work party

Yesterday about 11 of us gathered at the garden to do a bit of sprucing up. Well, actually we said goodbye to a couple of cedar trees, not spruce! We enriched the School plot dirt, composted some weeds out of the paths, and transplanted an entire bedful of strawberry plants, donated by one of our recent "Golden Carrot Award" winners, Marta.

Despite the constant drizzle, the gardeners were cheerful, co operative, and as always, promoting a real sense of community spirit by pulling together to get the job done!

A Huge Thank you!! to everyone that bared the winter elements yesterday and worked in the garden. We got a lot accomplished! Thank you Tena for opening your home for some much needed washroom breaks and hot beverages.

Wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas and safe travels during this holiday season. Don't forget to ask Santa for some gardening supplies.

New Coordinator

Congratulations to our new Tahsis Community Garden Coordinator, Kim! We welcome your support as you help inspire and motivate us to build and nurture our garden. Here's to an amazing, productive winter and spring!

Recipe making the Rounds in Tahsis!

Click on the recipe above to read

Catalina Carrots!

Local Chef Silvie Keen chooses a pretty and delicious carrot dish to demonstrate and share at our recent Produce Availability Initiative - Growing the Next Generation events.

Ten days later Mayor Elect Jude Schooner whips up a batch to share at the Tahsis Emergency Services (Firefighters, Paramedics, Police and Medical Professionals) annual Christmas party.

They were a hit!

A donation to the garden

Thank you very much to Elizabeth, for generously donating some sliding glass doors to our community garden, we now have lots of glass to someday design and make a few large cold frames! And thanks to Bill, Glyn, Debbie and some local teens for helping move them out to the garden! So if anyone has a favourite blueprint for that kind of thing, just let the group know and we will figure out what other supplies we need and all work together.

The next meeting of the Tahsis Community Garden members is Nov. 8th, Tuesday, 7:00pm at Debbie V's place,  1095 Resolution Rd.

Strong Start Visit

Strong Start Garden Visit

As part of our Pumpkin unit, the Strong Start class went to the Community Garden to count how many pumpkins the Garden was able to produce.
Quite a few, it turns out.
We harvested the last of Auntie Karli's zucchinis, and pulled Mrs G's french carrots and beets. We will be using our pictures as a part of our book writing project.

Farm to School Tahsis is Returning!

Cold Nose Warm Heart!

Farm to School Tahsis is happy to announce the return of the CMESS Salad Bar starting on Wednesday, October 19th and then every Wed/Thurs thereafter. Cost is $3/lunch with the focus on providing 6 fresh veggies, 3 fruits, 1 protein and 1 grain to school students along with a hot dish, usually soup. Family members are welcome to attend, and F2S volunteers eat free. We are planning an English Onion Soup to warm our bellies on opening day.

F2S is also happy to announce ‘Growing the Next Generation’ on November 23/24th. Growing the Next Generation (GNG) is a free public forum to which all residents of Tahsis are invited. Presented by the BC Ministry of Health, and the Public Health Association of BC, this is a community celebration to strengthen and sustain local food action in Tahsis. Join friends and neighbours for two fun and informative evenings about food sustainability, celebration, the Golden Carrot Awards, sharing stories and ideas, and to explore different paths to community food security in Tahsis. Pre-registration encouraged, as food will be provided to participants on both evenings. There is no cost to this event as your input is invaluable!

Golden Carrot Awards

Do you know of someone who has made a significant contribution to community and quality of life in Tahsis by supporting activities to strengthen the local food system? Send in your nominations for the Golden Carrot Awards! Nominees must reside in Tahsis and activities might include seed saving, growing food, preserving foods, nutritious cooking for the community, purchasing local BC foods for consumption in a public place, serving fresh nutritious local foods in a public place, composting food wastes, or teaching the next generation about growing, gathering, preserving, cooking and serving local BC (or island) foods. All nominees will be recognized with a Golden Carrot Award, and their names will be placed in a draw for 1 of 3 local BC food baskets. The names of the top three nominees will go into a draw to attend the Farm to You Conference in Vancouver in the spring of 2012. This gift is worth an estimated value of $500.00 to cover the cost of travel (fuel and ferry from Tahsis to Vancouver and back, 2 nights at the conference hotel and conference registration. To be eligible for this prize the nominee must be 19 years or older.

Registration/Information/Golden Carrot Nomination Forms TahsisSustains@gmail.com or call 250.934.7979

A Gift from the Garden

A week ago, Juanita dropped by the school with a real treat for the students: a large bowl of fresh carrots from her Tahsis Community Garden plot, and some lettuce garnished with edible flowers. Our Farm to School program is not up and running for a week or so yet, so we scrubbed and bagged up the carrots to hand out to the kids as they went out to see the salmon spawning grounds for science class. The treats disappeared in no time, and the comments reflected the huge difference in taste between local garden grown carrots and whatever you get at the supermarket. The kids were very impressed that this produce was grown right here in Tahsis.

Thank you Juanita!

Canning Seminar

They say canning is becoming a lost art, however, Kim Anderson is fighting the good fight to revive the knowlege of canning and preserving inTahsis. About 15 Tahsis women and one man gathered together for an informational session on canning and preserving.Kim graciously displayed all the equipment needed to preserve fruits and veggies, as well as informational literature,examples of properly canned produce and tasting samples.Needless to say, all the jams and preserved cherries were a big hit, as well as the scones provided by Jean Sanderson.
Kim was selected to represent the Village at a " Train the Trainer" canning tutorial in Prince George , over the Summer. She brought back canning equipment, books and a host of ideas of how to capture the abundance of wild and cultivated food available locally.
Classes will start in October.

rainy day in the garden

Fern's Garden Bed

Our friend Fern reports that she has been enjoying fresh carrots out of her Tahsis Community Garden plot all summer long, and would even like to start them earlier next year! Yesterday she also got a couple quarts each of peas and green beans to enjoy, with more to come.

Farm to School Garden Bed

Today a couple of us went picking peas out of the Tahsis Community Garden Farm to School Plot. Here is some more information about Farm to School.

We picked them, shelled them, washed them, blanched them, bagged them and froze them. whew! Our 1st batch was 12 cups, ready to use in many delicious recipes this school year.

Harvesting Beans

Great to eat fresh, steamed, stirfried, or in a salad, but for a special treat I put up some Dilly Beans. The dill is from my backyard, the beans are from the Tahsis Community garden, but the garlic is from California. Maybe by next year we can be growing more garlic locally too?!

Zucchini Salsa

My Tahsis community garden plot has been producing some hefty zucchinis, specifically planted for this great recipe. Salsa! I cheated and used canned tomatoes, but when serving it, I will dice some fresh into it for that fresh tomato taste. (Thanks for the tip, Elsie!) What a delicious way to use a TON of zucchini. This recipe site has hundreds of canning and preserving recipes to try out.

Its Paying Off!

Thought I'd just drop a note about being able to pick fresh, organic green/wax and purple beans from my Community Garden plot! The peas are in full production and there are signs everywhere of Members harvesting their own homegrown produce! The Garden had a meeting last Saturday morning where a variety issues were discussed including the Shed placement,excavation of the Shed site, potluck in September,whippersnippering the weeds,finding a tayberry patch, rose bush volunteers,researching the hothouse shelving, and other items of interest.Big Thanks to Juanita, Judy, Tena, Debra, Rodger, Sophia,and Debbie for a great meeting!Get Harvesting!

We're Number One!!!!!!

Thought you would like a boo at the Winner Entry in the Tahsis Days Parade, the Tahsis Literacy Society float. TLS is the parent organization to the Garden, and both bodies have the many members that have concurrent membership. Many thanks to Corinne Vansolkema and her family for the many hours of work needed to get the float ready!

Tahsis Days Scavenger Hunt and Slugfest

I guess this is what happens when a plan comes together. Community Garden Members and the Produce Availability Iniative ladies gave up their precious Tahsis Days time to put on the Tahsis Days Scavenger Hunt and Slugfest. The plan was simple, children under the age of 8 were to find icons of garden intruments in the Community Garden, match them to a sheet they were given upon entry, eat a vegetable or a fruit at the PAI booth, then give their entry in at the greenhouse to get a prize.The older children recieved a sheet of objects to find in the garden, complete the PAI Challenge ( eat a fruit or vegetable at the PAI booth), take the Wood Moving Challenge for extra points and then collect as many slugs as they could.All entries were tallied at the greenhouse by Community Garden Members.Amazingly there were more entries than anticipated, visitors also came to join in. The whole Garden was filled with children and their parents/ caregivers though the weather was less than ideal. The many slugs that were rounded up went to feed Mrs Dulong's ducks, and the large brush pile was shifted to where it can be dealt with later. Many thanks to Debra Conibear, Sharon Carpenter, Debbie Van Solkema the PAI ladies, Nicole and Sharon,Karli Yanchus for the beautiful pics and the Garden Members for helping out.

Scavenger Hunt and Slugfest 2011

TAHSIS DAYS SCAVENGER HUNT

The Tahsis Community Garden is sponsoring a scavenger hunt in the garden on Sat. July 16 at 4:00.

Come one, come all! Three events in one: Kids Under 6 category, Over 6, and Over 12!

The Shed Is Here!

I'm kinda getting impressed about the will and the speed of Garden Members. Debra, Debbie, Sharon and I met to discuss the up and coming Tahsis Days Scavenger Hunt, and Debbie told us some wonderful news.She found 2 sheds at Canadian Tire for a very reasonable price.She was able to pick up one immediately and the other has to be brought up from another store.They are a bit bigger than what we imagined,the bigger format was marginally more expensive than the smaller,and both were an excellent deal. We will have more space to house equipment and tools, and have a bit of cash left over!Perhaps we can use the excess for the gutter or the duck run.

Great Turnout!

Who would ever think that a Gardening meeting would be this week's hot social ticket?
Surprise! We had over 20 members show up for our July 6th meeting hosted by Debra Conibear. We ran out of seats! As our Heart and Stroke money has come in, people gathered together to discuss the timing and the necessity of prioitizing of purchases.We found out that we are now pretty much full to bursting,more soil will need to be imported to fill up the empty beds. Louis van Solkema and Bill Davidson will be checking out Green solutions to our power concerns,Catherine Gorden and Debra Conibear voluteered to host the Tahsis Day Scavenger Hunt,Silvie Keen will be liaisoning with the Produce Availability Initiative people and the Tahsis Days organizers, and a super secret commitee will be taking on the very important task of the Community Garden Float in the Tahsis Days Parade. Meeting notes will be available soon. Extra thanks to all the bakers who brought the loveliest treats and fruit, EVER, and to Debra Conibear ( and Karli Yanchus, Debra's homemaker) for hosting the Meeting.You rock, ladies and gents!

Next Meeting

Community Garden members are invited to meet on Wednesday, July 6 at 6:30 at the home of Tena Douglas. (The trailer directly across from the garden with the butterflies on it.) Time to talk about what is working and what needs work.

Community Garden Planting Day

You could not have had a better day to plant a Community Garden, not too warm/not too cool temperatures, lightly cloudy skies,and a fair wind. The Kornylo family were out in force, getting the Farm to School plot raked and ready for planting. They were joined by a group of students from Captain Meares Elementary and Secondary School who quickly got to work planting and watering the beds.The produce from plot will be used by the Farm to School Program, giving inexpensive healthy lunches to the School Community. After the work on the FTS allotment, the students began to assist the older and handicapped Garden members to prepare and plant their boxes. Neighbours were chatting to neighbours about their garden plans, families planting and working together, small children playing in between the beds and trying out the waterhose,a good time was had by all. Big Thanks to Katrina Kornylo and family for all the hard work, Cole, Leilani, Em,Andrea,Marion,Daniel,Heather,Gareth, Rodger, Alise, Baby Sophie,the Yanchus- Howell Family, the Vansolkema Family,Mrs Carpenter, Juanita,Debra,Tena, Bill and Silvie( who made the best brownies EVER!)

BIG WORK DAY

A large number of people turned up on Sat. June 11th to work at the garden. Many of the gardeners were CMESS students who worked on the bed for the Farm to School lunch program.