Fruit Tree Grafting
Learn to graft your own heritage dwarf apple tree. These small size trees are suitable for growing in pots on balconies or in small back yards. From theory to hands-on, several grafting methods will be demonstrated and practiced. A wide choice of apple varieties will be available to choose from so you can graft the tree you want. Bring a very sharp knife. Participants take home the tree they grafted.
Date: Saturday, April 4 th
Time: 10am-12pm
Place: Barn, Terra Nova Rural Park
Cost: $12
Instructor: Brian Campbell
For more information or to register, please contact Arzeena Hamir at arzeenahamir@shaw.ca
Orchard Mason Bee Houses
Discover the joys of keeping Orchard mason bees. These important native and solitary pollinators of fruit trees are gentle and hesitant to sting, making them ideal for children and families to work with. We’ll explore their life cycle with forage and habitat requirements in the context of successfully creating a home for these charming native bees. Nesting types that can be made at home will be demonstrated. Materials to make your own nest will be provided.
Date: Saturday, February 28th
Time: 1pm-3pm
Place: Barn, Terra Nova Rural Park
Cost: $15
Instructor: Brian Campbell
E-mail or contact Arzeena Hamir at arzeenahamir@shaw.ca to register
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Shorewood chickens
A post from Heather Havens:
I am from a village called Shorewood, inside of the city of Milwaukee WI, both of which are trying to legalize backyard chickens. Shorewood's efforts were started by a very awesome young girl names Carenna. A group has gathered around her to help make this happen, and they are doing a fantastic job. They go to the council again tomorrow, and this is a presentation that they made for that appointment tomorrow (they went to Madison WI, home of Mad City Chickens to take pictures and get interviews). I was so proud, and thought it was so nice (and persuasive), that I couldn't help but share it with you
Click here to view the pdf
I am from a village called Shorewood, inside of the city of Milwaukee WI, both of which are trying to legalize backyard chickens. Shorewood's efforts were started by a very awesome young girl names Carenna. A group has gathered around her to help make this happen, and they are doing a fantastic job. They go to the council again tomorrow, and this is a presentation that they made for that appointment tomorrow (they went to Madison WI, home of Mad City Chickens to take pictures and get interviews). I was so proud, and thought it was so nice (and persuasive), that I couldn't help but share it with you
Click here to view the pdf
Friday, February 20, 2009
Get Cracking in Your Backyard
The idea of being able to raise chickens in backyards in Richmond has certainly spread. The Richmond News has recently posted an article and we would love to create some dialogue around this issue.
See the whole article here.
Photo by Chung Chow/Richmond News
See the whole article here.
Photo by Chung Chow/Richmond News
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Build Your Own Seedling Rack
At the Sharing Farm in Terra Nova, we start a number of seedlings and now that we have access to a work room with electricity, we've decided to set up a seeding area. Karen H., our Greenhouse Social Club Coordinator built these seed racks with the help of her hubby.
Here are her instructions and pics:
Based on the grow racks at http://tinyfarmblog.com/rack-built/
Construction Material
2x4 4 pieces 5 ft
2x4 6 pieces 2 ft
2x3 6 pieces 4 ft
3 sheets 1/2 inch plywood, cut 2 ft x 4 ft
2 lengths of 5 ft 2 inch chain
3 dowels, 4 ft long
4 casters, 3 in diameter
6 flat headed nails (3 inch)
1 box screws (2 - 3 inch long) 3 T8 4 ft utility light fixtures
Other Supplies:
6 32W cool spectrum light bulbs
3 heat mats, 20 in x 48 in
1 power bar (with timer)
1 extension cord
Step 1: Lay the 2x4's on the ground, making 2 rectangles. Screw together (use 2 screws at each joint).
Step 2: You’ll need an extra pair of hands to put your frame together. First, mark the placement of the shelves. We chose to make the lowest shelf have the most growing space, the top shelf the least. Stand up the two end rectangles. Starting with the bottom shelf support, screw two of the 2x3 pieces onto the bottom of the frame. Then, add the middle and top shelf supports.
Step 3: Turn your grow rack upside down. Screw the last two pieces of 2x3’s to the bottom of the frame along side the other 2x3’s to provide a larger base for your casters. Attach the casters. Two of our casters have brakes, to avoid unnecessary runaway plants. You might just want to skip the whole wheel thing if you have a permanent home for your grow rack, but you should use the extra bracing.
Step 4: Turn your rack over. It’ll feel a bit flimsy until you put in your shelving. We chose ½ inch plywood. If you had your plywood cut at your local store, you may need to do some trimming. Don’t screw your plywood in place, you may want to grow really tall plants one day.
Install the chain at each end of the rack, using smaller screws. Your lights will hang on dowels which will hook on to these chains. Todd is hammering in 3 inch long nails to the ends of the dowels. The flat head of the nails will fit nicely onto the chains.
Step 5: Attach your power bar to the top of the frame. We found a nifty power bar with built-in timer. Four of the plugs operate by switch (for the heat mats) and four operate on the timer (for the lights). Hang your lights. We chose 4 ft long utility lights with an 11 inch reflector, to get the most light for our buck. These are T8 units, running on 32 W cool spectrum bulbs. Place your heat mats on the shelves. Plug everything in and you’re ready to go!
Here are her instructions and pics:
Based on the grow racks at http://tinyfarmblog.com/rack-built/
Construction Material
2x4 4 pieces 5 ft
2x4 6 pieces 2 ft
2x3 6 pieces 4 ft
3 sheets 1/2 inch plywood, cut 2 ft x 4 ft
2 lengths of 5 ft 2 inch chain
3 dowels, 4 ft long
4 casters, 3 in diameter
6 flat headed nails (3 inch)
1 box screws (2 - 3 inch long) 3 T8 4 ft utility light fixtures
Other Supplies:
6 32W cool spectrum light bulbs
3 heat mats, 20 in x 48 in
1 power bar (with timer)
1 extension cord
Step 1: Lay the 2x4's on the ground, making 2 rectangles. Screw together (use 2 screws at each joint).
Step 2: You’ll need an extra pair of hands to put your frame together. First, mark the placement of the shelves. We chose to make the lowest shelf have the most growing space, the top shelf the least. Stand up the two end rectangles. Starting with the bottom shelf support, screw two of the 2x3 pieces onto the bottom of the frame. Then, add the middle and top shelf supports.
Step 3: Turn your grow rack upside down. Screw the last two pieces of 2x3’s to the bottom of the frame along side the other 2x3’s to provide a larger base for your casters. Attach the casters. Two of our casters have brakes, to avoid unnecessary runaway plants. You might just want to skip the whole wheel thing if you have a permanent home for your grow rack, but you should use the extra bracing.
Step 4: Turn your rack over. It’ll feel a bit flimsy until you put in your shelving. We chose ½ inch plywood. If you had your plywood cut at your local store, you may need to do some trimming. Don’t screw your plywood in place, you may want to grow really tall plants one day.
Install the chain at each end of the rack, using smaller screws. Your lights will hang on dowels which will hook on to these chains. Todd is hammering in 3 inch long nails to the ends of the dowels. The flat head of the nails will fit nicely onto the chains.
Step 5: Attach your power bar to the top of the frame. We found a nifty power bar with built-in timer. Four of the plugs operate by switch (for the heat mats) and four operate on the timer (for the lights). Hang your lights. We chose 4 ft long utility lights with an 11 inch reflector, to get the most light for our buck. These are T8 units, running on 32 W cool spectrum bulbs. Place your heat mats on the shelves. Plug everything in and you’re ready to go!
More Chickens in the City
Wow, the buzz around chickens is really starting to grow. Jeff Nield sent this link to a previous article he had written for the Vancouver Courier. Sounds like quite a few people are raising chickens on the "down low" in Vancouver.
Playing chicken
Jeff Nield, Vancouver Courier
Published: Wednesday, January 21, 2009
From curbside on a brisk autumn morning on a quiet Mount Pleasant block just west of Main Street, a neatly kept house gives no hint that illegal activity is taking place out back. But, in a city rife with well concealed grow-ops, local residents know that looks can be deceiving. Mary, the retired owner of the property, is as non-threatening as her house, and on first impression she wouldn't fit anyone's stereotype of a lawbreaker.
With a conspiratorial air, she motions to the backyard and introduces Beatrice and Ophelia, the two heritage chickens she raises in her backyard in clear violation of the City of Vancouver's animal control bylaw. The bylaw reads, in part, that a person must not keep in any area, temporarily or permanently, any horses, donkeys, cattle, swine, sheep, goats, ducks, geese, turkeys, chickens, pheasants, quail, or other poultry or fowl.
"I would prefer to have the chickens legally rather than flying under the radar as I do now," says Mary from her south facing backyard. "I'd miss them terribly if I had to give them up."
To read the full article, click here
Monday, February 2, 2009
Chickens in the City
Mark your calendars for February 28th. Heather Havens is going to teach us how to keep chickens in the city. Heather was recently featured in an article in the Vancouver Sun (see below).
Date: Saturday, February 28th
Time: 9am-12pm
Place: Barn @ Terra Nova Rural Park, 2631 Westminster Hwy
Cost: $25
Bring pen and paper for notes. Snacks will be served. For more information, please contact Arzeena Hamir, foodsecurity@richmondprc.org or call (604) 727 9728.
The lowly chicken may get its day in urban Vancouver
By Nicholas Read, Vancouver Sun January 27, 2009
Date: Saturday, February 28th
Time: 9am-12pm
Place: Barn @ Terra Nova Rural Park, 2631 Westminster Hwy
Cost: $25
Bring pen and paper for notes. Snacks will be served. For more information, please contact Arzeena Hamir, foodsecurity@richmondprc.org or call (604) 727 9728.
The lowly chicken may get its day in urban Vancouver
By Nicholas Read, Vancouver Sun January 27, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Wendell Berry's New Years Resolution
Here is an excerpt from an article written by Wendell Berry for Edible Brooklyn Magazine.
What can "City Folk" do to support local farmers and the food security movement?
1. Participate in food production to the extent that you can. If
you have a yard or even just a porch box or a pot in a sunny win-
dow, grow something to eat in it. Make a little compost of your
kitchen scraps and use it for fertilizer. Only by growing some food
for yourself can you become acquainted with the beautiful energy
cycle that revolves from soil to seed to flower to fruit to food to
offal to decay, and around again. You will be fully responsible for
any food that you grow for yourself, and you will know all about it.
You will appreciate it fully, having known it all its life.
2. Prepare your own food. This means reviving in your own
mind and life the arts of kitchen and household. This should
enable you to eat more cheaply, and will give you a measure of
“quality control.”
3. Learn the origins of the food you buy, and buy the food that
is produced closest to your home. The idea that every locality
should be, as much as possible, the source of its own food makes
several kinds of sense. The locally produced food supply is the most
secure, freshest and the easiest for local consumers to know about
and to influence.
4. Whenever possible, deal directly with a local farmer, gardener
or orchardist. All the reasons listed for the previous suggestion
apply here. In addition, by such dealing you eliminate the whole
pack of merchants, transporters, processors, packagers and advertis-
ers who thrive at the expense of both producers and consumers.
5. Learn, in self-defense, as much as you can of the economy and
technology of industrial food production. What is added to the
food that is not food, and what do you pay for those additions?
6. Learn what is involved in the best farming and gardening.
7. Learn as much as you can, by direct observation and experi-
ence if possible, of the life histories of the food species.
The full article can be downloaded here
What can "City Folk" do to support local farmers and the food security movement?
1. Participate in food production to the extent that you can. If
you have a yard or even just a porch box or a pot in a sunny win-
dow, grow something to eat in it. Make a little compost of your
kitchen scraps and use it for fertilizer. Only by growing some food
for yourself can you become acquainted with the beautiful energy
cycle that revolves from soil to seed to flower to fruit to food to
offal to decay, and around again. You will be fully responsible for
any food that you grow for yourself, and you will know all about it.
You will appreciate it fully, having known it all its life.
2. Prepare your own food. This means reviving in your own
mind and life the arts of kitchen and household. This should
enable you to eat more cheaply, and will give you a measure of
“quality control.”
3. Learn the origins of the food you buy, and buy the food that
is produced closest to your home. The idea that every locality
should be, as much as possible, the source of its own food makes
several kinds of sense. The locally produced food supply is the most
secure, freshest and the easiest for local consumers to know about
and to influence.
4. Whenever possible, deal directly with a local farmer, gardener
or orchardist. All the reasons listed for the previous suggestion
apply here. In addition, by such dealing you eliminate the whole
pack of merchants, transporters, processors, packagers and advertis-
ers who thrive at the expense of both producers and consumers.
5. Learn, in self-defense, as much as you can of the economy and
technology of industrial food production. What is added to the
food that is not food, and what do you pay for those additions?
6. Learn what is involved in the best farming and gardening.
7. Learn as much as you can, by direct observation and experi-
ence if possible, of the life histories of the food species.
The full article can be downloaded here
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