Growing (Garlic Co-op, Greenhouse, Gleaning Project)

Recently at a Food Literacy conference in Victoria, I was asked to share a story of a moment I saw food literacy in action. I had so many to choose from! But what came to mind was the many times I’ve witnessed volunteer fruit pickers participating in the Gleaning Project who share recipes and techniques for handling the produce we are picking. “Can you dry this variety of apple?” “Have you ever made plum sauce for using in Asian recipes?” “I never get around to processing these, my kids just eat them all fresh.” And, every year: “What do you DO with quince?”

The Gleaning Project organizes groups of volunteer pickers to pick excess fruit (and sometimes vegetables). The harvest is divided 3 ways: One third for the landowner, one third for the Food Program, and one third divided amongst the picking volunteers. The Food Program share is used in our events, as well as distributed via the clinic, school and food bank. We gather all of the harvest together first and weigh everything so we can do things as fairly as possible, and so we can keep an accurate record for our notes and our funders. It’s an exercise in working communally, and everyone takes home some fruit picked by each of the volunteers.

We are very grateful to the landowners who generously host us, and work hard to be respectful of their space and property. That means we schedule picking times that are convenient to them.

When we have a site that is ready to pick, we email the volunteer pickers to inform everyone of the opportunity. We try to give you as much notice as possible, but often the window is pretty tight – ripe fruit waits for no picker!

We work hard to gauge the right number of pickers, taking into consideration how much fruit there is and what we can safely manage at each site. Sometimes there are more people interested than we can accommodate—please know that we do our best to make sure everyone gets a chance to pick and if we say no to you for one pick, you’ll probably be first in line for the next opportunity. This does mean that each person should not expect to pick more than a handful of times each season. How often you can expect to pick depends on your availability and how bountiful a harvest we have from year to year—last year about 80 people participated in about 60 picking sessions.

If you are offered a chance to pick, please take that commitment seriously. We know that things come up and sometimes it is necessary to cancel—in that case please give us as much notice as possible so we can replace you with someone who is keen. That lets us visit a site with the right number of pickers and get all the ripe fruit, rather than have to return multiple times to the same site. And some people want to pick but they don’t have a use for all of their share. If this is the case for you, please let us know when you ask to pick.

So, if you are you a landowner whose fruit trees are dripping with fruit, but you have no time to pick them; or if you would you benefit from having access to healthy fruit but have no fruit trees of your own; if your garden is overflowing, and you would you like to share the bounty with other members of the community; or if you enjoy the simple joy of harvesting fruit or vegetables in a group, the Gleaning Project is for you!

If you would like to be notified about upcoming picking sessions, or if you have trees that need picking, or if you have any questions at all, please email Emma.

Located behind the Galiano Library on the School grounds, the Greenhouse Growing Group grows vegetables together in the Community Greenhouse. Anyone is welcome to join. The charge is only $20 for the whole year. This fee includes all soil amendments, seeds, pots, and tools, but people are still encouraged to bring their own. Participants share the produce.

We specialise in the early Spring Starts and then roll out a program for year-round crops. We learn and share our knowledge about potting mixes and seeds, pests and problems. Over the years, we have built up a good collection of saved seeds and benefitted from the Seed Library of Galiano with a Seed Swap and sharing their collection. The group meets informally once or twice a week throughout the spring and summer. By the summer, we have a watering schedule so participants take regular (weekly) turns to keep the plants well- watered. It is a teaching and learning environment—we have knowledge and experience to share, and some resources and good links to help further the skills of participants and answer your specific gardening questions.

We specialise in tomatoes, eggplants, basil, peppers, melons, and many other seasonal vegetables. There are also raised beds (no bending!) outside the greenhouse where we have grown strawberries, runner beans, zucchinis and cucumbers.

First meeting of the 2019 Growing Season is Saturday, March 16, 11:00, at the Greenhouse. Come on out and see what it’s all about! If you have any questions, you can email Barry, the Greenhouse Coordinator.

Greenhouse Group: Tuesdays at 12 noon.

Greenhouse Growing Group by Barry New

The Greenhouse Growing Group grows vegetables together in the greenhouse located behind the Library. This year’s season begins Tuesday April 4th at 12 noon. Anyone is welcome to join. This group can suit all levels of experience and commitment.

The charge is still only $20 for the whole year. This fee includes all soil amendments, seeds, pots, and tools (though people are also encouraged to bring their own). Participants also share the produce. We can provide handouts related to specific gardening questions.

We specialise in the early Spring Starts and then roll out a program for the year-round crops. You can learn and share your knowledge about potting mixes and seeds. The group meets informally once or twice a week throughout the spring and summer. By summer, we have a watering schedule so there are regular weekly turns by the participants to keep the plants well-watered. It is a teaching and learning environment so we have some resources and good links to help further the skills of participants. Last year we grew tomatoes, eggplants, basil, peppers, melons, and many other seasonal vegetables. The planters outside the greenhouse had strawberries, runner beans, and cucumbers. There are also Seniors Beds specially adapted for easy maintenance (no bending!). Starting this year, we are experimenting with winter crops, and we bought two olive trees and two lemon trees.

For more information, contact Barry New at 539-2364  or galianofoodprograms@gmail.com

How did your garden grow this year? Maybe it’s still growing. Or, maybe life got in the way of those good intentions in the spring, the promising dance of dried seeds in the paper packet that got forgotten in the cupboard, and things never really germinated the way you’d hoped. With the dark damp days upon us it’s the time of year we tend to burrow down and take stock of where we’re at: what worked, what didn’t, and what might we do differently next time.

The Seed Library of Galiano (SLOG) would like to know how your edible garden grew and what seeds did well this year. One of SLOG’s goals is to increase island food security by collecting viable seed that flourishes in Galiano’s climate. That’s why SLOG only takes seed grown on Galiano, and why, we ask our donors to fill out some paperwork (we can help with that piece). SLOG is very interested in details like germination rates and growing conditions.

To help demystify the process of saving seeds SLOG and the Food Program are offering a free Seed Saving Workshop by Barry New. It will be held November 12th, from 11-1pm at the Community Greenhouse at the school garden. Barry will be sharing techniques and providing demonstrations on saving seeds for edibles such as tomatoes, peppers, grains, and other more difficult seeds. Please bring your questions, any seeds that need processing, and storage containers for your saved seeds. Paper bags and envelopes are best.

Whether you are a borrower of library seed, an avid gardener who has saved favourite Galiano-grown seed varieties, or a curious community member, we invite you to drop in to one of our four upcoming “check-in sessions” scheduled through November: November 4th, 12th, 17th, and 25th. All sessions are from 1-3pm at the Galiano Community Library in the Holahan Room. We’re hoping that residents who grew seed this year and are able to donate some to SLOG’s inventory will visit us and “check-in” their seed during these intake sessions. For the month of November SLOG will have a drop-off box in the lobby of the Community Library, where, during library hours, you may drop off saved seed along with descriptive information.

In closing, the SLOG Steering Committee is welcoming new members. As this is SLOG’s first autumn seed harvest we are turning our minds to receiving seeds from the community, integrating these new seeds into our existing inventory, and duplicating our seed collection for safe storage, creating a “back-up” collection. If this might be of interest to you, please consider joining our fun-loving group. All levels of knowledge are welcome. Any questions? Please contact Colleen at galianofoodprograms@gmail.com.

Do you like garlic? The Garlic Co-op is a group of garlic enthusiasts who collectively grow a few varieties of organic premium garlic, with scapes, in a large, shared, sunny plot at the south end of the island. Together we learn about this easy-to-grow, hardy crop, share the load of bed-preparation, seeding, weeding, mulching and harvesting, and enjoy some delicious garlic. Everyone is welcome, and no previous experience is required to join. Now that it’s fall we’re getting ready to plant our bulbs at our brand-new site! If you’re interested in checking it out, contact Emma for details.

Friday, Nov. 4th, Saturday, Nov. 12th, Thursday, Nov. 17th, and Friday Nov. 25th. All days are 1-3pm. We are open for seed drop-offs for SLOG members and others who have grown edible, medicinal or native seed on Galiano. Thanks to the GCA we will also have some native seed available for loan. Any questions? Please contact Colleen.