Updates!

A note from Paul:

The Calgary Food Policy Council & Big Rock present The Calgary Food Summit on World Food Day, 16Oct09

The Calgary Food Policy Council is hosting the groundbreaking Calgary Food Summit (CFS) on World Food Day, October 16th, 2009. The CFS is an inclusive opportunity for all those actively involved and working towards improving our local & regional food system.

The objective of the CFS, the first ever event of this type for Calgary, is to discuss progressive policy that will create and build an enhanced food security, food justice, food efficiency, urban ag, community garden & sustainable ag landscape in Calgary.

As we often conduct our affairs independent of other local initiatives, bringing all the participants in our food systems together is an ideal way for our communities to celebrate World Food Day. The timing for local convergence's is fantastic, being on the heels of an amazing summer, harvest & the unparalleled growth, awareness and development of the sustainable food movement in North America.

If you are interested in attending or volunteering, please contact Paul Hughes.

Looks important

An email I just received from Kirti Bhadresa, via Tavis:

(I edited it down a bit for brevity.)

Hi everyone,

Some of you may know Kris Vestor of Blue Mountain Biodynamic Farm, and may already know about this event.  Kris is an amazing local farmer and individual who has been a strong advocate for local healthy food for a long time (among other things that he gets involved in as an activist). 

His farm was hit by a recent storm and most of his crops and buildings were destroyed.  Arusha, along with The Coup and Sunnyside Market, are putting together this fundraiser for Kris.  The bands are great - and it'll be a super fun night.  The event info is attached.

Also, Dave Robinson is looking for volunteers (so you'd get in for free)!  If you could volunteer, please email him at videogrp@telus.net

And Tara may still be looking for donations for a silent auction.  Her email is tara_sukut@hotmail.com if you have any items to donate.

See you there next Friday!  It'd be great if you could also pass the word around.
Kirti Bhadresa, Calgary Dollars Coordinator

A message from Gael of the Community Garden Resource Network

Thrive: Calgary's Community Economic Development Network
Join your voluntary sector, business and government colleagues with an interest in promoting community in Calgary because community economic development helps to create sustainable cities!

You are invited to join The Garden Path Society of Calgary as they share how they contribute to community well-being and sustainability through community gardening. Enjoy a locally-grown, after work snack from the garden as we learn about how the Garden Path Society contributes to CED practice by:

- Operating the Urban Garden Cooperative, which provides Calgarians a place to grow and harvest their own vegetables. Profilts from the u-pick are reinvested back into the Society

- Operating Cornucopia, which distributes the garden's abundant harvest to Calgary-based charities.

- Providing a welcoming way for community members to reduce their environmental footprint through local, organic gardening.

Date: Thursday, September 10, 2009
Time: 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Location: Garden Path Society of Inglewood
2297 17 Street SE
(Behind the Colonel Walker School Yard)

Please RSVP by Friday September 4

For more information please contact:
Brenna Atnikov
403-204-2668
www.thrivecalgary.org

The Tyee’s new series on urban agriculture

The Tyee, out of B.C., has launched a new series of articles on urban agriculture.

The two posts so far go into the motivation behind the series, and “Why Urban Farming is the Future”.

CJSW Features Gurrilla Gardening!

Urban Agriculture has gotten loads of attention this summer from all the media outlets in Calgary, thanks to the efforts of everyone involved in community gardening and guerrilla gardening this summer. Today, CJSW posted this feature with video clips from our very own city! Thanks to Cody for sending to the CUA google group.

Natural lawns gaining support

A legal battle in Ottawa has advanced the cause of moving away from traditional water- and chemical-intensive lawns toward more sustainable approaches.

Some recently found items of interest

With all the recent attention given to the push for legalizing chickens in the city, This Magazine’s recent article may be of interest: “Be an urban chicken farmer in 5 easy steps”

“Square foot gardening” presents an approach to growing food that can really simplify things — making gardening much more approachable for people new to it, or just too busy to deal with more complicated setups. The CBC has a useful story on this approach: Another take on urban gardening.

The Eat Well Guide is an online database of local, sustainable and organic food sources (farmers, shops, community gardens, restaurants, organizations, etc.) for Canada and the U.S. They don’t have any listings for Calgary, yet, but you can add listings. Another spot to promote our local resources.

Citizens Market “is a non-profit user-generated website for ethical consumption.”