Feb 18th Markets and Trout Lake Community Centre Grand Opening

Hello Everyone,

For those of you that came out to the Community Potluck at Orchard- Thank you for all your amazing dishes and wonderful company. It was truly a great success and tons of fun.

We have exciting things going on this weekend as well. In addition to our pocket markets operating as usual at Brant Villa (10-12pm) and at Culloden Court (2-4pm), Trout Lake Community Centre will be celebrating their grand opening. The Cedar Cottage Food Network (us!) will be there from 12-3pm doing healthy cooking demonstrations. Come sample our yummy treats and learn more about your role in our community food system.

As I mentioned, we will be at both our usual '3rd Saturday of the month' locations.


Brant Villa: 2290 E.25^th Ave (near Nanaimo Skytrain)
We will be at this location from 10-12pm


Culloden Court: 1375 E 47th Ave
We will be at htis location from 2-4pm.

Here is what we are hoping to have at this week's market:

Beets
Red Cabbage

Avocado
Kiwi

Pears
Gala Apples
Garlic
Brocoli

Carrots
Bananas
Cucumbers
Tomatoes

Hope to see everyone there!

Feb 11th Market and Potluck Party!

Hi All,

Hope you all had a wonderful week and had time to enjoy some of that beautiful sunshine!

This Saturday morning, we unfortunately won't be at our usual location at Helping Spirit Lodge but we will be at our Orchard Park location for extended hours.

Orchard Park: 5988 Nanaimo St. (just at the corner of 45th and Nanaimo)

We will be there from 1-4pm. We are also having a community potluck. If you want to learn more about community food security in South Vancouver, connect with your neighbours or get health information come bring a labelled dish to share and join us!

Here is what we will hopefully be featured at this week's market at Orchard Park- Don't forget we also will have our incredible Tasting Kitchen to showcase this week's food!

Local:
Fuji Apples
Bosc Pears
Beets
Red Cabbage


Organic:
Avocados
Bananas
Sweet Potatoes

From elsewhere:
Blood Oranges
Garlic
Kale
Eggplant

We have tons of delicious produce items this weekend at really affordable prices. Come and check us out!

Also- check out our workshops at the new Trout Lake Community Centre- just look to their website and search for the Food Security workshops. We have a container gardening workshop this March!
http://vancouver.ca/parks/cc/troutlake/

January 21st markets

Happy Friday Everyone!

Come and brave the cold and wet tomorrow and warm up with fresh produce and delicious recipes at our pocket markets.

Tomorrow we will be at Brant Villa (2290 E. 25th Ave) from 10am-noon and then at Culloden Court (1375 E. 47th Ave) from 2pm-4pm.

Here is what we are hoping to have at this week's markets:

From BC:
Gold Nugget Potatoes
Gala Apples
Red Onions

Organic:
Spring Mix (clamshells)
Bananas

From Elsewhere:
Beets
Hosui Pears
Navel Oranges
Broccoli
Carrots
Grape Tomatoes
Kiwi
 
Here's an example of what you can make with beets: Moist Chocolate Beet Brownies. Yum!

I hope to see you all there!

Happy New Year- January Markets

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope your holidays were filled with fun, family and food! Are you hoping to eat healthier in the New Year?
 Markets will resume as always, at Helping Spirit Lodge & Orchard Park on the 2nd Saturday of each month and at Brant Villa and Culloden Court on the 3rd Saturday of each month.

Come check out our January Markets. This Saturday we will be at our usual spots.

Helping Spirit Lodge-
3965 Dumfries Street near Kingsway Ave (right across from the Rona on the West side)
We will be there from 10-12

Orchard Park-
5988 Nanaimo St near E. 45th Ave
We will be there from 2-4 (plus there is a tasting kitchen with some delicious recipes being made!)

Here is what we are hoping to have at this week's markets:

From BC:
Gala Apples
Beets
Red Nugget Potatoes

Organic:
Bananas

From Elsewhere:
Hosui Pears
Navel Oranges
Broccoli
Carrots
Baby Bok Choy

Please come down and check it out.

** In other news**

If you are interested in food security, and community health and development please come to our Community Engagement Meeting on February 1st from 6:30-8 held at the Kensington library.(Parking is available). Space is limited so please email me if you plan on attending at tlccfoodsecurity@gmail.com. It will be a great opportunity to get to know your neighbours, network with others and to provide some input into what's going on in your community.

 

Winter Markets: December 10th and 17th

Happy December Everyone! The holidays are right around the corner. I love this season: warm clothes, frosty weather, festive music, but most of all I love the food. I love holiday baking- breads, cookies and pies; hearty soups and warm winter salads.

We have two markets coming up this weekend, and thankfully we will be indoors at both locations. Please take advantage of this great opportunity to shop in a warm and fun environment for incredibly beautiful and affordable produce.

Tomorrow morning (Dec 10th) from 10-12pm, we will be set up at Helping Spirit Lodge on Dumfries, just off of Kingsway. We will be indoors, but you'll have to come through the back parking lot. Keep your eyes open for our directional signs and the TLCC awnings.

Later on in the afternoon from 2-4pm we will be set up at Orchard Park inside at the Nancy Styles Hall located at the corner of 45th and Nanaimo. Again, look out for the awning and our signs if you can't find your way. At this location we have the wonderful tasting kitchen! Our kitchen crew will be putting together some beautiful dishes for you to sample showcasing the produce that we will be selling at our market. The tasters alone are enough reason to leave your home and come down to the market!

Here is an idea of what we are hoping to have at this week's markets:


Organic: Celery
Navel Oranges
Bananas

From BC:
Anjou Pears
Apples (golden delicious or braeburn)
Beets
Brown Crimini Mushrooms

From Elsewhere:
Onions
Yams
Cauliflower
Cantaloupe
Asparagus
Carrots

Please come down and celebrate the season, the holidays and food with us this weekend. We hope to see you there!

November 19th Market Updates

Well, we've finally experienced our first snowfall. Winter is officially here. Last week was very wet, cold and rainy, but we still saw lots of smiling faces excited to get some fresh food into their homes. Please bundle up and come out to this week's markets! We'll be indoors at both the Brant Villa and Culloden Court locations, so take comfort in that. It's also voting day, there will be a voting poll at Culloden Court alongside the market, so please exercise your voting rights, and take advantage of our great selection of fresh, affordable produce.

This is what we are hoping to have this week:

From BC
MacIntosh Apples, Gala Apples
Green Cabbage
Red Peppers
Tomatoes
Bosc Pears

Organic:
Bananas
From elsewhere:
Cantaloupes
Yams
Snap Peas
Hosui Pears
Chinese Mandarin Oranges
Red Grapes
Come check it out! Hope to see you all there!

Addresses:
Brant Villa, 2290 E. 25th Ave near the Nanaimo SkyTrain Station
Culloden Court, 1375 E. 47th Ave near Knight Street

March 2011 newsletter

This month's newsletter includes:
March 31 deadline: East Vancouver Neighbourhood Small Grants Project
March 25 and 26: Presentation and workshop on sustainable cities by Mark Lakeman
March 20: Potato Fusion, event
April 27: Earthquake preparedness workshop at the Roundhouse
March 19 & 20: Two gardening workshops presented by Grant Watson
Pocket Market 
Date: Saturday March 19th
Time: 10am-1pm
Address: 2290 E 25th Ave (just west of the Nanaimo SkyTrain station).
Map: 

Our monthly pocket market is on again this Saturday. The range of product this week will be,

LOCAL (BC)
Lettuce, living head, $1.30 each
Russet Potatoes, $1.00 per bag

ORGANIC
Hass Avocadoes, $1.30 each
Carrots, cello organic, $1.00 per bunch

NOT LOCAL or ORGANIC
Broccoli, $1.30 per bunch
Oranges, $0.30 each

See you there!

East Vancouver Neighbourhood Small Grants Project
How would you like to make your neighbourhood a better place?
Do you live in the Cedar Cottage, Frog Hollow or Kiwassa neighbourhoods?  Do you have great ideas to improve your neighbourhood or bring people together, but need a little support to help make them happen?

Then you might want to consider applying for a Neighbourhood Small Grant!

The Neighbourhood Small Grants Project is funded by the Vancouver Foundation to support residents to initiate activities in their communities for the benefit of local people. Groups of two or more neighbours can apply for a grant of $50 to $500 to work together on small projects that benefit their neighbourhoods socially, physically, culturally or environmentally. 
All kinds of projects can receive funding.  For example, you could paint a mural, plant a neighbourhood garden, teach a cooking or art class, put up a community bulletin board, celebrate a cultural holiday, put on a music recital, hold a dialogue or talking circle, organize a community clean up, write a neighbourhood cookbook or have a block party!

Deadline for submissions is March 31st, 2011
Decisions about which projects will be funded will be made by April 30th. For more information, tips, ideas for projects or to download the Application Form from the website: http://www.froghollow.bc.ca/neighbourhood_sub3.html

Mark Lakeman: Presentation and Workshop on sustainable cities
Portland City Repair co-founder, Mark Lakeman, brings lessons from one of America's greenest cities to Vancouver. Mark Lakeman is a co-founder of the City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon and served as the Co-Director of Creative Vision from 1996 to 2008. City Repair is a multidisciplinary, non-profit organization, which works with place-based communities to creatively transform the infrastructure of the public commons where people live.

Whether converting street intersections into public squares, or organizing other forms of permanent or ephemeral place interventions, City Repair is effectively engaging citizens in the reinvention of the public landscape. All of these projects are ecological in emphasis, using natural building and Permaculture techniques. City Repair projects are underway in dozens of cities in the USA and Canada.

Mark is also the principal of Communitecture, a private design firm specializing in ecological building and planning projects at many scales. He also sits on the Board of Directors of Southeast Uplift, Portland's proactive neighborhood coalition that is undertaking numerous initiatives to remake the civic landscape.

The Village Lives
Mark Lakeman, offers an inspirational and cutting edge model for how cities can develop sustainably, powered by people at the neighbourhood level. Mark’s presentation The Village Lives provides numerous examples of urban Permaculture initiatives that are inspiring transformation across the social and political spectrum of Portland.

Mark will emphasize the benefits of broadly activated citizen vision and participation in the development of a truly sustainable culture. Mark’s presentations includes an overview of unsustainable cultural patterns, followed by examples of how urban spaces can be transformed into vital social and ecological commons.

Date: Friday, March 25
Time: 7:30 pm -  9:30 pm
Location: W2 Storyeum,
Address: 151 West Cordova, Vancouver, BC

‘Eco-Dreaming Vancouver’
Workshop with Portland’s City Repair Co-Founder Mark Lakeman and Power of Hope's creative facilitators Rup Sidhu and Sara Dent, along with Village Vancouver members, will offer a day of community building focused on how City Repair processes can be applied in Vancouver. Participants will build community, look at our city on a neighbourhood by neighbourhood basis, and learn about intersection and block repair processes.

Date: Saturday, March 26th, 2011
Time: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm,
Location: W2 Storyeum,
Address: 151 West Cordova, Vancouver, BC
Registration: http://ecodreamingvancouver.eventbrite.com

Event Supporters
Thanks to the City of Vancouver Sustainability Group for their support of the event and Car Free Vancouver! In association with W2 Storyeum. People powered by: Village Vancouver, Power of Hope, Community Arts Council of Vancouver.

Event: Potato Fusion
The World In A Garden will be hosting the Second Annual Potato Fusion event, where we will plant highly nutritious organic potatoes & lettuce in used burlap coffee sacs! All proceeds will be donated to The World In A Garden & Project Somos, an eco-village for abandoned and orphaned children in Guatemala.

Date: Sunday, March 20th
Time: 11am or 1pm
Location: West 57th & East Blvd. (across the street from Choices)
To register: Contact Alicia Baddorf via phone 604.257.5151 ext. 213 or by email abaddorf@jfsa.ca
www.theworldinagarden.com

Earthquake preparedness
We have all witnessed the recent earthquakes in Japan and have seen first hand the devastation they cause. Living in Vancouver, we too could be faced with a major earthquake, yet few of us have taken the necessary steps to ensure we and our families are prepared. This session will teach you how to be prepared for any emergency or disaster you may be faced with. You will learn personal and family preparedness, how to develop a family emergency plan, how to perform a home hazard hunt and how to prepare for your pets. Cost: Free

Location: Roundhouse Community Centre - 181 Roundhouse Mews
Date: Apr 27, 2011
Time: 7:00 PM
Registration Information: Phone: 604-713-1800

Gardening workshops
Grant Watson is teaching a series of gardening workshops this weekend. Go to www.gourmetgardens.ca/workshops/

Intensive Urban Microfarming
Date: Saturday March 19
Time:  12:30-3:30 pm
Location: Strathcona Community Centre
Address:  601 Keefer Street
Registration: Call Strathcona Community Centre at 604-713-1838
http://www.gourmetgardens.ca/intensive-urban-microfarming/

Food Crops: Selection & Care
Date: Sunday March 20
Time:  2 – 5 pm
Address: 2478 E 23 Ave
http://www.gourmetgardens.ca/workshops/food-crops-selection-care/
 
You can contact Grant Watson at 778.869.4060.
Visit his website at, www.gourmetgardens.ca

Trout Lake Cedar Cottage Food Security Network newsletter for November 2010

A few people have asked how far their money can go at TLCC's monthly Pocket Market. In the photo you see what $10.40 in cash (or 8 Pocket Market Coupons) was able to purchase at the last Pocket Market held on Nov 14th. We think it's a great deal!

Local organic: Swiss chard

Non local, organic: Bananas

Local non-organic: Gala apples, russet potatoes, beets, peppers, tomatoes and carrots

Low income, Pocket Market Coupon participants buy 8 coupons for $8.00. TLCC then buys local and/or organic produce at a wholesaler and passes these savings on to coupon holders. Cash sales have a small mark-up over wholesale prices. Profits from these cash sales go to support the program.

In October, TLCC asked you what you'd like to see more of in 2011. Overwhelmingly, members chose workshops. Sometime between February and the end of March we will be hosting 2 workshops, 1. Growing mushrooms, 2. Drying fruit and vegetables. I am looking for workshop facilitators. If you or someone you know has the skills, knowledge and appetite to give a workshop on these topics, let me know!

Next TLCC Pocket Market:
Day: Sunday, December 5th
Time: 10am to 1pm
Place: 2290 E 25th Ave, just west of the Nanaimo SkyTrain Station
Link: Map to Pocket Market
Link: December winter food calendar "wallpaper" for your computer


Here's a summary of this month's newsletter:

1. Bella Coola Flood - Farm Fundraiser Film Event
2. Evergreen Foundation, a chance to give back to a really great organization
3. Community Kitchen Leadership Workshop
4. Permaculture Design and Community Resilience Workshop

Bella Coola Flood - Farm Fundraiser & Film Event
Day: Tues, Dec 7,
Time: 6pm
Place: Britannia Community Centre - Canuck's Family Education Centre (Upstairs Eastside Family Place)
Cost: $10, Silent Auction, food

Bella Coola farmers were recently hit by sever floods. Due to the realities of the agriculture industry the Bella Coola farmers work off the farm to make ends meet and are thus ineligible for Provincial Emergency Assistance. These farmers are key players in regenerating their local food system and in increasing the community's access to high quality local produce. The community lost over 270 tons of winter feed, livestock, fencing, equipment, tools, heritage seeds, heritage fruit trees, corrals and paddocks, barns, market gardens, pasture, and acreage washed down the river. We depend on our farmers for our food and they are appealing for our help.

Grandview Woodland Food Connection, FarmFolkCityFolk, Discovery Organics presents
Film: Mammalian, Canada, 2010
Day: Tues, Dec 7
Time: 6:30 - 7:30pm

Frank Wolf and Taku Hokoyama strike out on a 2,000 km Arctic canoe journey through the largest wilderness area in North America. With a sense of humour and purpose, they track down politicians, First Nation chiefs, elders and others living in the few communities that frame the wilderness in order to present a clear picture of the area and the issues that face the land and its people.

• Official Entry - Vancouver Film Festival, 2010

Film: Force of Nature, Canada, 2010
Day: Tues, Dec 7
Time: 8 - 9:30pm
(Please note: Film change. Wasteland cannot be screened at this time)

The film interweaves the Force of Nature lecture with scenes from Suzuki's life and lifetime – the major social, scientific, cultural and political events of the past 70 years.

In this biography of ideas, Suzuki articulates a core, urgent message: We have exhausted the limits of the biosphere and it is imperative that we rethink our relationship with the natural world. He looks unflinchingly at the strains on the interconnected web of life and offers up a blueprint for sustainability and survival.

Evergreen Foundation, a chance to give back to a great organization
You may have seen the amazing work being done by members and volunteers of the Cedar Cottage Garden. This was in part funded by the Evergreen Foundation through their Walmart Grant.

Evergreen has submitted a project called Nature Playground to the Aviva Community Fund and they need you to help them succeed. Nature Playground will provide the opportunity for children to connect with nature at Evergreen Brick Works in the best way possible: through food, play and hands-on learning. For more information about Evergreen Brick Works, please follow this link: http://ebw.evergreen.ca/

Help children connect with, play in and learn from nature by voting daily and telling your friends.
The way the fund works is that Nature Playground is competing with other projects through an online competition to make it to the final round of judging. Show your support for Evergreen and the Nature Playground by voting here: http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf9748


Community Kitchen Leadership Workshop
Day: Thurs, Dec 2, 2010
Time: 9:00 am - 2:30 pm
Location: Vancouver Food Bank, 1150 Raymur Ave.
Cost: $45.00 (lunch provided).
To register: Contact Darlene Tanaka, at 604-216-2325 or darlenet@foodbank.bc.ca
or complete and email the Community Kitchen Leadership Workshop Registration Form to Darlene.

For those of you who are interested in attending but must travel over 100km to get to Vancouver, travel and accommodation subsidies are available. For more information, see their subsidy application form.

During the leadership 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. See their poster and share it in you community.

Please note: Payment required upon registration. Cancellations must be done at the latest, 72 hours before. No refunds for no-shows. The workshop may be rescheduled if registration numbers are not met.

Permaculture Design and Community Resilience
Saturday November 27th 9 - 5 and,
Sunday the November 28th 9 - noon
Cost: $100 / $50 students and seniors / scholarships available; no one turned away for lack of funds.
To register: Strathcona Community Centre 604.713.1838 (course no. 46500.401ST)
For scholarship or general information: Erin Innes erininnes@gmail.com or Ross Moster ross@villagevancouver.ca or visit www.villagevancouver.ca
Free public Post Carbon Visioning event to follow from 1-5

About the Workshop:
Learn how the fundamentals of Permaculture design can come out of the garden and into all aspects of our lives and community! This two-day workshop will show you the tools that Permaculture has to offer to redesign our social and cultural landscape for a localized, low-energy future. From our personal frustrations and fears to the global challenges we all share, this workshop is your chance to engage your head, heart, and hands in creating a more resilient and participatory response to peak oil, climate change, and energy descent.

What is Permaculture?
Permaculture is a system of tools, strategies, and methodologies for designing human systems that function like natural systems. Permaculture presents a way of understanding and taking action in the world that allows us to create a "permanent culture," from farming to economics to education, that is sustainable indefinitely and that becomes more abundant with time.

What is Resilience?
Resilience is the ability of a system -- an ecosystem, an economic system, a culture -- to withstand shocks, stresses, and upheavals, to evolve and adapt without losing its basic cohesion and form.

Eat well and eat local.