[Garden] Garden Update July 2009

Thu Jul 16 11:42:35 EDT 2009

Garden Update - July 2009 (please Circulate) 

Listserve Up and Running

This month we have compiled our community garden contacts, and created a
listserv! This means that if you have a message that you would like sent out
to the whole group of community gardeners in the region, you can email
cgwr-network at together4health.ca and your message will be delivered to the
whole group. To avoid an overload of emails, try to keep messages strictly
to those to do with community gardening (resources available, looking for
gardeners etc). 

Or, you can check out the community garden discussion forum on the Food
Systems Roundtable website as another way to share information and stay
connected. http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=forum/view_forum_list 

Photo Contest

Check out our Facebook group "Waterloo Region Community Gardeners" and
upload YOUR garden photos for a chance to win our  "I Dig Your Photo!"
contest. If your photo is selected, you will win passes to the Waterloo
Region's Children's Museum and your photo will be showcased in our next
newsletter.  How to enter: Log onto Facebook and upload your photo to the
group "Waterloo Region Community Gardeners". Please name the photo "I Dig
Your Photo Contest Entry" with the name of your garden, and you're set! Or,
send your photo entries to candace at owr.ca. (But Facebook is easier if you
have it!)  Runner-Up Prize: A $20 gift certificate to Zehrs Grocery.  Photos
must be submitted by August 31, 2009.

Media

Check out an article about the new community garden being planted behind the
Cambridge Police Department here: http://news.therecord.com/article/552988 

A Seattle garden flourishes and helps the city fight poverty by providing
fresh food.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nicolebrodeur/2009330268_brodeur12m.ht
ml

Alice Walters preaches the virtues of fresh food grown in an environmentally
friendly way.http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5088169n
<http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5088169n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.1
> &tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.1

Michelle Obama gives lessons on gardening to youth in the Washington area.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/16/AR2009061603
202.html

The Calgary Food Policy Council wants to establish 2,011 new growing spaces
by 2011.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/green-guide/Food+thought/1332850/story.htm
l

First Lady Michelle Obama hosts an event focused on health and nutrition,
including the harvesting of vegetables from the White House Kitchen Garden
on the South Lawn of the White House.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1vUBYr0-LE

Dairy Farmers of Britain are urged to try a process called 'cow leasing'.
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/16/116161/dfob-members-urged-to-consid
er-cow-leasing.html

This is a blog by someone taking the '100 miles for 100 days' challenge, in
which participants try to eat only food that has been grown within 100 miles
of their home. http://www.healingpathcentre.com/blog/index.php

An article about a farmer who teaches students the importance of
nutrient-rich soil and how to properly maintain it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05allen-t.html?pagewanted=2
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05allen-t.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
&hpw*> &_r=1&hpw*

An explanation as to how to build your own urban garden where ever you live.
and grow enough food to feed your family and your 30
neighbors!http://renegadehealth.com/blog/how-to-build-an-urban-garden-with-j
ohn-kohler/

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has ordered all city departments "to
conduct an audit of unused land--including empty lots, rooftops, windowsills
and median strips--that could be turned into community gardens or
farms."http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/07/san-franciscos-latest-
eco-innovation-city-effort-grow-produce-almost-everywhere

Another article about the developments in urban agriculture in San
Francisco.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#5TNN2T/climatebiz.com/blog/2009/07/09/sf-food-
policy/ 

Check out this really cool video on the importance of eating local foods!
http://www.eatrealeatlocal.ca/#/video

Research 

Our Communities, Our Health and Our Future: Understanding and Changing the
Built Environment

Prepared by the Social Planning Council of Cambridge and North Dumfries for
the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition

This publication provides a summary of the 2008 Healthy Communities and the
Built Environment project and includes learnings and conclusions from the
project. Additional information is conveyed through a collection of modules,
each  module relating to a particular aspect of how the built environment
impacts health and containing a positive message of how communities can be
designed to promote health. Case studies are used throughout to illustrate
points made in the various modules.  Key strategies for building healthier
communities are outlined and a listing of tools and resources is provided.
The publication features an article on Community Gardens and the Built
Environment in Waterloo Region.

You can download the entire book as PDF files at:
http://www.socialplanningcouncil-cnd.org/pdfs/publications/HCBE.pdf 

Sponsorship

If you are looking to put on a community event in Kitchener, you are
eligible to enter a draw for $10,000 from the Festival of Neighbourhoods
Grant for 2009, which you could use towards improvement of your own
community garden. Check out the details at
http://www.kitchener.ca/award_prog/festival_neighbourhoods.html 

Useful Links

Excellent website, jam packed with excellent growing information:
http://www.cityfoodgrowers.com/

________________________

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

"Life is too serious to be taken seriously. Give life the light touch and
smile as often as you can."

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