Monday 27 January 2014

Agriculture Blooms at Vancouver Schools


24H newspaper has a very interesting article regarding school gardens!

Soon after Delta announced its plan to have a school garden for every school by the end of this year, Vancouver School Board (VSB) reaffirmed its goal of making schools more sustainable through every school growing their own vegetable garden.

The food produce is used in Foods classes or is sold to help keep the programs running, as all funding is from public and private grants.

Kevin Millsip, VSB’s sustainability coordinator, has connected with the Park’s Board and Nutritionists from Vancouver Coastal Health to provide fruit trees and help plan healthy meals at schools.

Vancouver Technical and David Thompson Secondary School are leaders in this endeavour, as they have partnered with the non-profit group “Fresh Roots” and each have a farm the size of 5 tennis courts!

UBC’s Dr. Alejandro Rojas and his team are in the final stages of completing a 5 year project “Think & Eat Green @ School” in partnership with VSB. The project looks at building healthy and sustainable school food systems.  
                                                                Photo: 24 Hours
For the full 24H article: click here

To check out Think & Eat Green @ Schools: click here

Tuesday 21 January 2014

A Garden for Every School in Delta

To start off 2014, Delta School District just announced that it will have a garden, urban agriculture installment or a mini-farm by the end of June at every one of its 31 schools!

This project will give students the opportunity for hands-on experience in an outdoor space: growing, harvesting, cooking and preserving their own produce.

As garden based education is not yet a part of the B.C. curriculum, the $2,500 a month funding is coming directly from the Delta School District, rather than the B.C. Ministry of Education. This commitment shows an understanding of the importance of Food Garden education at schools.

As a next step, the district will partner with Sole Food Street Farms and Kwantlen Polytechnic Sustainable Agriculture Program to create curriculum for both elementary and secondary school students. 

This will make it easier for teachers of all subject areas to incorporate the Garden throughout their lessons.
VSB (Vancouver School Board) and now Delta recognize and support Food Gardens at schools…  who will be next….


                                                          Picture: Vancouver Sun 

Check out the full article from the Vancouver Sun here 
To check out VSB’s Garden Policy: click here

UBC Sustainability survey

Imagine – what does sustainability look like at UBC in 2034? What will our community look like? How will we teach and learn about sustainability? How has the practice of sustainability transformed the way we work and research?

This survey should take around 10 minutes to complete: http://sustain.ubc.ca/get-involved/conversations-2034-%E2%80%93-envisioning-sustainability-ubc

The survey is by UBC Sustainability

Monday 20 January 2014

Update on Orchard Garden/Commons developments

As most readers of this blog likely know, The Orchard Garden will be relocated this spring to make way for the Orchard Commons, a new mixed-use building hub on campus.

This Vancouver Courier article is helpful in understanding the new project, Vantage College, that is going to occupy the space.

There is a meeting on January 20th at 3pm, Fred Kaiser Building, 3223 Main Mall, to view the new plans and gather input from the community. For more information, visit UBC Planning.

One clarification: The Vancouver Courier article says that the Orchard Garden will no longer exist. This is not accurate. We are currently in transition to starting a new garden and outdoor classroom at Totem Field. Everyone is welcome to join us as we move ahead with spring planting planning. Contact theorchardgarden.info@gmail.com if you would like to volunteer with the garden or arrange a class visit/research project with us!

The Ubyssey ran a news story about the new development on January 22, which you can read here.

We always welcome your comments: What do you think about the relocation of the garden? Do you have design ideas for our new space on Totem Field?

Sunday 12 January 2014

Ontario imagines gardens in every school


Julia recently received this as an email from the EEON list. Check out the link below to the A Garden in Every School site.

Dear friends, we are a group of Ontario educators and parents called *Imagine a Garden in Every School*. We are interested in why people undertake school gardens, and what makes them succeed… and we’d like to know how our campaign could help. If you have a school garden in Ontario, please fill out our survey <http://fluidsurveys.com/surveys/cassie-z9H/school-garden-survey-1/>

Please visit our site  <http://www.agardenineveryschool.ca/>for more information, and you can put your school garden on the map<http://agardenineveryschool.ca/find-a-garden/>

Thursday 9 January 2014

Food Justice talk - new venue!

Wednesday January 22, 12-1pm
Black, White and Green: Food Justice, Farmers Markets and the Green Economy 
Dr. Alison Alkon
Assistant Professor and Chair of Sociology, University of the Pacific

To RSVP, contact: wynn.archibald@ubc.ca 

UPDATE: Due to the number of people wishing to attend, this lecture will take place in the Liu Institute for Global Issues, Multipurpose Room at 6476 North West Marine Drive, UBC (directions at the link below). 


If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact me at 604-822-9171.

Best regards,
Wynn