Month: October 2014

This is a really great idea that came out of a neighborhood small grants….but What is Meal Sharing?

Meal sharing is having dinner regularly with people in your life who you usually don’t.

It could be someone from a different household, a neighbour, another family, your roommate who you never see, old friends, new friends — its up to you.

The key ingredients of meal sharing are:

0 eating with people you usually don’t
0 on a regular basis (once per week)
0 alternate households and who makes the meal

This is super-simple and under-used idea that can save time and effort, strengthen bonds and add more fun to meal times. Check out their website The Meal Share

Hello,

Our names are Alison Carr, Angela Zylmans, Cassia Drozdzik, Michael Vena, & Noah Finkelstein, and we are a group of UBC students doing a research project on Urban Agriculture in the City of Vancouver.

The goal of our project is to examine how the general public defines urban agriculture in Vancouver, with a focus on the neighbourhood Riley Park, and how this compare with that of organizations currently involved in urban agriculture in the wider Vancouver community?

If you are interested in taking a short survey please follow the below link.

https://ubcarts.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bCUHHqkhPDGqCDb

We appreciate your participation!

Alison Carr, Angela Zylmans,
Cassia Drozdzik, Michael Vena,
& Noah Finkelstein

The Grandview Woodland Food Connection is pleased to present a new research report of “Who Gets Sustenance?: Community Voices Speak about Access to Local, Healthy Food,” prepared by the Social Planning and Research Council of BC in partnership with ourselves and the Bella Coola Valley Sustainable Agriculture Society.

This research report explores issues of access to local, healthy food from both rural and urban perspectives. Research was conducted in both Bella Coola and the Grandview Woodland Neighbourhood of Vancouver. The research examines how the recent positive advances by BC’s food security movement can better support increased access to local, healthy food by underserved people?

Some highlights include:

O While lack of income is a critical barrier to accessing healthy food, it is also important to address other issues such as mobility and disability, program timing, chronic health, and the unique circumstances of rural communities.
O Food security issues in rural communities are unique and may not be addressed using models developed within urban contexts.
O Underserved people want to create ways to support themselves individually and in the communities in which they live.
O Food banks are only one of several strategies that underserved people utilize to access healthy food.
O There is more to learn about underserved people who do not access food programs.

WhoGetsSustanance_FinalReport_29092014

My favorite activity is eating fresh food from the garden with a group of students many of whom have never eaten food as fresh. So today a class of cooking 10 students came down to the garden where we had them try and identify as many food plants as they could. It was not easy for them as they are unfamiliar with such plants. In one case I showed the kids a broccoli plant with a fairly well defined broccoli head. Now most kids have eaten broccoli before but seeing it on the actual plant with stem and leaves and all and it was less clear. Of course they eventually figured it out but for sure these kids are pretty disconnected from the source of their food.

So we then had the kids collect food for a salad which we prepared and ate in the garden. We harvested chives, basil, mint, green beans, tomatoes, carrots, kale, chard, arugula, collard, bok chou, mizuna, and cilantro – a darn good mix and a very tasty salad. Most of the kids really liked it, one boy would not try it, and a few were not able to finish their plate. Well not bad I figure.

And the trick to a very good tasting salad is an exceptional dressing.

A huge thanks to the group of McMaster University alumni who came out to help us at the Britannia School Garden for the annual McMaster Alumni Cross Canada Day of Community Service. The Vancouver rain held off and we were able to get a lot of work done. The garden looks great. We built a new raised box and filled it with soil, turned some compost, cleared away invasive morning glory, cleaned up the garden beds, and built a beautiful garden entrance archway that the high school students designed.

Community Service Days are important for us in helping to run our programs. The extra help we get makes a huge difference.

Thanks McMaster!