AMS Elections 2009: FotF endorsements

Hello friends,

Last Thursday those who attended the meeting voted on which candidates FotF will be endorsing for the upcoming AMS and Board of Governors (BoG) elections. Most (if not all) candidates running for executive positions in the AMS and the Board of Governors include “saving the Farm” in their platforms. It has become very clear in election debates this past week that only a few of the candidates can articulate what that means and have the political experience to make the farm a priority for the AMS this coming year.

Having a strong AMS executive and BoG student reps. is essential for university affairs and decision making regarding the farm and other important issues at UBC (especially development!). For more information about the structure of the AMS and BoG, candidates’ platforms, debate schedules and election details please visit the AMS website.

If you are an undergraduate or graduate student at UBC, PLEASE VOTE!!! These elections are important. Click through for our endorsements…

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Experienced growers wanted for new community garden

Jen Rashleigh, a friend of the Farm and the force behind the wonderful documentary about us, is looking for 2 volunteers with solid gardening experience to act as head growers for the gardens going in at the George Peatson Centre. This is a great opportunity for volunteering in the community if you’ve got some skills to share. If you’re interested, act quickly; the deadline for applications is February 10th.

More details below…

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Special Tuesday edition of Walkabout for January 20th

As I won’t be around tomorrow, and the frost looked oh-so-pretty today, we’re doing the walkabout a day early. Woke up this morning and checked the weather only to find a forecast that I had never in my life seen – “freezing fog” (or as the Canadian government site puts it, “fog depositing ice”. Lordy! Hope you all stay toasty warm in this treacherous “freezing fog” today!

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Wednesday Walkabout – January 14th

I’m excited to say we’ve reached a milestone: this is our 100th post on the Friends of the Farm blog. Thanks for keeping up with us over this first year of writing. We’re looking forward to sharing many more beautiful, bountiful seasons with you.

Parsley, looking and tasting strong

happy to have some grass exposed

Award for best looking (post-snow) goes to Collard greens

still alive…

…little garlic…

… can I eat you yet?

The rhubarb is even venturing out

flowers in waiting

dried out, back to scratching

Now for the not so lucky: poor, poor waido

Someone’s good at digging

VERY good at digging! Bad rodents!

Ahhhh, I think they may lead somewhere…

Straight to the headquarters!

More evidence

And still more. How rude.

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Snow review in photos, and the return of EGGS

I just realized that I haven’t posted any photos on the blog since December 4th. Tragic! It’s been quite magical out here, with all this snow. No cars or hoards of people to crush it and melt it, no exhaust turning it sooty. Just fields of white. Proof is below.

And, lucky you, an announcement: UBC Farm eggs are back on sale at Sprouts! If you’ve been missing them, please head over to the SUB and pick up a dozen or two.  Our hens say hi.

There’s food under there somewhere…

Sunflower in a dunce cap

The hoophouse is hiding

So brave!

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Terry* Contest: Build an eco-gingerbread house

Check out this great contest that was held by Terry*, the fantastic and creative interdisciplinary project out of UBC. Bake for a Change asked participants to create an eco-gingerbread house over winter break and submit a photo record. I love that the resultant entries have all the traditional, sacharine stylings of gingerbread architecture, but with that added LEED touch. The entries are still being posted for this year’s contest, but last year’s winners can be found here.

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Mel Lehan, Friend of the Farm, profiled in the Straight and Westender

It’s been quite the day for Mr. Lehan in the local media. Both the Westender and the Georgia Straight have articles profiling Mel, spurred by his plans to challenge B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell for his elected office in the Point Grey riding. Lehan is running for a number of reasons, all community oriented, and feels that province is suffering from a case of “Campbell fatigue”. If he’s right, perhaps the voters will side with him in the next election.

Saving the UBC Farm has been a key focus of Mel’s activism over the past few years, and he remains one of the most vocal community members speaking out against the development of the site. The Straight article discusses his involvement with the cause in more detail.

Other fun Mel-facts I learned in these articles? Turns out he helped to build the “Welcome to Kitsilano” sign you see when coming south over the Burrard St. bridge, was part of bringing Car Free Day to Kistilano and in 2005, when he last ran for a seat against Campbell he followed the premier by 2,250 votes.

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Media: Ubyssey article on the BoG press release

The UBC Board of Governors (BoG) has put out the call to the administration for a “new academic plan” for the 24 hectares of the UBC Farm.

The media release, which was issued December 1, states that there will not be market housing on the UBC Farm as long as the university’s “housing, community development and endowment goals can be met through transferring density to other parts of campus.” Market housing was a component in the previous plans drawn up for the future of the Farm.

President Stephen Toope says that the BoG is doing this to allow themselves flexibility, but that other options are being considered.

Full text article here.

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