Busy Parents are Greening their City

June 28, 2010

L: Julie making stepping stones (Photo: Allison Houser) R: Lori in character as Queen Bee (Photo: Jaime Kowal Photography)

Despite being busy parents of children who attend Simon Fraser Elementary School, Lori Weidenhammer, Julie Sawatsky and Michelle Weeks still find time to green their city. The school has a garden plot at the Vancouver City Hall Community Garden, and these women are using the space to connect children, parents and teachers with their environment.
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Comments Off | Food, Gardening, Vancouver, Volunteer | Permalink
Posted by Allison from Evergreen British Columbia

Eglinton West Fruit Orchard

June 24, 2010

Beautiful mural on Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard's tool shed (Photo: Evergreen)

Picture a fruit orchard, with its neat little rows of pear, plum and cherry trees leafing out in the spring. Imagine pollinators buzzing in and around the blossoms while birds seek refuge on a branch. Now picture this orchard next to the busy intersection of Eglinton West and Allen Road, across from the TTC station.

Believe it or not, this is not mere fantasy. The new fruit trees planted by Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard are taking root as Toronto’s newest urban orchard and are cultivating a new way of looking at our green spaces. Read the rest of this entry »

3 Comments | Food, Gardening, Issues, Toronto, Transformations | Permalink
Posted by Colin from Common Grounds

Fortified Nutrition

June 22, 2010

Hand-crafted iron spikes for historic gardens (photo: Rebekka Hutton)

It’s not often we have to call on the services of a black smith to help launch a food garden, but when it’s the kind of garden that would have been around in the 1820s to feed officers stationed at Fort York, it’s hard to image how it would be possible without one.

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Comments Off | Food, Gardening, Toronto | Permalink
Posted by Colin from Common Grounds

Our Mushrooms

June 17, 2010

Our new oyster mushrooms. (Photo: Rebekka Hutton)

Growing food in an apartment or small space isn’t always easy—especially without an outdoor deck or balcony. Here at our downtown Toronto office, we’re growing delicious oyster mushrooms on the top of our fridge, and they’ve just started to fruit after only two weeks.

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Comments Off | Food, Gardening, Toronto | Permalink
Posted by Erin from Communications

Hunger Awareness Event

February 9, 2010

On Wednesday, February 10 the Youth Challenge International (YCI) is presenting “The Ties that Bind,” an event planned to bring awareness to food security and hunger issues globally and locally. The event will feature a number of guest speakers (including staff from Evergreen), live music, refreshments and raffle prizes.

Come join us and other organizations as we share our experiences in addressing issues of hunger and poverty through our work in Urban Agriculture and Community Food Programs.

Evergreen’s Aimee Carson and Becky Idems will introduce our spectrum of programs and focus on our work as it relates to food security, community development as well as programs for youth.

This should be a great evening and also a great opportunity for sharing and learning. To find out more click here.

Comments Off | Events, Food, Toronto | Permalink
Posted by Colin from Common Grounds

Sustaining the Greenbelt

January 4, 2010

The challenge: balance farming with conservation. (Photo: Erin Elliott)

Happy New Year! The blog is back after a holiday break, and today we bring you some thoughts on Ontario’s Greenbelt, from Geoff Cape, Evergreen’s executive director:

After eating too much over the Christmas holiday I am looking to the new year, thinking about food, and recalling a recent article by Jessica Leeder, published in the Globe and Mail on Tuesday, December 22, 2009: Farmers Fleeing Ontario’s Greenbelt. Her article explored the challenges we face in balancing environmental conservation and farmland on the Greenbelt. The challenge is real.
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3 Comments | Food, Issues, Notes from Geoff, Toronto | Permalink
Posted by Erin from Communications

Craft Corner: Making Butter

November 27, 2009

Jenn and Aimee - butter-makers in action. (Photo: Melissa Yu)

This week we threw a party to give thanks to more than 70 volunteers from across the GTA.

Part of the festivities included a workshop on making butter, which I led along with Aimee, Evergreen’s community food program co-ordinator. Everyone who participated got to take home the fruits of their labour in jars donated by Bernardin for the event.

Follow the recipe below for a deliciously homemade gift idea, or make and serve as a special touch to your holiday dinner party.

Happy butter making!

Ingredients

1 cup of whipping cream
1 tsp of rosemary, thyme or your favourite seasoning (optional)

Directions

1. Pour one cup of cream into a container that seals.

2. Shake vigorously for 15 to 20 minutes. It helps to have a partner to share the shaking!

3. Once you have a solid ball, drain off the buttermilk and rinse the ball under cold water.

4. For a unique flavoured butter, mix in a teaspoon of your favourite seasoning.

5. Serve!

The end result (Photo: Michelle Scrivener)

Comments Off | Craft Corner, Food | Permalink
Posted by Jenn from Communications

Sweet Harvest

November 19, 2009

The average worker bee will make only one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in their lifetime, according to the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association. So it’s no surprise that it takes more than 550 worker bees to gather just one pound of honey. Last month, it took five Evergreen staff members three hours to fill more than 125 jars of honey.

Michelle and Nicola jarring honey. (Photo: Melissa Yu)

This summer, the Toronto Beekeepers Co-operative kept 22 beehives on a rooftop at Evergreen Brick Works, and each hive contained an average of 50,000 bees. The resulting honey is shared between Evergreen, the Beekeepers, FoodShare and, of course, the bees. With expertise from beekeeper Cathy Kozma, we used the FoodShare kitchen to bottle the Evergreen share.

Our bees travelled far and wide along through the Don Valley to collect nectar from various wildflowers and blossoms, and you can really taste the difference. We jarred two different harvests, and each had a distinct flavor and texture: one was fluid with a musky floral scent, and the other was rich and more grainy on the tongue. And both were absolutely delicious.

All lined up and ready to be sealed! (Photo: Melissa Yu)

Urban beekeeping is an important part of creating a sustainable city. As urban centres get larger and larger, cities will have to find ways to make up for the agricultural land they overtake. Honeybees make use of all the space in a hive. The question of the day: how can we take a tip from them and maximize the spaces we live and work to produce the food we need to survive?

1 Comment | Evergreen Brick Works, Food, Staff | Permalink
Posted by Mel from Development

New Arbour for the Vancouver City Hall Community Garden

November 13, 2009

Arbour and communal gardens. (Photo: John Shinnick, City Hall community gardener)

Recently, I spent a beautiful day with 25 dedicated gardeners at the Vancouver City Hall Community Garden, where we constructed an entrance way arbour. This was our first work party at the garden, and we were happy for the great turn-out, sunny weather and amazing results! The garden now features a beautifully constructed entrance way arbour, two full perimeter gardens and a calming healing garden.

Check out the below video to see the community gardeners hammering away on the arbour and partaking in the funky “compact dance” to prepare the soil for planting!

More photos and event details are available on the Facebook group courtesy of community gardener, John Shinnick.

1 Comment | Events, Food, Gardening, Vancouver, Video | Permalink
Posted by Allison from Evergreen British Columbia

First Nations Harvest Social

October 20, 2009
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First Nations Harvest Social (Photo: Kourosh Javidi)

Evergreen Brick Works Farmers’ Market guests had a special treat this past Saturday, October 17: a traditional First Nations Fall Harvest Feast and Social. Jacqui Levalley, an elder from the Toronto community, led a beautiful opening ceremony, which was followed by an array of songs, colourful dances and a harvest blessing.

Matthew Hupfield, the Aboriginal Community Development Co-ordinator for Evergreen, came up with the idea for the Harvest Social.

“The event allows the First Nations community to check out the Brick Works and allows the community at the Brick Works to experience some First Nations culture,” he explains. “What better way to do that than with food, dancing and celebration? People enjoyed the food and certainly got more than just a voyeuristic sample of another culture– they got to experience it.”

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Comments Off | Evergreen Brick Works, Food, Video | Permalink
Posted by Michelle from Evergreen Brick Works

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