Shared Harvest
Shared Harvest is a "craigslist" for Metro Vancouver's food system. Visit the new website! Shared Harvest is a tool to help Metro Vancouverites find local food. This is a pilot project funded by Enterprising Non-Profits.
The concept is very simple. You place a free Wanted, Available or Donation ad for a food item on the website and when there is a match you'll be contacted. Farmers, backyard gardeners, charities, grocers, farm to school programs, neighbourhood food networks, restaurants, community kitchens, distributors can all be part of this local food networking site.
If you have a bumper crop of zucchinis, donate it to a worthy food security organization. Looking for BC tomatoes for your canning collective? Place an ad. This brand new site can also be a central stop for food related Events in our area. There's an easy-to-post event calendar which is great for event planning as you can see who is doing what, where and when.
As it grows, Shared Harvest will help develop a more dynamic, sustainable food system where it is easy to find local food and where viable nutritious food is not added to the waste stream. Shared Harvest Metro Vancouver is a FarmFolk/CityFolk project and the goal is to have a series of interlinked Shared Harvest "Regional Food Districts" across BC. Metro Vancouver is the first and there will be three more in the next twelve months, to be chosen based on public interest and sponsorship.
Membership is free to join the Shared Harvest network. Take a look and tell your friends. Add a listing. When there is a match, an automatic email will be sent to you and your match. As the site develops you can stop in and discover what's Wanted or Available simply by browsing the site.
Website: http://www.sharedharvest.ca/metrovancouver
Shared Harvest blog: http://sharedharvestbc.blogspot.com/
Next Up: A Leadership Program for Young People Committed to Social and Environmental Justice.
The application process is now underway for a new cohort of Next Up participants. This is an amazing, intensive and transformative program for young social change activists between the ages of 18 and 32. This year we're excited to announce that the program will operate in three provinces: Next Up BC in Vancouver, Next Up Alberta in Edmonton, and Next Up Saskatchewan in Saskatoon - so please forward this call to your friends and colleagues in those regions.
In each province, 13 young people will be selected. Participants will develop life-long relationships, explore different leadership styles, meet some of the province’s leading change-makers, learn new leadership and organizing skills, and be exposed to current and topical social justice issues and progressive governance.
The application deadline for Next Up BC is Sunday Sept 12 (deadlines vary for each province). The program runs between October 2010 and April 2011.
Please forward this call far and wide -- to individuals, organizations, institutions and your progressive networks. Thank you in advance for helping us find the fabulous young leaders for Next Up 2010/11 -- you'll be thankful you did years from now:)
Application forms and more information can be found at: http://www.nextup.ca
Next Up is a project of genius (the global youth education network society), in partnership with the Columbia Institute Centre for Civic Governance, The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and the Parkland Institute.
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Seth Klein
Director, BC Office
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
seth@policyalternatives.ca
tel. (604) 801-5121 1400 – 207 West Hastings St.
fax. (604) 801-5122 Vancouver, BC V6B 1H7
CCPA webpage: http://www.policyalternatives.ca
The CCPA is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy research institute, dedicated to social, economic and environmental justice. We produce and promote progressive research on a wide range of provincial and national policy issues.
VanDusen Botanical Garden Workshops
GMO & Terminator Seeds, the Old and New with April Reeves, Director of GE Free BC
September 9, 2010
7:30 p.m. in the Floral Hall
April Reeves will be discussing the history and technology of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with a focus on terminator seeds. As we address the question, "Why should we be aware of terminator technology?" April will also explore the long term vision and dangers of this technology and what you can do about GE Terminator crops & trees. Bring your questions for answers about all types of GM technology.
Garden Makeover – Weeds
Sat. August 21, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Cost: Members $42 / Non-member: $52
Instructor: Gerry Gibbens
Join Gerry to renovate a piece of VanDusen’s Fern Dell and get some hands-on knowledge on controlling a weed filled garden bed. As you overhaul a plot in the Garden, class participants will remove all the plants to be saved, replace the infested soil and replant the area. This course will be outdoors in the shade of the Fern Dell. Dress in work clothes and bring your gardening gloves.
Family Program: Super Seeds
Sun. September 19, 10:30a.m. - noon or 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Member: $15 / Non-member: $25
Seeds come in different sizes, shapes, and colors. Some can be eaten and some can't. Discover the ingenious ways that seeds travel, what they are composed of, and how they grow. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Pre-registration required
Click here for registration information and to find out about other workshops.
Backyard Bounty Urban Agriculture Workshop Series
Join the Backyard Bounty crew for this series of workshops to be held at the Strathcona Community Garden Eco-Pavillion. For more information on Backyard Bounty visit the website.
Honey Bees: Saturday August 21st, 9 am to 1 pm. Join urban beekeeper Clelie Murray-Chevrier in a facilitated discussion about urban beekeeping. This is your chance to find out more about what it takes to keep bees in the city and to get your questions answered. After some discussion time we will walk a couple blocks and get a tour of one or two urban hives. Free! Email Clelie for more information: bees@backyardbountycollective.com.
Chickens: Saturday, September 11, 1:00 - 3:30 pm. Learn the basics of Vancouver's chicken bylaw and learn what it would take for you to start getting fresh eggs from your own backyard. Chicken-coop-builder Duncan Martin will let you in on some tips for building your own coop (or buy one of his kits!) and introduce you to everything you need to know about basic care, sourcing chickens and supplies, and helpful resources for future reference. Also: Come away with your own recycled-container waterer. Suggested donation: $10-15. Email Duncan for more information: chickens@backyardbountycollective.com.
Food Safety Free Online Course
Free Professional Development Opportunity The Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport recently launched Caring About Food Safety, a 1.5 hour self-guided course about the safe and healthy preparation and handling of food. The course, offered at no cost, is designed to raise awareness about protecting public health by preventing the spread of food-borne illness.
The course is designed for anybody who prepares, handles or serves food to people beyond their immediate friends and family. It will be particularly useful for people whose clients are typically more susceptible to food-borne illness, and for whom there are no mandated food-safety training requirements.
Visit Caring for Food Safety.
Community Kitchen Roundtable
This free opportunity to meet other community kitchen leaders, to share and hear about other kitchen activities, challenges & successes. No registration required.
Thurs, Nov. 4, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm.
Thurs, Mar 3, 2011 10:00 am – 12:00 pm.
Thurs, June 9, 2011 10:00 am – 12:00 pm.
Vancouver Food Bank, 1150 Raymur Ave., Vancouver
Please contact Shona at shonal@foodbank.bc.ca for more information.
Community Kitchen Leadership Workshops
During this workshop you will have the opportunity to find out more about community kitchens, different ways a group can work and how you can lead or start a community kitchen. Learn the history of the community kitchen movement and the effect it has had around the province. Hear about the different kitchen models that run successfully in our communities. Experience a community kitchen first hand! Lunch will be provided.
Thurs, Oct 21, 2010 9:30 am – 2:30 pm.
Thurs, Dec 2, 2010 9:30 am – 2:30 pm.
Thurs, Feb 10, 2011 9:30 am – 2:30 pm.
Thurs, Apr 14, 2011 9:30 am – 2:30 pm.
Thurs, Jun 2, 2011 9:30 am – 2:30 pm
Vancouver Food Bank, 1150 Raymur Ave. Cost: $45.00 (lunch provided).
To register: Contact Darlene Tanaka, at 604-876-0659 ext 105 or darlenet@foodbank.bc.ca
7th Annual Corn Festival
Everyone is invited to the 7th annual Corn Festival celebrating corn traditions of Latin America. Come try delicious Latin American food made with corn, music, dancing, children’s activities and more. Organized by C.E.L.S.A.N. Canadian El Salvador Action Committee to raise funds for community development in El Salvador.
Sunday Sept. 5, 1 – 7pm.
Britannia Community Centre. Gym D.
For more information call 778-385-5394
Talk Green to Us
Vancouver has embarked on an ambitious program to become the Greenest City by the year 2020. The framework for this endeavour is spelled out in a report called Toward a Bright Green Future. And on a very positive note, an entire section of this report is devoted to the subject of local food.
A key aspect is to activate citizen engagement with the process, gathering ideas from the community at large and integrating them into the overall program.
The City has set up an on-line forum that allows ideas to be proposed, discussed and debated. You can check it out here, at: talkgreentous.ca. We're looking for all the good food ideas that we can get and I'm hoping that you might contribute in that regard.
Send us your plans, dreams, notes and schemes for making Vancouver even more food-friendly.
Home Grown
On August 26th, Museum of Vancouver and FarmFolkCityFolk will launch the exhibition Home Grown, a photographic exploration of local food production and sustainable farming in Vancouver and the surrounding region.
For more information, visit The Museum of Vancouver's website.
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