Hi everyone,

We’ve booked the upstairs room at the library (Shaw/Davenport) for Nov 28 from 10-12 am for our AGM. Hope you can all make it.

So far, here are the items on the agenda:
• Garden status updates (including water!)
• Financial update
• Proposed amendments to garden rules

Let me know if you have any other ideas for what needs to be discussed.

Hello!

• Now that the chilly weather is here, it’s time to clean up the plots. Please make sure yours is cleaned of all debris – and the weeds around cleared – within the next week or two.

• The city is working on fixing the water and installing a faucet within the garden enclosure. They’re hoping to get it done before the freeze and if that doesn’t happen, we’ll be their first priority in the spring.

• I’m trying to get an AGM scheduled for late November – tentatively Nov 28 from 10am-12pm. I’ll post a message when I’ve confirmed the room booking.

‘Tis the season to clean up the garden for winter – and I suggest we all get together to do it and chat about the season.

Let’s meet in the garden the afternoon of Saturday, October 3, between 3 and 5, to clean out our plots. Bring snacks/drinks if you like and we can make it a bit of a potluck.

In case of rain, we’ll reschedule for Sunday afternoon – and if it rains Sunday, come anyways.

Thought you’d all enjoy this cbc.ca story on three Afghan women who immigrated to Regina and their participation in a community garden there.

My apologies that it’s taken so long to get to this point, we’ve been unlucky this summer. An update:

• City plumbers have found problems with the source of water we were using last year – the pipes were leaking and need to be repaired and possibly redone entirely.

• As city workers are now on strike, this work has been put on hold.

• I have requested that we work together with the city to put in an even better system of water distribution, including (hopefully) a faucet or two within the garden enclosure and irrigation for the park’s trees. I’m hoping this will be done before winter but I have my doubts that it will be completed within gardening season.

• As a temporary measure, Chris Martin from the city kindly set up a hose for us that connects to a water source from the west end of the park.

This is a high-pressure system and precarious so we need to be careful in its use. Several members have worked together to set it up so that it’s as easy as possible – thanks! Basically, there are three points that are essential to getting water flowing:

• The water has to be turned on at the west end of the park. Note that it should only be turned on partway as the pressure is too high when it’s on full.
• The hose on our dolly has to be connected to the hose that stretches across the park, and the valve has to be turned on.
• The end of our hose has an attachment that needs to be turned on.

For the time being, we have left the water turned on at the west end of the park, to make things easier on everyone. Therefore, when using the water, please follow these steps:

1. Remove the dolly from the shed and bring it to the park hose, across the path from the garden.
2. Attach our hose to the park hose.
3. Switch the valve on the end of the park hose so that water starts to flow.
4. Unroll our hose to the garden plots and water.
5. When finished, turn the valve on the park hose off.
6. Detach the two hoses and put our hose away.
7. Double-check that the valve is turned off (i.e., no water is flowing) and the hose is not obstructing the path.

It is our responsibility to ensure that we are not wasting water and that the hose is not on the path for safety reasons. So when you’re in the park, even if you’re not watering, please check that everything is okay.

Thanks for your patience, the garden looks fantastic!

Chris Martin from the City was kind enough to stop by the park this morning to chat with me about the water situation. An ill staff member and three overworked plumbers (who cover the entire city) have been part of the reason for the slow updates but it looks like we’re on track now.

The pipes are still leaking and the main source of water on the east end of the park is still turned off. They may have to redo the entire system and that can’t happen until the regular spring maintenance across the city is done. Chris is going to keep me up to date on this, and we’re discussing ways to make the new upgraded system better, so it will be worth the wait.

In the meantime, there is a water source at the west end of the park that we can use. It’s just up the path from Ossington, on the north side of the path. Chris is going to lay hose along the path from there to across from the garden, and when we want to use it we’ll have to hook it up and attach it to a hose into the garden area. Note that there is a safety issue putting hose across the main path so we can’t leave the hose lying there – it has to be moved off the path when it’s not in use.

I’m going to drop by Friday afternoon to try it out, but in the meantime, if anyone else wants to give it a go, please let me know how it works.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I unfortunately can’t make it to this event, but someone should go, it looks really interesting.

Past * Present * Future
Please join us, in our 25th year, as we celebrate our work and look to the future with the launch of our Strategic Plan.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
At FoodShare’s home at 90 Croatia Street.
Our main entrance is on Brock Avenue, one block West of Dufferin and one block South of Bloor.

The day’s events:
Annual General Meeting: 10-11 am
Open House: 11am-4 pm
Fresh Salad Bar lunch at 12:15pm (free for all guests)
Panel discussion at 2pm: What would it take for everyone to have access to affordable, healthy food? Five local authors talk about their recent books, featuring:
Margaret Webb, Robert Albritton, Wayne Roberts, Judy Rebick and Debbie Field
Bee-keeping and garden demonstrations, children’s activities, fresh produce market, tours and so much more.
To RSVP & for more information, please contact:
Adrienne De Francesco
p: 416.363.6441 ext. 226
e: adrienne@foodshare.net

Update: I’ve heard from the City that our pipe problems have been fixed and our water is on. I will confirm tomorrow morning when I’m gardening (you should come too!).

New update: They found a leak, and the water is off again. I’ll keep you posted.

We had a garden meeting on Saturday morning to discuss our plans for the garden and the park in the future. Unfortunately there was lower turnout than we would have liked but we did manage to discuss quite a few issues and ideas. Here are some updates:

• The water is still not on as the city has discovered a problem with the plumbing. We’re working with them on getting it fixed and you’ll hear about it as soon as we know we have water.

• We’re establishing Saturday mornings from 9 to 12 as drop-in visit and garden and get-stuff-done times. We’d love for everyone to try and come by during that time so we can get to know each other, share gardening tips, sample each other’s produce and, yes, get a bit of communal work done if it has to be.

• We’re researching getting some signage for the garden so everyone knows who we are and how to get in touch. Please let us know if you have any experience in this area.

• We’re also looking for fundraising sources to apply for grants for next year and the long term. If you know of any organizations that would be good to apply to, or if you’ve got fundraising experience and would like to help out with applications, please get in touch.

• We’ve concluded that the planters along the outside of the fence need to be fixed up – the grass is coming through them so quickly that the perennials are going to have a tough time surviving. What we want to do is move them out of the way one by one so that we can cover the area with newspaper before replacing the planter – the newspaper will kill the grass. Please let us know if you can help with this project, or if you are a subscriber to a daily newspaper, please start saving them as we’ll need a good collection.

• Finally, some great news! We’ve applied for and received a $1000 grant from Carrot Cache to cover soil amendment, tool and maintenance costs for this growing season. So far we’re looking into a new hose dolly and possibly a rainwater collection system. Get in touch if you have experience and/or can help with this, or if you have other ideas.

Happy gardening!

Kat, on behalf of the executive

Come on out and get the season started, with the GCPCA first-annual Seedling Exchange and Garden Clean-up!

On Monday, May 18th, 2-4pm, we would love to see everyone out in the garden sharing experiences, swapping plants, starting some planting, and finishing the spring clean-up!  This is a great opportunity to meet your fellow gardeners, get to know the 2009 GCPCA Executive members, and kick-off the gardening season in a laid-back and fun environment. 

Here are the details:

When:
Monday, May 18th 2009 2:00-4:00pm  (yes, that’s Victoria Day Monday)
Rain Date: any of you who are happy gardening in the rain are welcome to show up rain-or-shine.  For the rest of us, the rain date will be May 23rd, at the meeting already planned for that date.

Where:
Garrison Creek Park Community Garden

Who:
GCPCA members and their friends and families, as well as any members of the community or other community gardens who would like to come check us out.

Why:
Get to know your fellow members, trade some plants and seeds, get started on the gardening season, and get the final clean-up of the garden completed.

What to bring:
Extra seedlings (home-grown or store-bought) or seeds to trade or donate, garbage bags and gloves for garden clean-up, water or other beverages, food for yourself and/or to share, annual or perennial plants you’d like to donate for the flower-beds around the perimeter of the garden fence, and your gardening spirit!

Although we’ll be looking for some help from the members to finish the garden clean-up (there’s a small amount of garbage and some garden debris remaining from the winter), there is not a lot of work to be done, so this will primarily be a social event.

I hope to see you all there!