibsons
• Other venues may be added

For more information contact Leslie Kemp at Langara College: 604 323 5981

Course fee: $1100 (additional cost for weekend field trip, approximately $150). Some scholarships may be available; Langara college credits applicable.

Trafalgar School Garden Work Party

What: Trafalgar School Garden Work Party part 2
When: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 1:00 PM

Where: Trafalgar Elementary School
4170 Trafalgar Street
Vancouver, BC V5K 0A1

C ome and help the teachers, parents and other volunteers at Trafalgar Elementary School to implement the second phase of their permaculture school garden.  We will be sheet mulching and planting a cover crop around the 11 subirrigated planters that were built during the first work party (the green and pink areas in the diagram).  These areas will eventually become fertility beds (green) and host a wide diversity of nectary plants to attract and keep beneficial insects in the garden (pink).

The sheet mulch will be used as a soil remediation technique (the garden is being planted on a gravel field) in combination with soil loosening and ground cover planting.

The work party will be from 1pm to 5pm at the school.  Stay as long or short as you like.

We are also looking for the following tools and materials to build the sheet mulch and condition the soil.  If you have a tool or materials from the list below and would like to come help out, please bring it along!

Tools/Materials we need to build the sheet mulch:

- cardboard (especially from large boxes)

- newspaper

- utility knives

- garden forks

- work gloves 

Hastings Sunrise Garden Tou

*2011 Garden Tour*

The Summer of Sustainability Garden Tour
Date: July 23rd
Time: 10 am – 4 pm
Location: All over Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood!

http://sunrisecommons.org/garden-tour/

ALSO

Also, an article about US farm subsidies that may provide some clarity as to why agriculture has been going the way it has may be of interest...

http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2011/06/top-10-things-you-should-know-about-the-farm-bill/?utm_source=foodweek3b&utm_medium=email&utm_content=first-link&utm_campaign=farm

Going Beyond Green: A Permaculture Primer

Going Beyond Green: A Permaculture Primer will happen on Wednesday, July 6, 2011
When: Where:  
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
7:00 PM lower level, side door
Longhouse
Vancouver, BC

Permaculturalists around the world are making a bold statement about our collective future: Sustainability is not enough. Our habitat is threatened by climate change, oil spills, nuclear accidents. Our consumer culture alienates us from each other, and creates oppression and violence around the world as wealth is transferred from the global majority to a rich few. We need to go beyond sustainability and work to meet the needs of everyone on the planet with strategies that don't just do no harm to our environment and the people we share it with, but that actually regenerate our planet's ability to support us, and our ability to support each other. Permaculture design can show us how.
Come join Permaculture designers and educators Erin Innes and Jill Whitelaw to hear about some of the ways we can meet our needs with systems that also heal our climate, our water, our soil, and ourselves.
Presented by Jill Whitelaw/ Cascadia Permaculture and Erin Innes/ Passionate Permaculture
http://www.passionatepermaculture.ca/

Permaculture Tea Meetup- Compost Tea Party

Announcing a new Meetup for The Vancouver Permaculture Meetup Group!
What: Learn to brew aerated compost tea while sipping herbal tea
When: Thursday, June 30, 2011 11:00 AM
Where: Strathcona Community Garden - Garden House
Hawks @ Prior
Vancouver, BC
Garden Brews Learn to brew aerated compost tea for your garden while you sip fresh herbal teas you harvested yourself. Suggested Donation $12 More info, including other great workshops: http://www.eya.ca/urban-ease.html
Check it out!

Cob Workshops

There are a number of cob workshops up on the Natural Building
Vancouver meetup site.  The first of which is tomorrow.
http://www.meetup.com/Natural-Building-Vancouver/
The workshops will be hands-on, with a project using mostly local
dirt, and salvage as construction materials.  The pizza oven is in a
backyard, and intended for group meals and bulk cooking/baking.  (And
Yogurt!)

Green Job Forum

Vancouver is set to be the world's Greenest City by 2020. How can you and your business help make this vision a reality?
Join the David Suzuki Foundation, The City of Vancouver, and The Vancouver Economic Development Commission at the Fairmont Waterfront for an exciting Green Café focusing on green jobs. Learn about the City's Vision of a Green Capital from City Councillor Andrea Reimer and plans for creating it from the VEDC.
Hear from three innovative local businesses (SHIFT Delivery Co-op, The Vancouver Tool Library and debrand) that are creating green jobs in market niches. Participate in group discussions regarding green jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in Vancouver leading up to 2020.
For:Open to the public including members of employee green teams, business owners and all individuals committed to sustainable workplace practice!
Date:Monday, June 27th, 6 - 8PM (registration at 5:30)
Location:Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, Malaspina Room
900 Canada Place Way

Invitees must RSVP and a $10 fee per participant is required.

Queen of the Sun

Queen of the Sun is a documentary about the vanishing bee populations.  It's now Playing at the Denman Cinema in Vancouver.  Check Cinema Clock for available showtimes.

Movie synopsis: In 2006, beekeepers around the world began reporting a strange and troubling phenomenon -- the population of their hives was shrinking dramatically, with the insects disappearing for reasons unknown to their minders, and in time close to a third of the world's honeybee population had seemingly vanished. While this was of great concern to people who produced honey for market, they were not the only ones worried; bees help pollinate many major cash crops, including a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans, and what's come to be known as Colony Collapse Disorder has far-reaching consequences for the international agricultural community. With bees involved in the growth of forty percent of the world's food, restoring the global bee population is of crucial importance, and filmmaker Taggard Siegel examines the role of bees in agriculture and the ecosystem, leading theories about CCD, possible solutions, and the theories of Rudolph Steiner in the documentary Queen Of The Sun. In the 1920s, Steiner was a leading biologist who believed crossbreeding of honeybees could lead to the doom of the species; over eighty years later, are Steiner's notions becoming reality? Queen Of The Sun was an official selection at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi Hide

Food Forest Workshop

A quick shout out to GAIA students that Food Forester Richard Walker is returning to the island this September.
Visit the TESTIMONIALS of both alumni GAIA students and others who took his last course and find out why Richard's experience and information will provide you a wealth of knowledge and the inspiration to use it.
In just 3 days 18 of the 25 spots have been taken. Register soon to attend this class.
This will be the last Level 1 Food Forestry workshop of 2011 offered on island.
Look for the Level II course soon.

Langara Summer School on Building Community

Renew. Learn. Celebrate.
Learn skills, develop strategies, and create visions for sustainable communities, sustainable work, culture, ecology and more at Langara's annual Summer School on Building Community, Saturday, June 11 to Saturday, June 18. (Registration details below).

Workshops related to gardening, food and urban agriculture include:

Two Block Diet: Creating Community and Growing More Food (Monday, June 13, 7 - 9 pm)

Strawberry City: Rebuilding Fractured Communities through Food Security (Tuesday, June 14, 9:30 am-4:30 pm)

Composting Made Easy (Tuesday, June 14, 5:30 - 6:30pm)

Soil Fertility and Plant Health (Tuesday, June 14, 7- 9pm)

Telling Stories through the Act of Gardening (Wednesday, June 15, 1-5pm)

Backyard Chickens 101 (Wednesday, June 15, 7-9pm)

Bees in the City: An Introduction to Backyard Beekeeping (Thursday, June 16, 9:30am-12:30pm)

Winter Gardening and Harvesting (Saturday, June 18, 9:30am - 4:30pm)

I look forward you to seeing you at our Summer School!

Leslie Kemp
Coordinator

Register:
Please register by calling 604.323.5322

Information:
Please contact Leslie Kemp at 604-323-5981/ lkemp@langara.bc.ca or visit our Summer School website

Food Forest Workshop

Food Forest Gardening - Learn how people are changing their approach to gardening by mimicking the natural patterns of a forest ecosystem. You too can learn to design gardens for a more sustainable harvest. Discover tricks to reduce maintenance, reduce fertilizing requirements, increase biodiversity and increase productivity in gardens of any scale. This workshop will include both a lecture and hands on experience. - This course is usually priced at $150 but is part of a fundraiser... suggested donation $40

St. Mary's Hall

121 Columbia Street East - Rear Hall

New Westminster

Saturday, July 9 · 10:00am - 4:00pm

Urban Permaculture Design Course

Wed's 7-Sep to 2-Nov 2011 with a weekend retreat on the Sunshine Coast 30-Sep to 2-Oct.

Registration

at Langara College, call 604-323-5322, course # 70849
Cost: $1100. plus travel and accomodations on Sunshine Coast retreat (approx. $150.)
Scholarship available.

Instructors

This course is co-taught by Rin Innes and Grant Watson.

Overview

Permaculture is a design science for creating sustainable human communities by re-structuring how we relate to the ecosystems we live in, and the people we share them with. Through 72 hours of dynamic experiential learning and a team design project, you will receive your internationally recognized Permaculture Designer Certificate. Experience real world examples of permaculture principles in action in both urban and rural environments.

A portion of course material will be delivered onsite at the following locations and will include hands-on activities:

• Langara Community Garden
• Farmers on 57^th, George Pearson Hospital, Vancouver
• Glen Valley Organic Farm, Abbotsford
• Rolling Earth Farm, Roberts Creek
• Deer Crossing at the Art Farm, Gibsons
• Other venues may be added

Course Outline

Unit 1: Design Fundamentals

• Ethics, Principles, Importance of Design.
• Design Concepts and Themes, Design Methodologies
• Pattern Understanding

Unit 2: Site analysis and Landscape-scale Design

• Climate and Microclimate
• Water in the climate and the landscape
• Rainwater, graywater, earthworks
• Trees, Forests in the landscape, Forest Gardening, Botany
• Soil, Home Gardens, Mushrooms,

Unit 3: System – Specific Design Applications

Sunshine Coast field trip: 30-Sep – 2-Oct. Staying two nights at Rolling Earth Farm, Roberts Creek.

• Permaculture for Structures and the Built Environment
• Natural Building
• Climate-specific considerations – Tropical, Drylands, Temperate Cool, Cold
• Designing for Climate Change and Resilient Communities
• Animal Systems, urban livestock
• Aquaculture, Aquaponics

For more info, email grant@gourmetgardens.ca

--
rin innes
www.passionatepermaculture.ca

Grant Watson
778 869 4060
www.gourmetgardens.ca