Friday- 8.5 hours

So- what have we accomplished for the day?
Well:
-met with Emily Jubenvill, learned about what's happening with VPSN and Vancouver Urban Ag in general
-did some research: how many community gardens there are, where they are, and how to get involved
-sent emails to Deborah Khan at the city, Shauna at VPSN, Daryl of the Oak and 16th garden: learned that VPSN isn't doing any guerrilla gardening for this month, that community garden volunteers are abundant and that there have been a couple proposals to the city for creating more unity between the urban ag community and with city hall. I'll be trying to get in contact with Alex Chisholm and David Tracey tomorrow. I'll also conduct research on a rain catching system for community gardens.
-helped Emily out with some graphics
-emailed the Vancouver Food Policy Council to find out when the next meeting is
-read the Food Secure Vancouver Baseline report

From the report:
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle.”

What I'm thinking about right now:

One of the issues that Emily and I discussed, which I found to be equally true both online and walking through a community garden, is that it feels difficult to get involved. One of the reasons Emily mentioned that there is sometimes resistance from parks board staff to new community gardens is because there is this perception that it becomes "public private space." I think that this is a key issue to address- both online and through the garden itself.

Online- It's overwhelming trying to "find" community gardens online. Many don't have websites, and existing websites often lack a "get involved" link. This is likely because the plots are filled. Perhaps more gardens need a collective plot? Or need to host community events? Or even workshops, or classes of some kind. This could be done easily on a casual basis, on anything from composting to yoga. Either way, I think that finding ways to open up the garden to community members would lessen resistance that some new gardens encounter.


I'm going to finish up the day by seeding some sunflowers to be planted later on. It's sunflower guerrilla gardening day today!