Month: September 2013

The Vancouver Urban Farming Society (VUFS) is delighted to announce the third annual Vancouver Urban Farming Forum on Sunday, November 17, 2013. Details of time and location to follow. This year’s theme is Building New Knowledge, Filling Gaps, Current Practices.

VUFS is turning the tables and asking you – its membership and the urban farming community of practice and supporters – to submit proposals on the sessions you would like to convene at this year’s forum.

We are specifically interested in the following theme areas:

Showcasing best practices in urban farming
Addressing infrastructure needs
Identifying opportunities for adding value
Novel and effective approaches to land and tenure
Addressing other barriers to best practices
Situating urban farming within the broader context of just and sustainable food systems
Applications from individuals, pairs, or groups are welcome. An honorarium of $100 per session will be provided to the host. Please feel free to recommend a session even if you feel that you may not have the capacity to coordinate it.

Additional sessions will be put on by VUFS at the forum to gather feedback on the Vancouver Urban Farming Practices research, develop a vision for the society, and discuss a shared processing facility.

Please submit your proposal by Friday, October 11 using this form. Submission of a session proposal does not guarantee a spot on the 2013 Forum agenda. The VUFS Forum Committee will be reviewing proposals and responding to everyone by Monday, October 21. Preference will be given to sessions that fit within the priority areas listed above.

If you have any questions please feel free to be in touch with the forum coordinators, Shelby and Zsuzsi, at research@urbanfarmers.ca. They will get back to you as soon as possible as they work on this project part-time.

To learn more about VUFS and read the 2012 Vancouver Urban Farming Forum report visit www.urbanfarmers.ca

As part of a year-long community research project on urban farming in Vancouver, the Vancouver Urban Farming Society has brought together a team of stellar community surveyors from across the City of Vancouver to collect valuable survey data from people in their neighbourhood on their perceptions and experiences of urban farming.

In addition to the work of our team of community surveyors – we are also circulating the survey online to try to capture a more feedback.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey here by next Friday Sept. 20th:
http://fluidsurveys.com/s/vufs-communitysurvey

We would also greatly appreciate your help in sharing the survey with your networks — especially those who may be less connected with the urban farming community. The feedback gathered through the survey will help to direct our efforts in helping farmers to better understand what to consider and address when thinking about growing food in different parts of the city.

Share on facebook >>

Sample tweet:
Community Survey on #urbanfarming @vufs in #Vancouver > share your thoughts http://ow.ly/oR7tC #YVR #localfood

If you have any questions, please get in touch via research@urbanfarmers.ca

We were very pleased to present the Britannia School cafeteria with a bountiful back to school harvest gift with more to come. The harvest included chard, cherry tomatoes, kale, beets and green onions.

A big thanks! to the Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership (SOYL) who helped to plant and manage the garden over the summer along with the East Side Family Place and their children and family summer garden program and the Grandview Woodland Food Connection for the many hrs dedicated to keeping the garden watered during the dry summer.

Does your neighbourhood need more food growing spaces? Are you interested in starting a new urban agriculture project?
Urban agriculture plays an important role in creating vibrant gathering spaces, greening the environment, supporting local food resiliency and promoting social inclusion. The City of Vancouver has had a long history and support for food growing in the city. In order to better support and enable urban agriculture, the City of Vancouver is asking residents to send in their ideas to help identify potential new urban agriculture initiatives and locations.

Some urban agriculture projects that may be considered are:

* Community gardens: One piece of land with multiple garden plots for individual gardening

* Community or urban orchards: Collective management of a group of fruit or nut trees

* Permaculture projects: planting food and plants from a natural and ecological systems perspective

* Pollinator gardens: providing natural habitat for pollinator bees and insects

* Shared growing: growing food together with others for a variety of educational, cultural, and other purposes.

Possible locations for your urban agriculture initiative could include underutilized and unused sites, parking lots, or improving and adding to existing sites. For instance, a potential site could be vacant land at the end of a block, un-programmed and underutilized areas of parks, or other unused land.

Send in your ideas, and potentially get your garden project built!

More information and to view the application form, visit: http://vancouver.ca/people-programs/community-gardens.aspx
Deadline is October 2, 2013