July 24/25 - Small Farm Skills in Roberts Creek - Good basic skills! Take one class or take them all. Congenial camping ($5 a night per person), take in the beach or a restaurant while you’re on the coast. Contact Robin at info@ediblelandscapes.ca to register or for more info.

Saturday July 24

11:30 – 1 pm Hand Tool Maintenance and Repair (Instructor TBA)
Although we presently live in the day when it costs more to buy a new handle than to replace the broken hand tool, this might not always be the case. Our instructor will first show us how to prolong the life of our tools, then show several techniques for replacing handles using old and freshly made examples. $25

1:30 to 3:00 Year Round Gardening with Robin Wheeler
What does it take to eat our own garden food for as much of the year as possible? This is as much a space/time mapping exercise as anything, and Robin will guide us through the steps it will take to plan this wide spectrum food garden, and we will address storage issues. $25

3:30 to 5 pm Intro to Bee Keeping with Martin Cook - off site (directions provided)
Get all your basics in this class – life cycle of the bee, equipment required, siting and maintenance of the hive, a year in the life of a hive, diseases and predators, and more. See an active site and taste some results. Martin Cook is an experienced bee handler and honey producer. $25

Sunday July 25

10:00 – 11:30 Improving your Soil with Alain Bergeron
Alain turned a raw forest clearing into a fine and productive working market garden using everything he could find around him. He will discuss quick soil analysis and materials needed for correcting typical soil issues, and will get everyone working on a patch of ground trying out his methods! $25

11:45 – 12:45 Plant Nursery Skills with Robin Wheeler
We know that if we want to cover our landscape with lots of healthy plants, we need to know how to propagate and then how to tend many plants in pots. We will learn about soil mixture, pot size, overwintering and water problems. $20

2 pm – 3:30 Advanced Bee care with Al Cobbin
The new bee keeper will want to keep improving their knowledge. Master Bee Keeper Al will discuss swarming, disease issues, comb or chunk honey, granulation and seasonal preparations and more. $25.M

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.

Urban Apiculture Apprenticeship Program-Now recruiting!

The ‘Community Hive’ is a collaborative effort between the Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA), the Means of Production Artist Raw Resources Collective (MOPARRC), and Master Beekeeper Brian Campbell. The ‘Community Hive’ seeks to mentor and support youth in the apiculture industry and to engage Vancouver residents in the importance of the issues facing bees across North America.  To apply to be an apprentice in the program please contact Rhianna at 604-689-4446 or at rhianna@eya.ca.

Stay tuned for an upcoming Sustainable Living Arts School learning party with Brian as well. We’re cooking up ideas. Brian toured me around the Terra Nova Rural park where the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing project is  based as well as the and the Terra Nova Schoolyard Project in Richmond a few weeks ago. I got a crash course in genetics while he shared his ideas for a  participatory plant breeding program. He’s has a wealth of wisdom and experience to offer… do encourage any eligible, interested youth to join the community hive project.