In our On the Table event, participants were invited to reflect on these questions: How does food connect us? How do we redistribute food? What connects us to community? What do we value? Which stories can we find around us? Together, we started a weaving collage at one entrance of the garden. We also created cards by combining images and drawings. As a temporary installation, the cards and the weaving remind us of the creativity and joy we all partake in when growing food together.
Today at the Garden
Our Elder Tree is laden with pale blueberries! A different variety from the UK wild hedgerow one, but the taste and uses are the same. We decided to make some Elderberry Syrup, which involved simmering the berries gently with a minimum amount of water, once warm add cinnamon sticks, cloves, and freshly grated raw ginger; simmer till reduced, mash, and then press out the juice. Whilst still warm, add raw honey (we have a wonderful honey shop on Main Street) and bottle. Highly recommended for the prevention of colds and flu, it also increases insulin production and is therefore good for diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. I have made wine with the berries in the past which had a wonderful intense flavor, rather like port, but a word of caution, make sure to remove every bit of stem and twig, otherwise, it becomes incredibly bitter. We also have a red elderberry tree, but so far it does not have any berries.
It’s time to tidy up the Strawberries! They get their name from the custom of laying straw under the plants in the summer to protect the ripening fruit from the soil beneath; however, the straw should be removed in Fall so that it does not get sodden with winter rain and rot the plants. Our current row of strawberry plants, between the blueberry bushes, came from a clump at the end of one of the vegetable beds last year, and planted out to a complete row! They would appear to be the Remontant (ever-bearing) type as they have flowered and fruited throughout the summer and early fall. Now they need to have dead foliage and the runners removed, some of which have rooted and produced separate plants, which can be potted up and planted elsewhere; these should not be allowed to fruit in their first year. Strawberries are unique in carrying their seeds on the outside of the berry! We also have a pink-flowered variety (Pink Panda), as well as three varieties of native strawberries (coastal, woodland & wild); their fruit is tiny but has an intense flavor, definitely to be savored individually; in the UK these are known as Alpine strawberries.
- Angela
APPLY NOW: Neighbourhood Small Grants
This coming winter could be tough as we reduce our physical contacts with people outside our household. But that doesn’t mean we have to forget about community.
In fact, we’ll need community more than ever! So, think about sharing your talents & skills through a virtual event, reaching out to support neighbours, building something for your community garden, creating art in your neighbourhood or helping make Central Vancouver a greener space.
Once you have an idea:
Create or log on to your NGS account at neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca
Submit your application for an RNSG or GCNSG grant anytime between September 14th and October 30th, 2020. You can ask for up to $500.
Our local grant committee will review your project within a few weeks.
Once you receive your funding, your project should take place before March 15th, 2021.
Reach us at info@rileyparkgarden.org for more information or inspiration for ideas!
Bottoms up in the border!
Today at Riley Park our volunteers planted 225 cloves of garlic (Red Russian, Porcelain Music & Salt Spring Select varieties).
Growing garlic is one of the easiest crops there is, it needs virtually no care until harvest time in 9 months. Use only local garlic that is accustomed to our local climate. Gently break apart the individual cloves (without tearing the protective covering of each clove); plant 4” deep & 6” apart. Mulch with leaves over winter.
According to Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds, growing our own garlic is not only more tasty than anything you’d buy in the grocery store, it also reduces ‘the vast and unnecessary waste of non-renewable resources incurred by transporting garlic thousands of miles‘ (from Changing the Climate With the Seeds We Sow 2019) - so you’re doing your bit for climate change as well!
We also dismantled the small irrigation lines and put the hoses away for the season.
9 kg of Tomatillos were harvested, some green beans, a few cucumbers, hot peppers and basil.
A lovely Arabic lunch was provided by Silva to top off a wonderful afternoon in the garden
1st Week of Food Distribution!
Off to the first week of food distribution! This is what our hampers consisted of this week:
From our yard gardens — radishes, beets, carrots, spinach, arugula, bok choy
From One Love Farm — field-grown tomatoes, white onions, red russian garlic
The rest of the food hamper has been supplemented by the Greater Vancouver Food Bank!
This will be a 30-week program aimed to be a bandaid solution for food insecurity in and around our community that has been exacerbated by COVID-19. We are able to do this with funding from United Way.
