The Board of Directors is calling a special meeting of the Goldenrod Community Members to vote on a proposal: Question: Do you support the GCG in entering into an agreement with Richcraft (Bullman) Inc. to accept responsibility for the operation of a temporary community garden at Parkdale and Bullman? The meeting will be held at 7pm on Google Meet. The meeting link is being provided to members by email.
Details of the proposal are available here:
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The snow is finally melting and the gardening season is getting closer and our volunteers are busy getting ready for spring. As we work towards the vision laid out earlier this year, we have a variety of activities that have started. We expect to receive confirmation of Community Garden Network funding soon that will allow us to expand the garden with an additional 40 beds. The properties committee is ready to proceed once we have approval, although timescales will depend on when the snow melts and the ground is hard enough to work on.
Registration for 2022
As the days are starting to get longer and spring is approaching, we know that many of you are thinking about seeds and planting and wondering about plot allocation for 2022. While we are still finalising the details, we expect that registration will be in 3 phases this year:
Renewal of existing plots - invitations to renew will go out very shortly.
Allocation of remaining phase 1 plots - we will be using a lottery system to assign any plots that are not renewed to people on the waitlist. We hope to be sending out invitations to register for these plots in early April.
Phase 2 build - if our application is successful, the Properties Committee is hoping to have the plots ready for planting by early June. These plots will be allocated by lottery to people on the waitlist.
If you are interested in a plot for 2022, and did not have one last year, you can find the waiting list at Plot waiting list 2022 (also linked from our website homepage). If you signed up prior to November last year, or aren't sure whether you have already signed up, please add your name again. Issues with our Gmail account meant that part of the waiting list from last year was lost.
PLEASE CHECK YOUR JUNK MAIL FOLDER FOR GARDEN EMAILS.
Twenty (20) % of plots are designated as sliding scale beds available to gardeners for whom cost is a barrier, and have been reaching out to our partners (Parkdale Food Centre, Somerset West Community Health Centre, Ottawa Community Housing) to promote awareness of the garden.
Volunteers
The Board is finalising a registration form which will allow new members, as well as existing members interested in volunteering for Goldenrod activities, including the Pollinator Garden and Event committees, the Grow for Parkdale initiative, and Vole Patrol to indicate their interest. Anyone interested in any of these is welcome to forward your comments/questions to inbox@goldenrodgarden.org
Grow for Parkdale Initiative:
Last year many gardeners generously gave some of their produce to the Parkdale Food Centre. This year, in consultation with PFC, we are expanding our goal - willing gardeners will give 50% of their plot’s harvest and will plant vegetables like potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and eggplant that can be grown in sufficient quantities for the Centre. Added bonus: voles do not like potatoes. Please let us know if you are interested!
A tomato/potato workshop is planned for gardeners before the end of May; anyone interested is welcome. “Potato Basics” information with a video link will be posted on the website in the near future.
Other details will follow in upcoming newsletters.
Pollinator Garden Committee:
Planning for the Pollinator Garden is continuing. Committee members have begun collecting seeds and researching potential plants for the garden. We are hoping to be able to confirm the location soon and are on track to begin building the Pollinator Garden this spring.
Events Committee:
On February 12, the Events Committee held the first educational event for the garden with outstanding support from Susan McClelland and Tanya Salewski. They put together an excellent slide show and presentation for the 25 existing and potential garden members who were able to attend. All of the resources from the presentation are available on the GCG website.
We look forward to future events with the garden and would like to remind the membership that we are looking for volunteers to assist in the planning and execution of these events. If you have interest in helping please contact matt@goldenrodgarden.org
From the Board:
We recently had a fascinating meeting with an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper and hope to hold an event at the garden later this year. We are also working to engage a greater diversity of members in the garden. Kita has volunteered to help match volunteers who want to help with opportunities to get involved so, as noted earlier, if you want to get involved, please email us at inbox@goldenrodgarden.org.
Upcoming Educational Events:
Just Food is offering a number of in-person and virtual workshops this spring - the cost is $5 per workshop and they are open to everyone. To sign up or obtain more information, go to Just Food’s website or click on the links below:
March 28, 12-1:30pm: How to start, grow, and care for strong seedlings (In-person)
April 4th, 12-1:30pm: How to start, grow, and care for strong seedlings (Virtual)
April 11th, 4:30-6pm: How to start, grow, and care for strong seedlings (In-person)
April 18th, 12-1:30pm: Building soil health & minimum tillage (Virtual)
April 25th, 4-5pm: Growing with Culture (Virtual)
May 9th, 12-1:30pm: Garden Succession Planning (Virtual)
You can also access Just Food’s free recorded workshops on “Garden Basics” at the link above.
As part of Seedy Saturday on March 5, 2022, Just Food screened the 2017 documentary Modified which is available for anyone to watch until April 1st.
‘Modified’ is a first-person feature documentary that questions why genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not labelled on food products in the United States and Canada, despite being labelled in 64 countries around the world. For a link to the film please email: movie@justfood.ca.
The Senior Organic Growers (SOG) are presenting the Garden Symposium 2022, which features unique gardening workshops every Wednesday at 3pm, until April 13th!
Topics include:
Native Gardens in Urban Spaces
The Wisdom of Weeds
An Introduction to Vermicomposting
Gardens for Healing
The cost is $10.00 and registration and information is available by clicking on the link above.
Members in the News: Artist Maggie Glossop, one of Goldenrod’s members, was recently in the news. Although the snow is melting, you may still be able to see some local snow art!
Gardening may not be top of mind deep in mid-white laden winter, but it is certainly encouraging to envision the greenery we’ll have come spring.
Virtual learning event: Preparing for spring gardening
Saturday, February 12, 2022; 1:30-3:00pm
Members and potential members are invited to participate in a virtual event on planning your plot garden and starting your seedlings indoors for the coming season. This session will cover plot layout, seed selection, seeding basics (what to buy, how to germinate, when to start, etc.), as well as a question-and-answer session at the end. We encourage our membership who are new to gardening to participate as this will set you on a track for great success this coming season. Held using Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/yqm-iccw-djg Or dial: +1 587-786-7689 PIN: 212 989 466#
Grow for Parkdale initiative
Thanks to major donor Greg Strahl, Goldenrod gardeners were able to participate in a weekly harvest donation to the Parkdale Food Centre, a truly remarkable first season contribution to help feed those in need in Kitchissippi. To expand on this successful experience, we are planning an initiative, in which willing gardeners commit 50% of their plot’s harvest this year to the PFC. The PFC is very receptive and appreciative of this idea. What they are looking for is a large quantity of produce: potatoes and tomatoes may be best given their hardiness, and the fact that our problem voles don’t like them.
Anyone interested in planting for “Grow for Parkdale” please contact inbox@goldenrodgarden.org
First Timers: It’s been brought to our attention that a few new committee members would like to get their hands dirty although they don’t have a plot yet and/or need some garden mentoring. Putting them “to work” with maintenance/cleaning of the gardens as well as partnering them with seasoned gardeners who need help and could do some mentoring in the process, can be a benefit for all concerned. Those interested in this initiative, either new or experienced gardeners, please forward your comments/questions to inbox@goldenrodgarden.org
Vole Patrol: Diane Morin is still looking for feedback from gardeners about the uninvited vole visitors at our garden:
On a scale of 1-10 (10 being “extreme”) how much damage did the voles do to your garden this year?
When did you first notice vole activity?
Were any of your plants untouched by the voles?
Did you respond to the vole activity by erecting barriers? By adding malodorous plants? Did anything work?
Have you any strategies in mind for 2022?
Send in your info to inbox@goldenrodgarden.org
In contrast to our lack of success catching voles, our email spam filters seem to have been over-active and caught the December newsletter for many recipients. If you missed it, you can find the newsletter on our website (https://kitchissippi.wixsite.com/goldenrodgarden/post/newsletter-16-december-21
Pollinator Garden Committee: The GCG pollinator garden committee is currently busy:
Researching plants to plant in the garden.
Reaching out to other local pollinator garden groups to learn more about planting a successful pollinator garden.
Calling for volunteers: We are looking to build a team to plan for and build a pollinator garden within the Goldenrod Community Garden space this coming spring. No experience is required. If this is of interest to you, please send an email to inbox@goldenrodgarden.org with “Pollinator Garden” in the subject line.
From the Board
Thank you to all those who participated in our visioning activities. In early January, the Board reviewed the input and outlined a vision which reads:
We envision a garden community in Kitchissippi that:
Supports relationships, mental health and wellbeing; This garden community is supported through a physical space where people can gather, garden together and hold events.
Stewards the environment, provides connection with nature, and restores relationships with the land (birds, flowers, trees, insects); the space is beautiful, operations are sustainable (including water source).
Provides opportunities to give (e.g., donating to the community fridge), and receive.
Is inclusive and diverse; Indigenous people and values are included; there is diversity in income, age, ethnicity, gender, culture, religion, abilities, gardening approaches
Provides opportunity to educate and learn in community: on gardening, food, and other related topics.
Your comments and input are welcome.
We are now articulating our strategic priorities for this year. Our current priorities include submitting a proposal for funding from the Community Gardening Network for a Phase 2 build, building a pollinator garden and developing seating at the garden. As well, we are working to have space for community garden plots considered in the Tunney's Pasture plan.
We are also looking forward to our first educational event in mid-February. We hope you can join us on google meet to learn from two of our board members as we get ready for spring gardening.