Greenstream 2010 (Thursday February 11, 2010)

On Thursday February 11, over 20 of Vancouver's green businesses and organizations gathered at the Lighthouse, inviting the media and visitors to see how our city is working towards "making green the mainstream". The evening started pretty low-key, with time to walk around and network with the parties present. Food was provided by Potluck Cafe & Catering on eco-friendly plates (made from palm leaves) by Saakori, and the beer flowed freely thanks to Stanley Park Brewery, proudly "Canada's first sustainable brewery". David Ivaz played lovely acoustic music as everyone made their way through the displays, and judging from the fact that I couldn't move around without brushing against another person, a good crowd had shown up for the event--it was encouraging to see so many people involved or interested in Vancouver's green community.

Many local environmental organizations were present, including SPEC, Earthsave Canada, the Wilderness Committee, and our very own EYA. As well, the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC) provided handy bike valet service for Greenstreamers coming in on their own wheels. A number of sustainable food-related businesses were represented as well (and provided draw prizes), among them Green Earth Organics, Nature's Path, and Saltspring Coffee. Other notable businesses include the Car Co-op and Vancity, and it was interesting learning about ECO-audit, a unique service that provides personalized recommendations to homes and small businesses on ways to change their resource and lifestyle choices to be more environmentally friendly. As well, I also enjoyed talking to a representative from eatART, an art lab that makes "audacious and improbable large-scale kinetic, robotic, and mechanized sculptures that investigate our human relationship to energy use". Their finished works include a giant robot spider that is the world's first zero-emissions walking vehicle and a colossal solar-powered tricycle.

There were a number of speakers for the night, and Chris Livingstone from EPIC (the Vancouver Sun Sustainable Living Expo taking place in May) started it off by welcoming us all to this "organic party", and introduced Danielle Bedard from Green Earth Organics who helped put Greenstream 2010 together. Danielle gave the crowd a brief picture of how Greenstream was born, and brought up the first speaker, Juvarya Warsi.

Jurvarya, an environmental economist with a background in real estate development, is the strategist for the Lighthouse Sustainable Building Centre, the building Greenstream was being held in. She enthusiastically provided a bit of background about the Lighthouse, a hub for resources on green building. The Lighthouse serves as a gallery space for green building products and technologies complete with a resource library, and its staff are a group of "green professional architects" eager to work with homeowners and developers on building sustainably by providing workshops and consulting services. In fact, architects, engineers and economists from the Lighthouse were involved in the construction of the Olympic Village, and Jurvarya emphasized the collaborative nature of the organization and its projects. The Lighthouse building itself is an example of a structure built completely with sustainable products, and in the collaborative spirit, all the materials were donated and work was done by volunteers. Juvarya noted that the green building industry is growing twice as fast as the building industry overall, a fact much in line with the positive outlook of the event.

The next speaker was Maureen Cureton, the Green Business Manager for Vancity. Maureen provided some examples of Vancity's green initiatives, which include putting money towards green non-profit organizations through its Visa card program, helping provide remote electricity for First Nations communities along the coast, and cradle-to-cradle product management within the business by using office chairs made from 100% recycled materials. She then encouraged the businesses and organizations present to give their own examples of how they were helping make green the mainstream, and it was encouraging to hear how so many businesses and organizations were making green efforts so many different ways.

After another networking break, Brady Dahmer and Lindsay Nahmiache, the founders of the Projecting Change Film Festival, went up on stage to tell the crowd a bit about this open source festival happening from April 22 to 25, 2010. In its third year, the festival shows engaging films on various environmental subjects and features local speakers and events as well. Brady emphasized the importance of connectivity to the audience, and the goal of the festival to bring people together and stimulate them to converse about environmental topics they care about. I am very much looking forward to checking out this event, and Lindsay assured us that the films chosen are generally uplifting and inspire change instead of depressive outlooks.

The last speaker was Cease Wyss, food activist, filmmaker and artist. She talked passionately about food security and how indigenous food sources are disappearing. Cease explained that when the colonization of North America occurred, not only were the indigenous people colonized, but the indigenous plants as well, when agriculture was introduced. With her work on ethnobotany, she works on projects reviving indigenous plants in green areas, and encourages First Nations people to come into community gardens. Cease ended her talk by urging us to be less greedy about how we live, which was a good take home message as we need to see the bigger picture if we are to live sustainably on this planet.

The event ended appropriately with the participants gathering outside on 4th Avenue to watch the Olympic Torch go by--Vancouver is ready to show the world how its environmentally responsible attitude is going to make a difference. From what I saw at Greenstream, I'm optimistic that our city is on the right track to meet its goal of being the Green Capital of the world by 2020.

Natural Medicine in the City Day 3

Last week, we completed our salve by adding in beeswax to "thicken up" the poplar bud oil infusion. We also explored the community garden to identify plants and collected some lemon balm. At the end of the day, we did a bit of acting to describe how different herbs can be used on different ailments.

We finished off our salve by adding beeswax pellets to the heated poplar bud infusion. The solidifying process quite interesting. As the pellets were melting, I thought we needed to add more since the mixture wasn't solidifying much. However, turns out that once the mixture starts cooling, it really begins to solidify. Lucky I wasn't in charge of adding the pellets, otherwise our salve would've been concrete hard!

While the salve was cooling, we walked out to the garden to identify some useful plants and collected lemon balm. There was a lot of lemon balm in the garden so we were able to harvest to our content. We were also greeted by a very enthusiastic and happy Chinese lady that gave us each a budding seed. We're not sure what sort of plant it is yet but hopefully someone will plant theirs and let us know what it is.

To end the day, we were organized into pairs to come up with a skit that identified skin and respiratory conditions and how we can use herbalism to help. My partner and I did one on eczema. The idea for our skit was how my friend has eczema and I couldn't bear being around him since he smelled and was dressed in ridiculously baggy cloths. I offered him some herbalism advice and after a week, he looked better and didn't smell anymore. I had a good time doing that skit and I think the group enjoyed it as well.

That's all for last week and will update again after today's workshop!

Pictures are uploaded here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jwong26/EYA?feat=directlink

Natural Medicine in the City Day 2

New day, new stuff to do in our workshop on herbalism. We began the day by heating the oil infusion we made last week on our lovely fireplace in the Eco Pavilion. Then we looked at various plants that we can find in the garden and use in herbalism. Finally, we made a hair wash and strained the poplar bud infusion that we will use next week to complete the salve.

I was late at the workshop so by the time I arrived, the oil infusion was already being heated on the fireplace. The smell from the poplar bud infusion was amazing however and brought a nice scent to the room as it slowly heated up. As the infusion was heating, we went outside to find common plants that can be used in herbalism. This week, we were partnered up and sent on a treasure hunt to identify and collect a plant in the garden. My partner and I were responsible for collecting dandelion which turned out to be the "super-plant" of the day. The other plants that were collected were plantain, garlic, oregon grape, sumach, violet and bay laurel. I was actually very surprised at how useful dandelion was. Personally, I grew up hating dandelion as it was the "hard to kill" weed in the family garden that my parents and I attempted to remove multiple times yet never really succeeded. It was also very common and quite frankly, everywhere. That was why I was so surprised to find that dandelion could be used in herbalism, let alone turn out to have so many different uses. I learned that the entire plant could be used and was actually full of vitamins and minerals. Leaves could be used as a salad green and the roots could be used to make a dandelion tea as well. As part of this activity, we drew a human figure on a piece of paper and identified which parts of the human body that the plant can be used on. By the end of the activity, our human figure was quite decorated and covered with arrows and colours that showed where each plant can work on.

The last activity of the day was to make our bay laurel hair rinse. This was surprisingly simple as it only required a pot of water, heating it with crumpled pieces of bay leaves and mixing it with some apple cider vinegar. I have yet to use my hair wash but I will try it once I bring it home. The next part of the activity was to strain the poplar buds from the oil infusion. We waited for the oil to cool first and then using cheese cloth, the buds were strained from the oil. It was to say the least, a very messy task and the oil did spill onto the table. The infusion was also quite sticky as well. However, we were able to collect our jar of infusion that we will use next week to make our salve.

It was a good workshop as we worked towards completing our salve and also made a hair rinse. I enjoyed the treasure hunt and was quite surprised at the number of common plants that I could use in herbalism, as well as how effective they were. Of course, I was particularly surprised at the healing powers of dandelion, a plant I used to hate. Now I can see dandelion in a different light, and not as a nuisance in the garden. Can't wait till the next workshop!

CROWS Point Community Garden Work Party

Last Sunday morning, February 7, 2010, despite just finishing working two consecutive 6-day weeks, and staying up late the night before because it was, after all, Saturday night, I haul myself out of bed at 8AM, and haul onto my feet an old pair of hiking boots that had long since been retired to “work boot” status. Stopping at A & L Market on Broadway to buy a bag of apples, I then hop on first the B-Line and then the Millennium Line to Nanaimo Station in East Van.

My final destination: the corner of 24th and Vanness Avenue. Once a derelict wedge of undeveloped, much dumped-upon land known to none but a handful of environmentalists with borrowed shovels (present company included) as CROWS Point, it is now widely known throughout the neighbourhood as CROWS Point Community Garden.

CROWS Point began in back winter 2008 as the pet project of my friend/former co-worker Celina to create a habitat/public-use green space that would bring her neighbourhhood together. Located at the end of her street, it is also located a more lengthy but still workable 15 km as the crow flies from a construction site on the west side of the city; conveniently, only 1 km less then when traveled by human means, such as a co-op pickup truck loaded down with rescued native plants, an unauthorized ecological restoration plan, and friends willing to put that plan into action (present company included).

Fast forward two years: past official permission to restore the site from the City of Vancouver’s Green Streets Program that almost ended in a phone call to “Legal” when it turned out Green Streets and Celina were actually referring to two different sites; past Celina’s despair that the efforts of her and her friends would soon quashed by a brand-new house. CROWS Point is now under the stewardship of the EYA, who independently of Celina, submitted a proposal as part of the city’s goal to create 2010 new community garden plots by 2010, and was granted permission to create 30 plots on the site. My too-early morning on February 7 marks the first joint work party between the CROWS Point stewards and the EYA. The shovels still need to be borrowed. Some things never change.

Upon my arrival, in accordance with Celina’s meticulous schedule that she carries about on a clipboard like a foreman, myself and the 14 others present divide ourselves into two teams: one to stay behind on the site to weed invasives and prepare beds for native plants, and the other to man the pickup trucks and go salvage those native plants. For old time’s sake, I joined Team Seek and Save-From-Being-Destroyed. My bag of apples and a few other potluck treats tag along as midmorning snack.

At the construction site, we work under grey drizzling skies that threaten to rain on our parade at any moment, digging up ferns, native Trailing Blackberry (as opposed to the delicious yet highly invasive Himalayan Blackberry, which isn’t even from the Himalayas), and enough native soil to fill an entire truck (literally!) We’re feeling pleased about all the plants we manage to save, and awed by the beauty of our surroundings, however the rare appearance of an Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii) and a Pacific Tree Frog (Hyla regilla) reminds us of all the other animals whose homes would soon be lost….

Which made the work we were doing at CROWS Point that much more important and meaningful.

Back at the Point, Team We-Made-Your-Bed, Now-Go-Grow-In-It’s numbers have swelled from 7 to 14, bringing the total CROWS flock (or murder, for all you ornithologically inclined out there) to 22. In our absence, they have created a terraced bed, excavated garbage, cleared away a massive blackberry bramble from the cherry tree on site, and pruned a sagging oak tree. The place looks great! The salvaged plants are going to love it.

But before the plants are moved into their new home, we first break for lunch. CROWS stands for “Creating Roots of World Stewardship”*, and nowhere than during lunch is the “stewardship” part of the acronym – to say nothing for partnership, companionship, and community – more evident. Twenty-two people cram into Celina’s spacious yet in this case not-quiet-spacious enough living room for a potluck meal of, among other things, potato-chipotle soup, salad, sun-dried tomato corn bread, and marinated Jerusalem Artichokes. I eat until stuffed, converse with other Pointers, eat a bit more to fill in the corners, and am then starting to wish Celina’s schedule had made allowance for a nap. It is at this time Celina is called upon for a speech, to which she says the following:

“In the summer, I used to stand under the cherry tree and get caught on the blackberry, and look at all the invasive plants, and I thought , ‘This is going to take forever’…. But it only took two hours!”

Then, she shows everyone the CROWS Point Community Garden concept plan.



After lunch, the plants are put in the ground, the truckload of soil is shoveled and spread by the bucketful, the plants are watered, the garbage is collected, the co-op truck dropped off, and it’s all over. For today. Future plans include continued restoration work on the west side of the site (the west “wing”, as Celina is fond of calling it), while the east wing is developed into the 30 garden plots. Additional plans include installation of water access, importation of soil and wood chips, and, funding permitted, a tool shed. Stay tuned for updates.
__________
* The CROWS acronym, “Creating Roots of World Stewardship”, was created by Celina and her roommate, and actually pre-dated its own call to action on CROWS Point, instead simply having been chosen in reference to Vancouver’s iconic nightly migration of crows toward Burnaby. Its earliest use out of doors was as the name of a fictitious nonprofit organization to lend legitimacy to plant salvage operations if ever questioned in progress. The rest, as they say, is history in the making.

Meet Our New Bloggers

Amy Tran: I've been involved with the EYA since April 2009 when I committed myself to being a "seed keeper" through its inaugural Urban Seedkeeping project. Being somewhat new to gardening, I was eager to learn more about heritage seed diversity and preservation, and have since attempted to put my knowledge and curiosity in to action: in my own garden and hopefully others via a new project called 'The Vancouver Plant and Seed Exchange Network'. I now have an embarrassingly large number of seeds (and that collection will likely keep growing and changing). I've also worked on several small design projects for EYA and have been its first dedicated blogger. Though I enjoy blogging - and have been doing so personally for quite some time - I have to admit that I'm quite thankful to see some fresh faces around these parts and am looking forward to their contributions. Some time this year - hopefully sooner rather than later - I'd love to get away from the computer for a while and do some more "hands-on" work with the EYA. Sometimes, there's just nothing better than dirt underneath your fingernails. I kid you not.

Natural Medicine in the City Day 1

The earliest example of herbalism was traced back as far as the 33rd century B.C. An ice man from 3300 B.C. was found with fungus in his pocket and parasites in his intestines. Studies later showed that the fungus in his pocket contained medicinal qualities that could kill the parasites. Over 5000 years later, herbalism is still practiced around the world and is the primary source of medicine for over 2/3 of the world's population. Over the course of the seven workshops, we will learn about herbalism and practice some recipes to make our own home remedies and teas. In our first workshop, we made our infusion that we will later be using in our salve. In addition, we also talked about the history of herbalism, practiced a little sensory exercise and discussed some basic guidelines for practicing herbalism.

The sensory activity we did was an exercise to practice feeling the environment using our senses of hearing, smell and taste. We performed this exercise in the Strathcona Community Garden. We stood/sat around a garden plot with our eyes closed and took a few minutes to absorb the environment around us. By focusing on our senses other than sight, we were able to hear/smell/taste things more clearly. It was an interesting activity to do as I felt better connected to the environment and was able to feel the air around us. We then began to harvest poplar buds to make our oil infusion.

Before practicing herbalism, there are some general guidelines that practitioners should be aware of. The most important rule is to know what you are doing. Herbalism can be dangerous if the practitioner is unsure of plant identification or dosage. In addition, interactions with other herbs and/or pharmaceuticals can occur, leading to unexpected problems. First time practitioners should consult with someone knowledgeable or do plenty of research to understand what you are doing. When in doubt, do not ingest anything. Either ask someone or test it on your lips before consuming (if applicable).

To make our infusion, we gathered about half a glass jar full of Cottonwood buds. We harvested them from Cottonwood trees in the garden. The buds should be tight and pointy and have a very aromatic scent. A good way of harvesting poplar buds is to scour the ground under the tree for broken branches. Branches are often broken off after windstorms and the buds on them are often still fresh. For the infusion, we covered the half jar of buds with grape seed oil. It’s important that the buds are completely covered with oil to avoid the buds from molding. In the original recipe, the jar should be completely full of oil to avoid aeration but we tried it with only ¾ full since the poplar buds will expand. This method of making the oil infusion is called the “folk” method which does not require heating. For the rest of the week, the poplar bud will soak in the oil creating the oil infusion. In the next workshop, we will continue making the salve with our poplar oil infusion. More to come then!

More Photos Here!

Meet our New Bloggers

Hi fellow tree huggers!

My name is Maria and I've always felt a connection with this magical Earth we call home. Blogging for the EYA is a great opportunity to meet new people with the same mindset and to learn more about what is going on in the city too! I am currently enrolled in the Environmental Protection Technology program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, but I am changing my avenue to their Sustainable Policy Degree hopefully in September. I have always been involved in volunteering for environmental stewardship, and my favourite thing to do is tree planting and invasive species removal.

My husband and I went backpacking in SE Asia about 4 years ago, and we kept a blog to keep in touch with our families and let them know what we were up to. Blogging is such a great way to keep connected with people, and I hope that you will find some sort of connection with the events that are going on around the city, and possibly will urge you to get out there and attend some of them! And if you see me at any of the events, please feel free to introduce yourself!
Hope to see you all there! Keep connected :)

Saturday @ Strathcona Community Garden

Meet our New Bloggers

Name: Giancarlo (Carlo) Reyes

I found the EYA by chance when I was searching for volunteer listings. Out of a possible fifty different other choices I picked this one. Most of my friends, family even have worked at the SPCA, helped out in soup kitchens, or raised money (by themselves) for cancer research. WOW, I mean really, who has friends or family like that? I felt kind of left out and well wanted to do more than just apply myself at school. There has always been something about taking pictures, people and the environment. But doing it makes once a hobby into something a little more interesting and beneficial for myself as well as others. The first time I won a photo contest wasn’t too long ago, believe me when I say it was amazing because it was. I wanted to join the Environmental Youth Alliance to take pictures for a good cause, maybe practice a little journalism, did I mention that was cool too?

Meet our New Bloggers

Hi everyone, I'm Lina! I enjoy writing and have kept a personal blog over the last year detailing my exploits in Australia. While I was Australia, I really got a firsthand look at some of environmental problems there and the severity of them due to the isolated and geologically stagnant nature of the continent. The experience was eye-opening and when I got back to Vancouver, I realized I should approach the environment here at home with the same attitude. I'm hoping to get to know more about local urban environmental issues, and am excited to share what I learn through the EYA blog!

Meet our New Bloggers

I've written two blogs in the past: one on my adventures in trying to write a novel, and the other on my adventures in trying to have a brand-new adventure every week. Then in one fell swoop, I stopped novel-writing, blogging, AND having adventures for a period of several years! Luckily, I've finally busted out of my slump and returned to these things that I loves. And since I also love leading an environmentally-conscious lifestyle, writing for the EYA blog and getting to meet all the like-minded people who attend EYA events seems like yet another brand-new adventure that wasn’t to be missed! See you around!

Jonanne

Meet our New Bloggers

Hi everyone! My name is Janson and I’m part of the new blogger team with the EYA! I’m very excited about this opportunity and meeting many of you at the various events we will be having in the coming months. A little background about me, I’m currently studying at the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia and I’m in my fourth and final year in the Natural Resource Conservation Program. I’ve actually just returned to Vancouver last year after working in Winnipeg for four months for a co-op work term. Previous to that, I studied in the United Kingdom for a year as an exchange student. It was an awesome two years but it definitely feels great to be back in Vancouver again and I can’t wait for the Winter Olympics to start! In my spare time, I like to watch hockey and go snowboarding when conditions allow. One of the reasons why I’m blogging with the EYA is because I really wanted to get environmentally-involved with our community and I liked the many projects that EYA has been running around Vancouver. This is actually my first time writing in a serious blog so hopefully you guys will enjoy my entries and maybe provide some feedback! Hope to see you guys at our events!

Meet our New Bloggers

I just celebrated a year that I've been living in Vancouver! I LOVE IT HERE! I am originally from Phoenix, AZ and Arizona State University is where I graduated with my B.S in child development and family. I worked as a child development specialist with all Spanish speaking 3 year olds for a couple years after I graduated and then I realized I needed a change. That is when I came here. I took a couple months trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life before I decided to just go with the flow. :) ....AND a month ago, I began my application for the Peace Corps. So to be honest, that is why I started to look for volunteer work. However, in my search, I discovered that there are a lot of really cool opportunities out there and I wish I had been getting more involved a long time ago. Anyway, having said that, I was especially excited to find this type of organization and volunteer work because although I haven't had much blogging experience, photography is my passion. Also, moving to Vancouver has opened my eyes and furthered my interest in all the encompasses this 'green movement' and I feel that I could learn a lot through your organization and my volunteer work within it. Thanks for the opportunity, and I look forward to spending the time with these projects.

Michelle N.

New Project: EYA Online Seed Exchange Forum

*** We have relocated the VPSEN forum from http://vanseedtrade.freeforums.org to http://vanseedtrade.theforum.name - Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience and confusion! ***

On February 20th, 2010, EYA is launching the Vancouver Plant and Seed Exchange Network (VPSEN), an online plant and seed exchange forum!

An initiative of the Environmental Youth Alliance, the Vancouver Plant and Seed Exchange Network (VPSEN) aims to first and foremost connect local gardeners with an enthusiasm for plant diversity. One might ask, “Well, what gardener doesn’t appreciate having a variety of plants in his or her garden?” While it may be true that any gardener, be it someone who has a yard, a community garden plot, a small balcony, or a sidewalk strip would be interested in expanding and diversifying green spaces, cost, access to suppliers, and lack of plant and gardening knowledge all remain valid barriers. This project hopes to help alleviate these challenges.

In addition to sharing their plants and seeds, we hope that members of this network will contribute to an open and respectful dialogue on the state of food in our city, biodiversity, urban land use, and to a collective knowledge which is only too vital for sustaining a healthy community.

Think of it as the Craigslist for local plants and seeds where members can trade all year round - perfect for those of us who miss out on events like Seedy Saturday and other plant/seed sales and exchanges, and who are curious and passionate about plant diversity, connecting with local gardeners, and growing food.

Please visit http://vanseedtrade.theforum.name/ to register. Again, please note that the official launch is on February 20, 2010. The forum is still a work in a progress! However, feel free to register your username and to browse through the "How to Use the Forum" thread. And if you feel so inclined, do create your own "Exchange List" to introduce yourself to the forum! For any questions, please contact georgia@eya.ca or amytran@interchange.ubc.ca

*** We have relocated the VPSEN forum from http://vanseedtrade.freeforums.org to http://vanseedtrade.theforum.name - Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience and confusion! ***

Growing Kids 2010 Spring Season

Growing Kids Volunteer Educator

Growing Kids 2010 Spring Season

The Environmental Youth Alliance is looking for committed community members to help deliver hands on workshops in Elementary School classrooms and food gardens. Workshops will be co-facilitated by trained Volunteer Educators and the Growing Kids Program Coordinator to enable garden work to be done in small, hands on groups.

Throughout March and April we will be presenting our Indoor Seedling Workshop. Educators in this workshop will work in Grade 2-3 classrooms to teach about: food security, seed diversity, and how to grow vegetables from seed. Much of our time will be spent working in small groups planting seeds to be grown on the classroom windowsill.

Throughout May and June we will be presenting our follow up Outdoor Planting Workshop. Educators in this workshop will work with Grade 2-3 students to teach about: interdependence, stewardship and how to care for organic food gardens. Much of our time will be spent working in small groups caring for the school garden’s soil and planting a variety of useful and interesting plants into it.

Growing Kids emphasizes a learner directed education style that is non-hierarchical. Having the support of a team of Volunteer Educators enables us to work primarily in small groups of 6-7 students, ensuring that education can be adapted to fit the learners interest and ability. Through the integration of hands on work and brief interactive presentations, our workshops create a dynamic, engaging learning environment in which everyone learns from one another.

Your support in creating this environment in fundamental to the success of many school garden projects!

To get involved and be trained as a Volunteer Educator contact:

Matthew Kemshaw
matthewk@eya.ca
604 689 4446

Volunteer Educator Training Sessions will be ~2 hours long and will be held the last week of February – the first week of March.

New Project: The Backyard Bounty Collective

The Backyard Bounty Collective (BBC) is a collection of four new small businesses based in Vancouver that focus on backyard food systems that you may not (yet) see on your daily stroll down the lane. A recipient of Vancity’s enviroFund award, Backyard Bounty will help four ‘Farmpreneurs’ partner with Vancouver residents to design, build, and maintain small farming operations on their residential property. Four separate agriculture applications – apiculture (honeybee keeping), aquaponics (fish and vegetable closed tank system), chicken/egg farming, and mushroom farming - will be offered to urban dwellers under the guidance and support of the Environmental Youth Alliance. A strong public education component accompanies the project, cultivating the broader goal of food security and raising more of our own food closer to home. --From the BBC website.


The BBC would greatly appreciate your input!  Please take a moment to complete their survey.  The collected responses will be used in the envisioning and development of their services.

New Bloggers!

A big thank you to everyone who came out to the Blogger Orientation last Thursday. It looks like we were able to gather a group of very enthusiastic and bright people. Stay tuned for their first postings where you'll get to know a little bit about them!