Spring Is Here

Now that the days are getting longer and the sun is shining on our faces, Spring is here and the planting season is upon us. The Community Garden just had our annual Seedy Saturday to kick start the season. What an awesome day, we had three lovely ladies out to speak, a great lunch and a busy seed exchange. Local growers occupied tables, to talk with the public, take plant orders and sell products. Kids were running around and the thoughts of starting seeds and planting gardens were on everybody's mind. Now is the time to dig out your pots, gather your soil and seeds and start your plants indoors. A big thanks goes out to all the community garden committee members and CKS coordinator Miles for helping make the event a success and a thank you to all the lovely people who came out for the day.

2nd Annual Seedy Saturday April 9th 2011

Spring is in the air and lots of seeds are ready to be started. So we would like to invite you to come on out to the Recreation Centre and get inspired.
We will kick start the day at 10:00 am with three great presentations.

10:00 am Simone Rudge will be talking about what it takes to become certified organic.

10:40 am Joanne Jackson Johnson will tell us all about composting and micro-organisms.

11:20 am Karen Digby will talk about market gardening in the Klondike.

at 12:00 pm -1:00 pm we will provide a locally sourced lunch and have time to discuss ideas, asks questions etc...

1:00 - 3:00

Bring along your favorite seed varieties to exchange with friends.

There will be demonstration tables, kids activities and organic heirloom seeds for sale. Or just come on by to sip some locally grown tea.

We hope to see you there!!!

2011 - The year of Self Sustaining Ideas

What do we need to grow ?
What do we want to grow ?
How can we be more efficient in our use of resources?
How can we come together as a community ?

These questions are larger than one voice and require attention immediately as changes must be made to our system of neglect. I have recently read articles about crowd sourcing and the idea makes a lot of sense. If you havn't heard of this concept it is exemplified with the website wikipedia. People create the content instead of passively absorbing one persons ideas or opinions. It seems to lead to growth of ideas through sharing and communication. Stagnation of ideas may lead to repetition and disinterest. Where active involvement inevitably leads to evolution. Just as my voice has already started to preach I offer a start with these questions and hope for involvement from others.



January planting reminders

Leeks
broadcast in a tray than separate.

Onions
bunching varieties are a nice treat.

Happy Planting

GROWING COMMUNITY

One of the most important things about a community garden is the "Community". Over the past few weeks I have been able to work with the grade 9 and 10 foods class on site at the garden. I believe that working with the youth is one of the most valuable things we could do and allowing them opportunities for hands on learning. I had this idea that sparked in my head, what if we get these youth working in the garden and harvesting food in which they can prepare and cook for the elders at the Community Support Center. Luckily for me the foods teacher is so amazing she was excited and willing. So the class came on down and we divided them into groups. Some kids harvested the veggies and got right down and dirty pulling potatoes out of the earth. Others worked hard at painting the fence with our natural paint stain. I showed a small group how to transplant some of the herbs into pots so we can move them into our grazing beds. While others worked hard digging dirt and raking it out so we could put in a nice pathway. Thanks to one of the students who was in charge of pick axing duties, he helped till some of the beds and put down seeds for a winter cover crop. There was a moment where the only sounds you could hear were my favorite kind of sounds... The sounds of garden work!! Tools clinking, dirt moving. The kids were great they were hard at work and enjoying themselves. They started asking me questions about why we were planting covers for the beds? What were the seeds I was using? asking me to identify plants for them, their interest was captured. We were taste testing flowers and greens and having fun while getting the job done. They left with a large harvest of veggies to cook up for the elders meal and a sense of accomplishment, and I left feeling inspired. The following week the grade nines and tens worked on prepping the food from the harvest and the smaller class of elevens and twelves went down to the support center and cooked the food there for the meal. It was incredible, there was salmon which was donated, potato salad, steamed greens, wild picked blueberry muffins and more. What a success!! the students were taught the day before by a respected elder how to properly prepare food for elders and the mind frame you should be in while doing it. The elders seemed to really enjoy it, there were smiles all over the place and a great sense of pride in the youth!

Herb Harvesting & Drying Workshop

Hi all,

It's just about harvest season and already time to get things ready to store for the winter!

Next Thursday, August 5th from 6pm to 8pm, the Dawson Community Garden will host an Herb Harvesting & Drying Workshop with Katie English. Katie is a local grower with a whole lot of knowledge, from edible weeds and native plants to greenhouses, root cellars & sustainable living. Katie will go through the herbs we have growing in our garden and show us how to best make use of them & store them for the coming months.

The workshop is free of charge and open to anyone in the community, so please come, enjoy some food, learn a thing or two, and participate!

Thanks & see you there!
-Gwendolyn

                                                                

Planting Party at the Community Garden

Hello all,
The Dawson Community Garden is inviting all those who have a plot to attend a planting party on Saturday, May 29 from 2-4. There will be free seeds to be used up (left over from the seed exchange), sheep manure to turn into the beds, and tools, etc. We will also have some trees and perhaps some perennials to get into the ground. We are also hoping that any experienced gardeners  - with or without a plot - will pop by to offer help and advice for the less experienced gardeners.
See you at the garden!

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