February 2019
villagevibe News and views from the heart of Fernwood
SPARK 2019 at the Belfry Your guide to what’s happening at SPARK Festival 2019
›› Mark Dusseault
W
ith a klezmer musical, a hiphop protest piece, a curious and hopeful show about global warming, and a comedy about taking your mom back to Vietnam all making appearances, this year’s Spark Festival is as eclectic as ever. This March, Spark celebrates its tenth anniversary of bringing innovative theatre from across Canada to Victoria, some of it created in our own backyard. Comedian Mike Delamont has had a tremendous impact on Victoria’s comedy scene and is now making his mark across North America, appearing at the Halifax Comedy Festival, Just For Laughs, and on CBC Radio’s The Debaters. Mama’s Boy is his true story about being raised by a single mother who struggled with an addiction to alcohol her entire life. Mike is a talented storyteller who will have you in stitches and in tears. Filmmaker Franco Nguyen went to Vietnam looking for inspiration for his first feature film and found an unexpected subject—his mom. Good Morning Viet Mom is authentic and irreverent, as Nguyen delves into the personal, sharing stories about visiting Vietnam for the first and being re-introduced to the mother he thought he knew. In Sound of the Beast, Toronto emcee Belladonna the Blest (Dora Award-winning playwright DM St. Bernard) shares stories of coming up in Toronto’s budding hip-hop scene, the intersections between conscious rap and political activism, and the sacrifices we make for the things we believe in. Fresh off tours to Australia and the UK, Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story rolls into Spark from March 20 - 24. Musicals at the Belfry are always a joy and Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is a very special
Ben Caplan in Old Stock: A Refugee Story, showing at SPARK Festival March 20 - 24, 2019. Old Stock was nominated for six Drama Desk Awards (New York) including Outstanding Musical. Photo: Stoo Metz
musical. It was nominated for six Drama Desk Awards (in New York) including Outstanding Musical. Starring international Klezmer sensation Ben Caplan, Old Stock is inspired by the true story of Hannah Moscovitch’s grandparents who came to Canada in 1908. Hannah teamed up with Ben and Christian Barry to create this dark folk tale woven together with a high energy concert. With Pathetic Fallacy, actor and director Anita Rochon set herself the challenge of creating a touring piece with a touring party of zero. For each performance we’ll cast a different local person who will take on the central role and explore the line between ancient weather gods and our present-day climate crisis. Spark closes at the end of March with a one-off performance by high school students enrolled in Belfry 101. They come from public and private schools across the region and they always create a gem of theatre.
Donna-Michelle St. Bernard wrote and stars in Sound of the Beast, showing March 12 - 16, 2019. Photo: Graham Isador
As always at Spark, we’ll have dozens of free events you can attend—plays readings, hootenannies, miniplays, and cabarets will abound. You won’t be able to
see everything, but you should try. Ticket and show information is available on our website belfry.bc.ca/2019-sparkfestival or at sparkfestival.ca.
in this issue Mark Your Calendar
Feature
Community Centre
Record Show, March 9th page 3
Thanks from Gift of Good Food page 4
A week of family programs page 5
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guest editorial:
villagevibe
Share my Fernwood story
Published by Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group Editorial Committee
Lee Herrin Lauren Gaultier
Matt Takach Mila Czemerys Founding Editor Lisa Helps
This is an invitation to
Contributors
be included in the next
Mark Dusseault Ruben Anderson Dorothy Field Shonna Bell Heather Leary
Lauren Gaultier Joel Weinstein Kathryn Juricic Kayla Siefried
issue of The Village Vibe!
›› Lauren Gaultier
Are you interested in…
• Sharing your story with your community? • Hosting a neighbour (a Village Vibe contributor) for dinner? • Sharing a recipe with your neighbourhood?
If you said yes to any of these (or preferably all), please send an email to info@fernwoodnrg.ca with the subject line ‘Share my Fernwood story’ and a member of our team will get back to you to make arrangements. Look forward to hearing from you!
Art
Stoo Metz Axel Lauren Gaultier Lauren K
Graham Isador Mila Czemerys Kayla Siefried
Production Mila Czemerys Contact us
1240 Gladstone Avenue Victoria, BC V8T 1G6 T 250.381.1552 F 250.381.1509 info@fernwoodnrg.ca www.villagevibe.ca To enquire about advertising in the Village Vibe, please contact ads@fernwoodnrg.ca The views expressed in the Village Vibe do not necessarily reflect the views of Fernwood NRG.
declaration of principles & values ››
We are committed to creating a socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable neighbourhood;
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We are committed to ensuring neighbourhood control or ownership of neighbourhood institutions and assets;
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We are committed to using our resources prudently and to becoming financially self-reliant;
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We are committed to the creation and support of neighbourhood
buzz:
Planting Peas ›› Ruben Anderson Peas are one of the very first things you can plant in your garden—here in Victoria you can plant peas pretty much as soon as the soil is thawed in the New Year. Many gardeners already have peas in the ground… but it is not too late to plant more. In addition to being delicious and beautiful, peas are legumes, which is a family of plants that convert nitrogen from the air into nitrogen in the soil (with the help of some friendly soil bacteria). This is important because plants need nitrogen to grow the leafy green parts. Most nitrogen fertilizer is synthesized from natural gas—which requires drilling for oil or gas. Replenishing nitrogen naturally with peas and beans or cover crops of clover or alfalfa is the traditional method that avoids fracking. After you have harvested peas you can plant leafy greens like lettuce to take advantage of the nitrogen fixed in the soil. And peas are more than a side dish. Even ornamental sweet peas fix nitrogen—and provide bouquets of lovely and fragrant
Peas are beautiful, delicious, and they fix nitrogen in the soil. Photo: Creative Commons
flowers. If you want to eat just the round pea seed, try a shelling English pea. Snow peas are flat, edible pods you may have first tried in a stir-fry. Sugar snap peas are a cross of the two, with fat and sweet edible pods. I like growing a heritage purple Dutch pea, which has tall vines and beautiful flowers that grow into a deep purple pod. If you pick them early, you can eat the
whole pod, or shell them out when they have matured. I have also grown a Swedish red pea, with eight-foot vines topped with gorgeous blossoms that provided a big handful of dried red peas. You can also enjoy that wonderful pea flavour in salads by picking the tender shoots and first few leaves of the vine, as well as the flowers; the pea plant is all edible and delicious.
employment;
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We are committed to engaging the dreams, resources, and talents of our neighbours and to fostering new links between them;
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We are committed to taking action in response to neighbourhood issues, ideas, and initiatives;
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We are committed to governing our organization and serving our neighbourhood democratically with a maximum of openness, inclusivity and kindness;
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We are committed to developing the skills, capacity, self-worth, and excellence of our neighbours and ourselves;
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We are committed to focusing on the future while preserving our neighbourhood’s heritage and diversity;
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We are committed to creating neighbourhood places that are vibrant, beautiful, healthy, and alive;
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and, most of all, We are committed to having fun!
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villagevibe
February 2019
News and views from the heart of Fernwood
mark your calendar:
buzz: th
Record Show, March 9 Going solar in Fernwood
South Vancouver Island
Record Show coming in March
›› Dorothy Field
›› Joel Weinstein
On January 23rd, with the support of the FCA and Fernwood NRG, Viridian Energy Co-operative and Salish Sea Renewable Energy Co-op (SSREC) presented the case for going solar with the considerable savings of bulk buying solar panels. Tom Mommsen of SSREC opened by busting 3 myths: 1. That we don’t have enough sunshine. We do. 2. B.C. Hydro claims that their power is 98% clean but this doesn’t account for the methane that are its byproducts. In fact, solar is considerably cleaner. 3. Solar is too expensive. It’s not. With solar, there are no unforeseen rate hikes and no taxes. Current equipment lasts at least 35 years. As Hydro’s rates increase, solar savings increase in comparison. SSREC organizes the bulk buying. The bigger the bulk buy, the greater the savings.
If you love music, you will want to be at The South Island Record Show on Saturday, March 9th at the Fernwood Community Centre. There you will find not only LP’s, but also 45s, CDs, concert DVDs, cassettes, and music memorabilia. Demand for vinyl records declined beginning in the late 1980’s primarily due to the arrival of the compact disc. Many consumers chose to put away or give away their record collections. The market for used records had shrunk considerably from the early 1990’s through the early 2000’s. Many of the vendors at the upcoming Record Show are part of the minority who continued buying and spinning records during that time, insisting they had a much better, fuller sound than CDs. Just over a decade ago, local stores began noticing an increase in used record sales. Ever since,
Over 50 vendors will be at the South Vancouver Island Record Show. Photo: Mila Czemerys
records have become much more popular. Our last record show, in November, appealed to teenagers and retirees alike and everyone in between. Many customers spent several hours browsing the 50 plus tables. Vendors from all over the Island and Lower Mainland will be bringing music of various genres: Rock, Jazz, Blues, Punk, New Wave, Folk, Classical, Electronic, Soundtracks, Country to name a few. There will be LPs priced from $1 and up. This fun bi-annual event runs from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, March 9th, 2019. Admission is $2 and kids get in free.
Steve Unger of Viridian Energy Cooperative explained how, in simple terms, the solar panels collect the sun’s energy, an inverter converts DC energy from the panels to the AC energy used in your home. Your home uses that energy first. If you produce an energy surplus, it feeds back to BC Hydro. Your home draws down that surplus in darker seasons. Viridian does the technical evaluations and installations. Risa Smith, also of SSREC, finished off speaking of how going solar builds community and keeps the economic benefits in the community. Going solar democratizes energy and enhances energy security. In the process, the return on your investment outstrips keeping your money in the bank. So much more to say, but maybe this will whet your appetite. If you’d like to receive information on how to take part as this project unfolds, contact ssrecinfo@ gmail.com or call Viridian at 1-888-3860116.
make it happen:
Fernwood Family Dinner About Make It Happen
The Make It Happen projects are new ideas that have been put forward and need time and funding, or they are projects that have been successful but lack long term funding or some other kind of support. Some of these projects are big and some are small—but all of them make a real difference in the lives of some of our neighbours here in Fernwood. If you see a project you think is critically important or would bring
joy to our neighbourhood, please Give Where You Live. You can Make It Happen with your funding or materials.
›› Ruben Anderson Family Dinner has been held at the Fernwood Community Centre on Monday nights for the past five years—but it is only partially funded. It is hard to do a good job—at work, at school, as a parent, as a partner, or as a friend—if you are hungry. But everything is getting more expensive and the grocery
budget is often one of the first things to get cut. With seven other community centres, Fernwood NRG is part of the Coalition of Neighbourhood Houses. Our eight centres gratefully share food donated by ColdStar Solutions, the Food Rescue Project, and grants from Island Saving Credit Union and the United Way. Every week our chef makes a fresh, hot multi-course dinner with both meat and vegetarian entrées. Families are welcome by donation and no one is turned away. Up to a hundred of our neighbours show up for this community meal—and there are usually leftovers and sometimes extra fruit
and vegetables that can be taken home to help stretch the food budget. We put out toys for young kids, and often have books or a craft project to work on. Stevenson Park’s field and playground is also right outside the door for kids to burn off steam, so parents can sit down to eat a meal they didn’t have to cook and don’t have to clean up after. We try to run Family Dinner with a few hours from staff and a bunch of volunteers—and we don’t have enough funding to coordinate volunteers. $3,000 would fund volunteer coordination, kitchen staff, and food rescue staff time for the Family Dinner for 2019.
Here to serve you
MurrayRankin.ca
Community office:
www.fernwoodnrg.ca
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1057 Fort Street, Victoria, British Columbia // 250-363-3600
February 2019
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feature:
Gratitude from The Gift of Good Food In 2018, The Gift of Good Food raised the most funds we ever have!
›› Kathryn Juricic & Mila Czemerys
A
nother six weeks of Gift of Good Food fundraising has come and gone and we have amazing news to share. Together, we raised $88,179, supporting 176 families throughout the region! We surpassed our goal of $80,000 and we are so grateful to our donors and supporters who have been overwhelmingly generous. Once the fundraising is over and the craziness of the holidays gets turned all too fast into the New Year, we certainly have our work cut out for us. Coming back to work after the holidays is made easy when your job is to let people know they’re getting fresh fruits and veggies for themselves and their children the rest of the year. We have organized the delivery of hundreds of Good Food Boxes through our sixteen partner organizations that choose families. I’m happy to report that the first week of Good Food Boxes have been delivered throughout Greater Victoria to hundreds of grateful recipients. They’ll be visiting their local community centres every other week for the rest of the year and leaving with a big bag of vegetables. With that in mind, we’d like to send our
A huge thanks to everyone who contributed to the Gift of Good Food fundraiser. Here are some pictures of a few supporters: (top left to right) Kingtide Films, Mikey Huerta, and Ollie Mckee-Reid, Northern Quarter and Benji’s Pub Quiz, The Zone @ 91.3 and Jon Williams, (bottom left to right) Owl Designer Fair, Ande Down, Ursala and Phillips Brewing Co. Photos: Mila Czemerys
gratitude to Gift of Good Food donors and supporters. 581 donations came through our website and the Fernwood Community Centre in six weeks to make this a success. You are all amazing! Local business who take this fundraiser on as their own include Ashtanga Yoga, Benji’s Pub Quiz and Northern Quarter, Discovery Coffee, The Fernwood Yoga Den, Hoyne Brewing, Luna Collective,
Orca Book Publishers, and REALFOTO. This year, we had twenty-two Gift of Good Food fundraising teams, who got together with friends, their colleagues and family and together raised over $20,000 for the cause. There were tons of volunteers and friends who became the glue that held all the moving parts, thank you for showing up.
Thanks to our creative team who made this year’s fundraising video and song, and all the cuties who were featured, our video was viewed over 4,000 times! It takes skill to film vegetables flying in slow motion— let us tell you. It’s all exhausting and exhilarating and we are grateful to be a part of something that makes a difference with all of you. It is worth it every time.
buzz:
What’s up at The Fern Cafe New vegan cafe opened its doors in Fernwood/North Park
›› Lauren Gaultier Don’t be fooled by the new vegan spot that recently popped up on North Park Street, The Fern Café will leave any carnivore satisfied with their hearty offerings. The Fern has your typical café choices including specialty coffees, teas, and baked goods. If you are a fan of Latte’s, keep in mind this place is vegan, meaning you won’t find milk or cream here, but why not try some oat milk instead? If you are looking for a treat, ask for a cinnamon bun warmed up or one of their many flavours of macarons. If you are looking for lunch, they have plenty of savory options including their Crafty Mac—a spin on the classic macaroni
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villagevibe
The Fern Cafe offers coffee, tea, baked goods, lunch, and more, plus it’s all vegan. Photos: Lauren Gaultier
and cheese dish—or, my favourite so far, the plant based patty “cheese” burger. In addition to being 100% vegan, most of their food is or can be gluten free and many of their ingredients are sourced locally and all made in house.
February 2019
The young, first-time entrepreneurial couple, Tamara and Braden, have been working together performing non-stop hours to meet the demand of their growing customer base. According to their website, they “had a dream and wanted to share it
with the world” and their dream is evidently shared by way of a growing social media following, raving google reviews, and the need for additional part-time help. If you want more information, check them out in person or online ferncafeandbakery.ca.
News and views from the heart of Fernwood
community centre:
A week of family programs
Hollis Thorau (left) and Shonna Bell (right) are the family programs team at the Fernwood Community Centre. Photo: Mila Czemerys
Family Programs at the Fernwood Community Centre continue to flourish in 2019. Here’s a look at a week in the life of our family programs team.
›› Shonna Bell We start Monday mornings out right with our Parent-Child Mother Goose program. This free, drop-in program welcomes anyone who wants to come sing with their baby. Songs are learnt over weeks of repetition and parents leave with an increased repertoire of songs to sing. Most families in Fernwood know that Mondays are Family Dinner night at the Fernwood Community Centre and have been for the last 5 years. Dinner is at 5pm. We have also welcomed new chef Patrick Gleeson to the centre. It’s his goal to have a vegetarian and vegan option at each meal—although this cannot be guaranteed every time. On Tuesdays, the Fernwood team heads to the Quadra Village Community Centre to provide the Victoria Best Babies Program to families in Quadra Village. The group starts at 11am and lunch is at noon. This is a free, registered program for women facing challenging life circumstances. Meanwhile, at the Fernwood Community Centre on Tuesdays, there is the free Family Law Clinic. This year we have a new team of lawyers who are excited to be providing family members with a 30 minute legal consultation. This program is by appointment only and an intake form must be completed before an appointment can be booked. Victoria Best Babies is back at the Fernwood Community Centre on Wednesdays
www.fernwoodnrg.ca
for our post-natal program. Lunch is at 11:30am and the group starts at 12pm. This free, registered program is for women facing challenging life circumstances. Parents and their children can attend for up to one year. Thursday mornings is our Family Resource Program and play group. We have free play from 9:30am-10:30am, then clean-up and snack time (provided), ending with music by Ian Sirias at 11am. At the program, you will almost always find a large table of donated clothing and other items to take with you as well as Family Support staff to talk with. Every other Thursday, we have a COBS bread donation—so if you are missing it at George Jay that week you can always come by. Thursdays we have our Victoria Best Babies prenatal program. Lunch is at 11:30am and the group starts at 12pm. This is a free, registered program for women facing challenging life circumstances. Parents and their children can attend for up to one year. This month we are excited to have a prenatal birth educator, a doula, and a yoga teacher visiting the program. There will be yoga with Flo on the first Thursday of each month. Finally, on Fridays, our Family Resource Program and play group runs again. It is a very similar format to Thursdays. We have free play from 9:30am-10:30am, then clean-up time, snack time (provided), ending with a fun art project at 11am. Some upcoming workshops are our Free Tax Clinic, Nobody’s Perfect, and Ready to Rent. Watch the Village Vibe for more information on these resources. Family Programs staff are available by phone or email to advise and connect families with community resources that are available. These resources could include housing and the BC housing registry, pregnancy related resources, other community centres, parenting programs, and more. To get in touch, call 250-381-1552 extension 100 and ask for the Family Programs team or email shonna@fernwoodnrg.ca.
February 2019
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community centre:
Student Dinner is a community Join us on Wednesday evenings for a healthy meal and more
›› Kathryn Juricic Student Dinner continues to feed the people! Let me get this straight, Student Dinner is for students and for ALL young folks (who aren’t necessarily students). For people who are hungry—come eat! Every Wednesday we have a lovely team of youth serving you up something delicious. Before I go on, I want to send gratitude to David Gillis, our former Chef at the Centre who has moved on to other adventures. Thank you for feeding our community for over a year, David! Your food is amazing and we miss you! With David onto other things, the Fernwood Community Centre has a new chef in the house. Welcome Patrick Gleeson! Patrick has been cookin’ up a storm for a number of weeks now and he sure knows what’s up. He brings experience as former head chef at ReBar and, well, we are very pleased with that. He’s been making vegan meals for the past couple of weeks so you can expect dinner that serves a range of
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villagevibe
Enjoy a plate of hearty, home-made, wholesome food prepared weekly at the Fernwood Community Centre for students of all ages. Photo: Mila Czemerys
dietary restrictions that are really tasty. How exactly do we pull this off? Every week, the Fernwood Community Centre receives cases of donated fruits and vegetables from The Mustard Seed through a Coalition of Neighbourhood Houses Program. And every week, our kitchen team receives these random fruits
February 2019
and vegetables and turns them into two community meals: Family Dinner and Student Dinner. There is no planning, due to not knowing what fruits and vegetables are going to show up, and, gosh, do they make it work! That’s all to say, come eat, send your kids down to join us. We have talented people
cooking and delightful youth serving food. It’s healthy, delicious, supportive, affordable, and we often have enough for folks to take leftovers home. Student Dinner will also host slam poetry nights, musicians, and more to make the nights a little more entertaining. Every Wednesday, we’ll be posting our menu on our ongoing Facebook event. Search for Fernwood NRG on Facebook and find Student Dinner under the Events tab. Thank you to all of our volunteers and the folks who have been coming out to Student Dinner. We are building an amazing community of people who are invested in this place and each other. It’s a beautiful thing what happens when we come together over a shared meal! If you’d like to perform or host an event at Student Dinner, volunteer, or are part of a community group looking for a platform to share what’s happening, please contact me at kathryn@fernwoodnrg.ca. Student Dinner is every Wednesday evening in the Fernwood Community Centre gymnasium from 5:30-7:30pm. Dinner is by-donation (suggested $5) and no one is turned away. Bring a reusable container for leftovers.
News and views from the heart of Fernwood
garden gleanings:
Dreaming and scheming for the 2019 garden! ›› Kayla Siefried During these balmy days on Southern Vancouver Island, I get very excited to see broad beans sprout out from beneath thick garden mulch. My mind quickly turns to planning for the 2019 garden! First, I get organized: I take stock of what worked, and what didn’t, in my garden last year. Next, I excitingly plan which veggies and herbs I will grow this year. After that, I like to map out garden beds on some paper, ensuring proper crop rotation (i.e. rotating leaf-fruit-root-legume). Following that, I go through my seeds from last year ensuring I make use of any that may expire, meanwhile making note of new seeds I’d like to purchase. Perusing seed catalogues and websites is a great way to get a feel for the vast variety of options there are. Full Circle Seeds is a local organic seed grower whose products, including an amazing variety of
Broad beans sprouting out of the mulch at the Compost Education Centre. Photo: Kayla Siefried
organic vegetable seeds, we sell here at the Compost Education Centre. After getting organized, I research which seeds will need to be planted when, and whether they will
need a head start indoors, or if I can directly sow the seeds outside. The West Coast Seeds Vegetable Planting chart is helpful for reference and is available online from
mark your calendar:
mark your calendar:
Seedy Saturday, February 16th
Fernwood Art Stroll call-out
The place to start when starting from seed
›› Heather Leary While most of Canada is still in winter’s icy grip, gardeners on Vancouver Island are planning their spring, which officially starts with Victoria Seedy Saturday on February 16th. Running from 10am to 4pm at the Victoria Conference Centre, Seedy Saturday offers opportunities for gardeners— and the gardening curious—to connect, share ideas, acquire new seeds, plants or tools, and prepare for the gardening season ahead. Seedy Saturday in 2019 has a particular focus on container gardening and growing in small spaces to inspire the urban gardener. A full day of speakers and workshops features topics ranging from how to grow a seed, worm composting and container gardening to growing hops, mushroom
www.fernwoodnrg.ca
westcoastseeds.com. Next, I plot that information on a calendar, so I know what will need planting when. Even though I inevitably stray slightly from the schedule, it’s a great effort to stay organized! Finally, I get my seedling growing station cleaned up and ready to host my little baby leeks and tomatoes later on in February and March. Winter is also a great time of year to gather all the information you’ll need to have a successful, fun gardening season. With Seedy Saturday events happening in the region throughout January and February, there are ample opportunities to chat with other gardeners and learn from expert instructors. Here at the Compost Education Centre in Fernwood, we’ve got a whole slew of gardening related workshops happening most Saturdays in 2019 compost.bc.ca. While the garden is still sleepy, enjoy rest, while dreaming and scheming about what will grow in 2019!
Calling all Fernwoodbased artists and artisans
Seedy Saturday is always a well-attended day of everything gardening. Photo: Lauren K
cultivation, keeping plastic out of your garden, and more. Victoria Seedy Saturday also hosts over 60 vendors and exhibitors offering seeds, plants, tubers, gardening tools, as well as, a variety of local food products. Also in attendance are a number of garden societies, clubs, and educational programs. Gardeners are invited to bring home grown seeds of the vegetable, herb, or flower variety to donate or trade at the Seed
Exchange. Gardening books and magazines can be traded at the Seedy Saturday Book Exchange. A kid’s activity area offers a range of hands on activities to inspire young gardeners and teach some growing basics. Admission is $8 and includes presentations, workshops, and activities. Cash and credit cards are accepted at the door. Detailed info about speakers, workshops and activities is posted at jamesbaymarket. com/victoria-seedy-saturday-2019.
›› Margaret Hantiuk The Fernwood Art Stroll organizing committee is meeting now to organize the 2019 Fernwood Art Stroll which will be held in June. If you are interested in opening your studio to the public for show and sale of your work, and would like to join a dynamic group to help put on this event, please contact me at mmhantiuk@ shaw.ca or 250-882-1929.
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Scene in Fernwood : Gift of Good Food partners