Green City Living

Herbs growing on a deck (Photo: Evergreen)

Urban agriculture may sound a little strange and daunting but it has become an important part of living in the city. It allows us to be more self-sufficient and puts fresh, healthy food at our fingertips. Not to mention the satisfaction you get from knowing that the vegetables and herbs you’re eating are cut from plants grown and tended by you!

Recognizing and Seizing the “Sticky Moments”

Evergreen's Executive Director Geoff Cape (Photo: Vito Riccio)

Geoff Cape has earned some great accolades since founding Evergreen almost 20 years ago. You’d never know it, but this humble guy has been named the Schwab Foundation Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year, an International Ashoka Fellow, and one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, to name just a few.

Recently, Geoff had the opportunity to talk about his experience as a social entrepreneur at the MaRS Entrepreneurship 101 series.  Here’s the recap on the MaRS blog.  Here’s the video: http://vimeo.com/17199824

The Fruitful Project of 2011: Great Northern Way Community Orchard

Pallets and Things at the Union Street Urban Orchard (Photo: Quite Peculiar on Flickr). Evergreen will be taking inspiration from this innovative and temporary orchard in London, England.

With a successful fall season behind us, Evergreen is busy working on crafting some new and exciting projects for 2011. One that we’re all particularly excited about is an urban orchard to be located in Vancouver’s False Creek Flats.

A Slow Food Story

A woman in Turin making handmade gnocchi (Photo: Stewart Chisholm)

Foodies around the world converged on Turin, Italy in October for the global Slow Food convivium called Terra Madre to discuss topics such as biological diversity, local food and supporting food cultivation internationally.  Evergreen’s own Arlene Stein and Stewart Chisholm are both deeply involved with our evolving strategy to support local food and had the great fortune of attending this remarkable event.  Besides enjoying international artisanal foods at the concurrent event Salone del Gusto, Arlene and Stewart got to learn more about how other cultures are preserving their food traditions or developing new ones.

Agriculture in the City

Evergreen volunteer and community food blogger, Jennifer Lem, attended a workshop on urban agriculture and city planning, presented by author Lorraine Johnson and our own Stewart Chisholm and Rebekka Hutton. The workshop took place at the Ontario Professional Planners Institute symposium on October 28 and 29.

For a recap of the event and to find out what they had to say on issues such as backyard chickens, visit Jennifer’s guest blog post on, Push Food Forward.

Community Gardening and the Law of Supply and Demand

A lush community garden plot. (Photo: Evergreen)

Over the past three years, the number of community gardens in Vancouver has more than doubled, yet the wait lists show no signs of getting any shorter. Green thumbs rose to the City’s challenge of creating 2,010 gardens by 2010 to serve as a legacy of the recent Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Despite this huge increase in availability, Andrew Pask of the City’s Social Policy Division, estimates that the wait list for garden plots across the city is “at least in the thousands.”

Friday the Thirteenth Scare: Giant Hogweed

Giant Hogweed (Photo: Joe Ferreira, IPM Specialist, City of Brampton)

You may have heard a lot of panic in the news lately about this plant. Even though today is Friday the Thirteenth, we wanted to bring you just the facts:

This towering plant with large, white, umbrella-like flowers may look harmless–or even inviting–but the reality is quite the opposite.  The giant hogweed is an invasive species that produces up to 120,000 seeds that spread by wind and water.  The seeds typically sprout in the first two years but can remain in the ground more than five years, eventually dominating a habitat.  The pesky plant also has natural defenses that can cause various skin irritations.

Rare Opportunity for Local Stewards

Super Elite Task Force: Operation Port Coquitlam (Photo: Evergreen)

Last Thursday, a super elite team of Evergreen’s stewardship volunteers put in some of their evening time to help a federally red-listed species in Port Coquitlam – streambank lupine (Lupinis rivularis).

“This is the most work anyone has done for the plant,” said a thankful Species at Risk Recovery Team member, Dawn Hanna. Volunteers worked slowly and deliberately on the urban site, careful not to step on or disturb the lupines, of which there are only 300 known individuals in Canada.  Hopefully, by protecting this and other populations, that number will increase in years to come.

This is the first of three work parties to protect rare populations of streambank lupine this summer (there are only 8 known locations in Canada – all of which are found in the Lower Mainland)

For more information or to get involved in the project, contact Laura Smit, Stewardship Co-ordinator at lsmit@evergreen.ca or 604-689-0776

Be a Certified Seed Collector

Protect biodiversity by collecting seeds. (Photo: Evergreen)

Save your spot in our Seed Collecting Certification workshop on August 26 and 27.  For more information, visit Evergreen’s online event calendar or download our flyer.

Johnny Appleseed, American folk legend, may have had the right idea in collecting and planting apple seeds all across the landscape.  Today, certified seed collectors assist in tracking seed availability for future planting use. Information about seed availability, location, type and quantity enables these trained individuals  to collect and store seed and helps ensure that the appropriate stock is available to meet long term demands. Whether plants are for community restoration, outdoor classrooms or you own native plant backyard oasis, using plants sourced from certified seed grown in a local nursery is a great start to any project.

Eglinton West Fruit Orchard

Beautiful mural on Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard's tool shed (Photo: Evergreen)

Picture a fruit orchard, with its neat little rows of pear, plum and cherry trees leafing out in the spring. Imagine pollinators buzzing in and around the blossoms while birds seek refuge on a branch. Now picture this orchard next to the busy intersection of Eglinton West and Allen Road, across from the TTC station.

Believe it or not, this is not mere fantasy. The new fruit trees planted by Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard are taking root as Toronto’s newest urban orchard and are cultivating a new way of looking at our green spaces.