Edmonton Seedy Sunday 2017

It might not look like spring outside, but there's definitely excitement in the air: this weekend is Edmonton Seedy Sunday! 


Seed Swap, free demonstrations and speakers... plenty, whether you're looking for inspiration or instruction! 


Visit the Edmonton Seedy Sunday website for details on demos, speakers, and vendors and the Edmonton Seedy Sunday facebook page for event updates.

Community Gardeners Mix & Mingle

Join the conversations at this informal session. . Get the information you are looking for, from people who have experienced building a garden from start to finish.

Local community gardeners, COE and Sustainable Food Edmonton staff will be available to answer your questions on a variety of topics including:

• Get started 
• Core Group Organization 
• Volunteer & Time raising 
• Funding/Grant Applications 
• City Process 
• Community Partnerships 
• Community Engagement 
• Safety Benefits from gardens 
• Tour of the Sunshine Garden 
• Composting

WHERE: Fulton Place Community Hall, 6115 Fulton Drive
WHEN: 6:30 pm—8:00 pm, Monday, November 30th  

Light Refreshments served

RSVP by November 26th to rufaro.munetsi@edmonton.ca or call 780 496 5857

Arranged by The City of Edmonton, Sustainable Food Edmonton and the Fulton Place Sunshine Community Garden

2015 Community League Day

Community League Day started a bit chilly and quiet, but as the weather warmed, more people came out to Highlands Park to visit the community clubs' and vendors' booths.

The Highlands Garden Club table was a hit!

The Club gave away "seed bombs" (seed packets of Margaret's Mystery Garden Flower Mix) and plants divided from Audrey and Margaret's gardens.

People were excited about the giveaways and stuck around to chat about gardening and bees!  We were proud to show people the beautiful plants we could grow in the area without using pesticides.

It was a fun day and we hope to see more of these faces from the community at our next events soon!

A bouquet of Margaret's garden flowers.

2015-06-12: Permaculture Design: An Approach To Vibrant Communities

Permaculture and vibrant communities - another chance to make the connections - free!  See below:

Urban Systems is kicking off the third year of the Vibrant Communities Speaker Series with Takota Coen.  Check out the website for more information on the VCSS and past events!

When: Tuesday, June 2 from 7:00pm-8:30pm (doors at 6:30pm)
Where: Yellowhead Brewery, 10229 105 Street
This is a Free Event but please RSVP

Clean water, nutrient dense food, shelter and medicine are the building blocks for vibrant community no matter where you live on planet earth. However, most of the ways we supply our basic needs come at the cost of someone else’s or the earth itself.

In this thought provoking evening with Takota Coen of Deep Roots Design and Grass Roots Family Farm we will explore how permaculture design can address our fundamental needs in a way that is regenerative for the planet. Takota will provide practical examples of how families everywhere can use the principles and design methodologies of permaculture to ensure productive backyards and farms that strengthen our local food systems and restore the environment.

Using Grass Roots Family Farm as a case study, Takota will illustrate how to design functional relationships between various elements like forest gardens, chickens, annual crops, honeybees and even elements that would only be seen on larger acreages like a dairy cow, pasture pigs, beef cattle and water harvesting earthworks. This edition of the Vibrant Communities Speaker Series will also explore our Western society’s relationship to the natural world and how Takota believes it can be transformed through the ethical use of permaculture design, education, food, and celebration. Vibrant communities can exist. But only if we design them to succeed!

RSVP (through Eventbrite)

2015-05 29-30 That Bloomin' Garden Show and Art Sale

Mark your calendars!  That Bloomin' Garden Show and Art Sale is back for another year.  Look forward to Saturday, 30-May 2015 for an activity filled day at Alberta Avenue Community Centre (9210 118 Avenue NW) featuring :

- Various Gardening groups and vendors
- Artisans and art gallery
- A Perennial & seed swap
- A Book & magazine exchange
- Compost sale
- Live musical performances
- Family friendly games

The second annual Rubber Boots & Bow Tie Garden Party is on the night before (Friday, 29-May, 2015).

More information about both events at www.albertaave.org/bloomin-garden.html

Earth-Friendly: Multiple Events

With the 45th Annual Earth Day coming up soon (Wednesday, 22-Apr-2015), there are a whole host of events happening around the world aimed to educate and support sustainable, environmentally-friendly living. 

Here are a few coming up in Edmonton (click on the link for more information):

http://bluedot.ca/join-us/

• 19-Apr-2015 (11 a.m. -4 p.m.) - Connect the Blue Dots - Earth's General Store 10150 104th St.: The David Suzuki Foundation led movement for Canadians to have the right to a healthy environment is meeting to share info and create a mural. 

• 25-Apr-2015 (7-9 p.m.) - Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective Film and Discussion -Stanley Milner Library 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square: Film and discussion to explore "the many environmental and agricultural issues facing us and examines solutions that are being applied using 'Permaculture'."  Admission by donation.

Edmonton Earth Day Festival

• 26-Apr-2015 (12-4 p.m.) - Edmonton Earth Day Festival - 10120 – 104th Street: "Clean your commute" and celebrate the Earth with various environmentally-conscious organisations around town. 

Edmonton Seedy Sunday 2015

My first Edmonton Seedy Sunday was a blast!

Alberta Avenue Community Hall was filled to the brim with people interested in growing plants or ready to spread to the word.


The hall had been divided into four areas: A free swap / community room, demonstration area in the lounge, a lecture room, and vendors in the main hall.  

Announcer-Flower-Fairy-Bell-Ringer -- Maryann of Goodnote Community Farm -- made sure everyone knew the schedule and what was coming up in the other rooms.

I spent most of my time in the community room speaking to friendly and helpful representatives of Pesticide Free Edmonton, Edmonton Horticultural Society, Front Yards in Bloom and many other groups.

And don't forget the seeds!

Edmonton Seedy Sunday volunteers, behind the long table covered with donated seed packets, helped us to chose among all the different flowers, tomatoes, beans and herbs available.  The selection kept growing as people dropped off more. Those with nothing to swap could also get seeds for a monetary donation.  

Neither Erica nor I picked up any of the "Mystery Squash", but did go adventurous with a few different kinds of heirloom tomatoes.

We took a walk around the vendor hall and filled any remaining seed-gaps.  All while, we were keeping an eye out on the time: The Native Bees of Alberta talk was at 3 p.m.

The speakers, Ashton Strum and Monica Kohler, are both U of A Masters students researching bees.  Their enthusiasm for the subject certainly shone through as they introduced the audience to different families of bees, their living arrangements (social, non-social), and ways to make the our yards bee havens.  

It was certainly a informative and fun time overall.  But, in my excitement, I may have picked up more seeds than I can handle... Anyone else like some seeds to start? 

Community League Day - Saturday in the Park

Highlands community groups gathered this Saturday at Highlands Park to talk sustainability while building the community at Community League Day.


The Highlands Garden Club's lovely booth showcased photos from past years as well as gardening resources, the fairy garden (below), and free plants. It received many compliments.

As community members visited the booth and asked about gardening tips, Club members, ever the gardeners, worked to beautify the park's planters. Remainders from the Street Festival plant sale were planted in (some as "experiments") and generously watered.

The Club's efforts were greatly appreciated - gaining some attention from our local politicians.

Finally, as the day came to an end, ballots were drawn for the fairy garden.  The project was inspired by a recent workshop and put together by Margaret, Deb and Audrey as part of the Club's 25th anniversary.  It was won by our friendly neighbour Sukh Panghali!

Highlands Street Festival 2014

Bright and early, members gathered, unloading trucks beds and car trunks of potted greenery, for the Highlands Street Festival.

The Highlands Garden Club booth was a plant sale of perennials donated from members' gardens.

(Left: Paradise in a parking lot.)


Tables and the tent were set in place, and then plants were madly priced and moved into their best light.

(Right: All set up, in a shared tent with the Highlands Historical Society.)

For the next five hours, members sold plants and answered various gardening questions -- all the while enjoying some popcorn and the festival's music entertainment.

Even though it was rainy and unseasonally chilly for most of the day, there was decent traffic and some sales.  Two people signed up for membership - look forward to seeing them at future meetings and events!

(Above: Our neighbour vendor, an artist, and his plant sale find.)