What You've Been Missin'

Don't sleep the summer away! Come out to the engaging and informative talks at the Means of Production Garden! This summer MOPARRC has partnered with Evergreen to give some fabulous talks at our garden. We've had two so far and there are two more to come. They are informal, in depth talks with plenty of opportunity for dialogue, so to tempt you to come to our August talks, I will present some sneek peeks at what's gone on so far.

(BTW this is a mystery plant that's popped up in one of our beds. Anyone have any idea what it is? It's sprawling and over five feet tall.)

Erin, a student intern from Evergreen presented a talk on growing your own sprouts at home and she brought us some tasty treats and the recipes.

This is the correct angle to tip the jar while growing your sprouts.

This was a delicious sprouted hummus we got to try. We also sampled some incredible bliss balls made with sprouted almonds. Helen from Evergreen is going to be blogging in depth about the talks, so I will post a link to those blog posts soon.

The talks are from 6-8 pm in the garden and people are encouraged to bring a picnic supper if they like.

Those who come early can pick ripe berries from the garden!

You can watch the summer mason bees carry mud and pollen to their condos.

You can relax to the sound of the honeybees in the blossoms.

Last week we had a fantastic presentation by Todd DeVries who is an accomplished cedar weaver.

Todd told us about his journey of discovering his art through a special vision and meeting other weavers and Haida elders.

I gave him some New Zealand flax from the garden and he quickly braided it and twisted it into a small rope.

Hats take about a month to make, and are finished in unique ways that are a part of the artisan's and the tribe's signature.

This hat was made with two contrasting tones of cedar.

I love this contemporary application for an ancient skill--the water bottle holder.

As I walked home from Todd's talk I took some photos of the linden trees blooming on Broadway while a crow warned me away from her nest.

There you go! Now don't miss our final two talks:

August 4, 6-8 pm, MOP Garden
Travis Warren Landscape designer Travis Warren will be discussing ways of increasing habitat for birds through plant choices, what different bird species add to biodiversity and how to foster a variety of birds in backyards and community gardens

Aug. 11, 6-8 pm, MOP Garden
A Greener Vancouver – Native Plants and Creative Restoration: Stephanie Levy, Project Manager at Evergreen, will give a presentation on the native plants of Lower Mainland, the creative solutions Evergreen has used as part of its restoration work, and provide some thoughts on how to make Vancouver a greener city.