Blog Posts - Brewer Park Community Garden

Brewer Park Community Garden

Annual Spring Meeting - Saturday April 21, 2018

4/3/2018

The Annual Spring Meeting will take place on Saturday, April 21, 2018 from 1 - 3 pm at the Brewer Pool.

The meeting will include guest speaker Jack Reilly of the University of Ottawa who will share the findings of the study he conducted last summer on pollinators in the Ottawa area.

Weather permitting, there will also be a tour of the garden after the meeting.We look forward to seeing you all!

BPCG Executive Committee

Agenda
1) Welcome

2) Update of garden including:
a) Review of minutes of AGM November 2017 - Johanne
b) Introduction of Executive for 2018 - Johanne
c) Garden opening date – May 5, 2018 - Johanne
d) Planned Budget 2018 - Ali
e) Seedling Sale coming up - Laura
f) Roles and responsibilities of members (including key dates) - Jackie
g) Fall clean-up principles - Jackie
h) Members volunteering (5 hours) - Jackie

3) Getting to know the various coordinating committee members - Lucie
a) Introduction of individual leaders and initiatives
b) Sign-up for volunteering

4) Presentation by Jack Reilly - U of Ottawa, Pollination Study of 2017

5) Thank you and tour of garden

Lucie Clément: Meet the Garden's new Vice-President

1/10/2018

Lucie has been gardening for 25 years. Her love of gardening comes from her grandmother, who used to grow flowers and vegetables in her garden near the Saint-Laurent River. Lucie even remembers picking green beans and tomatoes with her grandmother when she was two years old!

Lucie joined the Brewer Park Community Garden in order to reconnect with her roots in gardening, and she was also attracted by the garden’s donation program. She wanted to donate to those in need. To that effect, Lucie has been an extremely important addition to the Donation Committee, which in 2017, she co-led along with Marcel Bélanger.

She is also very grateful to the other volunteers on the committee, without whom the donation program would not be such a success! Lucie says that she really likes the community at the garden, and the opportunity to meet great people and share ideas about gardening. Her favourite things to grow in her garden are tomatoes, onions, and green, yellow, and purple beans.

Thank you for your contributions, Lucie and congratulations on becoming the Garden's Vice-President during the Garden's Fall 2017 AGM elections.

By Lindsay Vyvey

Al and Ann Holtz: A community garden is about more than growing food

1/10/2018

Al and Ann Holtz have been volunteers and members of the garden since 2011. Gardening has been a part of them both since their childhood! Al grew up on a farm in central Alberta and Ann has always helped her mom grow flowers and vegetables. Ann is particularly fond of the magic of spring planting and seeing her vision and plans come to life. While Al loves working the soil and getting the plants to grow.

Being able to share their knowledge and love of gardening is important to them. They have contributed to the success of the garden as a member of the executive, guru of composting and first lead for the communal garden plots.

For Ann and Al, the community garden is about more than growing food; it's also about getting reacquainted with the seasons, sharing, being outside and working together. The community garden was an important part of Al's recovery from open heart surgery in 2013 and Ann’s cancer treatment recovery in 2014. It continues to be a place they walk to as a neighbourhood destination. Having places to sit in the garden, to be surrounded by the smells and plants, is a really important part of healing.

By Johanne Ranger

Garden's 2017 Fall Photo Highlights

11/24/2017

Check out the Photo Highlights of the Garden's annual fall closing on October 22nd and the Garden's Annual General Meeting of October 28th.

Garden's Annual General Meeting - Saturday October 28, 2017

10/26/2017

The Garden's AGM is taking place on Saturday October 28 from 2-4pm at Saint Margaret Mary’s Church, 7 Fairbairn Ave at corner of Sunnyside Ave. This is a chance for you to have a say and influence the Garden's activities and meet and share garden ideas with like minded gardeners and members.

AGM Agenda

1) Welcome

2) Review of Agenda
3) Review of last meeting minutes (Spring meeting 2017)

4) Report from the President for 2017

5) Reports from CoCo Leaders on this summer's activities
a) Donation
b) Shared Plots
c) Membership
d) Maintenance
e) Biodome
f) Social
g) Communications
h) Demonstration
i) Children

4) Treasurer’s report
a) Resolution to waive public accountant and audit

5) Election for Executive Position

6) Misc Item

7) Closing of AGM

Social and informal sharing of news and events from 2017 till 5 pm

Garden Opening Work-bee - Sunday May 7, 2017

5/3/2017

It's time to get the Garden ready for another great growing season. Sunday May 7th 1 - 4 pm rain or shine unless there's a major storm. We now have a NEW Sign-up for your preferred task on the Volunteer Sign-up page at the following link https://www.volunteersignup.org/HCK44
For those who can`t make it on the 7th, we will have a second opening day event on Saturday, May 13th 9 - 12 Noon.
Dress for the weather and bring a snack or drink to share with members at the end of the day.

Seedlings for Sale at Biodome in Early May

4/15/2017

It's time to start thinking about what to plant in your garden this spring. New this year, the Garden will have seedlings available for sale at the Biodome.

The following seedlings will be available in early May: onions, leeks, beets; and possibly lettuce, broccoli and kale. At the end of May, tomatoes (4 varieties), eggplants, basil and peppers (hot & sweet) will be available for sale.

Spring Annual Meeting - April 23, 2017 at 1:30pm

4/10/2017

Spring Annual Meeting will take place on Sunday, April 23rd at 1h30 pm at Brewer Park Pool Meeting Room.
The spring meeting is a great way to re-new with members and get to know new garden members. This year we will have a guest speaker who will be able answer some of your gardening questions (Guest speaker to be confirmed soon!)

At this meeting we will:
1) Welcome new members and provide updates on the garden
2) Get to know the Coordinating Committee Leads
3) Learn how you can get involved in the garden
4) Guest Speaker
For those interested and if time permits, we will have a tour and orientation of the garden after the meeting.

Annual Fall Clean-up - Saturday October 22, 2016

10/17/2016

Fall Annual General Meeting - October 2, 2016

9/10/2016

Mark your calendars, the Fall Annual General Meeting will take place on October 2, 2016 from 3-5pm at St. Margaret Mary Church (at the corner of Sunnyside and Fairbairn).