It’s that time of year!

It’s a beautiful September day. We’ve had sun and rain which has made our gardens prosper over the last few weeks! It has been a busy one! All areas of Greener Village are anxious to get Fall under way! Here’s whats happening around your community food centre…

Community Gardens- everyone is taking pride in their fruits of labour! We have seen so many happy families working on their plots, asking questions and enjoying the comfortable natural space that surrounds our raised beds!

Greenhouses- the U-pick has been a huge success this year! Over 500 lbs of fresh vegetables have been given away to clients of the Food Bank. That dollar value equals approximately over $3300 when compared to supermarket prices… AND there is still so much more to be harvested! 

Clothing Boutique- Out with the Summer, in with the Fall! Next week we are having a $1 SALE on ALL CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR! Monday to Friday, September 8th-12th. Come one come all, we have sizes, styles and brands for everyone!

School Supplies- Bring in your child’s school list of necessary supplies and we will do our best to fill it! We have backpacks to paper to markers to lunch boxes! Every list is different, so please bring in a list so we can better prepare you with everything you will need! We have had many donations and we are so grateful that we have the opportunity to help our community at this hectic time of year! Happy back to school!

 

Food Distribution- We’ve added more choice! We want to promote healthy, nutritious meals and even better, ones that you can cook for yourself! We’ve added a YELLOW tag to our system, meaning that each family gets to choose which pack they want. Equipped with all the ingredients and a recipe. In August, we gave out 830+ packs alone! Not sure what i’m describing? Visit us to learn more about our food distribution and our healthy choice packs!

Teaching Kitchen- Kate, our lead instructor in the kitchen, is at the NB-Exhibition all week long! She has been cooking up and serving soup on the spot. Promoting our programs and workshops, we are there to spread the information about GV. Visit us all week 2-4pm in the Community Demonstration Kitchen at the Capital Exhibit Center.

Also, if you haven’t already heard, our teaching kitchen Guru, Kate MacKay, is now airing on Rogers TV!! For the year, you can catch her show (times below) on budget cooking in your very own kitchen! Good job Kate, we are so proud!

Last but not least, our OPEN HOUSE on OPEN FARM DAY NB is fast approaching. In partnership with Agricultural Alliance of NB, we are hosting farm day here at Greener Village on September 21st. Fun for the whole family! We have a ton of activities planned, critters to pet, information to share and locally grown delicious food samples just for YOU! We will also be hosting our second annual fundraising breakfast that morning at 11-1pm. This breakfast is only $5 and all proceeds help our programs at Greener Village. Hope to see you there!

 

Thanks and happy harvest folks!

-S

The Gardens

Gardening requires lots of water — most of it in the form of perspiration.

~Lou Erickson

(We found some oldie pictures for you to stem off my post last week)

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.

~Hanna Rion

– Briana

Greener Village This Week: Compost, Greenhouses, and 100 Men Who Care

Lots of people got their hands dirty and made a real difference at Greener Village this week. Source: Simple Wikipedia.

It may have been a short week, but there were still a lot accomplishments at Greener Village to be proud of.  Today we bring you updates on our greenhouses and gardens, invite you to attend an exciting workshop, and give thanks to those who have donated their time, money and energy.

Rain and Shine; Pictures Update

Things are really taken off thanks to the rain which is exciting, but also means we could use some more volunteers! If you’re interested in joining our volunteer team get in contact with Vadini by e-mail; vadini.comfoodctr@gmail.com. We can also accommodate large groups that wish to volunteer for a day; great way for a work team to bond.

We need lots of help with weeding, tending plants, running the U-pick on our open days, and some other projects.

Onto the pictures! Remember if you want to see the difference look for our other picture updates.

— Briana

Bush Beans & Kale

Onions, Bush Beans, & Lettuce

Pole Beans & Tomatoes

Eggplant
Which the deer decided to walk through

Pizza Garden

“Kitchen Garden”

“Family Garden”
The deer like the tops of my beans

“Artist Garden”

Greenhouse #4

Cabbages in Greenhouse #2

Native Trees & Shrubs – surrounded up old silage

All pictures by: Briana Covey

Starting Something New

The Swiss Chard in Greenhouse #4 has started doing really well and could definitely start being picked.

So today, we are going to have a U-pick for our clients! Sabrina and I will be taking clients that are interested in having some Swiss chard, out to the greenhouse and showing them how to pick and keeping track of how much Swiss chard comes off the row.

The weighing is partly to make sure everyone gets the same, but it is also so that we can keep records of how much we produce. We also want to start getting our clients more interested in what we’re doing here and what our goals are for the gardens and greenhouses.

I know I’m really excited and hopefully for to see how the day goes. I’ve already started thinking of cooking ideas to give to people as well.

I’ll let you know how everything turns out at the end of the day 😀

– Briana