Well folks, it’s that time of year again when gardens are flourishing with the bounties of the early and late spring plantings and I am beginning to plan for my first attempt at season succession. A cold frame has been heavily considered to help extend the seasons in my garden throughout the colder months. Cold frames, in essence, can be made from various items – … Continue reading How to Build A Cold Frame
Like many, my first opportunity to get involved with food issues was through a community garden. I was part student group that wanted to start a campus community garden, but we faced an uphill battle. We had to learn quickly and tackle all the roadblocks in our way – from raising a reserve fund to return the garden to lawn should it fail to finding … Continue reading Radical Acts…of Gardening
There’s nothing nicer than having access to a few pots of fresh herbs growing in your kitchen, and a big basil or oregano plant in the garden – we love being able to add fresh herbs to our cooking at a moment’s whimsy. And if you have a few plants outside that grow really well (or if you get big bunches of herbs from your … Continue reading Make the Most of Your Herb Garden
A couple of month ago I wrote a blog piece about “Evaluating the Impact of Subsidized Local Food Boxes in NS” as a student researcher and community gardener in Sackville, New Brunswick. Made possible by the renewed funding of FLEdGE, I have been tasked to work with the Cumberland Food Action Network (CFAN)’s Community Gardens Network to produce a directory of community gardens in the … Continue reading Envisioning Community Gardens as Permanent Fixtures in Our Communities
We are very excited to announce that the Plants to Plates Activity Guide is ready, and free to download here. What is Plants to Plates you might ask? The aim of the Plants to Plates program is to educate kids about how to grow, cook and choose foods. The Plants to Plates program is the result of over five years of program development. This program … Continue reading Plants to Plates Launch AND how to get kids to eat the good stuff?
Thanks to Our Food Project support, the Amherst Community Garden is really prospering this growing season. We were able to help with the hiring of a part-time Garden Coordinator, who has been able to bring some great food growing and management skills to the garden. The Coordinator, aspiring farmer Matthew Cole, has also had an important presence at the garden. As a result, the garden … Continue reading Summer in Cumberland County: All the Gossip
Oh August… you are so intense! Just like last year … you are a month packed full of change, surges of activity, excess and heat! Oh, the heat, the growth spurts in the garden, the abundance of giant harvests of wild berries, multiple preserving projects and the energy of the long days filled with sun and work! Harvest is just beginning with many things that … Continue reading Abundant August – by guest blogger Sarah Smith
Alyson Chisolm of Windy Hill Organic Farm in McKees Mills, NB, has offered an annual organic gardening course since 2012. Every Saturday in March, she covers a lot of ground (pun intended) with her class of about 30 gardening pupils. Two of her former students, Fran and Mark Day, founded an urban organic farmstead within Moncton City limits in 2015, and this year’s course ended … Continue reading Codiac Organics: year-round farming within city limits
Up here in Cape Breton, spring is just a tease. Cold frames are an excellent backyard strategy for gaining a few weeks on food production, either in the spring or late fall. Last fall, this handy tip sheet was compiled to support a cold frame building workshop hosted by Leonard Vassalo at Blue Heron Farm in Gardiner Mines. We built three cold frames, which were donated … Continue reading How to Extend Your Garden Season With Cold Frames
Despite having a challenging growing season this year here in Cumberland County, our local farms and community gardens are doing really well. With above normal temperatures and a drought to boot, some farmers were very worried about their wells running dry, but I have not heard of that actually happening thankfully. While farmers and gardeners had their hands full with irrigating, on the plus side, … Continue reading Summer in Cumberland County: All the Gossip
