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EDIBLE GARDEN PROJECT

people land abundance

2012

growth report

NORTH SHORE NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSE

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table of contentswelcome from the manager

our staff

growing the egp

6 governance & finances

7 outstanding volunteers

growing education

8 intergenerational gardens

9 toby hemenway

9 fed up

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Growth Report, 2012 Edition Editor: Keira McPheeWriters: Heather Johnstone, Emily Jubenvill, Gavin WrightPhoto credits: Zack Embree, Stephanie Imhoff, Heather Johnstone, Emily JubenvillLayout: Emily Jubenvill

growing food policy with table matters

growing ideas

13 urban grains

14 building urban garden blitz

growing loutet farm

reflections from the evaluator

growing garden tips

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Thank you for your generosity!2012 supporters of over $1000:

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welcomeThe EGP started in 2006 with one garden on a vacant lot and a desk at the North Shore Neighbourhood House. This practical first step was the result of a community coalition, including municipal staff, local non-profits and North Shore citizens, who wanted to take action to ensure food security for all on the North Shore.

Seven years later, in 2012, the Edible Garden Project grows food in 12 Sharing Gardens, and thousands of citizens participate in our workshops, care for our gardens and celebrate together. It turns out that growing and sharing food also grows our neighbourhoods.

In this year’s Growth Report, we’re

celebrating all that we’ve accomplished together this year:

Building intergenerational gardens in five childcare centres where children can play and grow their own healthy snacks with guidance from volunteer seniors. Our goal is to integrate growing and sharing food into all our programs at the North Shore Neighbourhood House whenever possible.

Surpassing all our expectations for our first full season at Loutet Farm - for market sales, for volunteer hours and for having a great time while doing it. We’re growing our first “social enterprise” here, and modelling another way we can grow food in the city.

Bringing people together to create a Food Charter for the North Shore. In November, 200 people showed up to talk food policy at the Table Matters Forum. The EGP is one of the key organizers of this citizen-driven initiative dedicated to make the policy and big system changes that will ensure we can all enjoy access to healthy, affordable, delicious food with our families and communities.

We hope you enjoy this year’s Growth Report - they are your stories of how we grow food and community together. Join us for more this season!

Heather JohnstoneManagerNSNH - Edible Garden Project

“It turns out that growing and sharing food also grows our neighbourhoods.”

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GAVIN WRIGHT

HEATHER JOHNSTONE

Heather Johnstone has led the EGP since 2007, starting as ½ time coordinator and the sole staff. She transitioned from a corporate career as an archaeologist for an environmental consulting company.

After completing her BA in Anthropology and Environmental Science at the University of Victoria she assisted the Eco-Research Chair in Environmental Law and Policy at UVIC on an ecological governance project and worked on archaeology projects on Haida Gwaii. With the seeds of a long-term interest in policy work sown, she turned to learning organic farming through the Ecological Garden Program at Linnaea Farm and apprenticeships at farms up and down the coast - the perfect location for winter snowboarding as well!

In the last couple of years she’s focused on policy development and the demands of growing and administering the EGP. Key learning experiences included the United Way Public Policy Institute, the Social Venture Institute and most of all, her delightful 2 year old daughter, Cora.

Gavin Wright is the farmer at Loutet Farm. His curiosity in urban farming and local food systems stirred during the Community Economic Development Program at Simon Fraser University. He got involved at UBC Farm, first in natural building with cob, then as Community Outreach coordinator, then Academic Coordinator where he facilitated student and faculty research on the farm. Finally he achieved his goal: field hand at UBC Farm!

With some hands-on farming under his belt, he set out farming for 2 seasons in Pemberton. His favourite days of the week were spent at the Farmers Markets because he had the opportunity to talk and laugh with people buying his produce. His role with the EGP combines it all; hands-on farming, educating and celebrating with the growing Loutet Farm community.

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JASON MERTZ

EMILY JUBENVILLEmily Jubenvill, the

Community Coordinator for the EGP, is the main energizer for volunteers and citizen-led

initiatives. She’s also proud to be the EGP’s resident beekeeper. Emily

is Board Chair of Genius, and an alumni of Next Up, which is dedicated to growing effective leaders in movements for social

environmental justice.

She found her focus on growing food as a force for social and environmental change during her BSc in

Environmental Science at Royal Roads University. This led to her earning her Permaculture Design Certificate in Australia

and an internship at a permaculture farm in New Zealand. She’s born and bred on the North Shore and happy to be back living in the

neighbourhood with her partner and happy chickens.

our staffJason Mertz joined the

EGP early spring 2013 as Education Coordinator. He’s

got a Masters in Education from the University of Massachusetts-

Boston, is a certified British Columbia teacher, has ten years classroom teaching

experience, as well as a father of two - the perfect credentials to grow the EGP’s Fed Up

program in local schools.

Jason has been growing his own food the last few years and has been active in building community networks around

growing and sharing food with Village Vancouver. He once strung discarded coffee cups together and hung them between

buildings on his college campus to encourage recycling and reuse. With teaching strategies like these, we predict North Shore kids will

have fun in the garden this year!

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When the EGP started in 2006, we had a budget of $30,000 and 1 part-time staff which allowed us to mobilize 20 volunteers to grow food in 6m2 of gardens.

The North Shore Neighbourhood House (NSNH) has been our home since 2006 when they first provided the fledgling EGP with a desk and accounting support. In 2011 we formally became a program of the House and are governed by the NSNH Board of Directors. The community coalition that founded the EGP, comprised of staff from the City of North Vancouver,

citizens, as well as staff from Vancouver Coastal Health, District of North Vancouver, and the North Shore Recycling Program, continue to participate on the Advisory Committee today, along with staff from the Harvest Project, Vancity, and Hollyburn Family Services.

$250 000 budget participantsvolunteers space$250 000 annual budget, 3 full-time and one part-

time staff.

Over 3000 volunteer hours every year building

and growing gardens, teaching children, and

donating produce.

1200 participants in workshops, events, and

education programs.

2800 m2 of EGP garden space, including ½ acre

Loutet Farm.

governance & financials

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egp growing the egp

EGP volunteers grow and donate over 1400Kg of produce annually!

Today...

how we’re funded:

www.nsnh.bc.ca

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sandra hanson robin yerexkelly sexsmith greg dixon

Also good with a shovel or hoe, Sandra is an incredible graphic

designer and dedicated hundreds of hours

to developing Loutet Farm’s logo, and re-vamping branding

and communications materials for the EGP.

Kelly enthusiastically developed the urban grain

demonstration garden, organized harvesting, processing, and the harvest celebration.

North Shore flour makes such tasty treats!

Rain or shine, injured or healthy, Robin arrived at the farm bright and early to help Farmer Gavin at

the Farm Gate Sales. The magical combination of

Robin’s passion, wit, and humour make Loutet Farm a very fun place.

Hauling coffee grounds isn’t a glamorous job,

but Greg does it weekly without complaint. He successfully organized

coffee shop staff to save coffee grounds in buckets he picks up several times

a week - an essential additon to our incredible

compost!

we have outstanding volunteers“The EGP has inspired me in so many ways over the past year. Your energy and passion is contagious. I could probably write an essay about all the things I learned in the past year but tried to focus on one thing!

Prior to volunteering with EGP I had little experience in how to grow food. I felt overwhelmed by what I thought it might take to do it and hesitant to get started. By spending time at Loutet Farm I realized that growing edibles

need not be intimidating. I decided I would start small and tried building a few small planter boxes out of recycled wood to grow some herbs. I had success with this and was able to harvest most of my own herbs for cooking. As a result several friends and family became more interested in the potential of growing herbs and requested a box of their own, so my husband and I built more. In order to continue to spread the

2012 above & beyond volunteer awards

great canadian landscaping co. went above and beyond for the EGP this year. Chris, Jason and their staff arealways prepared to help out the EGP, promote our projects and participate in our learning opportunities.

word on how easy it can be if you start small I will be selling my little herb boxes at the Lonsdale Quay Friday Night Market

this summer so that I can hopefully get other people as keen to grow edibles as I have become.”

- Christine Hardie

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intergenerational gardensIn 2012 we created five gardens at North Shore Neighbourhood House childcare centres. The gardens offer a space where children of 150 families, elders, volunteers, and staff can come together to learn and play and share healthy food.

The North Shore Neighbourhood House serves all families including those who face barriers in accessing services, like young parents finishing up high school, newcomers to Canada, families on low income, and First Nations families. Together we are working to integrate

our programming and approaches.

The Intergenerational Gardens offer a wonderful opportunity to garden with children through the summer season, when schools are out of session. But with every new project there are new challenges - in this case, food safety regulations crafted to protect people prevented picking, preparing and serving the garden vegetables we grow to the children.

Growing policy is always part of the EGP’s work.We try to understand why policy was developed in the first place and work to meet those original

concerns, while making changes that encourage growing and sharing food. We’ve been having productive conversations with the health authority to ensure high safety standards. The staff and children are excited to taste the results!

Next year we look forward to further training and support of childcare staff, expanding to two more childcare centres, and sharing our model with other childcare educators and facilities on the North Shore.

growing education

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Last year we collaborated with permaculture groups in Nelson and Calgary to bring Toby Hemenway, author of the world’s best-selling book on permaculture, to North Vancouver for a full day workshop and evening presentation. We were excited to welcome many people from beyond the North Shore for this event.

Permaculture is a contraction of “permanent” + “agriculture”, and includes tools, techniques and strategies to meet human needs for food and shelter while preserving and regenerating ecosystems. Permaculture ideas and practices inform the EGP’s work.

Toby introduced us to some design activities to be used by citizens and professional planners alike. At lunch we put them into practice; we sat outside on starkly beautiful concrete benches, lining a wind corridor down to the inlet. We shivered in the blazing sunshine,

shouting and laughing across to each other our dreams for the space. What if the benches were set up so small groups could talk to each other? What if at least some of the planters offered salad greens and some herbs for free picking for our lunch? What if some of the shrubs around us bore the berries that grow so abundantly in this land?

That evening Toby started his talk by describing the indigenous food systems of pre-colonial North America. These wild and tended gardens provided food, fibre, medicine, building materials, tools for human needs as part of abundant eco-systems. This is the inspiration for our future, beyond the destructive practices of industrial annual agriculture.

Listen to a version of Toby’s talk:

toby hemenway:permaculture in cities and the future of civilization

We’d love to host another educational event like this in the future and want to hear

your ideas. Email:

and we’ll feature possibilities on our blog.

info@ediblegardenproject.com

Through the the Fed Up program the EGP has reached over 600 children in elementary schools with monthly programming over the past four years. We were thrilled to win BC Hydro’s Community Champions Contest and dedicate funding to growing this program. Our new Education Coordinator, Jason Mertz, has set a goal to double the number of students we reach next year.

Every school is different. The champion of food and garden education in a school might be a parent, a passionate teacher or an administrator. Sometimes people have a lot of growing experience and sometimes none. Jason is focusing on how to best support students and schools and looks forward to launching an expanded classroom program in September 2013.

Watch our winning BC Hydro Community

Champions video!

fed up!

ediblegardenproject.com/blog

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Chef Scott Rowe, and participants in the New Hope Cuisine program and Whole Foods Market served up a feast for all to enjoy.

Cease Wyss, gardener and food activist, welcomes us to the traditional territory of the

Squamish people.

growing food policy table matters

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At the EGP we talk a lot about gardening and urban agriculture. But food touches our lives in so many ways and public policy influences all of it. The EGP is one of the key organizers of Table Matters, a citizen-driven initiative dedicated to make municipal policy and big system changes.

The annual Table Matters event is an evening of celebration and dialogue where citizens, local organizations and municipal leaders gather to discuss their values and ideas around food, how it is grown, processed, transported, distributed and shared in our communities.

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“Over 200 citizens came out one evening last November to to talk food and food policy - this is momentum for making change. “

A graphic summary of some of the ideas shared during the evening.

That’s North Vancouver Mayor Musatto and Councillor Craig Keating welcoming enthusiastic

citizens to City Hall.

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Summer 2011 Kelly suggests we grow some wheat.

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The hand powered threshing machine!

The wheat is sifted, sorted and ready to grind into flour. Seeds saved for next year’s planting.

what will be up for harvest in 2013?

Corn tortillas? Corn bread? Gluten-free goodness?

Next year Kelly is focusing on heritage varieties of corn.

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growing ideas

I love the ideas from EGP volunteers, whether it’s a small improvement or a whole new project. Everyone involved with the EGP has a stake in growing and sharing food in our community. My job is to help bring good ideas to life; this is a story of Kelly’s idea.

Kelly approached us a couple of years ago with the idea to grow some wheat. She was inspired by the Environmental Youth Alliance’s Lawns to Loaves project. We loved the idea, so we helped make it happen. Urban grains was an idea ripe with educational potential - few of us in the city know what growing grains look like (beautiful!). It was also a chance to grow and share some heritage varieties; preserving diversity is a big piece of growing food sustainably.

Each year since, Kelly’s idea has grown. A simple wheat patch in year one grew into a full Urban Grain Demonstration Garden at the Queen Mary Community Garden in 2012. The

Demonstration Garden included many varieties of grains including barley, wheat, flax, corn, and quinoa.

Last summer’s impending grain harvest presented a new challenge. It takes a lot of processing power to remove the grains from the stalks and husks. Luckily ingenuity runs in the family. Kelly asked her brother to build a threshing machine.

He is an engineer whose idea of a good time is to get together with friends for their own version of junkyard wars. The thresher they built can be powered by bike or hand. With the help of Kelly’s hand powered flour grinder and a VitaMix we made some lovely North Shore grown whole wheat flour.

The results went to some of our culinary genius volunteers who baked us tasty treats to enjoy at a Loutet Farm community potluck!

- Emily Jubenvill

In 2012 the Urban Grain Demonstration Garden grew 9 varities of grains.

Wheat and flax in early summer

The wheat’s almost ready to harvest!

urban grains

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building urban garden blitz“Let’s do this on the North Shore!” EGP Volunteer Evonne Strohwald was pointing excitedly to an article in “Urban Farm” Magazine about a couple in Calgary that hosted “perma-blitzes” to build gardens in their neighbourhood.

A permablitz is an informal gathering where people come together to create edible gardens while sharing permaculture and sustainable living skills as a community. Think ‘barn-raising’ for gardens!

Not long after that conversation, with Evonne’s leadership, we held our first “Building Urban Garden Blitz”- BUG Blitz. Since then Evonne has organized four BUG Blitzes with support from the EGP and Table Matters Network.

- Emily Jubenvill

BUGBlitz is an informal community network that transforms lawns into

beautiful and productive food gardens.

Join BUGBlitz to learn new skills and grow community!

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before after

It’s a 3 step process to host a BUGBlitz to create a new garden or orchard:

You are very welcome to join us at the next BUG Blitz to learn more! www.bugblitz.wordpress.com

1. An experienced gardener visits the site to discuss the design and plans for for the day with the host.

2. The host gathers all the materials, with advice from where to source free or salvaged materials from the EGP.

3. We recruit the participants from our awesome network of BUGBlitzers and EGP volunteers.

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loutet farmlocal food from local soil by local folks - Loutet Farm is a half acre urban farm

on City of North Vancouver park land. It is a social enterprise, and the first step in building a ‘plant to plate’ local food system on the North Shore.

“Perhaps this is a cliché, but what I saw grow and develop at Loutet farm last year was community. And I got to be a part of that.” - Angelika, Loutet Farm Volunteer

growing loutet farm2012 was the second year in operation for Loutet Farm - a half acre demonstration farm on public parkland. It was the first year that we had a full season to show what the farm can really do, and it sure took off.

We ran farm gate sales twice a week from June through to October

and there was always a buzz of activity, with neighbours lining up early for our salad mix (try it, you’re in for a treat!), cherry tomatoes, snap peas, garlic, multi-coloured bush beans and carrot bunches.

As the veggies flew off the shelves I ran to harvest more so as not to disappoint. The demand for our produce is good news. Loutet is not a typical, for-profit business

but we are a “social enterprise”. We aim to be financially self- sufficient by 2016, while continuing to share skills and grow our community.

It’s very gratifying to witness a growing sense of pride in the farm. People come to learn, to volunteer and to get together and unwind. We began hosting monthly potlucks in 2012, with up to 30 people gathering to share food and

conversation at the farm.

On a beautiful evening in late August we celebrated the end of the season and the EGP’s wonderful volunteers. We set up a long table amongst the lush garden, enjoyed some live music and to much laughter awarded our annual volunteer gnome awards. Nobody who was in attendance will forget that evening any time soon.

- Gavin Wright

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Learn more about Loutet Farm:

Loutet Farm won the inaugural 2012 Sustainable City Award from the City of North Vancouver. Just one of the things we celebrated, amongst the peas, beans and garlic, at our annual volunteer celebration this year.

The famous Loutet Salad Mix.

coming to loutet farm in 2013

two honeybee hives (complete with bear-proof cages)

a shiitake & oyster mushroom patchvertical growing experiments two practicum students Who knows... they may be your next neighbourhood farmers!

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Greetings:

I’ve been the EGP’s evaluator (with contributions to visioning and strategic planning along the way) for the last 5 years. Each year we check in on the core mission: how is the EGP building a community around growing and sharing healthy, sustainably grown food? The most fun part of our evaluation process is gathering and listening to stories together.

There’s the ideas generated by neighbours, like the now thriving orchard along 24th street. There’s the “firsts”, like

the child who tasted his first fresh apple in the Fed Up program. There’s the teachers, staff of local business, non-profit and municipalities who get involved hands-on in the gardens, around policy tables and join with volunteers to celebrate the good work.

What I hear from participants is that the EGP staff are open to ideas, keen to extend the energy of volunteers and savvy in finding resources to ensure successful projects.

Growing an organization takes hard work but it’s the spirit of enthusiasm,

gratitude and celebration that people are eager to share.

Here’s to growing more food and community on the North Shore - well done all of you!

Thanks,

Keira McPheeEGP’s Evaluator and Growth Report Editor

As always, we welcome your comments or

suggestions.

Would you like to contribute to next year’s growth report, or blog?

Contact us:info@ediblegardenproject.com

604-987-8138 ex. 231

225 East 2nd StNorth Vancouver, BC

V7L 1C4

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“Be prepared for happy accidents (volunteer plants!) and frustrating setbacks (squirrels eating your entire crop of corn just before it’s ready); take pleasure in the process. Any good results are joyful, but the real rewards are in the Doing, Learning from Doing and Sharing the doing, learning and results. Oh, and if you can, build a hoop house! Absolutely the best thing I did last year.” - Katie McLeer

“I attended a gardening workshop last year and picked up a great tip that worked well and that I plan to use again this year.

To begin your seeds indoors, use plastic containers with lids that you buy fruit in (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries). They work well as seed starters and mini greenhouses. Try it out!”

- Kerry Child

“Water has a higher heat conduction rate than rock or brick, so keeping your rain barrels near your planters may extend your

season or even your zone!” - Emily Neufeld

“Our personal favourite tip is....Collect leaves that other people have raked in the fall! Use them liberally in the compost and as mulch to keep your garden beds cozy and un-pummelled by winter rains.” - North Shore Recycling Program

“Observation; taking time to better understand the weather (sun, wind, rain patterns), how I will use my site (frequency of my visits, therefore more visits requires a closer location to my house), and knowing the health of my soil.” - Lisa Holland

growing tipsfrom the EGP community

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ediblegardenproject.com

NORTH SHORE NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSE