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Exciting Times on the Farm!

The Butler Urban Farm is taking shape! It is slowly but surely being transformed into a beautiful and productive green space by Kevin, our farm manager and a crew of dedicated volunteers. We are so grateful for the donations of plants, time, and energy from so many people.

Besides the rows of annual vegetables that have been planted, we have a small perennial herb bed started, with strawberries, garlic chives, lavender, sage, oregano, lemon balm and more. A forgotten little rhubarb was rescued and nurtured and now is flourishing.  A neighbour came over with sunflower seedlings and created a little flower bed near the front. The care and attention is starting to show results!

Last week we were the lucky recipients of a Jorocan composter, courtesy of the Fraser Basin Council Youth Program. It will make a very useful addition to our farm in terms of soil building as well as  education – quickly turning plant and food waste into a valuable soil amendment! Thanks to Russ for assembling and delivering!

In full production, this space could be a small, but important contributor to local food security. We are working on adding some native plants and a mini food forest with perennial trees, berries, and herbs. If you are interested in getting involved, send a message to sandra@kamloopsfoodpolicycouncil.com

If you are interested in learning more about gardening, join our free, online gardening classes held every Tuesday evening. The sessions are recorded and can then be accessed from the Butler Urban Farm Learning Collective Facebook page. To participate in the live sessions (more fun), email Jesse at kamloopswildgrowers@gmail.com

 

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Resiliency Gardening

The Covid 19 Pandemic has created a lot of stress and uncertainty for everyone, but has triggered a renewed interest in growing food and cultivating a regenerative food system.

The KFPC is launching a “Resiliency Gardening” Campaign to get behind this movement. It’s all about encouraging people to share and work together to grow more food locally. It’s also meant to be fun and full of healing for body and spirit in these stressful times. Some of the initiatives we’re working on are:

1) Butler Urban Farm – A community farm on Clapperton Road across from the food bank. The KFPC has hired a garden manager and applied for funding through Canada Summer Jobs to hire one or more assistants. We want to grow as much food there as we can and we’re looking for people who are interested either in helping out in exchange for a share of the produce, or taking over a small section to work on their own. Contact sandra@kamloopsfoodpolicycouncil.com if you’re interested in either of those options.

2) Online Gardening Classes – These classes are sponsored by the Kamloops Naturalist Club’s Next Generation program and will be offered first to Butler Urban Farm volunteers. If space is available they will be open to any KFPC members as well as the general public. to find out more contact Jesse Ritcey at jesse@naturekamloops.ca .

3) Garden Sharing – The Young Agrarians have launched a free online gardensharing platform. It’s easy to use and already has one Kamloops listing. If you have garden space to share or you’re looking for garden space, check it out here.

4) Revamped GAP – Mariana Guerra is back again this year as our Gleaning Abundance Program Coordinator, and will be exploring ways to revise the GAP model to adhere to evolving social distancing requirements and at the same time, make it more neighbourhood-based and less reliant on coordinator time. To register a tree or garden, or join our gleaning crews, go to our GAP webpage.

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