Season Wrap-up Celebration!

Wow- what an evening! We had the pleasure of celebrating the inaugural season of the beautiful Riley Park Community Garden- thanks to the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House for hosting our large turnout. There were snowflake decorations, incredible food provided by Chickpea, apple cider pressed in the garden and fermented by gardener Robin, and much more. Read on! 

Delicious vegan middle eastern food enjoyed by all- thanks Chickpea! 

A line of hungry and happy volunteers with Joanne MacKinnon at the helm! 

Happy volunteers Lloyd and Felicia enjoying the meal. 

Some festive apple cider bottled by Rob. 

MC for the evening and project manager Joanne MacKinnon started off the event proceedings acknowledging key volunteers and introducing Lori Snyder, who spoke in relation to our garden and its connection to First Nation communities.

Lori Snyder speaking to the volunteers. 

Then we had a presentation of a slideshow made by Erika, which featured highlights from the 2017 season- and will posted to this website soon! 

We also heard from Art and Allan about "Riley Park through the Ages". This project has required a lot of work and is ongoing- so stay tuned where to see more of this topic! 

Art and Allan in front of their project. 

We also heard from Len who discussed our Shed project, which will be an opportunity for our community to gather even closer. 

For the rest of the evening, volunteers contributed to the ongoing "Riley Park storybook" spearheaded by Anya- a visual scrapbook of memories drawn/written/put together in all shapes and forms representing the 2017 season. Guests were also encouraged to share feedback by way of post-it notes on the walls responding to certain questions pertaining to the garden and their experience. 

An example of a contribution to the 2017 storybook, done by volunteer Susan.

Thank you so much for everyone's hard work this season. Make sure to check the calendar for more events happening through the winter!

Harvest Party + Riley Park Through the Ages: a Recap!

Thank you to everyone who came by and participated in our last "official" work party of the season here at Riley Park Garden! We had an amazing day this past Saturday. Here are the details! 

The morning started with the UBC Rewilder Group gathering in the garden to transplant the native plants from their garden bed into the communal northern bed. Thank you to the Rewilders for providing coffee, yummy stew, and knowledge about how to "Re-wild" our city's green spaces!

Shown below is a slideshow of some of the photos from the garden work party in the morning. The UBC LFS students were hard at work finishing the produce library, and garden bed members were hard at work harvesting and taking out plants. 

After working hard in the garden, we had a wonderful "Heritage Potluck", where community members were encouraged to share a dish representing their family background. Some highlights included Anya's pierogies, Amy's chicken curry, Mary's cake, and Felicia's soup + crumble. 

After lunch was the highlight of the day: the presentation on Riley Park Through the Ages! We were lucky enough to hear from Lori Snyder, Dr. Art Bomke, and Allan Buium about how the space has changed throughout the centuries. Thank you very much to these presenters for their time researching and contributing to this very educational activity! 

What a great way to officially wrap up Riley Park Community Garden's first growing season. Stay tuned for upcoming events throughout the fall/winter- and especially look forward to our Season Wrap-Up Celebration: November 29th at the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House! 

October 7th: Salmon Caravan Celebration

We had a really wonderful cozy day at the garden last Saturday! Our open-door work party was led by Art, who taught us how to cut cover crop properly and talked about harvesting methods. The UBC LFS students were hard at work building the produce library under Robin's direction. This structure will be ready later this month for gardeners to place produce they can't take home! 

After the slightly damp work party, the weather let up in time for an educational presentation from Blue Comet seafood at their tent at the Farmer's Market. Learning about sustainable seafood is important for us in order to respect the oceans and the spirit of the salmon! This led us to a Three-Sisters Potluck lunch featuring dishes made with squash, corn, and/or beans. Highlights included Amy's vegan casserole and Anne's cassava and corn fritters. 

Special thanks goes out to The Fish Counter, who provided us with some beautiful salmon and spreads. The leftover fish platter was donated to the community kitchen program at the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House. 

We were very happy to celebrate the spirit of the wild salmon as they return from the sea up the rivers. Salmon is a very important resource of the Pacific ocean, and we respect the First Nations traditions honouring their spirit. Pictured below are some paintings of salmon that were done by kids from the "Art of Tennis" summer camp, which will be "planted" in an installation around the garden.

Lastly, we had a great time in the audience and participating in the Shakespeare-inspired original play by Varouj: "The Garden". Make sure to come see the final production on October 21st! 

We are taking this weekend off as the rain will be giving the garden quite the drink. Stay tuned for the events and activities planned for the next garden day on October 21st! 

September 30th Recap: Garden Fun + Garlic Workshop!

Lots of fun was had in the garden this past Saturday, despite some typical Vancouver fall weather! There were many tasks to take part in, such as "topping" our buckwheat cover crop (seen above being done by Aiden). This ensures that the buckwheat, now gone to seed, does not disperse in the wind. 

Committee member Felicia getting up close and personal with the buckwheat cover crop. 

Other jobs included painting and assembling the produce library, which is still in progress. Thanks to Robin for spearheading this project which will provide a place for garden members to store surplus vegetables for anyone in the community to share. 

LFS students from UBC working on the produce library under Robin's direction. 

There was also lots of harvesting to be done- and certainly more to do in the coming weeks! Come along to help us harvest at the last two work parties: October 7th and 21st! 

Radish season! Thanks Rebecca for helping harvest!

After the work party, many gathered for Master Gardener Selina's workshop on garlic. We learned a lot about the different (and best) varieties of local garlic, and tasted some too! Some fortunate garden bed members planted some garlic in their beds with the hopes of a delicious bounty next summer! 

Learning about, tasting, and planting garlic! 

Lastly, the Shakespeare in the Garden Original Play was rained out this week, but is set to go next Saturday, October 7th at 3:30!

Make sure to come out to the next two work parties, which both have special events afterwards:

• October 7th: 10am Work Party followed by Three Sisters Lunch and Salmon Caravan Celebration, followed by The Garden (an original play)
• October 21st: 10 am Work Party followed by a presentation on "Riley Park Through the Ages" and then Artful Community Reflections

September 23rd Recap: Apple Festival!

We had an amazing time at Riley Park this past Saturday working in the garden and celebrating apple season! We are so lucky to live in British Columbia, where there seems to be beautiful apples growing in every direction! The sunny, crisp autumn day started in the morning with our weekly work party, led by Peter. We accomplished several tasks, including working on the compost structure, assembling our new wooden entrance signs, weeding, and measuring beds for irrigation plans. We also welcomed the UBC LFS students who will be working with us for the semester! 

Right after the work party, Norm Dooley presented an apple varietal tasting in addition to teaching us about apples. Norm brought down 8 varieties of apples in bulk from his favourite orchards in Keremous, B.C. 

Once the tasting was finished, the apple-themed potluck began! There were several dishes, including two salads, baked apples, homemade pastries, and the contest-winning dish: Felicia's gluten-free apple crisp!

Other activities happening at the garden during the apple festival included decorating paper bags for carrying apples home, as well as pressing apple cider juice using an old apple press! Thanks to Robin for bringing that to the garden. The wasps were definitely pleased as well! 

Thank you for everyone who came out and participated! See you next Saturday!