Blog Category: Uncategorized

Creative Education for Grassroots Agriculture

Posted by Laura Hannant on October 24, 2013 1 Comment

Registration for the Kootenay Farm School Beginner Farmer Training Program Opens October 28: College of the Rockies Kootenay Farm School is the region’s first centre for sustainable agriculture and food security learning. Guided by the motto “Creative education for grassroots agriculture,” we bring together innovative agriculturalists and passionate educators to cultivate knowledge, skills, and networks for food production on a human scale. From our home in the Creston Valley, KFS facilitates dynamic community-rooted learning for gardeners, homesteaders, farmers, and food systems builders. The Creston Valley is tucked among the Selkirk, Purcell, and Thompson mountain ranges in the southeast corner of … Continue reading Creative Education for Grassroots Agriculture →

Farm Co-op Initiative on Southern Vancouver Island seeks Farmers

Posted by Jordan Marr on December 29, 2012 1 Comment

A good friend, colleague, raw dairy advocate, and all-around bovine enthusiast recently sent me the below announcement about the group she co-founded that intends to establish a farm-based community on Southern Vancouver Island. More details can be read on the group’s blog. OUR VISION OF A COMMUNITY FARM In order to address our concerns about the future integrity of our planet, we want and intend to create together a way of life that encourages people to learn and grow toward a more sustainable future. We envision an interdependent, cooperative and learning community that strives to: preserve and protect the land and water; provide … Continue reading Farm Co-op Initiative on Southern Vancouver Island seeks Farmers →

Agroforestry Project at UBC

Posted by Sara Dent on December 29, 2012

Call for collaborators- UBC Farm Agroforestry Project UBC Farm, in consultation with industry partners, and UBC Faculties of Forestry and Land and Food Systems will develop an Agroforestry Production Development (APD) Tool to aid farmers/land managers in assessing the viability of specific agroforestry ventures. The tool will help determine what ventures are likely to be economically (and ecologically) feasible, given each producer’s unique circumstances. The tool will be scalable and replicable throughout BC. There is space for one to two more rural and / or peri-urban farms to participate. The project will take place May –December 2013. UBC Farm will … Continue reading Agroforestry Project at UBC →

Hugelkultur at the Malachite House | Vittles

Posted by vivavittles on December 28, 2012

Hugel-what? This autumn, the midwives in Kelowna decided to replace their two front lawns with annual and perennial food plants, as well as medicinal herbs. I said “hugelkultur!” And they said “what?” Hugelkultur is a German word meaning “hill culture”. It is a raised garden bed that can be created by placing large pieces of wood into a shallow trench and then layering upside-down turf and soil on top. Why would you want to do this? The wood behaves like a sponge, sucking up water in the winter months and then slowly releasing it into the bed during the drier … Continue reading Hugelkultur at the Malachite House | Vittles →

Essay: A Fairy Tale Retold (or: the challenges of leasing farmland)

Posted by Jordan Marr on December 11, 2012 3 Comments

My partner Vanessa and I (and that’s partner in both the professional sense and the hubba-hubba one) do not own the land we’re farming. We’re on a lease at The Homestead, an organic farm in Peachland that has been under the care of Joe and Jess Klein for nearly 30 years. That we would start out our farming careers on leased land was inevitable. Much of BC’s best farmland is also coveted real estate. And so, land prices being what they are (Keith Richards high), and returns on farming being what they are (Barry White low), the die is cast … Continue reading Essay: A Fairy Tale Retold (or: the challenges of leasing farmland) →

It Depends.

Posted by Adam Huggins on December 07, 2012

Writings from Adam Huggins on his journeys. Adam put much love into urban permaculture cultivation at the Purple Thistle project in Vancouver’s DTES. http://sunfishmoonlight.wordpress.com The symphony which nature composes from its detritus is a fruit embodying the distillation of eons of death, decay, and fermentation – the doing and undoing of a multitude of bodies across time. In planting these words, I am conscious that each sentence, each word, each step, I am treading upon the backs of the many authors of oral, literary, and figurative traditions extending back into memory. As with the host of irreducible gifts granted us … Continue reading It Depends. →

16 Going On Farmer

Posted by sophiavartanian on November 19, 2012 7 Comments

When it comes to young agrarians, I’m one of the younger ones. Sixteen, going on seventeen in the depths of winter, dreaming about summer harvests: vivacious ruby streaks and bursting blueberries, gentle butter lettuces and glowing golden peaches. Farming is my passion. I got my start at the UBC Farm & Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, a gorgeous twenty-four hectare farm nestled away in old coastal hemlock forest. Many Vancouverites don’t know it exists. I didn’t, before I started volunteering there last summer. While the generations before me are considered digital ‘immigrants’, needing translation in their interactions with technology, I’m … Continue reading 16 Going On Farmer →

YA invite – 2nd Annual Purple Thistle Gardens Harvest Shakedown!

Posted by Adam Huggins on October 04, 2012

Hey Young Agrarians, this is an invitation to you and your loved ones and friends to come on down and celebrate our second season of troublemaking down in the industrial lowlands of East Van! Our harvest, however sweet it may be, also coincides with the threat of destruction: the recently resurrected fossilized corpse of the Gateway Project is proposing to build a freeway directly over both our food forest and the incomparable and well beloved Cottonwood Community Gardens. If we don’t want to be strapping ourselves to young apple trees (and old Chinese Chestnuts) anytime soon, now is the time … Continue reading YA invite – 2nd Annual Purple Thistle Gardens Harvest Shakedown! →

Victoria Potluck: Calling all Vancouver Island Agrarians!

Posted by Sara Dent on October 03, 2012

Young Agrarians is collaborating with Victoria’s Compost Education Centre for our first Vancouver Island Potluck! CALLING ALL farm folk, rural and urban, foodies and food gardeners, permaculturists and food systems thinkers:) Join us Saturday, October 13th, 2012 Starts: 5:30 pm Potluck: @ 6:30 pm Please bring a dish to share, and things to eat with, like plates & cutlery, and something to drink. Friends, wee’ ones and loved ones welcome. Please help us spread the word! Rain or shine. There is an indoor space for us to gather if the weather is wet… Location: 1216 North Park Street, Victoria, BC … Continue reading Victoria Potluck: Calling all Vancouver Island Agrarians! →

September Potluck – Richmond Incubator Farms!

Posted by Sara Dent on September 12, 2012

In collaboration with Vancouver Urban Farming Society, Barefoot Farms, Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society and Lulu’s Acres – we’re gathering for a September Harvest Potluck, at the Richmond Incubator Farm! Thursday, September 27th, 2012, tour starts 5:30 pm, potluck 6:30 pm Please bring food to share, plates and cutlery to eat with! Friends and family friendly:) It’s going to be a beautiful farm tour and potluck! Carpooling recommended out to the farm in Richmond! Click here for map Parking: The Farm lane way and parking lot are on Gillbert Rd just before Gilbert ends at Dyke Rd in South Richmond. Participating Farms: Lulu’s Acre … Continue reading September Potluck – Richmond Incubator Farms! →