Fundamentals of Permaculture Design 2011

Presented by the Conscious Design Collective with support from the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm:

Please join us Aug. 23rd – Sept 11th for a dynamic, internationally recognized certificate course on the principles and practice of Permaculture Design.  We will guide you to finding practical applications of sustainable design in urban and rural contexts through dynamic media presentations, guest lecturers from UBC and the greater community, and applied hands-on sessions. Visit the Eventbrite page for full details and to register.

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UBC Farm recognized in Tides Canada’s “Top Ten for 2009″

hoop house, put to rest for winter

Hello Farm Friends!

Fall and Winter have been busy seasons here at the farm, and we are finally settling in for a bit of a rest over the holidays. We thought we would end the year with some good news – the UBC Farm has been named one of Tides Canada’s “Top Ten for 2009!”

From the Tides Canada site:

“Each year, we select ten social change organizations that we feel are making huge inroads in building a more just and sustainable world. These groups work tirelessly on the ground, running smart, strategic campaigns and achieving remarkable results.”

Take a look at the Top Ten list and the UBC Farm’s entry.

Best wishes for the holidays,

Friends of the UBC Farm

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December 1 Practicum Application Deadline

The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm is delighted to offer:

Sowing Seeds for the Future

A hands-on, season-long practicum in sustainable agriculture

We are now accepting applications for our 2010 program!

What? ~ The Sowing Seeds Practicum 2010:

Established in 2008, this part-time (600 hour), eight month practicum offers instruction and daily work experience in small-scale sustainable farming.  In a balanced, hands-on learning approach, students work alongside staff in the greenhouse, gardens, fields, and orchard.  Students attend complementary lectures, demonstrations, and farm visits, and participate in a variety of practical and reflective educational activities. Direct marketing activities are also a key part of the experience. The practicum has been designed as a beginning point for aspiring growers, educators and agricultural professionals.

Students come from all backgrounds and are expected to be passionate about pursuing a career in sustainable agriculture. A certificate of completion will be issued to students who fulfill the practicum requirements. Further, we support our graduates to make connections within the BC agricultural community, and to seek out mentors to learn with following Sowing Seeds. Please note, Sowing Seeds 2010 is a non-credit course and therefore participants are not eligible for student loans. However, in 2010 we are offering a fee discount for UBC students who register, and successfully earn credits, for a directed studies based on their Sowing Seeds Practicum.

Where? ~ The UBC Farm:

Located at the southern end of the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus, on the traditional territory of the Musqueam people, the UBC Farm stewards a 24 ha site as an integrated, working farm system. The UBC Farm is student driven and all practices voluntarily adhere to COABC standards for organic production.  In a given year, we cultivate up to 250 different varieties of annual and perennial crops.

What’s new for 2010?

Following two full seasons, the Sowing Seeds practicum is making several changes to its structure to reflect feedback from our 2008 and 2009 students, our UBC Farm Staff, and our Steering Committee. The information contained on the website and in the Program Overview reflects the current direction of the project .

 

Course Logistics:

Course dates : March 13 – Nov 6, 2010

Course hours : Vary throughout the growing season from 7-21 hours/week. See our Program Overview for details.

Course fee : $3,000

**(UBC Students who register, and successfully earn credits, for a directed studies course based upon their Sowing Seeds Practicum are eligible for a $400 refund)**

Capacity : 10 students

Applications: Application information is available on our website.  Application deadline: December 1, 2009.

For more information, please:

• Visit our Website and download our Program Overview
• View photos from the 2008 practicum
• Watch a short video about the practicum in 2008 (scroll down: “A Unique Urban Agriculture Course at UBC Farm”)

Contact information:

If you can’t find the info you need on our website, please contact Elaine Spearing at: ubcfarm.seeds@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you!

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New UBC Farm Fundraising/Promotional video

fall leaves at the farm

Hello Friends of the Farm,

Check this out! The UBC central development office (ie: big time UBC fundraising) has put together a flash video about the farm and invited people to participate in visioning the farm’s future with them (and donate of course!). The Flash campaign is gaining momentum – we have just surpassed 1000 views of the video and the link was promoted on Edible Vancouver and CBC’s early edition with Fred Lee recently. Please take the time to check out the video and let the development office know a bit about you (and donate of course:).

http://bit.ly/2NmKQx

Thanks so much!

Friends of the Farm

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You’re invited! “Sowing Seeds for the Future” OPEN HOUSE: Saturday October 31, 2-5pm

On Saturday Oct 31 all prospective applicants to the 2010 Sowing Seeds for the Future Practicum are invited to attend  a drop-in Open House at the UBC Farm between 2-5pm! Come meet this year’s apprentices and farm staff, tour the site and get your questions answered!

Sowing Seeds field trip to Salt Spring, June 2009*

For the 2008 and 2009 growing seasons, the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm has been pleased to offer “Sowing Seeds,” a hands-on, season-long apprenticeship-style course in sustainable agriculture. Our second year of the program began in early March 2009 and completes early November 2009.

Now, after two full seasons, Sowing Seeds 2010 is under revision as we consider feedback from our 2008 and 2009 apprentices, our UBC Farm Staff and our Steering Committee.  We believe this evaluation is a critical step in the creation of an excellent program, and we are excited about the continued evolution of Sowing Seeds.  The 2010 course details (including course schedule, dates, fees and application information) will be available on our website shortly. Updated info will also be available at the Open House on Oct 31.  We hope to see you there!

(* Thanks to Nic for sharing his photos!)

Sowing Seeds 2009

Salad harvest*

Early season transplanting

Market bouquets early Saturday morning

Seed saving class

Never a nicer cabbage (or a friendlier face)

Early season compost and mowing

Visiting Brighte Farm*

Visiting Foxglove Farm*

Sowing Seeds 2008 (with staff)

Raspberries in the rain

Our 2009 Glamour Shot*

Saturday Market

Orchard care

Visiting Salt Spring Seeds*

Personal Plots time

Garlic cleaning

Sowing Seeds field trip to Salt Spring, June 2009*

Veggie sales

Early season bed preparation

Our chicken friends

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“Farm virgin” visits UBC Farm

Hey Farm Friends,

check out this video recently shot at UBC farm by the “Farm Virgin.” It’s called “episode 9″…just in case you’re confused about the lack of a more descriptive title.

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Spartans and Pippins and Winesaps, Oh My!

it's harvest... it's harvest time!

In the dark, cold, exam-filled winter of 2005/2006 I huddled in the UBC Farm Centre kitchen, surrounded by grafting knives, tape, bundles of unlikely looking twiggy things and mugs of hot tea.  Keen students and volunteers joined me, and thus began the UBC Farm Heritage Orchard!

We grafted 155 trees, including 60 different apple cultivars – over 50% of which  originated between 1600-1899 A.D.  (Very very old.  Very very cool).

I held my breath through till the spring when, miraculously, the buds on the unlikely little twiggy things (which were stored in pots  in an outdoor  shelter) began to break… Bright green leaves, which unfurled into perfect little flags of life. We cared for them over the summer, planted them into the UBC Farm soil in the rainy fall of 2006, established irrigation and trellising, pruned them, trained them, talked to them (at least I did) and weeded them.  And now, nearly three years later, we are harvesting gorgeous fruits from these  un-twig-like, lovely trees.  I fully admit my bias – but I think they are ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!

AND NOW FOR THE EVENTS!! This weekend the UBC Farm is participating in the UBC Botanical Garden’s AppleFest, Oct 17-18.  AND!!!  On Saturday October 17 - you are cordially invited to join me (Sarah Belanger) on one of three tours of the UBC Farm Heritage Orchard: 10am, 12pm, 2pm. We will meet at the UBC Farm gates and, though it may rain, it will be a lovely time.  A great outing for those interested in apple production and culture! For a little more info, please check out the UBC Farm Website.

the first apple harvested: 2008

walking through the orchard you can read about all the varieties

our new labels give: name, country of origin, date of origin, use, harvest date and rootstock

it’s harvest… it’s harvest time!

cedar posts reclaimed from a forest fire

a 2008 applefest tour!

katy helping with harvest

a prettier apple could not be found

blossom thinning this spring helped the trees grow lovely, big fruits

cox’s orange pippins (england, circa 1825): foodies have been known to fight over these lads. seriously.

best name ever: peasgood nonsuch (england, circa 1850)

chehalis (USA, 1937): delicious, crisp, tart and sweet…

two rows of free standing trees, and three rows of trellis…

early season harvest: transparents (russia, circa 1800)

apprentices hard at work!

little trees in 2008

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Help us secure a bright future for UBC Farm: give feedback to the South Campus Academic Plan

Dear Friends of the Farm,

We need your input and ideas to help secure a bright future for the UBC Farm that will benefit future generations. The South Campus Academic Plan (SCAP) is ready for public feedback. For those who may not know or remember, this is the plan that will lay out the vision for the long term future of the UBC Farm that will be presented to the Board of Governors this fall. This feedback opportunity may be one of our only chances to contribute to building a strong and compelling vision for the future use of the UBC farm. Please take advantage of this opportunity and share your ideas. The more voices we have contributing, the stronger our chances are for a plan that reflects the desires of the diverse users of the farm.

The timeline for feedback is short. This particular window is only open for one week. Different sections of the document will be opened each week for feedback. Please check the following weblink http://www.sas.ubc.ca/ each week for the next few weeks to make sure you give feedback on each section of the document. Please see the message below for details and link to the document and feedback page.

Many thanks,
Friends of the UBC Farm…read on…

Hello,
The first section of the South Campus Academic Plan is now available for feedback.  Please go to http://www.sas.ubc.ca/ and look to the ‘Comment Period for the draft South Campus Academic Plan’ section.  Within it is a link to the current section open for comment.  This week’s section is the Mission Statement.  Also, the SAS poll this week (on the sidebar) addresses the SCAP Mission statement.   At weekly intervals, additional sections will be made available for comments.

Thank you for your time and thoughts,

Have a good day,

The South Campus Academic Plan committee

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Food security and season extension workshops at the farm!

Check out these upcoming workshops at the UBC Farm!

1) Food Security Primer with Robin Wheeler!

Saturday September 19, 10:00am-12:30pm

and

Saturday September 19, 2:00pm-4:30pm

~We’re booking two identical workshops because they are going to fill up fast!~

Course description:

This 2.5 hour workshop was designed to lead the individual to a place of greater resilience and resourcefulness, so they can then move into community based work.  We will discuss stockpiling, gleaning, working with farms, food preservation, reducing waste, intensive growing practices, community sharing and more.  Food security starts with the individual.

Date: Saturday September 19: 10am-12:30pm OR 2:00pm-4:30pm

Cost: $24 (plus $1.75 cent registration fee)

Registration:

Limited to 20 people.  Please register for the Morning Workshop HERE.  Please register for the Afternoon Workshop HERE.  **Please note that all UBC Farm Growing Season Workshops require advance payment.  Also,  our workshops sell out VERY quickly.  We apologize for any inconvenience or disappointment.  There is great demand for our workshops, and unfortunately we can’t accomodate everyone. If the website says the workshop is full, it really is full.**

Presenter Bio:

Robin Wheeler is author of Food Security for the Faint of Heart. She has been actively supporting local agricultural for over 15 years. She operates Edible Landscapes, a plant nursery, and uses her property as a teaching garden for the Sustainable Living Arts School in Roberts Creek, BC. She is founder of the One Straw Society and is also author of Gardening for the Faint of Heart.

What to Bring: Pen, paper

Special Request:

Our presenter Robin is looking for a ride to the Farm from Kitsilano for the 10am workshop.  If you are registered for the workshop and you are able to offer her a ride please email Sarah at: ubcfarm.interns@gmail.com – we’ll be sending you home with a lovely bouquet of flowers!

2) Season-extension and winterizing strategies for the farm and garden

with Delisa Lewis!

Monday September 21, 5-7pm

Course description: Celebrate the equinox at the UBC farm!  Get some experience and join the conversation on season extension and winterizing strategies for your small farm or garden.  We’ll use on-farm examples of season extension to launch our discussion of topics ranging from cover crops, fabric row covers, mulching, composts, and regional variety selection for over-wintering.  With the cooperation of the farm team and favorable weather, we plan to take on a small scale, hands-on winterizing project out in the fields.

Date: Monday Sept 21, (5-7pm)

Cost: $20 (plus $1.65 cent registration fee)

Registration:

Limited to 20 people.  Register on-line HERE.  **Please note that all UBC Farm Growing Season Workshops require advance payment.  Also,  our workshops sell out VERY quickly.  We apologize for any inconvenience or disappointment.  There is great demand for our workshops, and unfortunately we can’t accomodate everyone. If the website says the workshop is full, it really is full.**

Presenter Bio: Delisa Lewis came to BC from the USA after many years as a small scale organic farmer and educator.  Delisa is passionate not only about growing delicious, healthy food, but also about growing new growers.  Delisa likes driving tractors very much and is currently a Phd Candidate in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems.

What to Bring: Pen, paper, appropriate clothing for working outside

Growing Season Workshops: These events are part of the UBC Farm Growing Season Workshop Series.  Our goal is to connect sustainability and life-skills experts with our local community through accessible and affordable workshops.   Come join us for a workshop, gain new skills and knowledge, and help support the UBC Farm!

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