Looks important

An email I just received from Kirti Bhadresa, via Tavis:

(I edited it down a bit for brevity.)

Hi everyone,

Some of you may know Kris Vestor of Blue Mountain Biodynamic Farm, and may already know about this event.  Kris is an amazing local farmer and individual who has been a strong advocate for local healthy food for a long time (among other things that he gets involved in as an activist). 

His farm was hit by a recent storm and most of his crops and buildings were destroyed.  Arusha, along with The Coup and Sunnyside Market, are putting together this fundraiser for Kris.  The bands are great - and it'll be a super fun night.  The event info is attached.

Also, Dave Robinson is looking for volunteers (so you'd get in for free)!  If you could volunteer, please email him at videogrp@telus.net

And Tara may still be looking for donations for a silent auction.  Her email is tara_sukut@hotmail.com if you have any items to donate.

See you there next Friday!  It'd be great if you could also pass the word around.
Kirti Bhadresa, Calgary Dollars Coordinator

A message from Gael of the Community Garden Resource Network

Thrive: Calgary's Community Economic Development Network
Join your voluntary sector, business and government colleagues with an interest in promoting community in Calgary because community economic development helps to create sustainable cities!

You are invited to join The Garden Path Society of Calgary as they share how they contribute to community well-being and sustainability through community gardening. Enjoy a locally-grown, after work snack from the garden as we learn about how the Garden Path Society contributes to CED practice by:

- Operating the Urban Garden Cooperative, which provides Calgarians a place to grow and harvest their own vegetables. Profilts from the u-pick are reinvested back into the Society

- Operating Cornucopia, which distributes the garden's abundant harvest to Calgary-based charities.

- Providing a welcoming way for community members to reduce their environmental footprint through local, organic gardening.

Date: Thursday, September 10, 2009
Time: 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Location: Garden Path Society of Inglewood
2297 17 Street SE
(Behind the Colonel Walker School Yard)

Please RSVP by Friday September 4

For more information please contact:
Brenna Atnikov
403-204-2668
www.thrivecalgary.org

The Tyee’s new series on urban agriculture

The Tyee, out of B.C., has launched a new series of articles on urban agriculture.

The two posts so far go into the motivation behind the series, and “Why Urban Farming is the Future”.

CJSW Features Gurrilla Gardening!

Urban Agriculture has gotten loads of attention this summer from all the media outlets in Calgary, thanks to the efforts of everyone involved in community gardening and guerrilla gardening this summer. Today, CJSW posted this feature with video clips from our very own city! Thanks to Cody for sending to the CUA google group.

Natural lawns gaining support

A legal battle in Ottawa has advanced the cause of moving away from traditional water- and chemical-intensive lawns toward more sustainable approaches.

Some recently found items of interest

With all the recent attention given to the push for legalizing chickens in the city, This Magazine’s recent article may be of interest: “Be an urban chicken farmer in 5 easy steps”

“Square foot gardening” presents an approach to growing food that can really simplify things — making gardening much more approachable for people new to it, or just too busy to deal with more complicated setups. The CBC has a useful story on this approach: Another take on urban gardening.

The Eat Well Guide is an online database of local, sustainable and organic food sources (farmers, shops, community gardens, restaurants, organizations, etc.) for Canada and the U.S. They don’t have any listings for Calgary, yet, but you can add listings. Another spot to promote our local resources.

Citizens Market “is a non-profit user-generated website for ethical consumption.”

SPIN Farming — urban backyards for commercial organic farming

SPIN Farming is a business and growing model that converts multiple residential backyards into a commercial organic farm. Benefits include local food production (100-mile diet type stuff), organic growing, energy consumption reduction, community economic development, and neighbourhood quality of life improvements.

REAP Calgary has an article on SPIN Farming.