Workshop Topic Survey

Hello fellow folks in the Near North!

The Locavores are looking for your input on what type of topics you would be interested in seeing us host in the next upcoming year. Please take a moment to fill out our survey.

Thanks!




Click here to take our Online Survey

A Great Video on Local Food from Northern Edge Algonquin

Near North Locavore member and kitchen and garden manager at Northern Edge Algonquin Greg Waters talks with Todd Lucier (also of Northern Edge) about local and organic food, and
gives a tour of the garden at Northern Edge and local farmers' markets. This video was shot last summer.

Enjoy the video!

Photos from the Locavore Community Garden

Finally here are a few photos of the Locavore garden!

It is a mish-mash of photos from different times, and we will get more taken once there is more to see. ;)

First, the overall layout of the garden:

We started this from scratch...lifting the sod, and then digging about 1.5 feet down and adding compost. No easy task, even with such a small garden! It is a grid of 20 deep beds, that vary in size, but none more than 4 feet across (for easy access).

This is a view facing West, showing the whole garden, including the containers (there are newly planted peas in the recycle bins, and other veggies and herbs in the containers).

Facing South, there are tomatoes in the first bed, then nasturtiums, dill, carrots, and cilantro in the beds behind.

Again facing South, there are nasturtiums, pole beans, bush beans, carrots, onions, chard, and chives in this row of beds.

Again bush beans, pole beans, nasturtiums, chard, lettuce, carrots, and beets.

This is the last row of beds. Pole beans, beets, nasturtiums, lettuce, and spinach.

And now here are some random shots of the garden:

Mint in the shade garden

Double chamomile

Daisy fleabane

Pansies

Chives

Lemon balm

More mint

Thyme

Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Sweet woodruff in the shade garden

Lady's mantle in the partial shade garden

More sweet woodruff

Oregano

Ryerson University Offers Free Online Course About Urban Agriculture!

Thank you to City Farmer for originally posting about this on their blog!

Ryerson University and the RUAF are offering free distance course online about urban agriculture. Here is an outline of the programming:


Distance Learning on Urban Agriculture (UA)

Course 1 - Understanding UA


Module 1 - The Concept of Urban Agriculture


Module 2 - Building Blocks of Urban Agriculture


Module 3 - Types of urban agriculture


Module 4 - Direct and indirect stakeholders in UA


Module 5 - Dimensions of UA: Benefits and functions


Module 6 - Dimensions of UA: Problems and risks


Module 7 - Constraints and opportunities facing UA


Module 8 - History and trends I


Module 9 - History and trends II


Module 10 - Analyzing urban agriculture I


Module 11 - Analyzing urban agriculture II


Module 12 - Supporting urban agriculture I


Module 13 - Supporting urban agriculture II


Module 14 - Exam

Course 2 - Dimensions of UA


Module 1 - The Multiple Dimensions of UA


Module 2 - Food Security and Nutrition Dimensions


Module 3 - Management of Health Risks


Module 4 - Environmental Dimensions of UA - Part A


Module 5 - Environmental Dimensions of UA - Part B


Module 6 - Gender Dimensions of Urban Agriculture


Module 7 - Social inclusion, community building &..


Module 8 - Economic Dimensions of Urban Agriculture


Module 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture


Module 10 - Urban Agriculture for Resilient Cities


Module 11 - UA, (multifunctional) land use planning


Module 12 - Assessing the Multiple Dimensions of UA


Module 13 - Bringing all of the Dimensions together


Module 14 - Final Exam

This course is also available with a tutor for a fee. Info about this can be found here.

Strawberry Festival!

Strawberries by Adriaen Coorte {1696}

Due to the crops not being ready, the North Bay Downtown Farmers' Market Strawberry Festival has been postponed again this year until Saturday July 11th.

Here is a blurb from the Market website:

Be sure to get to the Market early that day to buy your strawberries – all vendors were sold out before 11:00am last year. The Market Booth will have a limited number of flats of strawberries available for sale this year, but they go fast!

Everyone can look forward to many delicious strawberry treats made by the vendors – including Strawberry Shortcakes being sold at the Market Booth the day of the Strawberry Festival. Help support the North Bay Downtown Farmers’ Market as all proceeds go towards making the dream of a permanent home for North Bay’s Downtown Farmers’ Market come true.

Hope to see you all there!