villagevibe January 2008 : News and views from the heart of Fernwood
Photo: Keith Hoon
Photos: Bill McKechnie
u ve to yo o l d n a ! Peace ew year in t h e n
Freecycle or garbage? Sharing gardens >> by Trish Richards
E
ver notice that the boulevards in the ’hood are home to much more than seasonal vegetation. They are usually sprouting a range of things that their owners no longer have any use for. Everything from boxes of old clothes to sofas to toilets. What is going on here? There is a rather fine line between Freecycling and garbage dumping. Freecycling is a timehonoured tradition in Fernwood. Everyone knows that rather than mess about with a garage sale, you can put a couple of boxes out on the boulevard, mark it “Free” and much of it will be gone come morning. Another fine example of this is the unofficial Freecycle site below the gazebo in Fernwood Square. While some of us might prefer a tidier version, it actually works fairly well. The thing about Freecycling is that if no one takes your castoffs, the responsibility remains with you to find some way of disposing of them. If WIN, Saint Vincent de Paul or the Salvation Army won’t take them and they can’t be recycled, then they are probably destined for the landfill, and it is up to you to get them there. With larger items, the old mattresses, the sofas, the obsolete electronic equipment, the problem is of a different sort. These are items that the agencies won’t take, and generally, no one else wants either. Although you might be able to freecycle a sofa – in fact, just the other day I saw a couple of hardy souls hoofing a large sofa up Roseberry Hill – this is the exception. For the most part, boulevard sofas get left out in the rain for long enough to be of no use to anyone. Some provide seating for passersby in the night, sometimes just long enough for a stray cigarette to set them aflame. Like the one left in Kings Park last summer, the fire from which took half my neighbour’s fence along with it.
The City will pick up large boulevard leavings if someone calls to complain. However, City staff estimate the cost of ad hoc pickup to be $100,000 per year. It is an expense that they are none too happy about. Dumping is illegal and you can be fined up to $500 if you are caught at it. In November’s Village Vibe we published a letter that asked the City to work with the neighbourhood on the dumping problem. Now we need to look at some made-in-Fernwood solutions. One idea is to hold a Fernwood Freecycle day each year. We could designate a Saturday in April where throughout Fernwood anyone with stuff to get rid of could put it out and anyone who is looking could check it out. Then, on the Monday, the city crews could pick up the leavings. Another idea is to revive the Fernwood NRG spring and fall garage sales. We could encourage Fernwoodians to turn out by providing the option of disposing of unsold items to the agencies, Plastics Recycling, or the landfill. If you have other freecycling ideas, we want to hear them. Write to placemaking@ fernwoodneighbourhood.ca. Tell us your idea and how you could help to make it happen. Lets work together to keep our boulevards clear enough to give the seasonal vegetation a fighting chance! Some things you can do right away before taking the boulevard route are: > Call the CRD Recycling Hotline at 360-3030 > Try the FREE postings on: - Used Victoria at http://www.usedvictoria.com/ - Freecycle at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ victoriafreecycle/
>> by R ainey Hopewell
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atchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, find me a garden, catch me a... Pole bean? Beet? Potato? Introducing the Fernwood NRG Food Security Collective’s newest brainchild …“Sharing Gardens!” Are you a Fernwoodian or Oaklandish vegetable lover with a fallow garden space, or space for a new garden plot? Are you thinking you could grow food in that space, if only you had some help? Are you a thwarted urban vegetable-gardener with no access to garden space? Are you thinking you could grow the vegetables of your dreams, if only you had a plot? If you recognize yourself in either of these descriptions, the Fernwood NRG Food Security Collective’s “Sharing Gardens” program might be able to arrange a match for you. Here’s how it works: If you have a productive vegetable garden with which you need help, or a garden lying fallow, or space where a new garden plot could be created, register that information with the “Sharing Gardens” program by calling Rainey Hopewell at 380-5055. Someone will come to your space,
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in this issue Armchair reads for a neighbourhood evolution Page 3 Feature: The all-ages scene Page 4 Fernwood floor hockey flying high Page 6