By Jasmine Shi
Last day for gathering at the garden of the 2022 year!
The tool maintenance workshop took place on November 27. We cleaned, sharpened and oiled all the tools with a cutting edge, including the spades and hoes. Maintaining tools this way makes it much easier to chop the mulch when springtime comes. Thanks Art, for the loan of your equipment and know-how!
We also cleared out the shed, taking all the valuable items to the Fieldhouse for safekeeping over the winter.
Alex demonstrating how to oil and sharpen pruning tools
Alex sorted through the community seed library, a box full of seeds that were given to us. And volunteers were offered packets of seeds that will expire in 2023, so we only have fresh seeds for planting in the garden.
Community seed library
After the tool maintenance workshop it came time for the potluck event, where we invited everyone who had volunteered at the garden this year to come enjoy food and celebrate the great work done this season. We shared a delicious pumpkin soup and pumpkin bread made by our caterer Cat and enjoyed the many different dishes contributed to the potluck lunch by everyone who came by.
Gardeners enjoying food and chatting
As this is the last blog post of 2022, some of us would like to share about our experiences gardening at Riley Park this year. Below are some of our thoughts and reflections.
Jasmine
Hi, I’m Jasmine. I started volunteering at the garden this June and have been coming regularly since. I also started to write blog posts starting in September. I would like to share one personal takeaway I had from working in the garden.
It is that I became more accepting of eating dirt. To me, this is a good thing since I was germophobic before this. Compounded by the COVID period, I felt that I had to wash my hands and sanitize surfaces all the time.
One example is if I had touched my phone after washing my hands, I would need to wash my hands again before eating. I was always thinking about cleanliness and always fearing that I had neglected to clean something and let germs into my body. Every day, it became a lot to bear 🐻.
When I came to the garden, I saw people eating fruits right after picking it off the plant, without washing the fruit or their hands!! It seems to be the norm with gardeners. Slowly, from peer influence, I started to do the same, eating with dirt-ridden fingers and tasting leaves plucked straight from the plant. My practices at home changed too. I didn’t care so much about sanitizing anymore, and I felt like it wasn’t the end of the world if I ate some germs.
I still wash my hands and clean up, which I think is important, but I’m just not obsessed about it and letting it take over my life anymore. It’s always good to strike a balance, right?
P.S. I’m happy to report that I have not gotten food poisoning or sick as a result of having a little tolerance for dirt 💩
Art
This was a satisfying conclusion to the 2022 gardening season. We were able to clean, sharpen and oil our garden tools, readying them for 2023.
Even more satisfying was the turnout of gardeners who participated this year. During the height of COVID, the garden had fewer gardeners and I worried that we could not sustain it indefinitely with such a small group. The numbers are back up this year and I am now very optimistic that we can sustain and take the garden to another level at which we can welcome more of our neighbours with food and gardening events in 2023.
We are in good hands with Alex’s guidance and the knowledgeable input of our Master Gardeners (and master composter!). Many thanks to everyone and best wishes for the holiday season and new year.
Angela
It has been great to welcome many new Master Gardeners to Riley Park this year, including several Master Gardeners in training who needed volunteer hours to complete their qualifications, as well as several groups of Master Gardeners and others who participated in compost workshops!
And I would like to echo Art’s sentiment about Alex joining our team, following on from the retirement to the Island of Selina, who gave so much of herself to the growth and wellbeing of the garden over six years; Alex brings a wealth of enthusiasm and new ideas and we are lucky to have found him.
May the next six years bring even more fruitful outcomes, enjoyable participation and growth in knowledge at this wonderful community garden! Heartfelt thanks to all our garden volunteers — enjoy the rest over the winter!
Helen
What a wonderful year we had at Riley Park Community Garden. Such a rich and immensely diverse community in all aspects. As this was my first year, I mainly watched and learned how the work parties functioned through the seasons and experienced the rhythm and flow of the garden.
But most importantly, I got to know and work with our energetic and committed volunteers and strong leadership group. It does not get any better than this. It was a year of transition at RPCG and because of an immense amount of teamwork, what a smooth and impressive transition it was.
I look forward to working with all of you in the spring and, now with a greater understanding of RPCG, I also look forward to helping us achieve our mandates and to continuing to facilitate the relationship with the Vancouver Master Gardeners.
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” —Marcel Proust
Alex
What a fantastic first summer coordinating the work parties at Riley Park! We’re so lucky to have such a beautiful and diverse space that’s been lovingly designed and maintained by Selina Pope, Lori Weidenhammer and an incredible team of community organizers at LMNH.
It’s such a wonderful space to learn about growing food in a sustainable way and to get a deeper understanding of the ecosystems we are growing it in. The garden has been in very capable hands and I’m honoured to be a part of its continuing story!
Working with Art, Angela, Helen, Jasmine, Joanne, Kathleen and all of our dedicated volunteers has been such a pleasure — it really does take a village! Living in the city it’s very easy to feel removed from the production of our food, but this garden is a way that we can connect with the land, our food and the neighbours that we share the city with!
Looking forward so much to the next growing season and making deeper connections with the garden and the community that’s been built around it!
This has to be my favourite gardening quote:
“In life, a person can take one of two attitudes: to build or to plant. The builders might take years over their tasks, but one day, they finish what they’re doing. Then they find that they're hemmed in by their own walls. Life loses its meaning when the building stops.
Then there are those who plant. They endure storms and all the vicissitudes of the seasons, and they rarely rest. But unlike a building, a garden never stops growing. And while it requires the gardener’s constant attention, it also allows life for the gardener to be a great adventure.
Gardeners always recognize each other, because they know that in the history of each plant lies the growth of the whole World.” —Paulo Coelho
