Category: Reflections

Farmer to Farmer 2025

January 31, 2025

On Thursday January 23, Site Manager and Education Director, Kayla had the opportunity to attend the Farmer-to-Farmer conference hosted by the South Island Farmers Institute. A weeklong conference, that consists of field trip days to tour local farming operations and learn on site. This event gave Kayla the chance to attend lectures by farmers, for farmers. As the main steward of the CEC demonstration gardens and seedling grower for our plant sales, Kayla found the company and information provided at different lectures, very supportive. The roundtable lunch time conversations were so helpful for hearing how other farmers steward their soil, grow their seedlings and have a productive farm business.

Kayla attended an interesting talk called “Floods, Fires, Storms and Heat: Can we manage risks in a changing climate?” where an expert instructor talked through the importance of managing risk, disaster possibility, and dramatic climate conditions in gardens, farms and landscapes. Later, Kayla confirmed some of what she held to be true in her soil microbiology knowledge by attending a talk called “The Essential Role of Microorganisms”. At lunch she learned a ton from other farmers with seedling operations (germination chambers, hoop houses, vermiculate, fans, times, oh my!). In the afternoon, more talk about soil stewardship came from a farmer with a large acreage. They conduct academic research on cover crops and best management practices for small scale farms on the coast. It was fascinating to hear so much about the benefits of cover cropping. Kayla wrapped up the educational portion of the day with a talk about emotional and mental resilience for farmers and growers – how to avoid burn out and bounce back from busy seasons. Not only did she learn tips and tricks for staying healthy through busy times, but she also enjoyed partnering up with other growers to hear how they take care of themselves during the busiest parts of their year. The day wrapped up with a jovial farmer trivia game! While the team Kayla was a part of did great, they didn’t win, but the laughs and challenge were very enjoyable.

Posted in Blog, Organic Gardening, Reflections, Staff

Giving Tuesday

December 4, 2024

At this time of year, we get a lot of signals from nature to slow down. Days are shorter, temperatures are cooler, and plant growth has slowed. I put my garden plot to “bed” by adding leaf mulch. We’re lucky to live someplace where you can do winter gardening (and Kayla directed me towards some gorgeous parsley, broccoli, and cauliflower at our August Plant Sale that I popped into my plot), but I’m also feeling grateful to have one less thing to do over the next few months.

I had a great time gardening this spring and summer, but I also didn’t quite give my garden the attention it deserved. I added the gardening without taking something away, and as the summer got busy with activities, maintaining my plot became another item on my to-do list. I wanted to be productive, and I wanted the space to be successful. But I didn’t carve out the time necessary to be present and to get to know what my small patch of green needed from me to thrive. I grew a surprising number of tomatoes and made numerous batches of pesto, but I can only thank the plants for thriving under my benign neglect. As often is the case, I could have done more by doing less.

I’m trying to hold on to that lesson – do more by doing less – even though I’m getting a lot of signals to pick things up. There’s Halloween candy to eat, Black Friday goods to purchase, and holiday shopping to do. ‘Tis the season of over consumption! What can you and I do in this moment to reconnect to the signals from nature?

Rest

I invite you to slow down! Daydream. Take a nap. Heck, make it possible for someone else to take a nap. Tricia Hersey, the brilliant mind behind the Nap Ministry, has shared that rest has an ecological component: when we rest, the Earth rests. How lovely is that!? So: cozy up, folks.

Donate

Consider donating to the causes you love. We’re so grateful to have been chosen by the volunteers of the Seedy Saturday organizing committee to be the backbone organization of the 2025 event. In parallel to the leaf mulch on my garden plot that’s recharging nutrients for a productive growing season next year, the volunteers are putting in time and energy over the winter to make the spring 2025 event a success.

The folks on the committee are giving their time to organize this event, and I invite the rest of us to do what we can to make the event happen. The committee would appreciate donations as small as $5, which will go to ensuring that this community event can happen in February 2025! Make a tax-deductible charitable donation to Seedy Saturday through our fundraising page.

Low-Impact Gifting

If you are a gift giver, think about items that are low impact e.g. locally sourced, secondhand, fair trade, etc. If you can, give the gift of time.  In a world where there’s so much STUFF, think about giving someone an experience or quality time spent together. If you’re like one of my brilliant colleagues who spends this quiet season knitting, carving, weaving, and shaping clay, think about taking on a craft. As part of our site shift (which you may have seen or even heard), we said goodbye to a gorgeous eucalyptus tree. We were able to chip a lot of the eucalyptus tree, and we’ve spread those chips around the site where they will continue their life as they decompose and build soil. We’re also selling larger milled pieces as a fundraiser for our Child and Youth Education Program. Consider buying some mementos of this tree for your next carpentry project.

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Let me know what you think! Do you have other ideas for how to reconnect to nature at this time of the year? I’d love to hear them.

Love,
Claire

Posted in Announcement, Blog, Fundraising, Partnerships, ReflectionsTagged fall, fundraising, givingtuesday, reflections, seedysaturdays

August Organic Plant Sale Wrap up & Thank yous

August 10, 2022

 

Wow, what a great turn out for the plant sale last weekend! A massive thank you to every person who came out to buy plants, connect with community, and celebrate the CEC’s 30th birthday with us.

 

These fundraising events are paramount to the operation of our year-round programming which connects many people, young and old, to composting and ecological gardening education.

 

A special thank you to all the volunteers who wheelbarrowed HUNDREDS of plants from our demonstration gardens to Haegert Park.

And we’d also like to thank our generous event sponsors who made the growth of this year’s sale to a market event possible: Country Grocer, Paper Heart Films, Root Cellar, Chek Media, Hoyne Brewing, Cold Comfort Ice Cream, and Vancity

Happy planting, and remember—you can always call our hotline if you have any composting or gardening questions! 250 386 WORM (9676) 

Posted in Blog, Events, Fundraising, News, Organic Gardening, ReflectionsTagged event, organic gardening, plant sale