Location(s)

From the Elphinstone Rainforests Heart Gardens comes a new template for all ages permacultured eco-education. www.heartgardens.com

You will require the new version of flash to interact with this website. This is freely and easily acquirable on the web and if you do not have it already, the link will automatically appear on your browser to get it. Once you have it, the website will just open and work without you having to open any programs or files.

The main feature is the SITEMAP, an exploration of the 32 gardens and over 200 plants in this living classroom. This has been a year in the works, and now you can see pictures of the different gardens in all the four seasons experiencing the plants in their different seasonal growth patterns.

With a physical location people and classes can visit themselves, the web platform provides all ages school curriculums helping to teach about permaculture, native plants, bioregional ecology, organic gardening and
sustainable development.

This is the starting point for the development of online correspondence courses which include flashed online exercises, video clips, audio streams, slideshows, activities and reading material that people can engage on their own schedule while focussing applied activities toward their own homes and landbase. The first of these is to be a Permaculture Design Certification Course.

We are seeking support grants to develop this permacultured eco-education platform into an all ages education, correspondence learning site inspired by the classes, courses and tours that take place in the Heart Gardens in downtown Roberts Creek. Let us know if you are aware of any grants, support possibilities, donors or independent funders that might help us to develop both the gardens, the educational elements and the web platform.

permaculture design team
content development : delvin www.gaiacraft.com
flash web design : silverbirch www.starseeddesign.ca
flash hugel class : simon www.symbiosonic.com
plant vectors : sijay www.onbeyondmetamedia.com
plant pictures : poxin www.poxin.org

This program connects gardeners and farmers with available growing space.

Location(s)

"The Fiddlehead Farmers' Market" is a
community development project initiated by the newly formed 'Fresh Alternatives Society'. You can learn more on our website: www.fiddleheadfarmersmarket.com

Please forward this message on to people who you think might be interested in coming to the market.

We need produce for the market! So plant all of those freebie seeds that you picked up on Seedy Saturday and bring some of your extra veggies down to the market. Be a hero and help feed your community.

Here are the essential market details:
WHERE -- In the park behind the swimming pool in Upper Gibsons.
WHEN -- 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., every Saturday from June 16th till September 15th.
WHAT -- Local-only produce, arts, crafts, services, music, kids stuff and fun for all.
HOW -- a) We need volunteers! So if you're really excited about what this market stands for, and you want to do your part for the community, then come and join us. We need lots of hands and lots of inspiration. Everyone's a fiddlehead in their own way!

b) Become a vendor! It's easier than you think. No amount of produce is too small. Goods AND services (just check with us first). Seasonal membership is only $5 (this gets you insured) and the daily 'table' fee is also only $5. A reserved table spot (limited number) is $20 for the season.

There are three ways to vend:
i) Sell produce at the consignment table (drop it off and pick up your cash later – the market keeps 20% for members, 30% for non-members).

ii) Be a drop-in vendor (prepared food vendors must pre-register, but everyone else can come by 8:30 a.m. and hope to get a space. Produce vendors get priority placement, then food vendors, and finally craftspeople).

iii) Be a dedicated vendor with a reserved spot (vendors are selected based on product mix and balance as well as appropriateness of product in terms of market goals and themes).

There are three categories of vendor, each with slightly different application processes and roles within the market. These are:
i) Produce vendors
ii) Prepared food vendors
iii) Craft vendors

More detailed information on the application process and the various policies for each type of vendor can be found on the website www.fiddleheadfarmersmarket.com

Basically the vendor policy boils down to ‘the backyard gardener is king!’ and everything revolves around making the market fun, convenient and profitable for him or her.
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Community Gardens behind the Sechelt Community Services Building was established by the youth project ECO-Tech and has continued to expand to accommodate their yearly waitlist. In 2007 the community gardens in Sechelt were fully utilized with 6 new boxes built by individuals as well as boxes built by YADS youth project.

Community Gardens Goals
GOALS:
To increase opportunities for affordable food.
To increase opportunities for learning food skills.
To reduce isolation.
To decrease dependence on outside sources of food supply.
To increase physical exercise .
To provide opportunities

OBJECTIVES:
More people having the capacity to increase their own food production.
Introduction to more nutritious foods.
Good community interactions that spread to other areas.
System of skill transference.
Careful use and preservation of ALR.

A new community kitchens coordinator has been hired and is involved in the FAN network.

TAKE A FARMER TO LUNCH CAMPAIGN: One Straw is working with the Gumboot Restaurant to create awareness and connections between consumers and local organic growers. Certificates for lunch are available for purchase at the Gumboots to be given to your favorite growers for all the hard work they do! Visit either of the Gumboots and see our poster.

The FAN Newsletter puts a face on food security partners and programs. It is both an guide to local food security initiatives and thus an exercise in community mapping. Each issue has articles form regular people such as edible landscaper Robin Wheeler and permaculturist Delvin Solkinson as well as guest submissions from the network. Listing educational opportunities and workshops through the newsletter lets people know about food security courses and small workshops such as this past Septembers' Permaculture 101 presented at Hearts Gardens. The newsletter also publishes a directory of local growers and emergency preparedness information. Presenting snippet pieces of information about growing or storing food makes the information accessible and easy to digest for the general public.

The second issue of FAN Newsletter has been published with an increased distribution of 500 to 1000 and the demand for it remains steady with more people knowing about the initiative through this print material.

FAN Newsletter Winter
FAN Newsletter Summer
FAN Newsletter Spring

Location(s)

Sechelt Indian Band receives some funding from the CFAI for a community gardens headed by a Sechelt elder Barbara Higgins. She worked outward from her family to support the garden and noted special success with young children who came. Twelve band members help her with garden management and six non-band members. For the fall season she is learning how to process fruit leather in order to offer demonstration workshops in the community. A local land owner has donated her apple harvest to her, and Barbara hopes that processing such foods can provide healthy supplements to people's diets.

The Sunshine Coast Breakfast for Kids Program – Food Security in Action.
The Sunshine Coast Breakfast for Kids Program (B4K) was the grass roots brain-child of two Sechelt Elementary School Parent Advisory Council (P.A.C.) members who wanted to ensure, “… that every child attending school had access to nutritious food before starting school each morning.” The P.A.C. approached Chatelech/Sechelt Community School (CSCS) - a not for profit organization - to pilot a program which now includes 10 elementary schools and 3 high schools.

The breakfast table is open to everyone at school; in fact we encourage staff and parents to occasionally help themselves in order to help reduce any stigma attached to the food, encouraging children to take advantage of the program.

The CSCS Breakfast for Kids Programmer reported 225 students were estimated to have regularly used the program in the 2005/2006 school year. It is estimated the number of students accessing nutritious food each morning more than doubled this year. Our goal for the 2007/2008 school year is to expand the program to include free nutritious food from at least 3 food groups to hungry children throughout their school day.

No matter how well fed a child is, one thing never seems to change…
KIDS GET HUNGRY…and the last thing on a child’s mind should be a hungry tummy!

The Sunshine Coast Breakfast for Kids Program is made possible not only through the countless hours of time donated by dedicated Parent Advisory Council volunteers, through government grants and the generosity of corporate sponsors, but also through sponsorship from local business owners (merchants, farmers, butchers & bakers alike), and private citizens like you.

We are always happy to accept donations, either monetary, in kind, or your time. If you are able to offer your support we would love to hear from you. “A perfect home for your excess harvest.”