Have your say:  Comment on the City of Kingston’s draft Community Garden Policy
There are several aspects to this document that are really positive, including:
1. that the city is taking community gardens seriously and proposing to support their development and operations in a number of ways
2. that they propose appointing a Community Gardens Coordinator to help facilitate the development and operations of community gardens
3. that they are proposing to set aside a small fund to allocate to Community gardens for set up and improvements   Some of us are concerned, however, that a number of the points outlined in the document may actually inhibit our ability to develop and run community gardens with ease in this city.

If you are interested in and supportive of the growth of community gardens in our city, please take a few minutes to review the draft policy: (http://www.cityofkingston.ca/pdf/recreation/parks/CommunityGardensPolicy_Draft.pdf ) and submit your comments to Liz Cartwright lcartwright@cityofkingston.ca by Thursday January 14th.

Please vote today to support the contest to win $50,000 for a meals program and kitchen at the Wally Elmer Community Centre!

Please vote each day until Nov 15. It takes less than a minute to vote.
http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf1296

(if you haven’t voted before, you must register first with an email address and then click on the link above to go directly to the Wally Elmer project)

Thanks for your support!

Margaret Atwood just updated her tour blog: http://marg09.wordpress.com/ and here is what she had to say about her visit to Kingston and more specifically, her discussions with Susan. Click on the link to her blog for the full posting, including pictures!

“Wayne drove us out to one of the site of the Community Harvest Working Group’s gardens, where Susan Bellyea – co-ordinator of Loving Spoonful (http://www.opirgkingston.org/lovingspoonful) (‘delivering fresh surplus food to people in need”) — walked us around the public allotments and communal vegetable gardens. Community Harvest runs local food markets, teaches organic gardening and cooking, and runs a gleaning program whereby families in need can go into fields after harvest and pick up any extras.

Ron Mann and his film crew trailed us and the wind blow my pink sunhat around as Susan explained how the programs work, and how families use the gardens and surrounding area for play and outdoor recreation.  Then she told us of the disturbing plan by the Federal Government to close all the current Canadian prison farms for no good reason – they have not said how they will use the land they will have grabbed by doing so, or how they will replace the food currently provided by the farms, but rumour has it they want to build vastly expensive battery-hen big-box crime incubators of the kinds that have been so thoroughly demonstrated to produce nothing but more and better criminals — and of the opposition of the National Farmers’ Union to this scheme. For full information, go to their site at http://tinyurl.com/yc24jsu.  This is an issue that cuts deep in Kingston, home of Canada’s famous old Penitentiary – which is, not incidentally, the main setting for my novel, Alias Grace.”

• entrance to the reception where Margaret Atwood will be in attendance
• a signed copy of The Year of the Flood
• a ticket to the evening’s performance
• preferred seating at the performance
• cash bar
• finger foods made from local ingredients based upon recipes and food references found throughout The Year of the Flood

For more info please click here

Loving Spoonful welcomes Ashlie Laframboise as Volunteer and Events Coordinator. Ashlie is currently working with the Oak Street Garden, the Community Harvest Market, and more. You can reach her at ashlie[at]lovingspoonful.org.

We have quite a few seedlings – tomatoes, peppers, fennel, leeks, – that need a Grow a Row home!

Grade 5 students at Rideau Public School are participating in the GROW project, a community initiative that involves the planting, raising and harvesting of tomato plants for donation to a local food agency as part of the Grow a Row program in Kingston this year.

Starting on May 28, students, parents and teachers will begin to build and plant the garden on the front lawn of the school property at the corners of Toronto and Dundas Streets. Students will sign up into groups and will be responsible for maintaining the garden through June and over the summer, until the fall harvest. All fruit raised and harvested by the students will be donated to Loving Spoonful for re-distribution to local food agencies.

For more information about the GROW Project please click here.

When: Sunday June 7th, 2009
Where: Oak Street Garden – where Victoria St meets Oak Street
Time: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Grow a Row in collaboration with the Oak St Garden are hosting a celebration of the new growing season! Come and learn more about Grow a Row and community gardening, and help us plant the Acorn Donation Garden – a 500 Sq Ft garden plot designated for growing food for donation to meal programs in Kingston.

Everyone is welcome!

The Community Harvest Working Group Invites you to the Grand Opening of the Community Harvest Market

When: Sunday May 31st, 2009
Where: Wally Elmer Neighbourhood Centre, Corner of Daly and MacCauley Street
Time: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
BBQ, Entertainment, Children’s Activities. Free!

For more information, please contact: Tara Kainer at 613-544-4525, ext. 113 or Elaine Radway at 613-542-2949, ext.154 or click here.

The Community Harvest Market will be open every Sunday beginning May 31st until October 25th.

Community Harvest Working Group: Community members and representatives from various community organizations interested in increasing food security for individuals and families living in the Rideau Heights area (defined as Railway to Hwy 401, and Division to Cataraqui River).