Community Gardens with Grow Slow!

Hello SLOWest!

It's been a while! Just as a reminder, this blog will serve as a portal for my own personal experiences with SLOWest, but if anyone else wants to join me and blog about their own experiences, I am happy to share the login information.

The other night I had my first meeting with the Grow Slow gardens group. Approximately 10 people were in attendance, all coming to the group with different goals, agendas, expectations, intentions and plans! In the end, we all just want to dig in the dirt, grow some food and share, not only with each other, but also landowners and others in the community.

Last year there were 3 gardens tended to in the yards or lots belonging to people in the community, and 15 gardeners were involved. Much was planted, weeded, harvested and learned, and now we're back for another year! This year will be my first year actually joining the work in the gardens, last year I simply wrote about their experiences.



Over cups of tea and delicious muffins, we mapped out a year's worth of preliminary plans and each contributed ideas and goals that we wish to see come to fruition by the time the winter solstice comes along in December. It was a group made up of both novice and very experienced gardeners, enthusiastic environmentalists and food lovers, and community-minded individuals.

I committed to sharing as much as possible about the process on the various blogs I'm involved with; trying to create connections with local artists in the neighbourhood to create more community around the gardening projects; and connecting with another local food group to see about working together.

The quote, "earth care, people care, fair share" came to my mind that night while we were brainstorming, so thank you to my friend Jackson for sharing that quote -- I think it encapsulates beautifully what we're trying to do with our community gardening endeavours in Grow Slow.

Looking forward to getting some dirt under my nails,

Heather

Nicole Foss: Understanding Deflation and The Economic Crisis

The other night I attended a talk given by Nicole Foss, who writes under the name "Stoneleigh" on the website The Automatic Earth.

Prior to the event, many of us were sent a document with a glimpse of what to expect:

"Natural resource limits (peak oil) and the collapse of global Ponzi are a "perfect storm" of converging phenomena that threaten to trigger wealth destruction, social discontent and global conflict. Nicole plans to discuss the many converging factors that are contributing to the predicament we face today and how individuals can build a "lifeboat" to cope with the difficult years ahead.

Nicole will argue that the current credit bubble has developed in the context of the fossil fuel age, which will prove to be a relatively brief period of human history. We have already seen oil reach a global production peak and other fossil fuels are not far behind, she says. While there is still plenty of fossil fuel in the ground, production will fall, meaning that there will be less and less energy available to power the economy at prices we can afford to pay."

I have to be honest and say that a lot of what was discussed was quite a bit over my head with respect to economics. I consider myself to be a reasonably educated individual who stays up to date with current events, however this was quite an academic talk and I would hazard a guess that anyone without a background in economics was as lost as I was during certain sections of the talk.

I also had to step out after an hour to attend another event, so I am not sure how much more I missed or if there was a Q & A portion, but that would have been very valuable so I look forward to finding out if Ms. Foss opened up the floor for questioning.

Some interesting facts I learned:

• A cubic mile of oil is equal to 50 years of production from 91,250,000 2.1 kW solar PV installations
• With respect to production, oil once had a ratio of 100 to 1; now it's 10 to 1 (put 1 barrel of oil into production and get 100 barrels back, or 10 in this case.)
• In order to be truly sustainable, we'd have to use windmill and solar power to create windmills and solar panels and we're not there yet. We're still very reliant on fossil fuels to create these alternative energy sources.

Foss also talked about credit, inflation, deflation, interest rates, market crashes, renting vs. buying in real estate and job markets.

Coming out of this talk I felt even more confused and deflated myself about alternative energy and the financial situation of our world. It is unfortunate that a "green" talk such as this would not be a bit more accessible and slightly more engaging. I got the feeling that she was "preaching to the converted", but what if people in the crowd were those who never pay attention to environmental issues? I think they would feel even more overwhelmed and alienated.

I don't know about you, but I think there's room for truth-telling, fact-giving talks about the environment that are positive, interactive and educational! What do you think?

Grow Slow Community Garden

Hello SLOWesters! I hope you are all having a fantastic summer and enjoying this beautiful growing season! Accompanied by Kirsten of the Food/Community Gardens Group (and Vegetable Patch), I recently took a stroll to a community garden that is part of the Grow Slow initiative in The Food Group. This garden is on Ladouceur Street and it is one of 3 gardens involved in the Grow Slow project. The total yard space measures approximately 1200-1500 square feet and contains a variety of vegetables, a few fruits and lots of herbs.



This garden began before SLOWest got involved, but it has thrived in the past year due to this added involvement. I spoke to Brent who owns the home next door and is responsible for the garden's existence. Brent told me that the piece of land where the garden resides is next door to his property and it was derelict for over 10 years until he got involved. The landlord was receiving yard maintenance complaints from the City of Ottawa's By-Law Department due to the unkempt nature of this parcel of land since it was filled in after a house fire.

In 2006 Brent made an agreement with the landlord to maintain the land, and he could use it however he wanted as long as it got the By-Law people off his back! Four years later and the garden is going strong and even flourishing lately.









Everyone involved in this garden product shares in the bounty of food it produces, but neighbours passing by are offered a few veggies as well. The Food Group has a potluck every 2 weeks where they weed the garden and share food.







It amazed me to see such a variety of vegetables and herbs in this one garden:

• peppers
• cucumbers
• hot peppers
• radishes
• Swiss chard
• basil
• broccoli
• parsley
• cilantro
• arugula
• lettuce
• kale
• beets
• scallions
• sage
• mint
• chives
• rosemary
• lavender
• oregano
• lemon balm
• stevia
• zucchini
• pumpkins
• potatoes
• tomatoes
• butternut squash
• watermelons
• beans

I asked Kirsten why it was important for her to get involved with this garden through the Grow Slow project in SLOWest's Food Group:

"I'm worried about access to food and the place that food is taking in our world, our minds and the economy. This is a fun way to work on that issue and also be part of a community. People stop by and smile and ask questions when we're in the garden;it's a fun way to bring people together!"


Kirsten and the garden's official kitty mascot



I went home from this garden visit with a handful of herbs, a tomato and a cucumber, and a mind inspired by this neighbourhood project that not only brings people together, but also helps redefine the food system in our city.

Symphony of Science

Hey there SLOWesters! I thought you might enjoy this!



There are more where these came from on the official Symphony of Science website.

Vibrant Garden Signs!

Check out this beautiful sign artfully painted by the Grow Slow Group, which is part of the Food and Community Gardens project group! In June, members of this group brought their carpentry and artistic skills together and hand painted some colourful signs for SLOWest's community gardens. I plan on visiting the gardens myself to see the signs in their new homes and to find out more about each one. Stay tuned to the blog for more garden stories!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Upcoming Events

Hello Everyone!

The sun is shining and I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful summer!

I have added a list of upcoming events on the blog. For specific locations and details, you can always find more information on the SLOWest website, or perhaps you are already receiving emails from your project group. I will not be posting home addresses on the blog in the interest of privacy. If you are interested in attending an event that is listed, please contact me at sustainablelivingottawawest[at]gmail.com. Looking forward to seeing you at some upcoming events! The first step to making change is to show up! Let's all show up for ourselves and our community!

Welcome to SLOWest's Communications Blog!

Welcome! In addition to our website and The SLOWest Times newsletter, this blog will be a place where I will be sharing my experiences as the Communications Coordinator for SLOWest. Join me here as I share my observations and experiences of being involved in this supportive community we call SLOWest. As I attend meetings and events and meet more of you, I will share photos and updates so that all can be informed!


Photo Credit: CoffeeGeek

What is your project group doing? Want to share it with the rest of SLOWest? Let's meet up at Bridgehead and we can chat about your current projects. By sharing more information through this blog my hope is that we will join more sustainably-minded individuals together in action and stay more informed about each others' great ideas and work in the community!

Having a meeting with your group? Putting on an event? Let me know and I'll help you get the word out. I'll also do my best to attend as many events and meetings as possible to not only meet all of you, but also take photos and report back via this blog so others can stay updated. I hope you're not camera shy because I'm looking forward to capturing your smiling faces!



The public blog forum on the website will still be operational and everyone is welcome to share anything, anytime. Feel free to comment on this blog below each post, and if you have any questions about navigating the blogosphere, please don't hesitate to email me at sustainablelivingottawawest@gmail.com.

Please bear with me as this blog evolves and becomes better with time. I look forward to keeping communication open, inspiring and frequent within SLOWest!