Category — Vancouver, BC

You are warmly invited to a hands-on Sustainable Living Arts School Learning Party….

The Nutritious Nettle Learning Party!

….with nettle-gatherer and home medicine-maker Keira McPhee

Wednesday, April 7^th, 1-2:30 pm

I love plants, but I don’t know my nettles very well. They like to live in sunny, wet places, and the sun can be scarce in Lynn Valley. It’s time for a trek over into the wilds of Burnaby to learn about and harvest some nettles! I’m eager to collect and learn about the uses of these delicious and nutritious plants. We will share our tips and tricks for harvesting and preparing nettles. Tricia

Children are welcome!

Our guide for the day: Keira McPhee

“I am a non-denominational kitchen witch kind of herbalist who is most devoted to my nourishing weeds- those plants that provide abundant food and medicine right outside my door.  These past couple of years I’ve grown and prepared enough teas to last me throughout the year from my urban garden and from foraging. My son and I drink a LOT of tea. (My partner less so but he digs the herbal ice teas in summer.)

I learn first and foremost from the plants that grow abundantly about me, in my garden, in my neighbourhood and in the forests close to the city, as well as from the  herbalists and plant freaks I encounter through learning parties.  But nettles first  came to me in a book I’ve been rereading and consulting for 15 years,  Susun Weed’s “Healing Wise” (google her, she’s got a mammoth and very helpful shaggy garden of a website.)   Nettles called, and I started buying them in bulk. Nettle and raspberry leaf tea was my everyday drink while I was pregnant and nursing.  Now I forage for nettles every spring and because I am an insane gardener, even grow them in my backyard. They are my favourite all-round spring nourishing food/medicine and I look forward to sharing them with you.”

Location: Near Burnaby Lake. Address will be emailed to registered participants 3 days before the learning party.

Cost: $10. 

Register: http://nettlelearningparty.eventbrite.com/

Thanks to Tree Brewing Co., (and Michelle!) the Homebrew Learning Party will be a tasting party too. Tree has   generously donated some mixed flats of beer to try out as we learn to brew ourselves.   John, our guide for the night will help us match some of our favourite types of beer to various recipes,  that can all be sourced at Dan’s Homebrewing.  While I’m eager to add brewing to my fermenting repertoire  I know I will be  patronizing BC’s microbreweries (and Czech pilsners) in the future too.

I won’t hazard a guess at how many batches it will take before I feel ready to take the next step: brewing with herbs I grow. It just feels like a good idea to begin with what I know I like- hops, barley malt, water & yeast as laid down in the Bavarian Purity Laws of 1516.  But rules about what to eat, drink or medicate annoy me and instantly provoke my inner 15 year old hoser-punk. So I’m already pondering beer recipes that rebel and dreaming about future learning parties.

I know this is an interest of Mary and Steve, our homebrew party hosts as well. It just seems to follow from growing food in a gentle way- you produce an abundance of stuff you intended and an abundance that just shows up. It’s amazing how many of the uninvited plants are nourishing in some way- especially if fermented!

Beermaking is definitely a tradition I want to be inducted into by a knowledgeable guide and in good company. I’m glad to know that I’ll have Mary and Steve and potentially some folks from the learning party to compare notes with afterwards.  Sometimes a 2 minute conversation or a targeted question to a friendly person can bolster my confidence to just try stuff out.  So I’m excited to see familiar names registered for the learning party, including folks from past learning parties, from friends I didn’t know were yearning to brew, and from folks I’ve just met in other contexts (like the Potato Salad crew- our new potato growing co-op, also loosely affiliated with the hodge-podge of grassroots projects that is the Sustainable Living Arts School.)

There are still a few spots available for this learning party which starts next Monday, March 29 and continues on Monday, April 12 for bottling. Come join the learning crew if you can- we’d love to have you!

Register at http://slashomebrew.eventbrite.com/

Free Beer Tomorrow Neon Sign shared CC by Lori Spindler

You are warmly invited to another hands-on Sustainable Living Arts School Learning Party….

The Home-brew Learning Party!

….with beermeister John Margetts

This is a 2-part learning party.

Part 1 Brewing: Monday, March 29 from 7-9:30

Part 2 Bottling: Monday, April 12 from 7-9:30

This one gives me great delight. As a dedicated and nearly life long beer enthusiast (my mom tells me I liked the taste right away) I am very excited to add this craft to my repertoire of the sustainable living arts. This 2-part learning party series will give us all the basics to brew our first batch of beer at home. Please come with your favourite snack to share with beer. Samples of beer provided! Looking forward to seeing you there, Keira

Our guide for the day: John Margetts
“I first pitched some yeast into a beer kit a little more than twenty years ago but I really started making beer about 11 years ago. That was when I first met Dan (of Dan’s Homebrewing Supplies) and he taught me how to use a mash tun and the value of using fresh hops.”

There are so many reasons to brew your own beer: it’s cheaper, it’s tastier, it’s often better for you (unfiltered, unpasteurized) and has real food value, it’s less predictable (i.e., more interesting), it’s educational and empowering to do it yourself. It’s one step in the right direction- avoiding mindless consumerism. The old saying about chopping your own firewood applies: it warms you twice, and it’s fun.

Teachers provide some guidance, but the real learning comes from the student her/himself and their experiences. I think the best way to learn how to do something is by working with someone with experience and then just doing it and learning from your successes and failures both.” John Margetts

Register: http://slashomebrew.eventbrite.com

Location: - Close to Main and 23rd. Address will be emailed to registered participants 3 days before the learning party.

Cost: $40 You’ll go home with approx. 2 litres of our homebrew after the bottling party.

A huge thank-you to our sponsor for this learning party- Dan’s Homebrewing Supplies! We highly recommend Dan’s for all your homebrew supplies. Find them at 692 East Hastings.

Tuesday, Sept  29th

Concepts in Year Round Gardening 9:45-11:45 am
Grandview Woodland (near Nanaimo and 1st)
The Whys and Wherefores of food cycles - why we want them, how to get them. We will plan round the calendar food supplies, both in the larder and stored in the garden.

Introduction to Medicine Making 1:30-4:30 pm
Main St./Little Mountain (near Cambie and King Ed)
There are so many plants that are safe, easy to recognize and locate, and effective. We will learn some recognition techniques, and then how to make teas, poultices, tinctures and infused oils. We’ll learn about solvents, supplies and storage.

Apartment and Container Gardening 6:30-8 pm
Potluck @ 5:30 for folks who would like to share a meal together
Downtown (near Davie and Seymour)
How to get more food from your balcony or patio. Space and weight are big problems for apartment dwellers. We will decide how to choose plants, discuss containers, soils, feeding and watering, succession planting and more in this workshop for small spaces.

Wednesday, Sept 30

Seed Saving Primer 9-10:30 am
Kits Point Village (near Cornwall and Arbutus) co-sponsored by Kits Point neighbourhood Village
Seed saving is the missing link in food security. In our current political climate of seed patenting and ownership, it is increasingly important that a critical mass of a population have a good understanding of seed saving techniques. This will make it possible to create networks for seed abundance and resilience in many communities. This workshop will provide a deeper understanding of seed saving basics as well as provide time to discuss the implications of forming our relationships soon and well.
Your donation includes a copy of The Five Levels of Seed Saving by Terry Klokeid.

Shapes in Sharing 10:45-11:45 am
Kits Point Village  (near Cornwall and Arbutus) co-sponsored by Kits Point neighbourhood Village
Ideas for sharing land, food, space and time with a workshop component. We’ll do a study of our own assets and shortfalls and figure out how to equalize these on both a large and small scale.

Intensive Urban Microfarming 1:30-4:30 pm
Potluck @12:30 for folks who would like to share a meal together
Cedar Cottage (near Victoria Dr., south of Trout Lake/John Hendry Park)  For folks who are ready to refine and to deepen their knowledge of urban microfarming, Robin invites you to participate in a 3 hour gathering that will examine as many of the following topics as time allows:
· Increasing backyard food production
· Succession planting
· Shade growing
· Extending the growing season through your choice of plants, Water Wisdom, Plant Calendar Mapping and Microclimating.

Apartment and Container Gardening 7-8:30 pm
Potluck @ 6 for folks who would like to share a meal together
Lower Lonsdale, North Vancouver (near Lonsdale & 1st & Lonsdale Quay)
How to get more food from your balcony or patio. Space and weight are big problems for  apartment dwellers. We will decide how to choose plants, discuss containers soils, feeding and watering, succession planting and more, in this workshop for small spaces.

All workshops are offered on a pay what you can basis. A one hour workshop usually costs around $10 to $15; a 1 1/2 hour workshop around $15 to $20; a two hour workshop around $25 to $30, a 2 1/2 hour workshop around $30 to $35. and a three hour workshop around $40. Our contributions to these workshops make it possible for teachers like Robin to expand and to deepen the scope of the important educational and social change work that they are involved in, particularly in these uncertain times. Enrolment is limited to 20 people for each workshop. (15 for Apartment workshops.)

To register:
(or to find out more about hosting a future workshop), please contact Ross at rmoster@flash.net.

Robin Wheeler is back in town later in the week, and Village Vancouver, Fork in the Road, and Kits Point Village are very pleased to be offering two more neighbourhood workshops with her. (And three in Coquitlam a couple days later.)

Robin is the founder of The Sustainable Living Arts School (http://www.ediblelandscapes.ca/), and the author of Gardening for the Faint of Heart and Food Security for the Faint of Heart. She lives on the Sunshine Coast, and brings a vast wealth of knowledge and experience to her teaching.  You can expect your knowledge to expand and your soul to be delighted…and sometimes for your hands to get dirty.

Food Preservation Basics

Friday, Sept 18th  2-4 pm in Mt. Pleasant (on 7th, near Broadway and Fraser)

We will go over the top 10 food saving techniques and what pros and cons are connected with them. We’ll talk about seasonal availability and how to be ready for the bounty, plus what supplies we should have on hand at all times to be ready for any disaster.

Concepts in Year Round Gardening

Friday, Sept 18th  7-9 pm in Kits Point Village (near Cornwall and Arbutus)

The Whys and Wherefores of food cycles - why we want them, how to get them. We  will plan round the calendar food supplies, both in the larder and stored in the  garden.

Register: Contact Ross at rmoster@flash.net.

Both workshops are offered on a pay what you can basis. A two hour workshop usually costs around $25 to $30. Our contributions to these workshops make it possible for teachers like Robin to expand and to deepen the scope of the important educational and social change work that they are involved in, particularly in these uncertain times.

Enrollment is limited to 20 people for each workshop.

A creative evening with Robin Wheeler (Edible Landscapes) for apartment dwellers on Vancouver’s downtown peninsula

WHEN

7 to 8:45 pm, September 28, 2009

WHERE

Gordon Neighborhood House, 1019 Broughton Street

(Between Nelson and Comox. Venue tel. 604-683-2554)

WHO

Robin Wheeler teaches traditional skills, sustenance gardening and medicinals at Edible Landscapes (www.ediblelandscapes.ca), a nursery and teaching garden in Roberts Creek, British Columbia. She is the author of “Food Security for the Faint of Heart” and “Gardening for the Faint of Heart.”

WHAT

Think about the 100-mile diet, farmers’ markets, community gardens, high food prices, sustainability, food safety, emergency preparedness…and you will understand why more and more people are interested in having healthy food grown close to home. Now there’s a buzz about the “100-meter diet.” But how much food can we grow for ourselves here in the West End of Vancouver?

In the first half, Robin Wheeler will cover various concepts from her book and experience—edible landscapes; food growing on apartment balconies and patios; ideas for sharing land, food, space, and time; food preservation/storage in apartments; and so on. In the second half, an open discussion will share information about issues in the West End. What’s already being done and who’s doing it? How can apartment dwellers get more space to grow food? What frameworks and support systems exist? Can these ideas somehow help low-income families? What problems and opportunities exist? Entrance by donation ($5 recommended). A report will be prepared afterwards, so please contact us if you can’t attend but would like to know the outcomes.

REGISTER:

FoodWestEnd@gmail.com

SPONSORS

Green Millennium Foundation (www.greenmillennium.org)

West End Residents Association (www.wera.bc.ca)

You are warmly invited to another hands-on Sustainable Living Arts School Learning Party….

Bee Appreciation

….with master beekeeper Brian Campbell

Saturday, June 27 at 10am-noon.

Join us afterwards for a picnic in Clinton Park if you like.  Bring the kids!

This learning party will happen in the Hastings-Sunrise Neighbourhood.  Address will be emailed to the folks who register 3 days before the learning party.

Bee’s are the life’s blood of the environment. They connect plant life to animal life making abundance and creating a healthy ecology. For bees the city is the place to be. We provide a wonderful habitat of flowering plants and soil profiles that supports Canada’s greatest diversity of pollinators.

But all is not well. Bees and other pollinators are in decline around the world  so our privilege of bee diversity is also our responsibility to protect and conserve. Because of development our bee populations are divided up and separated from each other. By connecting these population pockets we help to make bees more resilient and better able to help the stresses we throw at them.

In this learning party we’ll explore a backyard habitat and then make a bee’s journey through the neighbourhood helping to make bee corridors. Come learn about how to plant for bees, make bee condos and help make one neighbourhood more bee-friendly.

Our guide for the day: Brian Campbell
Brian Campbell is a certified beemaster and beekeeper, heavily involved in food security issues in Richmond and beyond. A member of the BC Association of Master Gardeners, Brian spent three years as seed manager for West Coast Seeds. Brian guest lectures for Gaia College’s Growing Food in the City certificate program, operates pocket markets in Richmond and teaches young people about honey bees as well as native types. He offers classes in grafting fruit trees, food preserving and other farm skills.

Register: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/369963571

Location: Hastings-Sunrise- details will be emailed to registered participants 2 days before the learning party.

By Donation: Suggested donation is $25. Pay what you feel.  Sustainable Living Arts School learning parties are 100% participant supported. Thank-you for your generous donations.

Children are very welcome with their grown-ups.

The Sustainable Living Arts School and the Living Medicine Project  introduce the Living Medicine Series…

…monthly Learning Parties dedicated to the study and art of herbal medicine.

These hands-on, half-day intensives will include Plant Identification, Gathering and Medicine Making. These 3 simple pieces are the tools required to know how, when and which plants can be gathered from gardens, parks and lawns to become food and medicines to keep our families and friends healthy.

Join us for the 3^rd in this Series…

Cool Comfort of Comfrey

Sunday June 21^st (Summer Solstice)

9am-1pm

Commercial Drive Area

**This is a family friendly event. Feel free to bring your kids. They’re much more likely to take the medicines that they help make.

suggested donation: $40 Pay as you feel http://slas.ca/learning-party/pay-as-you-feel/

Donations will be split between SLAS, LMP and the facilitator(s)

Space is limited, Register here! http://comfrey.eventbrite.com/

Information specific to the event will be forwarded to registrants on June 19th.

BIO http://slas.ca/teachers/garliq/

Stay tuned for an upcoming learning party with Rin of the Farmhouse. In the meantime, check out this fabulous sounding workshop she’s offering around Vancouver over the next few weeks…

Do you want to grow more of your own food, but don’t know where to begin?  Think you don’t have enough space?  Are you interested in learning more about Permaculture and organic gardening?

If you have a 10 X 10 foot space and want to learn how to turn it into a full year of fresh, nutritious, yummy food without chemicals or hours and hours of work, this workshop is for you.

This one-day workshop with Rin from the Farmhouse Farm — an urban farm right here in Vancouver — will show you how to start from scratch and build a garden that will produce food all year long in just a hundred square feet!  Vegetables, herbs, and greens are all a part of the comprehensive garden plan that you’ll learn to build and maintain.  Perfect for those with small yards or working in allotment plots, this easy-to-follow plan incorporates Permaculture principles into a garden design you can follow to the letter or change and evolve to fit your space and goals.  We’ll spend the day going over the plan and then getting down and dirty and building the garden from scratch at the host site.  You’ll leave with a copy of the full garden design including crop rotations, maintenance routine, and all the information you’ll need to get started.

There are three chances to check it out:

Kitsilano:  Saturday May 16th,  12.00 - 6.00   13th and MacDonald.
Main Street:  Sunday May 17th, 12.00 - 6.00  Ontario & 24th.
New Westminister:  Saturday May 23rd, 12.00 - 6.00  Edinburgh & 16th.

The workshop is offered on a Pay-What-You-Feel basis, with a suggested donation of $60 to $100.

For more information or to register, contact farmhousefarm(at)gmail(dot)com or go to farmhousefarm.wordpress.com

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www.farmhousefarm.wordpress.com