Perth Dupont Community Garden
Show search options
You are on the [cover page] of folder [Leadership Skills 2009]2009 Leadership skills
Education and Leadership Skills
The winter of 08/09 had been brutally cold, and there had been a lot of snow. Nevertheless we knew that the spring would come and the growing season would soon be here.
The summer growing season came, and although it never got really hot, we enjoyed the nice weather and had events at our garden,
The Theme for the 2009 growing season is "Education and Leadership Skills".
Education:
There are three primary schools within a five minute walking distance of our garden. We were delighted to be able to engage at least a few classes to come and use our community garden as a resource. We planed a few sample tours related to things in the school curriculum, and simple activities for the students to participate in.
Well, the fall has set in, and it is harvesting time. We will be harvesting our produce and saving seeds for next year.
Leadership:
Now that the community garden has had a few years to mature, it is time to develop a strong community group. We have assess the needs of the group and created Teams to handle the various duties. It has been an opportunity for growth for those who wished to develop their leadership skills.
Communications Team Meeting - December 5 2009
This was our first formal Communications Team Meeting. In attendance were Talia, Andrea and Samantha, Daniela, and me - Susan. Shirley wanted to come, but was unable.
---
Finance
Andrea and Samantha arrived just after me and we started to talk about her research into finding a bank account for the Perth Dupont Community Garden. The others arrived so we circled around with introductions and continued to talk about the bank account and the reason why.
(Since the time that this story was written, the posts have been installed, and the project has been renamed and is now called Accessibility Up-grades'.)
We have won the grant from the Carrot Cache - $1500, to at least build the porch, and we have used our own fundraising funds to buy the lumber for the raised bed. Indra' s husband has almost finished building it.
We talked about where we can find a designer for the architectural part of this plan. We thought that having a person to take a Adult learning class for design might help. As well, we can look at George Brown for a Designer.
The Raised Garden Bed and Fall Clean Up
All the gardeners are expected to tidy up their garden plots and the usual things that they may do to "Tuck their gardens in for the winter".
So, the Fall Clean Up Event is the end of season time to tidy up the common area gardens before winter sets in, and to finish up the last of the projects in the community garden.
The big project that I wanted to finish this year, was the raised garden bed. Things fell into place for this project to finally be completed. I was able to get the wood, and one of the gardeners donated over 20 2'X2' patio tiles, so we could have a pathway between the regular garden plots and the raised bed. As well, Parks, forestry, and Recreation dropped off two loads of compost and two loads of limestone screening.
The day before our Fall Clean Up event, Indra's husband, Adalino, came and we measured and staked out the area for the garden bed. We also marked out where we wanted to have the patio tiles.
One of the first gardeners to arrive was Javed, he worked on clearing out the area where we wanted to have the pathway. It needed to be dug deep enough for 4 or 5 inches of the limestone screening.
Shortly afterward, Meg and her partner arrived. With their strong hands and backs, they moved the tiles into place.
The weather was really nice (actually nicer then October) and as the day continued, more gardeners came to help out. Even Nello, who had surgery during the summer came with his wife to help out.
Harvesting The No-Work Potatoes
In the spring we planted the Sharing Garden full of heirloom potatoes. Spuds like Bauer Gruen's Rotes Auge, B C Blue, Congo, Papas Negro and Siberian. The twist this year was to use the "No Work" method. I also wrote a gardening tip about No Work Potatoes. It is an explanation of the theory behind it, and how to do it. See also When to Plant potatoes and Handfuls of Potatoes
We had been planting this garden plot intensively for the past few years, and this would be the fourth year. So, we did not place the potatoes very close together, we let the soil have a bit of a rest. Along with the straw, it would give the soil a chance to rejuvenate.
The Bulb Planting Project - Part Two
October 23 - Mr. Bynoe Class
Please click on any picture to see the stories that the children wrote.Stories coming soon
It was really exciting to see the grade five and six class from the Perth Ave. Public School come down the street, to visit our park and garden, and to help with the bulb planting.
Tammy Finnikin, our contact person from GreenHere, had arranged for some of her staff to meet the class at the school and walk with them to our park.
The weather was really rainy and cold, I had my doubts of the success of the project, but Edward, one of our gardeners, who's daughter is in this class, and Lindsay, a friend of the Community Garden showed up to give their support and help.
We invited the children into the park and to make a circle so that we could introduce ourselves. The staff, students and the organizations: Perth Dupont Community Garden, and GreenHere. We talked about the community garden and about our park and why beautifying it is important to our neighbourhood. Tammy also talked about the basic health and safety guidelines (not to throw dirt, shovels etc. stay off the road, and respect others, and the park & plants).
.
After that, we discussed the guidelines for the workshop itself - how to plant the bulbs.
.
Despite the cold weather, the kids were really excited to get started, and my doubts about the success of the day vanished. Earlier in the week, Parks, Forestry and Recreation brought over extra shovels, and GreenHere, also brought shovels and work gloves for everyone. They also brought extra bulbs to add to the 180 bulbs that we had received. We had the gloves and the bulbs set up on a table next to the work area, so they lined up to get some bulbs, and the staff showed them how to start the planting.
In Next to no time, the bulbs were planted!
.
Afterwords, we let them walk around the park and the garden, and the GreenHere staff took small groups of students on a tours of the trees in the park, to tell them why trees are important in our neighbourhood and to explain what we can do to ensure our trees survive.
The Bulb Planting Project - Part One
Getting started - October 22
Every year we are offered a donation of flower bulbs from the Parks and Trees Foundation, for the beautification of our park, and this year was no exception. There is plenty of space in the park to have bulbs coming up.
Click here to see the list of bulbs that were able to choose from. Also look for the names of the ones we did choose to see what they look like.
We ordered almost 100 of each of these:
- Thalia - An ‘heirloom’ daffodil dating back to 1930. White petals and trumpet. 2-3 fragrant blooms per stem. 14” tall.
- Hawera - 12 – 15” tall with many lemon yellow blooms. A good naturalizer.
- Chionodoxa luciliae - Gentian blue flowers with white centers on 8” stems. A super naturalizer, great layered with daffodils.
This year, we decided that a good place to have some bulbs would be around the new park sign. And we wanted the grade five and six class from the Perth Ave. Public School to help us with this project.
Our new friends from GreenHere offered to help us with the bulb planting if we wanted to make an event out of it. So, that we did. See our Bulb Planting Event Poser
The evening before (Oct. 22), a few of the gardeners got together, and we marked out the places that we wanted the bulbs to go, and used our shovels to dig the marked areas. We made a wide circle around the sign, on both sides of the fence, and marked out a checker board pattern. We cut the grassy soil in alternating blocks.
Daniela and Kipp are measuring out the spacing for the bulb planting for the next day.
September - Back to School
In May and June of this year, the grade ones and twos from the Perth Public school came to visit our garden and plant things. The children graduated at the end of June. The grade ones would stay on in the class as the new grade twos, and we now have new grade ones. At the end of September the teachers came back with the new classes.
.
It started to drizzle and the children had to go back to school, but there was enough excitement for the teachers to decided that they wanted to have their classes join the community garden!
.
October Excitment
We gave the Perth public School one of the pumpkins that came off our giant pumpkin vine. We didn't expect how many things the teachers cooked with our pumpkin. They made Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin cake, Spicy Pumpkin Sauce, and they saved the seeds. They also had a Guessing Challange about how many seeds there were from that one pumpkin.
Bulb Planting Project
Every year we are offered a donation of flower bulbs for the beautification of our park. This year is no exception. the organization is called the Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation. They offer BULBS to community organizations for beautification of public spaces. (Better Urban Landscapes through Bulbs)
We ordered 100 each of the Read More >>
Our Fall Gathering
With our newly created Events Team, we planned our Fall Harvest Festival. We were glad that the date and the weather cooperated.
The Team, Andrea, Samantha, and Edmond chose the date, and then worked hard on getting the event going. They planned the menu to include some of the food that was grown in the garden. Some of the gardeners also donated some of their produce and brought some food in the potluck style of our gatherings.
Pictures -
Top row: Boiled Heirloom Potatoes, and Andrea's Nasturm Blossom Pesto With Balsamic Vinegar
Bottom row: The Table Spread, and Edmond cooking the Herb-ed Chicken
Click on picture to read the whole Mission Statement and Core Values.
Toronto Police Service
To Serve and Protect
11 Division
It would seem, at first glance, that our community garden is vulnerable to problems because it is located in a public park.
Over the years there have been a few incidents of vandalism and theft. There has also been an issue with trespassers jumping over the CPR train fence.
But we have been building a relationship with our local Police Station, 11 Division. It is now a common site to have officers ride into our park and garden to check to make sure that the park stays safe.
The end of Summer in the Garden
The end of August started off with our lock breaking. Well, we had it for three years, so it had served us well. I went to Rona to look for a new one. They are always very nice to us as a community garden, and give us good deals. It's not that the lock cost that much, but we needed 30 keys to go with it! I also thought that it was a good time to buy an electric saw for the garden, because we still have plans to build the raised garden bed, and the porch for our garden shed.
As it happens, I was able to get a good deal for wood to build the raised bed, from a Home Hardware on Wilson Ave. near Jane St. When I explained our situation about the community garden, the manager was very interested, and said that he grew up in our area. They also gave us free delivery!
Parks and Rec. also installed an accessibility ramp for mobility devices. The disabled will have easier access to the park and garden.
The Perth Dupont Community Garden Meeting Notes
The Importance of Leadership
for August 22nd and September 2nd 2009
In Attendance for Aug. 22nd. were: Susan, Alison, Indra, Gaye, Patel Family, Meg, Edmond, Andrea and Samantha. Notes taken by Samantha and Alison.
In Attendance September 2nd. Were: Susan, Edmond, Alix and Ivar, Milada, Kevin, Andrea and Samantha, Kanthilal, Phung, Dahlia, Edward, Alison, Shirley, Nao and Indra.
Susan's speech (read at both meetings):
We are a multicultural group of gardeners, with ethnic and life-style diversity. This community garden is a place to grow – not only good organic food and flowers, but a place for people to grow and learn. In this garden you have a chance to learn and strengthen your leadership skills, as well as your gardening skills.
My role as the garden coordinator has two parts. Outside the garden I am the designated person to to talk to city officials and to represent our garden group. But here, inside the garden my role is to teach.
As a Community Garden, we have a certain amount of responsibility. We have a responsibility to each other regarding the garden. Caring for the tools that we all share, and to make sure there are no safety hazards like messy hoses that are a tripping hazard. We have a responsibility to the City. Because this garden is in a City park, they expect us to keep it neat, and free of safety hazards. The other responsibility is to the community – our neighbours well respect our garden as far as they see the effort that we put into it.
So this leads us to the first topic in the agenda. Read More >>
Summer Volunteers
There are people in the neighbourhood that would like to work in the community garden, but not have the responsibility of a whole garden plot.
As well, High School Students can get their volunteer hours working in the Community Garden.
Having volunteers is a responsibility in itself. You can't just look at them as "Free Work". They may need some training but, because they are willing to work, I have found that I want to give them something in return. I usually look to see what is growing in my garden or one of the common area gardens, and find some produce is ripe, to give them some. Even if it is just a sample of something they would other wise not get in the grocery store, I think that this is meaningful.
Frank and Regina Started to help us in June. They worked on the edging of Front Flower Bed. They also cleared up the edging on the Raspberry patch, and then helped to weed it, and plant nasturtium seeds. They stayed on into July, and then started to work on the Grant for the Carrot Cache.
Big On Bloor 2009
Saturday June 20th
bigonbloor.com/festival
The Big on Bloor Festival is intended to get people to visit their neighbours. Bloor street from Christie to Lansdowne was closed all day, and we had our tables in the middle of the street. Our display was located in the section of Bloor from Emerson to St. Clarens, and we were part of Yasi’s Friends & Neighbourhood set of tables. Jutta from the Dufferin Grove Park made arrangements for us to shared the shelter of a tent with Andreas neighbour, who we discovered there. He had a display from his research for CELOS Centre for Local Research into Public Space (CELOS - pronounced "see-loss") the people who have given us this website space. Small world, I guess the we needed the Big festival to find this out! Read More >>
Friday June 19th ...
:Friday June 19th, was finally a sunny beautiful day. We had a week of rain, and were glad to see the sun again. so started a very busy day.
Pam Smith
The first visitor was Pam Smith, all the way from the United Kingdom.
She is a horticulturalist working in Birmingham, UK with over 20 years experience of amenity and botanical horticulture including parks management and spent 8 years as Director of University of Birmingham Botanic Garden. She now works part time for English Heritage and Lantra (promoting horticultural skills, careers, research etc) and does freelance work as well.
She has been awarded a CABE Space Scholarship, (CABE is the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. They advise on well-designed buildings, places and spaces) to study Community Gardens. Read More >>
Perth Public School returns
It has been a month since the children planted their lettuce and the little flowers.
They wanted to come back to see how the garden has grown and to have some fresh picked salad. In preparation for this I had gone to FoodShare to request a Good Food Box with salad things to go with the children's lettuce. It isn't the usual thing that they would do, but they found some good things for the kids to eat raw, that we could serve to them with their salad.
I was more at ease this time around to speak with the children. I told them that I was impressed with the way that they had planted their lettuce and that it was growing well. I thanked them again for the flowers that they had planted in the front flower bed, and said I was sorry that the pumpkins they planted didn't make it. but on the bright side, i told them that I planted some more pumpkins and squash in the same area, and they can check back in the fall to see them. Read More >>
The Bike Pirates
Click on picture to enlarge it.
At first, when Geoffrey introduced himself to me as the Leader of the Bike Pirates, and asked me about bringing a group of cyclists up to the garden, I was a bit confused...
But now I know what they are all about. They help people fix their bikes for free or donation. You can also use the space and tools to fix your bike on your own. As well, they have a kitchen and cook meals for the volunteers and the visitors that have come to fix their bikes. Read More >>
In Memory of Maria Teresa Giorgio
Teresa, as she liked to be called, was a long-time neighbour. She lived at the corner of Hugo and Perth, and would often come for walks through the garden with her friends and other neighbours.
She was born in Italy, December 16th 1944. She passed away at the age of 64, on June 18th 2009. She is survived by her son Vito.
Vito, her son, donated the planters that were on her porch, to the community garden. So Molly and I filled one of them with some plants from the garden, in memory of her. We put in chives, heirloom tomato and heirloom basil, as well as some petunias and a few other things.
Perth Public School May 19, 2009
School Children Visiting the Perth Dupont Community Garden.
In accordance with developing our leadership skills, the Perth Dupont Community garden has extended it's invitation of special social gatherings to include the local schools.
We have invited the nearby schools, and encouraged their involvement in the garden. With the success of the children's visit last April, from the St. Luigi Catholic School, we decided that we could provide some space for the children to experience gardening first hand. With the start of our new garden beds, The Raspberry Patch on the north, and the Herb Garden on the south, we felt we could accommodate a class or two.
To make this happen though, much preparation work had to be done, the Coordinator, Susan Berman, had to organize volunteers and to delegate the work. Tony trimmed the trees that were shading the north side of the garden area, and the Patel's worked in the front flower bed, weeding and cutting the grass around that area of the beds. Several gardeners also had to help Susan weed the herb garden in the south border. This garden area is over 60' long and took a few days, Gay and Alison were instrumental in completing this. This is the area where we wanted the children to plant the lettuce, and it was important for the soil to be well prepared. Read More >>
Soil Day with John Slack - May 18
John Slack lives in Erin Ont. He has been a friend of the community garden for a few years. He is well know in organic farming circles. It is with pleasure that we have invited him to come to our garden to speak with us about the soil that we grow our food in.
For the presentation there was: John Slack, and his brother Peter Slack, Clause and his wife, and Dave Dittmar.
Guests and visitors were: Mike Neven, from FoodShare, Sunny Lam and David Wild from Food Cycles, Deveri Gifford and gardener from The Christie Pits Community Garden, Audrey Yates from the Garden Party hosted by Lutheran Redeemer, Miro Zawistowski, Brenda Heyer and her son Miro.
From our community garden there were: Andrea and her husband McCloud, Anna and her son, Gaye, Alison, Yves, Kevin, Shirley, Tony, Dahlia, Edward, Edmond, May, Nao Ito – Honorary Gardener and everyone's favourite volunteer, and me Susan.
To begin Soil Day, I introduced John to the group that had gathered. We had a round of introductions for most of the peoples names and where they came from, and then John started to speak. In his introduction he spoke of his mining heritage from his father, and how, through a chain of events he got involved in agriculture. The chain of events continued to where the mining and the farming combined to get to the point of the agro-mineral knowledge and expertise. He explained his interest in the Spanish River Carbonatite. He described it as an incredible soil amendment that adds a multitude of macro-, micro-, and trace minerals back into soils. The Spanish River Carbonatite(SRC) works hand in hand with compost and When it is added to the compost, it provides the microbes in the compost with a wide array of the nutrients they need to thrive.
He went on to talk about compost, and that the best part of adding any compost to your beds will be the increase in microbial life that it will bring. Once you get the life cycling back into your soil, their productivity will be unmatched.
What to do with 100 Bales of Straw?
In mid April we received our order of 100 bales of straw from a friend, Dave Dittmar. He has a business called Back Yard Organics. He is in a small town north west of Toronto, called Erin.
Our garden doesn't need all of it, but we made the big order, to make the cost of trucking and gas more affordable per bale. And, we wanted to have enough to share with our community garden neighbours.
So, what do you do with straw?
In the early spring it is just the right thing for planting the No work Potatoes
As the summer heat comes and your seedlings become small plants, it then becomes time to add some mulch - like straw, to your garden beds to keep them moist.
Later on, as the cool fall weather warns of winters impending approach, it is time to tuck your garden in for the winter. A small layer of straw over all your garden beds will protect the soil from becoming compacted over the long winter months. As well it is just the perfect cover for your garlic.
And, don't forget the Straw for Strawberries!
What to do with 100 Pots of Crocuses?
On the third of April this year, I received a message that Solomon Boye, the Community Gardens Coordinator for Parks Forestry and Recreation, was giving away free pots of crocuses that have been forced. P&R were hoping they may find good homes with a variety of good causes such as community gardens, seniors homes, school gardens, churches, where-ever, and make people happy and remind them of spring. The message indicated that Solomon Boye thought there may be two boxes at least for each community garden.
That was wonderful news, so I left a message with the Park Supervisor for our park. ...Little did I expect that they would drop off 100 pots of crocuses!
Later on the message was updated to: "There are gadzillions of crocuses in dark saffron yellow and deep two toned purple. They haven't bloomed yet. You can stick the whole pot in the ground and then replant after blooming (each pot has about 12 blooms)."
So we set about planting some for our own garden, and distributing them to other Community Gardens and Community Groups. As well, Jamie, with a truck, set off to the pick-up point and gathered some more. We gave some to the new community garden in Christie Pits, and some to the Garden Party At Lutheran Redeemer. Then we gave some to the South Asian Woman's Centre that is near by, and some to the West End Flower Fairies. Jamie used his truck to drop some off at the H.O.P.E. Garden and some at FoodShare. Then we found out about the Bickford Park Planting Day, and invited them to come and pick up some pots of crocuses too. The group that does cleaning and greening in Pelham Gardens came by and got some. And the Rankin Community Garden was able to get some as well.
Every Community Garden or Community Group got at least 10 pots each. Some of our community gardeners and neighbours took a few pots home or planted some in their garden plots.
posted April 21, 2009
Meeting notes for April 11th 2009
Held at the Caldense Bakery.
In attendance we had: Susan Berman, Marcel Fortin, Yves Candau, Silvan Trunt, gay Tough, Kevin Loffree, Andrea Stauber, Samantha Stauber-Nichols Edmond Chano.
Notes taken by Gay T, supplemented by Susan B.
Date for garden clean up.
We need to choose a day - or a few days - to do the repairs and cleaning, the decision was the second week of May, between the 11th and 16th. Susan will be sending an e-mail out to let people choose a few days and times that will work out for them.
Discussion of what to do about the wood and stuff that is piled on the shelves outside the garden shed.
Apparently the shelves collapsed. Yves and Marcel discussed the construction of a system for organizing the wood in a vertical manor on the outside of the shed. Also using shelves of the inside of the cement shed was discussed.
Discussion of a new saw - circular or otherwise. Read More >>
The Seedy Saturday Report From -The Perth Dupont Community Garden
Wow! This Seedy Saturday was the busiest one ever!
I want to thank the members of my garden group that came and helped with the set up, and the ones that helped talk with the interested people that were visiting our display. As well, the gardeners that dropped by to bring coffee, and took some of our seeds that we packed, over to the main seed exchange and brought back a great variety of new seeds for our garden.
I would have never survived with out all of your help. Thank you also for the food and coffee-black survival juice!
We made $210, plus we traded seeds at the seed exchange, so we have some wonderful seeds for the garden as well, about 25 packages.
The report from the people that worked at the main welcome desk said that there were over 2000 visitors!
---Susan---
Seed cleaning and Packing
On February 11th, many of the Perth Dupont Community Gardeners got together at a friends home to pack seeds in preparation for Seedy Saturday.
Even though the weather was very rainy, everyone that said that they would come, came! Our host was Lindsay, and her 2 children. There was Talia, Gay, Edward and his sister Indra, Mr. Patel and his friend, an agricultural expert from India, Dalia, Kevin, and Andrea, a new gardener and her 2 children, as well as 2 regular volunteers: Brenda and her son, and Nao.
The types of seeds we collected last summer: Radishes, Mustard Greens, Dill, Coriander (aka Cilantro), Beans, and Angelica. We also packed some Fennel, Sunflower Seeds, and a few other seeds too.
It was a pot-luck event, so everyone brought some great snacks, most of it was organic in nature, all of it was yummy! and very much appreciated.
This was a wonderful event, as we shared techniques on seed packing envelops and measuring out the seeds, we were able to catch up on each others activities for the past few months. The conversations around the table were happy and up building. The children were very helpful as they helped us make the seed envelops and helped seal, and label them as well.
Things Get Worse ... Before They Get Better.
As you can see by these pictures, the other side of the Train Track looks like a big mess! And, What you can't hear, is the noise from the big machinery as they continue tearing down the Nation Rubber Industries (NRI) building from 7:30am to 4:30pm during the week.
The NRI had been wafting out the bad smell of burnt rubber for many years. For the past few years of gardening, many of us were concerned about the toxins that might be in part of the bad smell. So, for those of us that have been here a while, the site of the factory being torn down is a releif, to know that it won't be polluting our air any more.
It looks like they are separating the steel structures from the building and piling it up near the train track, and the hope is, that they will soon take it away to be melted down. That will help with the eye-sore.
Content last modified on May 25, 2010, at 05:06 AM EST