Gardener Blogs

The Everlasting Journey

21Aug2009
My name is Josh Fraser one of many that work with Roots to Harvest. As a teenager i have not experienced anything like what Roots to Harvest has to offer to the youth of Thunder Bay. During the six weeks that i was with Roots to Harvest everything has had a positive impact on my future caused by many factors such as the people i worked with, the hard work and determination it takes to grow fresh vegetables, realizing where your food comes from, interacting with people, and most of all learning to have fun while working hard. There has been many memories in the past six weeks, the best ones were working with the sheep at Blue Moon Ranch, working at Larry and Diana Bockus's farm "all work is done by horse power" which is very interesting, learning how to harvest and pack vegetables at Matt and April's farm which is Boreal Edge CSA "Community Supported Agriculture". We are also interconnected with all of the community gardens helping them progress with their shape and form making the final structure beautful and unique. We also helped out at the Shelter House and worked with groups from Superior Science at Lakehead University teaching them about their five senses that they use everyday when eating or using food. The best thing that i have learned this summer is to relax and enjoy your food and remember eat local food support local farms or even grow your own food in your own backyard... :) ill be back with more blogs even though im done with Roots to Harvest ill still continue with our goals and efforts to continue the journey ....

August Already

7Aug2009

willow springswillow springsWhat a season it's been already! We have another amazing team of folks working with us this summer, each adding their own spice to the R2H garden. We've added haying and willow construction into our repertoire, as well as having our team lead younger folks in workshops with the Eco Summer camp at Lakehead University and Superior Science. Everyday is something different and the crew is always up for it. Stay tuned for some upcoming pictures in our photo gallery from the summer! It's hard to take time out of the day to get them in there, but we'll catch up, promise! And, there's only a couple weeks left until we lose our awesome team too. So, keep coming by the garden to say hi, meet the kids, check on the progress of the veggies and see what's new. We love all the visitors we get each day!

sweat, blood and dirt (only a little blood)

27Jul2009
last week we went to willow springs, the good food box (labour centre) and boreal edge farm.To start off I have to say that last week was pretty great except for some big injuries... Logan had an unfurtunate accident happen upon him, and now his leg is broke. I endured a life threating run in with a nail. It was if I must say myself a very gorey experience.So there I was just minding my own, swinging a hammer around, eating oranges and making fun of Logans gimp leg, when out of nowhere appeared a plank of wood with a nail sticking out of it... I stepped on it.the wound was really deep, about a millimetre.I managed to pull through the agonizing pain and move on to the other great and exciting field trips.Willow springs was cool, we dug lots a dirt, at the labour centre we broke down boxes, and at Matt and Aprils we did lots and lots of weeding.Well thats most of it, I gotta go. chad

The Fantastic First 2 Weeks!

20Jul2009
The first two weeks of roots to harvest were pretty exciting! We did many things and I learnt a lot. The first week seemed to go by very quickly. We were taught about the different things that grow in our garden and also got to visit a few of the local farms around the city. We also had a barbeque for the people who live in our neighbourhood to come and see what we are all about. The second week also went be very fast. We visited a few places such as TBARS, Lakehead University, Belluz, and the Squash Queen to learn about a lot of defferent things. I think that overall the first two weeks were very interesting and a lot of fun. I learnt a lot and I think that there are many more new experiences to come!

The Beginning of a Beautiful Thing

20Jul2009
How to begin. . .the beginning seems like a good place to start. That is, the beginning of the six week placement for the student youth gardeners. My first day could have gone a little more smoothly, as I was told to go to 955 Oliver Rd. which is exactly. . .Lakehead University. After about 15 min. of trying to find where it could possibly be in LU, I talked to the helpful people at YES and was told to go the actual work site at the corner of Cornwall and Algoma. But now that I know where to go every morning, things have been going much better. We have been building new gardens, digging new holes and planting new plants (we have even gotten some new faces to add to the only two others on that rather cold monday morning). We also visited Mile Hill Farm on thursday (which I regrettably missed due to previous arrangements) where we weeded and shovelled cow manure (mmmm..)and on Friday we had a community BBQ which was a great way to introduce this years workers to the neighbourhood as well as raising awareness of our beautiful garden. All in all the first week of Roots to Harvest has made me extremely glad I didn't take a placement doing roofing all summer (no offence all you roofers out there!) -Kai

Funions!

2Jun2009
Hey there all you gardeners! Here’s the latest word from ground zero over at Cornwall and Algoma. Prep work this spring has been a lot less trouble than last year. We made a few expansions here and there, but for the most part are using the beds established last year and the ground our summer students cleared. No sod cutters required. It’s a dream party! Today we put in our first seeds! Baby peas, beets, carrots, lettuce mix, potatoes and onions (funions!) These plants tend to germinate well in colder soil temperatures, so even though we don’t appreciate this fall-like climate, the babies are lovin’ it! I’m so happy for them. Even though it was raining today, I hummed along to various tunes as I planted. I like to think that in some small way the tiny seeds appreciated my tone deaf warbling. Nothing ‘beets’ watching something so small grow into something so delicious. In other works, with Bryan as driving the force, we’ve decided to set up a few learning gardens. This will include key-hole gardens, a lasagna garden and most excitingly for me, three “square foot” gardens. These last ones are exactly what they sound like, growing plants in raised beds 4’x4’ separated into square feet to maximize planting space. Our plan is to try to use the produce as a trial CSA for three families in need around Thunder Bay. The garden is slowly shaping into an even more beautiful place than before. Like Erin said today, “It’s going to be a magical place.” Good things are growing as always. Feel free to stop by the garden any time if you see us out there. We love to chat! Take care!

Ecole Gron Morgan Garden Club - Eden

24Nov2008

Vegetables are delicious! So delicious in fact, that at my school we decided to have an entire group devoted to learning, planting, maintaining, cooking and eating our own vegetables. We began planning with the Garden Club in September 2007, where we learned about different kinds of plants, vegetables and fruits. I had a good time guessing the mystery seeds, then learning what they really were! After winter passed we started planning the REAL garden. We had to figure out what would grow, how and where things would grow, etc. The planting began, and then all we had left to do was wait for all of our plants to grow! During this time, we took a field trip out to Belluz Farms and had an AMAZING tour! I think that everyone learned things that could help with our own garden eventually. Unfortunately, before the school year was over, someone took some of our plants, thankfully leaving most of them. Having an open garden (open to anyone) was cool to see, because over the summer we got to see people enjoying some of the things we planted! (People really liked the strawberries.) When we got back to school in September, we organized to cook the remainder of our food, using the kitchen at school. We turned out to have a great meal where people were trying new foods, meals, and having a great experience. Our menu was something like the following:

  • Fried Green Tomatoes
  • Deep Fried Pumpkin Flowers
  • Squash with Brown Sugar and Butter
  • Deep Fried Zucchini
  • French Fries
  • Radishes
  • Carrots Sticks
  • Mint Tea

Other Things we Grew:

  • Strawberries
  • Sunflowers
  • Perennial Flowers
  • Peas
  • Pumpkins
  • Basil
  • Mint
  • Other Herbs

I think Garden Club was a great experience. I can't wait to see how the garden turns out this year!

Hillcrest Salad Bar

17Nov2008

Who ever said that kids don't eat vegetables needs to think again! On Novemebr 12th, Roots to Harvest partnered with Hillcrest High School Foods and Nutrition Classes and the Thunder Bay District Health Unit to host the first ever Hillcrest Salad Bar. In less than an hour, 70 students helped themselves to healthy salad with lots of fixings, as well as home-made cheese biscuits.
The salad bar was free for those who brought their own plates/bowls and $.50 for those who needed to use disposable ones. The menu included lettuce, radishes, green onions, tomatoes, yellow peppers, broccoli, cucumber, carrot and celery sticks and slices of apples and oranges. And delicious cheese biscuits too.
We'll be hosting this salad bar with some dedicated student and staff volunteers every Wednesday for as long as we can!