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.

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/

Please pass around where appropriate!

Two days of herb nerds! What could be better? We’ll learn recognition skills, making basic medicines, native herbs, harvest and storage techniques and more $25 per class.- take one or take all. You can either pay by Visa or Mastercard  via Paypal right away or mail her a cheque. 80% of student fees go directly to the teachers, with another 10% for preparing for classes and promotion.  Attending these workshops is a direct way to support folks who live on the land and keep the skills and traditions of the sustainable living arts alive.

If you are part of a family or group of friends who would like to learn and practice together, get in touch with Robin to arrange group pricing. Edible Landscapes is a place to come to reconnect, learn, relax and get inspired on how we can increase our self-sufficiency…together. You can camp on the land, hike to the ocean, walk in the woods, wander the gardens, browse in the edible and medicinal plant nursery and medicine emporium.

To register, contact Robin at (604) 885-4505, or email (and she will invoice you via Paypal) – see details on other programs at slas.ca or ediblelandscapes.ca.

June 13

10:00 – 11:30    Herb Recognition and growing methods with Robin Wheeler
Seeing a plant bursting with vigour and swaying under the weight of the bees, instead of just in powdered form or tincture, is a great reminder that we are working with an integrated, energetic being when we make medicine. See, smell and taste some of the over 150 varieties of plants here so that you will more easily recognize them in the future. Take photos or leaf samples as that can help as well. We will discuss growing methods for those wishing to grow herbs at home.

11:45 – 1:00   Intro to Botany for Herbalists with Garliq

This class is designed to navigate the world of Green, to know why a plant is what it is and not a ‘look alike.’ We’ll learn to answer a few basic questions about flower and leaf structures that will enable us to be sure we’re working with the medicine we think we are. Please bring samples from Robin’s plant walk to help apply this learning directly.

1:00 – 1:45   Lunch – brown bag or order $6 snack lunch.

1:45 – 3:15   TBA – hopefully Infused oils and lotions with Barb Cotgrave of Halfmoon Herbals.

3:30 – 4:45  - Harvesting and Storage Techniques with Robin Wheeler
We will go outside and harvest leaves, stems and flowers, then go in and prepare them for drying. When we store herbs for any length of time, we want to use the best practices possible, know the problems that can occur and how to bypass them to retain high active levels in our medicine and culinary plants.

5:00 onwards – shared/potluck dinner.

7:00 – 8:30     Homeopathy and Herbs with Marlow Purves
Herbs and plants are a major remedy source in the homoeopathic pharmacopeia.  The herbs that have been used traditionally for thousands of years find new and different application when potentised.  Marlow will share some of the revelations of the remedies made from common herbs as a means of enhancing our knowledge, respect for and awe of our healing companions. We will likely try to potentize a herb for ourselves!

June 14

10:00 – 11:30    Introduction to Chinese herbs with Sarah Gilbert and Julie Starsage
Ancient Chinese systems are based on far different diagnostic criteria than we are used to, and the forms their medicines take, in terms of preparation and ingestion, are also new to us. Sarah will introduce us to herbs and formulas that have been appreciated for centuries, and give us a better idea of how they are used in modern times.

11:45 – 12:45    Wildcrafting Basics with Lyrae Emerson
An examination of the methods of ethically harvesting wild and indigenous plants in a manner that minimizes impact on the population while maximizing their medicinal potential. We will look at tools, time of year to harvest roots, barks, stems and other plant parts, as well as look at how the practice of wildcrafting in itself can be a healing experience. Comes with take home instruction sheet on wildcrafting and harvesting guidelines.

12:45 – 1:30    Lunch – brown bag or order the $6 snack lunch.

1:30 – 3:30 – Making Plant Medicine with Lyrae Emerson
Learn how to turn your raw or dried plant matter into finished medicines. Lyrae will discuss and show preparation of infusions, pills, teas and tinctures, show and share samples, discuss alternate procedures, and basically give a solid background so that people new to the field can go home and follow recipes with confidence.

3:45 – 5:00     Native Use of Herbs with Cymba
Consisting of in-the-field plant identification, discussing traditional and contemporary uses of these plants.  Food, medicinal and ceremonial uses will be covered as well as ecologically sustainable harvesting techniques.  A hands-on component will include topical salves making (everyone will leave with a traditional medicine).

Shared potluck dinner to follow for all who want to continue exchanging thoughts.

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 2nd in this Series…

Dandelion Delight

Monday May 18th (Victoria Day)

11am-3pm

Commercial Drive Area  (carpooling will be coordinated where possible)

Register here! http://www.eventbrite.com/event/343913655

Suggested donation: $40 Pay As You Feel. Donations will be split between SLAS, LMP and the teachers. Donations to SLAS go to a slush fund to pay teachers, web costs and a tithe to our rural partner SLAS, Robert’s Creek.

Address and other info will be sent to registrants on May 15.

**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.

Read more about our teacher, Garliq. Questions? Contact Garliq  LivingMedicine@riseup.net

The Sustainable Living Art 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 1st in this series…

Healing with Spring Herbs:   Nettles, Noxious or Nutritious??

Sunday April 5th

11am-2pm

Burnaby Lake Area  (carpooling will be coordinated where possible)

Read more about our teacher, Garliq.

**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).

Space is limited, please contact Garliq early to register… LivingMedicine@riseup.net

Details will be emailed to registrants by April 3rd, 2009

Register with Robin Wheeler info@ediblelandscapes.ca 604-885-4505

Saturday, September 20 - 

9:30 until afternoon - Distillation workshop – “Make Your Own – from fuel to medicine” with Bernard Wera, David Scott and Kathleen Thacker (on site – 1732 Pell Road)

This is a full day workshop on the art of distillation. We will begin by looking at homemade stills and talk about safe use and potential problems. We will watch a still be put through its paces and will learn about essential oils, hydrosols, fuels and other byproducts of this process. The facilitators will talk about their experiences in home distillation. ($70)

12:30 – 2:00 – Garden Walk with Randie Ridgewell (off site – 1187 Crowe Road)

For those wanting to visit a proper, full cycle food garden, Randie’s ex-herb farm of fame is a great space for learning. She will describe her excellent fertilizing mixture and show her great techniques for good food production. Recommended by Edible Landscapes as a good beginner’s learning tool. ($25)

2:15 – 3:45 Basic Canning with Randie Ridgewell (off site – 1187 Crowe Road)

Just starting your learning curve and want an experienced mentor? Randie will take you into the kitchen to can up a batch of winter food. For those who learn best by seeing and doing, this will help push your confidence along so that you can do this at home. ($25)

Sunday, September 21 - 1732 Pell Road

9:30 – 11:00 Timely Actions in the Garden with Robin Wheeler

For new gardeners, fall brings new questions. Robin will show how to put gardens “to bed” for best spring results, what to do about late immature veggies, how to save the last of the seed and harvest the last of the herbs. We’ll discuss winter mulch and fall planting of garlic and potatoes. ($20)

11:15 – 12:30 Hand Treating Wool Fleece – with Debbie Osler

For those who already knit or weave and want to add a new skill level without buying equipment, Deb will show you how to wash a fleece and then how to hand spin it into a usable wool product. Feel different fleece and learn about quality and problems that can arise. Deb has many years of managing her own fleece and you will get hands-on experience. ($25)

1:30 – 3:00 – Using a Steamer/Juicer with Robin Wheeler

Toss in your apples unpeeled and full of seeds, and turn out wonderful juice and apple butter – just like on TV! We will run through a single 40 minute steaming, bottle the juice and further prepare the pulp into apple butter. Many other products can be made. Take some product home with you and feel more confident using this great piece of equipment on your own. ($25)

3:30 – 5:00 – Tool Maintenance and Repair with Cymba

Our hand tools are great assets and we should treat them right so they’ll last for years. Cymba will show some good tool care, and then will show how to put new handles into many types of tool, and lacking a store-bought handle, how to make a quick one from wood around you. ($25)

6 pm onwards – group dinner.

To Register: In person with Langara College Continuing Studies or by phone 604-323-5322.

Garden Now for Fresh Food Year Round: A Winter Garden Course
with Heather Johnstone Saturday, June 7, 2008 10am- 4pm
Register with Langara Course code: CDVL1091 Course Registration # 60645

Healing with Herbs: Growing and Foraging in the City
with Sharon Kravitz and Jill Stieler Saturday July 5, 2008 10am-4pm

Introduction to Food Preservation by Fermentation
with Andrea Potter and David Rothzstain Saturday, August 2, 2008 10am-4pm

Cost : $85 for each course includes a delicious lunch featuring local and seasonal food, and a maximum of 15 students to allow for lots of questions and discussion.

Garden Now for Fresh Food Year round: A winter garden course

with Heather Johnstone
Saturday, June 7, 2008 10am-4pm

Now is the time to start your first winter garden for fresh home-grown food all year round. With just a little gardening experience you can learn how to extend the growing season by using simple designs for home-made cloches and greenhouses and learn what, when and how to plant appropriate varieties. We’ll also share the joy of sprouting and wild food harvesting.

Schedule

10-11:30: Introduction. Designing and building inexpensive do-it-yourself cloches, cold frames and greenhouses.

11:30-12:30 Catered Lunch featuring local, seasonal food

12:30-2:00 Selecting varieties for your winter garden. This section will look at winter-hardy plant species, and we will have the opportunity to delve into the seed catalogues to select the very best varieties to get you through the winter. We will discuss the special care and demo the techniques required to maintain a garden through the winter on the west coast.

2-2:15 Break

2:15-3:45: In the dark of winter, when the potatoes and leeks are dwindling, and spring still seems a long way off, sprouting is a perfect way to bring green live food back into your diet. This course will include hands-on sprouting exercises. We will discuss different techniques for storing food through the winter (drying/canning/freezing/fermenting), and will look at what wild foods can be harvested in the region.

3:45- 4: Wrap-up

Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:
• apply techniques for feeding themselves fresh food throughout the year
• select appropriate plant varieties for winter planting,
• identify plants for winter wildcrafting
• sprout various seeds and beans for fresh eating (students will leave with a sprouting jar and seeds)

Instructor

Heather Johnstone is the coordinator of the Edible Garden Project on Vancouver’s North Shore www.ediblegardenproject.ca . She has spent years planting and learning with organic farmers on the west coast and is a graduate of the Linnaea Farm Ecological Gardening Program. She now works with home-scale urban gardeners to help them grow fruits and vegetables.

Healing with Herbs: Growing and Foraging in the City

with Sharon Kravitz and Jill Stieler
Saturday, July 5, 2008 10am-4pm

Learn how wild and cultivated herbs can support our health. In this beginner course we will identify local plants and helpful weeds on foraging walks, practice respectful wildcrafting, prepare herbal medicines and explore the medicinal value of the food in our kitchens. We will illustrate and record our experiences in a journal (provided) and leave ready to safely continue exploring herbs.

10-11:30 -Introductions, overview of the day, assessing needs. Herb Walk, plant identification, ethical collection, drying and storing herbs, common applications.

11:30-12:30 -Lunch with herbal and wild plant delicacies

12:30-2:00. -Making medicines: uses, applications and dosage.

2-2:15 -Break with tea and sweet herbal treat

2:15-3:45 -Handy herbs to have in your garden- food as medicine- Aryurvedic taste exercises

3:45- 4 -Wrap-up/closure

Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
• Identify a group of local herbs that are particularly useful in the summer (bee stings!).
• Discuss the value of food as medicine.
• Gather herbs safely and respectfully.
• Prepare simple medicines for home use.

Instructor

Jill Stieler has been a practicing herbalist since 1993. Her studies began with Don Ollsin’s Herbal Healing Journey (who later coordinated Langara College herbal program). Over the years she has run a small business selling herbal medicines. Today she focuses on healing her friends, family and community with the medicines she makes.

Sharon Kravitz is a healer, artist and long-time activist in the downtown eastside. She is a graduate of Langara College’s Herbal Medicine Program. Healing with herbs is an intimate part of all the work she does in the world.

Introduction to Food Preservation by Fermentation

With Andrea Potter and David Rothzstain
Saturday, August 2 10am-4pm

Traditionally every culture has incorporated fermented foods into their diet. From health benefits to social change, preserving foods at home is a sustainable practice. In this hands-on course, we will discuss the benefits of tapping into this ancient wisdom and prepare traditional sauerkraut, brine pickles and fruit salsa, as well as get introduced to fermenting dairy with kefir culture.

Schedule

10:00-11:30 -Introductions
-Discussion about the benefits of preparing and eating fermented foods including health information and the importance of keeping food traditions alive in these changing times.

-Information on food safety and on the process that lactic-acid ferments undergo.

-Discussion of how social and environmental change can be brought about by preparing food at home.

-Hands-on preparation of traditional sauerkraut.

11:30-12:30 -lunch (including samples of some pickles and other fermented foods.)

12:30-2:00 -Hands on preparation of brined pickles and fermented fruit salsa.

2:00-2:15 -Break

2:15-3:45 -Introduction to cheesemaking with kefir culture. Care and feeding of kefir, showing milk at different stages of enculturation

3:45- 4 -wrap-up and closing.

Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:

• articulate how foods are transformed and preserved by fermentation.
• explain the health benefits of fermented foods.
• compare the benefits of fermentation to other methods of food preservation
• start fermenting sauerkraut, pickles, salsa and cheese at home.

Instructors

Andrea Potter is a Certified Chef and has been cooking professionally for 7 years. She is currently the restaurant chef at Radha Yoga and Eatery in Vancouver, where she creates seasonal menus based on whole foods, using local ingredients. She is also a student at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. She is passionate about food culture.

David Rothzstain is our "well-cultured" expert and an urban farmer/philosopher. He’s been making cheeses on his own and at local organic farms for years. He is currently a student of Linnaea Farm Ecological Gardening Program