Hello Gardeners
We are having a fall clean up at the 100 block Victoria St Public Produce on Sunday Oct 14th at 2-4pm. Please wear work clothes, long sleeves, gloves. If you have any ideas for next years gardens please let us know.
thank you Erin
Monday, October 8, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
August is Awesome.
This past weekend we had a couple of wonderful events in the garden - a 'Gourmet from the Garden' workshop on Saturday morning, and a Kids' Fun Day on Sunday. I'd write about them, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words....
Local-food guru and chef David Tombs and his assistant Alamu Durand, of Terra Restaurant (326 Victoria St), came to teach a workshop on cooking straight from the garden on Saturday morning. David first walked through the garden with us, talking about the different vegetables available there and their respective uses in dishes. Who knew you could make pesto with nasturtium leaves?!
David then proceeded to whip up his own incredible 'Kamloops' version of Singapore Slaw, a recipe that uses a number of locally-grown veggies but was developed by a Toronto chef. Purple cabbage, tomatoes, green onions, grated carrot, nasturtium petals, and kale all went into the salad, then were doused with a delectable nectarine vinaigrette. Fresh, local, deeelicious!! (And I've heard hints that a version of this salad may be featured on their September menu...)
Thank you, David and Alamu!
(Find out more about Terra Restaurant on their facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/terrarestaurantkamloops)
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On Sunday we held a day for the kids at our newest garden, at McDonald Park on the North Shore. The kids enjoyed many activities, including 'build-your-own sprouter', 'guess-that-vegetable' (bottom photo), plant-a-seed, a colouring booth, and facepainting with Krystal Williams of KAtypical Services. We also had some incredible farmers market snacks available - and check out those amazing edible flowers (second photo from the bottom) that Shelaigh picked right there at the McDonald Park garden!!
A huge thank you to donors:
Fratelli Foods, Nature's Fare, Thistle Farm, Rubinsons' Farm, Sweet Berry Farm, Benchland Orchards, and Kazy Farms.
Our last event of August is coming up this Saturday - a local food challenge potluck at noon in the downtown Public Produce garden. Bring your best local-food dish with a copy of the recipe, a plate and some cutlery, and your appetite of course! Prizes available for local ingredients used in a creative way.
See you in the garden!!
Local-food guru and chef David Tombs and his assistant Alamu Durand, of Terra Restaurant (326 Victoria St), came to teach a workshop on cooking straight from the garden on Saturday morning. David first walked through the garden with us, talking about the different vegetables available there and their respective uses in dishes. Who knew you could make pesto with nasturtium leaves?!
David then proceeded to whip up his own incredible 'Kamloops' version of Singapore Slaw, a recipe that uses a number of locally-grown veggies but was developed by a Toronto chef. Purple cabbage, tomatoes, green onions, grated carrot, nasturtium petals, and kale all went into the salad, then were doused with a delectable nectarine vinaigrette. Fresh, local, deeelicious!! (And I've heard hints that a version of this salad may be featured on their September menu...)
Thank you, David and Alamu!
(Find out more about Terra Restaurant on their facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/terrarestaurantkamloops)
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On Sunday we held a day for the kids at our newest garden, at McDonald Park on the North Shore. The kids enjoyed many activities, including 'build-your-own sprouter', 'guess-that-vegetable' (bottom photo), plant-a-seed, a colouring booth, and facepainting with Krystal Williams of KAtypical Services. We also had some incredible farmers market snacks available - and check out those amazing edible flowers (second photo from the bottom) that Shelaigh picked right there at the McDonald Park garden!!
A huge thank you to donors:
Fratelli Foods, Nature's Fare, Thistle Farm, Rubinsons' Farm, Sweet Berry Farm, Benchland Orchards, and Kazy Farms.
Our last event of August is coming up this Saturday - a local food challenge potluck at noon in the downtown Public Produce garden. Bring your best local-food dish with a copy of the recipe, a plate and some cutlery, and your appetite of course! Prizes available for local ingredients used in a creative way.
See you in the garden!!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
August Events
Hello everyone! We've got some wonderful events coming up in the gardens this weekend and next. Spread the word, invite your friends, join the community, make a day of it! Hope to see you there!!
'Gourmet from the Garden' with chef David Tombs of Terra Restaurant
Saturday August 18th at 10 am, 121 Victoria St
It's getting to be harvest time, and if you're not sure how to cook up all the delicious treats you've worked so hard to grow in your garden, come see how the pros do it! Watch and participate as David cooks up a dish using ingredients from the garden. Promises to be an educational and delicious workshop :)
**Registration is FREE; to register, simply e-mail us at publicproduceproject@gmail.com with your name and phone number.
Family Day
Sunday August 19th, 10 am - 1 pm, McDonald Park Demonstration Garden
We want to get the kids learning about growing a garden! Bring the whole family on Sunday for a visit to the new demonstration public produce and community garden at McDonald Park - there will be craft booths, face painting, veggies for snacking, and workshops for the kids about dirt, bugs, and seeds.
** We are still looking for volunteers to help out with this event - please email us if you are willing to help out, even for a little bit! Thanks!
Summer Wrap-Up: Local Eats Challenge Potluck
Saturday August 25th, 12 pm at 121 Victoria St
We've had a great summer season, and we want to celebrate with our friends! Come join in our celebratory potluck lunch in the garden - the challenge is to bring a dish using as many local ingredients as possible. Prizes available! Please provide a recipe with your dish.
See you in the garden,
Amanda
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Worm Composting Workshop
Hi all,
Just a reminder that the next session in our free workshop series will cover The Basics of Worm Composting (indoor and outdoor) and will take place next Saturday, July 21st, at noon at our downtown garden (121 Victoria St). A brief description:
Although this workshop is free to everyone, pre-registration is mandatory and will be available at https://ezregsvr.kamloops.ca/ezreg/Start/start.asp with the course number #199682.
Feel free to contact us at publicproduceproject@gmail.com with any questions about workshops!
See you in the garden!
Just a reminder that the next session in our free workshop series will cover The Basics of Worm Composting (indoor and outdoor) and will take place next Saturday, July 21st, at noon at our downtown garden (121 Victoria St). A brief description:
A general 'how-to' information session on worm composting, both indoor and outdoor, with Mel Andersen of All Things Organic. Mel's vermicomposting workshops are rare and were the first of their kind in Canada - truly a workshop that is not to be missed! He will cover the basics of do-it-yourself worm composting in 25 - 30 minutes of instruction, followed by a question-and-answer period.
Although this workshop is free to everyone, pre-registration is mandatory and will be available at https://ezregsvr.kamloops.ca/ezreg/Start/start.asp with the course number #199682.
Feel free to contact us at publicproduceproject@gmail.com with any questions about workshops!
See you in the garden!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Summer Savoury 'Kale-sadilla' : Recipes from the Garden
As Napoleon Dynamite's tough old aunt once said, 'Make yourself a dang quesadilla!' ...Can't argue with that; and this particular recipe makes for a tasty summer lunch and a great way to use summer veggies, including that red kale we've got growing in the Public Produce Garden (hint, hint)
Like all our recipes, you're encouraged play around with the ingredients as you please! (In the photos, we used a different type of kale from a home garden, but any type would do.)
It's super simple, too! Cut off the ribs of the kale and tear the green leaves into pieces. Just lay a tortilla in a frying pan. (Using a non-stick ceramic pan, allows you to skip the oil) Place the kale pieces on top of the tortilla - pile it high! Top the kale with red pepper slices, thinly cut tomato slices, or any other veggies you want to try. Sprinkle that with lots of your favourite grated cheese.
Like all our recipes, you're encouraged play around with the ingredients as you please! (In the photos, we used a different type of kale from a home garden, but any type would do.)
It's super simple, too! Cut off the ribs of the kale and tear the green leaves into pieces. Just lay a tortilla in a frying pan. (Using a non-stick ceramic pan, allows you to skip the oil) Place the kale pieces on top of the tortilla - pile it high! Top the kale with red pepper slices, thinly cut tomato slices, or any other veggies you want to try. Sprinkle that with lots of your favourite grated cheese.
Finish off the recipe by topping with another tortilla, and you're ready to cook! Starting with a pretty high heat to get the cheese to melt and the tortilla to crisp, cover the pan with a lid. It will take about 5 mins. for the kale to soften and the cheese to melt. You'll want to monitor the heat and turn it down after a few minutes, also pressing down on the top tortilla with a spatula. Flip the whole thing (it holds together pretty well) and cook for another few minutes without the lid.
When it's done, just slip the Kale-sadilla onto a cutting board and slice into wedges. Eat it plain or serve with your favourite salsa for dipping! Yummmm!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Spreading the word!
This weekend, a couple of us from the Kamloops Public Produce working group got the chance to attend the 2012 BC Food Systems Network Gathering, held at Camp Fircom on beautiful Gambier Island. The weekend's theme was Reclaiming Our Food Systems: Policy and Practice, and boy, did it deliver! It was so inspiring to connect with leaders of the food security movement from all over the province who are doing incredible things. We were so grateful for the opportunity to attend. We also got the chance to brag spread the word about our project, and found that many were learning about Public Produce for the first time!
The BC Food Systems Network does amazing work connecting people and organizations who work on food security in our province. To learn more, get involved, and/or join one of their very informative listservs, visit fooddemocracy.org.
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We returned home from the weekend to find that the word about KPPP is really getting out there: we had an article published in Saturday's Globe and Mail! This is great for our project and Kamloops in general. We are so proud of our movement and for our city for supporting progress in the right direction.
Check out the article here!
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See you in the garden,
Amanda
Last but definitely not least, an update on our continuing workshop series: on Saturday, July 21st at 12 pm, Mel Andersen of All Things Organic will be giving a workshop on The Basics of Worm Composting at our downtown garden. Here's a description of the workshop:
A general 'how-to' information session on worm composting, both indoor and outdoor, with Mel Andersen of All Things Organic. Mel's vermicomposting workshops are rare and were the first of their kind in Canada - truly a workshop that is not to be missed! He will cover the basics of do-it-yourself worm composting in 25 - 30 minutes of instruction, followed by a question-and-answer period.
Although this workshop is free to everyone, pre-registration is mandatory and will be available at https://ezregsvr.kamloops.ca/ezreg/Start/start.asp with the course number #199682. Feel free to contact us at publicproduceproject@gmail.com with any questions about workshops!
A general 'how-to' information session on worm composting, both indoor and outdoor, with Mel Andersen of All Things Organic. Mel's vermicomposting workshops are rare and were the first of their kind in Canada - truly a workshop that is not to be missed! He will cover the basics of do-it-yourself worm composting in 25 - 30 minutes of instruction, followed by a question-and-answer period.
Although this workshop is free to everyone, pre-registration is mandatory and will be available at https://ezregsvr.kamloops.ca/ezreg/Start/start.asp with the course number #199682. Feel free to contact us at publicproduceproject@gmail.com with any questions about workshops!
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I was too busy BEING there to take too many photos this weekend at the Gathering, but here are a few of the shots I did get:
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| The Camp Fircom farm |
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| An evening campfire. No shortage of beautiful weather and great company over the weekend! |
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| Coastal beauty, made even prettier with colour effects ;) |
Amanda
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Come harvest some early season treats!
Some of our produce is ready for harvest!!!
Next time you're swinging by the garden, bring your basket and some scissors or a sharp knife, and pick up some of these tasty treats:
Mizuna
Mizuna is a flavourful, slightly spicy Asian green in the Brassica family that makes a great accent to any green salad. Harvest by cutting with a knife or scissors about 2 inches from the ground, as shown below:
Mizuna
Mizuna is a flavourful, slightly spicy Asian green in the Brassica family that makes a great accent to any green salad. Harvest by cutting with a knife or scissors about 2 inches from the ground, as shown below:
Oregano
Oregano is a hardy perennial herb that tastes delicious and is used in many styles of cooking including Greek, Italian and Mexican. Harvest by picking leaves or sprigs where they branch off from the stem.
Viola Flowers (Johnny Jump-Ups)
These lovely little purple and yellow flowers (Johnny-Jump-Ups are the smallest of the edible Viola flowers) make for a beautiful splash of colour in your salad!! Use as soon as possible after harvesting.
Lettuce
No explanation needed ;) These tender baby greens are delicious and nutritious - and they need thinning, so get down here and harvest some! Best harvesting practice is to cut the leaf about 3 inches from the ground.
A huge thanks to all the volunteers who work so hard to get our garden growing the way it should!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Call for Input!
We need your input!
We're putting together a whole new season of gardening workshops at the Public Produce sites in Kamloops, and while we make our list, we want to know what you want to learn!
Last year's workshops proved to be fun, useful and very well-attended, so we are looking to increase the variety of learning opportunities offered this year - especially since we are adding the new McDonald Park garden on the North shore to our list of workshop sites.
Have you always wanted to learn more about what to plant to help friendly pollinator insects?
Have the specifics of cultivating and applying your own compost always evaded you?
Would you like to witness the soil - to - plate journey of a recipe made directly out of a local garden??
The three above are all workshops we are already planning this year, and we're looking forward to seeking out local experts for any and all topics you'd like to learn about this summer.
No topic is too simple or too wild for us to consider - we want to hear them all!
ALSO if you are passionate and knowledgeable about a gardening topic or skill, please let us know if you are interested in giving a workshop in the garden this summer. We'd love to have you join our team of experts!
To submit a workshop idea, please contact us at publicproduceproject@gmail.com OR post on our facebook page "Kamloops Public Produce Project"
THANK YOU - we look forward to putting on the workshop YOU've been waiting for :)
We're putting together a whole new season of gardening workshops at the Public Produce sites in Kamloops, and while we make our list, we want to know what you want to learn!
Last year's workshops proved to be fun, useful and very well-attended, so we are looking to increase the variety of learning opportunities offered this year - especially since we are adding the new McDonald Park garden on the North shore to our list of workshop sites.
Have you always wanted to learn more about what to plant to help friendly pollinator insects?
Have the specifics of cultivating and applying your own compost always evaded you?
Would you like to witness the soil - to - plate journey of a recipe made directly out of a local garden??
The three above are all workshops we are already planning this year, and we're looking forward to seeking out local experts for any and all topics you'd like to learn about this summer.
No topic is too simple or too wild for us to consider - we want to hear them all!
ALSO if you are passionate and knowledgeable about a gardening topic or skill, please let us know if you are interested in giving a workshop in the garden this summer. We'd love to have you join our team of experts!
To submit a workshop idea, please contact us at publicproduceproject@gmail.com OR post on our facebook page "Kamloops Public Produce Project"
THANK YOU - we look forward to putting on the workshop YOU've been waiting for :)
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Thank You, City of Kamloops Social Planning Council!
In November, members of the Kamloops Food Policy Council put together a grant proposal on behalf of the Public Produce Project and submitted it to the City of Kamloops Social Planning Council. We recently received the good news that we have been allocated $3,000 to go toward running the Public Produce Project in its second year!! Yahooo!!
Laura Kalina receives our 'big cheque' from Jen Casorso from the City of Kamloops Social and Community Development Committee
This next phase of the project will involve more partnerships with community groups; educational workshops about gardening and related topics; more ‘Adopt-an-Edible’ plants at local businesses; and hopefully a re-planting and continuing care for the garden at 121 Victoria Street.
We are so excited to have this financial support from the city along with the support of many partner community groups and enthusiastic individuals. If you would like to volunteer with the Public Produce Project in any capacity, or if there is a workshop topic that you would like to see offered this year, please contact us at publicproduceproject@gmail.com.
See you in the garden!!
This next phase of the project will involve more partnerships with community groups; educational workshops about gardening and related topics; more ‘Adopt-an-Edible’ plants at local businesses; and hopefully a re-planting and continuing care for the garden at 121 Victoria Street.
We are so excited to have this financial support from the city along with the support of many partner community groups and enthusiastic individuals. If you would like to volunteer with the Public Produce Project in any capacity, or if there is a workshop topic that you would like to see offered this year, please contact us at publicproduceproject@gmail.com.
See you in the garden!!
Monday, January 30, 2012
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