[Garden] Garden Update - January 2009

[Candace Wormsbecker]

Garden Update - January 2009 (please circulate to gardeners and other
interested parties)

 

 

Garden Supports/Policy

 

-          All gardeners are encouraged to come out to the Region of
Waterloo Council meeting on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 6pm in Council
Chambers at 150 Frederick Street.  The Diggable Communities Collaborative in
partnership with the Community Garden Council is participating as a
delegation at this meeting in response to the Regional Official Plan (ROP).
This will be our last chance to ensure support for community gardens remain
a part of the ROP.  The final ROP document will provide an outline for the
municipalities for future planning, of which we want to ensure that
greenspace for gardening is preserved.  For a draft of the ROP you can go to
www.region.waterloo.on.ca/newrop.  To sign the on-line petition go to:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/CommunityGardens.  Also, if you have
filled out the petition forms that were sent to you please return them ASAP.

 

Volunteer Opportunities 

 

-          Spring Event Planning Committee. The Diggable Communities
Collaborative has recently received $5000 to put on a Big Garden Kick Off
Event this spring!  This is a really exciting opportunity for us to promote
community gardens and to increase gardening education.  A small group of
volunteers from the Community Garden Network has met to start brainstorming
but we would like to form a steering committee to assist with planning of
the event.  I wanted to invite all of you to be a part of this committee as
your input and knowledge from your own garden would be a great asset to the
planning process.  We would like to schedule our first planning meeting for
January 29, 2009 at 6:30pm.  If you are interested in being a part of this
committee, please let me know by January 19, 2009. If you have any questions
or would like to participate please contact me below.

-          Filming Workshops.  If you are interested in helping to capture
some of our gardening moments and workshops via film, we are looking to film
these to make them more accessible to the gardening network.  If this
interests you and you have the capability please contact me below.

 

Research

 

-          Research was conducted looking at the barriers and opportunities
to engaging different ethnic groups in community gardens.  To view the
report you can contact me below for a copy or see it on-line at
http://groups.google.ca/group/community-garden-council-of-waterloo-region?hl
=en

 

Events

 

-          What's in YOUR food? Scientists Speak Out Against Genetically
Modified Food. A lecture by Drs. Arpad Pusztai and Susan Bardocz. Monday,
January 19th, 7:00pm - 9:00pm,
Room 301, Rod Coutts Hall (RCH), University of Waterloo

-          How Much Should We Pay for Food? Are food prices too high? Too
low? How should food prices change to bring

about a healthier food system? The Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable
invites anyone interested in food issues to a panel presentation that
addresses these questions. Monday, January 19, 7-9pm, The Waterloo Region
Record "Canada Room", King and Benton streets, Kitchener

 

Interesting Links

 

-          See how one family grows 6000 pounds plus yearly of fruit and
vegetables on their typical size city lot:  http://www.youtube.com/user/
<http://www.youtube.com/user/dervaes> dervaes

-          Victory gardens sprout up again. People are borrowing an old
wartime concept to lessen the need for mass-produced food, reduce pollution
and build a sense of community.
http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-victory10-2009jan10,0,7167635.sto
ry?page=1

 

 

If you have any items you would like to share please send them to
candace at owr.ca or call 519-883-2353 ext. 5984.  I once again encourage you
to pass this along to everyone at your garden or to anyone else you think
would be interested.

 

Happy Garden Planning!

 

Candace

________________________

 

Candace Wormsbecker

Community Garden Capacity Builder

 

Opportunities Waterloo Region

235  King St. E., Main Floor

Kitchener, ON

N2G 4N5

 

Tel: 519-883-2353 ext. 5984

Fax: 519-568-8587

 

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today".
     ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.wpirg.org/pipermail/garden_lists.wpirg.org/attachments/20090116/ff102367/attachment.html