If you are a returning customer, send me an email or give me a call to let me know the day you plan to come. That way I will bring extra bokashi for you.
If you are a returning customer, send me an email or give me a call to let me know the day you plan to come. That way I will bring extra bokashi for you.
New this year: All customers will get a bokashi card. After your 5th refill, you get a free bag of bokashi!!
June 28 – Kitsilano [Map] July 1 – Main Street Station [Map] July 8 – Main Street June 15 – Main Street July 22 – Main Street July 26 – Kitsilano July 29 – Kitsilano Aug 2 – Gastown [Map] – New! Aug 9 – Kitsilano Aug 16 – Gastown Aug 23 – Kitsilano Aug 16 – Gastown Sept 6 – Kitsilano Sept 27 – Salmon Celebration*
Oct 18 – Kitsilano
Oct 25 – Kitsilano
*in Vanier Park [Corrected 25Sep09 – Not a Farmers Market event. Regrets for the inconvenience this may have caused]
I have also applied to am attending the Gastown Farmers Market which will operate on Sundays between August and September. When I know my dates, I’ll add them here and in the sidebar. -30-
…made up of 4 established world beat DJs, who spin the best dance music on the planet… from funked out afrobeat to sexy middle-eastern bellydance to bangin’ bhangra, we’ll rock the party, guaranteed.
*As I recall, Diwali celebrations were focused in the Punjabi Market area of Vancouver and were getting a bit rowdy and uncontrolled with fireworks going off and large groups of [young] people congregating in the streets. So making it a city wide event diffused that energy which some people are unhappy about.
-30-
Last year, the day before I joined the Co-Operative Auto Network, I went the Vancouver Music Festival and spent some time at the outside market along the fence. I decided that I would bring my bokashi buckets next year and so I did.
This was the first time I brought inventory ready to sell at an event. I started getting ready on Wednesday with new flyers and material. I hired J, my neighbour’s son as my assistant and ‘guard dog’ as he called himself.
We started early and got there about 8:30 A.M. All day parking for $5? Can’t beat that. Got a spot between two existing booths and started to setup. Three trips later I was ready for the day:
That’s J, not me. Here I am at work:
All I can say is that the day was very long. It was great too. Lots of information given out and explanations made. I brought bokashi to sell separately and a few people bought that. As well, I have two new bokashi composting customers:
Lisa and Devin:
Kathy and Jeremy:
[Kathy has provided me with two referrals – Thanks!]
My neighbours included Miriam of Flaming Angels Design
had helpful advice about vending to share
and Leslie [taking a break]
who lent us her comfy chairs for us to sit on. Much appreciated!! I went out and bought one on Monday.
Got Old Electronics? Anyone with old computers, printers and electronics is encouraged to drop by Metropolis at Metrotown’s Atrium Court between April 16 -22. Metropolis at Metrotown will recycle all electronics for free!
Bonus: “What’s more? Get a free herb planter in exchange for electronics and help lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions while quantities last!”
Where: Mount Pleasant Community Center
3161 Ontario Street
Vancouver , BC V5T 2Z1
Description:
We will be supplying
Seed – Crimson clover, White dutch clover, grass seeds, wild flowers
bring your own seeds to add to the mix – California poppy welcome
Red Clay
Compost
Mixing bowls
You will need to bring
a container for taking your seed balls home – something like a small pizza box so that the seed balls won’t be stacked too high on top of each other, they will be fragile.
At the end of the day…
You will be able to take 1/3 of the seed balls home for your own use and experimentation
The other 2/3 will be used to populate a guerrilla garden site at 7th and Hemlock
A planting day will be arranged within three weeks of the workshop date.
Interesting. The same week I retire my Urban Wilderness blog, I learn about this:
The first get together of a new guerrilla gardening group. Come discuss strategies for attack and brainstorm ideas. Bring with you ideas to share such as: your motivations for getting involved, creative ways to provoke interest, nurseries which sell cheap native seeds, locations to target, plant lists for exposed and sunny sites with poor soils…and anything else you can imagine that relates to the cause. The meeting takes place at 1:00pm. For further info email orenATearthtonedDOTnet. To sign up for the event, or to learn more about the group, visit: http://commgardens.meetup.com/56/?gj=sj5. A small meeting fee of $1 per person covers the first month of this meetup’s online posting. An additional cost of $5 will go towards having the event catered with healthy snacks.
Vertical Veg supports food growing in containers and tiny spaces: ideas, inspiration and practical advice.
If you want to grow food successfully in containers, nurturing soil life can make a huge difference. Worm compost, for example, is full of microbes and life. Add it to your containers and you will get more vigorous growth, and far fewer pest and disease problems. Discovering this, was the biggest turning point in my growing (more important, even, than self watering containers), transforming sporadic successes into something more consistent.
Why is soil life important?
Healthy organic soil in the natural world supports a web of life including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes as well as larger creatures like worms and slugs. These organisms play a vital role in the life of plants. They break down organic matter to make the nutrients available for plant roots. They condition the soil and create air spaces and tunnels in it – improving aeration and drainage. And they compete with other more harmful organisms in the soil, ones that will damage your plants if left unchecked.
Soil life is complex – so the above is just my attempt to summarise some of the main benefits you can expect when you add life to your containers!
Why do you need to add life to containers?
Most commercial composts that we buy are sterilised and low in microbial life. So is municipal compost (it has to be made at hot temperatures to kill pathogens, killing much of the beneficial life, too). So if you want life in your containers – and to mimic soil in the natural world – you need to add it.
1. Worm compost
2. Homemade compost
3. Leaf mould
4. Manure
5. Bokashi
Bokashi is Japanese method of composting food quickly in a tightly sealed bucket. Benefits of bokashi are that you can add almost any food (even meat), it works quickly, can be done in a very small space, and doesn’t smell (much). The drawbacks are that you need to buy bokashi bran for it to work, and the pickled product is not as versatile as worm compost. But you can add it to the bottom of containers to add both organic matter and microorganisms.
Mix about 10 – 20% into the compost in the bottom third of a container.
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