Green Canning Workshop _ November 8th!

You and your family are invited

What : "Green" Canning workshop

When : Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Time: 6:15 - 8:15 PM

Where: St. Barnabas Church Hall Located at 1010 5th Ave.

Cost: $5.00 Per Family - payable at the workshop

Come and learn how to preserve your own food. Learn up-to-date canning methods and sample some delicious jams, jellies and chutneys. An expert from Bernardin Canning Co. will be demonstrating the boiling water bath technique of canning and will speak about using a pressure canner.

No experience necessary!

You must pre-register register sending an email to

ipenit@fsgv.ca or leave a message at 604-836-1968

Please leave

1) Your name

2) Telephone number and Email address if you have one

3) How many people in your family are attending and if you require childcare - For how many children and ages

Space is limited Register Early!

Food Forest Gardening

Last weekend I was lucky to attend a workshop hosted by The New Westminster Community Gardening Society about Food Forest Gardening.

The term Food Forest may be new to some people. Being a novice gardener myself I only heard about it last year. Although the term and knowledge may be unfamiliar the concept is ancient.

During the workshop we watched a number of short videos including this one about a 300 year old food forest in Vietnam.

As well an ancient food forest over 2000 years old in Morocco.

During the workshop we were given lots of resources as well as some hands on practice as we were at one of the community gardens for the day.

Some ideas we talked about were the concepts of Permaculture, Graywater, and Peak Moment T.V. on youtube.

Regular people growing food is becoming more common, but the way we grow food is changing. GMO's, the green revolution and organic gardening have hit the mainstream. Backyard gardening, community gardens and CSA (community supported agriculture) are growing like wild fires.

Taking an interest in where your food comes from, shopping locally, supporting farmers markets and growing your own back yard (front yard) garden has become common place.

By sharing resources and getting back to the earth each of us are able to take control of our own food destiny.

Lemon Balm -

This summer we grew an herb garden!
We planted a number of herbs, including mint, oregano, rosemary, thyme, parsley, dill, chives, and three types of sage. To our delight, five wild Lemon Balm plants grew on their own!
Lemon balm is a native plant in the mint family.

Lemon balm can be used in tea, in cooking and baking, medicinally it can be used for skin care and it even repels insects.



I dried the plants for quite a while, first outside on the back porch but eventually moved them into our games room in the basement.
Finally today I harvested the plants and now I have four 500 ml jars full!

Such abundance and free! Gifts from the universe :)

Community Garden Pot Luck

Last Friday we celebrated our community garden with a pot luck. The New Westminster Community Gardening Society is in it's first year. We have successfully started two community gardens this year. After many meetings, fund-raisers and the hard work of many individuals the dream of a community garden is a reality!

The design came together under the supervision of some innovated individuals, this garden has 15 plots and the plan includes another 15 for next year. We also plan to have fruit trees and an herb garden.

We have been sharing tips and I have already learned a lot from the more experienced gardeners in the group.

We enjoyed all these different foods, the mayor Wayne Wright also attended! The pot luck was held in the church hall, this garden is on the front lawn of the church!

diggin in

We are famous! Well I never post pictures of myself or children online, even facebook. Recently things have changed! We are on the cover of the local paper! Here!

I have been volunteering with the local community garden society. I strongly believe in their mandate. To bring people together in the community around growing food!

The community gardening society has been successful in securing our first plot for a garden and it is just steps away from my house! There are a number of initiatives under way in the city of New Westminster. Including the community gardens, farmers market, community kitchens, an environmental partners organisation, and a food security group.

Knowing where our food comes from and how to grow food is becoming more important to many people.
To be sustainable we need our food source to be local and to take personal responsibility for food choices.

Every thing you can grow yourself bring you one step closer to nature and you will reap more then a few herbs and vegetables. Growing food is more satisfying then you can imagine! Why not try something new this year and grow your own?

We need a Food Revolution

I just watched this great talk by world renowned chef Jamie Oliver. In this twenty minute video he talks about our food culture, and a need for real tangible change.
We are on the verge of a global health catastrophe and we need a revolution!