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THE NEWSLE�ER OF THE GREATER VICTORIA COMPOST EDUCATION CENTRE

While there are a wide variety of fantastic plants out there for any pur-pose you may imagine, fruit trees have a unique set of positive benefits for the individual and community. These include the typical benefits that all trees offer – increasing shade and reducing energy use near your home, carbon dioxide absorption, and generally beautifying the area. The USDA Forest Service has stated that the average mature tree can add as much as 10% to the value of a property! However, the truly unique aspect of fruit-bearing trees is the food they can provide if properly tended. While this may seem obvious at first, there is potential for our local communities to harness the benefits of fruit trees to a greater extent than we are now. Initiatives like the LifeCycles Fruit Tree Project here in Victoria have already taken steps in this direction – Hundreds of volunteers work each year to harvest fruit from yards and parks that would otherwise go to waste. Lower Vancouver Island has a fantastic growing climate, and the plant-ing and harvesting of additional fruit trees has the potential to provide nutritious, local produce both for personal consumption and sharing.

Victoria has historically been a town of many orchards (next time you are on the Lochside trail, keep a lookout for remaining apple trees in the woods!) and food security is a personal issue for many residents who live with reduced access to nutritious, culturally appropriate food. So how do you ensure you are successful when planting your own fruit tree? Specific research is important - make sure you know all about your exact tree. In general, ensure that you are placing the tree in direct sunlight, at least six hours a day during growing season. Well-drained soil is also important, especially in our clay-heavy location on lower Vancouver Island. To test, dig your planting hole and fill it with water. Leave it overnight, and if all the water is gone the next day, you should be okay. Some trees may take several years to start bearing fruit, so do not be alarmed if you aren't munching on apples the year after planting, and again: be certain to know your specific tree. Another concern that many folks have is the phenomenon of “fruit drop” or “June drop”. This is when trees begin to drop early-budding fruits before they are ripe, and you may find the buds you have been following with excitement all season are suddenly splattered on the ground. This is normal! Trees are thinning out their “crop” so that there is less competition for resources like water. It will result in larger, better tasting fruits later in the sea-son. Our first annual Plant A Fruit Tree Day is approaching quickly. Here in Victoria the Greater Victoria Compost Education Cen-tre and Fernwood NRG are teaming up to host festivities at the Fernwood Community Centre. On September 28th you can learn about the benefits of planting your very own fruit tree. There will be fruit/nut tree vendors, live music, food, and workshops. We hope to see you there!

Plant A Fruit Tree Day Sept. 28, 10am - 3pm

at Fernwood Community Centre Fruit/nut tree vendors, live music, food, Home Orchards Intensive, education etc…

Fun with Fruit Trees: How planting fruit trees increases food security By Ian Kopp

This year’s bumper crop of cherries from our cherry tree at the Centre.

Staff

Nadine Collison

Marika Smith

Clare Pepper

Anne Spice

Alysha Punne�

Ian Kopp

Kate Van Ruyven

Contact us at

1216 North Park Street

(at Chambers)

Victoria BC V8T 1C9

Hours of Opera�on

Wed. to Sat. 10 am to 4 pm

Closed on statutory holidays,

long weekends,

and over winter holidays.

Phone: 386-WORM(9676)

Fax: 386-9678

E-mail: info@compost.bc.ca

Website: www.compost.bc.ca

Board of Directors

Nik Hill

Marion Wylie

Janet Hockin

David Neate

Wendy Dunn

Bill McKechnie

Melissa Bedford

Contributors to this issue:

Nadine Collison

Marika Smith

Anne Spice

Clare Pepper

Ian Kopp

Newsle/er Forma0ng

Nadine Collison

We gratefully acknowledge the

core funding support that we re-

ceive from the CRD and the City of

Victoria. Addi5onal support is pro-

vided through the generosity of our

Compost Club Members and the

residents of Greater Victoria.

AGM re-cap

Summer Interns

2nd annual Fall Organic Plant Sale

In the spring we had our annual general meeting where we report on the financials, vote for the new budget, and decide on the 2013/2014 Board of Directors. The new budget was passed, and I am pleased to announce that we have many returns on our board and one new board member; Melissa Bedford. Here is the current board and their positions:

Nik Hill- Chair

Marion Wylie- Vice-Chair

Janet Hockin- Secretary

David Neate - Treasurer

Wendy Dunn - CRD Rep

Bill Mckechnie- FCA Rep

Melissa Bedford- Member at Large

How great is it that we are lucky enough to live in a place where we can garden and grow food year-round?! After the success of our first Fall Organic Plant Sale last year, we thought we would continue to host it as a yearly event. This year we will be expanding to have a few more plant vendors so we can fulfill all your winter gardening needs! Purple sprouting broccoli, kale, pilgrim’s cabbage, chard… everything to make your winter stews, soups, and meals full of flavour and nutrition! As always there will be live music and lots of advice and education.

Fall Organic Plant Sale August 17, 10am - 1pm

We were lucky to be funded for two interns this sum-mer. We are happy to welcome Ian Kopp and Kate Van Ruyven to our team! Kate is the Site Assistant and is helping Alysha with the numerous projects around the site - everything from repainting and de-molishing, to planting, weeding, and harvesting. She is also managing the maintenance of the Vic High Garden Project for the summer while the students are away. Ian is our Project Assistant this summer and is working with Anne with community events and Grow A Row, as well as helping Clare with SLUGS for Youth activities. They are both energetic and pas-sionate about the work we do, so we are thrilled to have them even if just for a couple of months.

Ian and Kate

Volunteer Update

Gardeneers Grow A Row

Want to volunteer in a fun, friendly atmosphere? Longing to dazzle your friends and family with your composting and organic gardening knowledge? Sign up for our Compost Educator Volunteer Training Program September 19-21. The Compost Educator Volunteer Training Program (CEP) is an intensive (and enjoyable!) volunteer training ses-sion which is offered twice a year in March and September. It takes place over a Thursday and Friday evening from 6:30-9:30 and Satur-day from 9am-4:30pm. All volunteers interested in education, outreach and/or office volunteering start by completing the CEP. The program covers information on hot composting, worm composting, organic gar-dening and permaculture techniques, public outreach and much more! An initial deposit of $100 is required for the training, of which $75 is reimbursed on completion of a 30hr practicum (i.e. volunteering). You will also receive a Master Composting Certificate after your practicum as well as experience the joy of spending time with like-minded indi-

viduals.

The diversity of skills and training you will acquire look great on a resume and you will almost always gain connections in the environmental community of Victoria! Areas of volunteer opportunities include: community outreach education, school pro-grams assistant, office assistance and site and garden planting and maintenance. Email Marika at office@compost.bc.ca or call

the Centre to register.

Happy Compost Ed Volunteers!

The Grow A Row season is in full swing! By mid-July, garden-ers from all around the CRD had donated over 200kgs of pro-duce to transition centres, food banks, and community pro-grams. And the peak of the harvest season is still to come! We are partnering with Our Place for a “Food Raiser Challenge,” which encourages gardeners to donate produce and meet our 2 ton donation goal for 2013. This partnership helps to link gar-deners to the community at Our Place, and emphasizes how gardening can promote food justice in Victoria. Big thanks to everyone who has donated so far, and big encouragement to those who are hoping to donate in August, September, and Oc-tober! Every bunch of beets and basket of zucchini is helping to feed people in Victoria who don’t have access to fresh, local produce. Let’s keep it up! If you have extra garden produce to donate, please bring it to one of the following drop-off loca-tions:

Victoria: Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre: Satur-days, 10:00am-4:00pm

Burnside Gorge: Burnside Gorge Community Centre: Mon-days/ Wednesdays, 7:30-9:00am/ 5:00-8:30pm

Vic West: Vic West Community Centre: Mondays, 9:00am-4:00pm

Sooke: Sunriver Community Garden: Wednesdays before 4:00pm

...continued on page 4

Gardeneers, our new children’s workshop series is off to a great start! We are excited to be able to share our vibrant out-door teaching space with garden adventurers aged 6-11, one Saturday per month. Workshops so far this year have re-volved around container gardening, cooking and eating from the garden, and identifying, harvesting and using medicinal plants. Upcoming workshops include:

Compost Critters, Saturday August 24th, 10:00am –

12:00pm, for kids aged 6-8: Budding biologists will learn about how compost works, build a worm bin, and spend plen-ty of time observing worms and other invertebrates. Each par-ticipant will leave with a deeper understanding of the compost ecosystem, lots of fun invertebrate facts and a homemade field guide to compost critters. Growing Gardeners, Saturday September 14th, 10:00am –

12:00 pm, for kids aged 6-8: Through games and hands-on activities, participants will learn to connect with where their food comes from, as well as gaining a basic understanding of plant and soil biology. Participants will help harvest, prepare (and enjoy) a snack fresh from the garden. Each kid will leave with some simple recipes and a small container garden they planted themselves. To register, visit compostkids.eventbrite.com or contact us at the centre (education@compost.bc.ca or 250-386-9676)

MUST PRE-REGISTER FOR WORKSHOPS ONLINE AT

h�p://composteduca"on.eventbrite.ca OR BY CALLING 386-WORM

Upcoming EventsUpcoming EventsUpcoming EventsUpcoming Events

Giving

Goes

Green!

Giving to the

Compost Ed. Centre is easy! Save 5me and paper by

offering your dona5ons on-line through Canada

Helps.org. Simply surf over to www.canada

helps.org and type in “Compost”. Our name is on

the top of the search results. Or, visit our website

and click the Canada Helps link. And of course, do-

na5ons are s5ll happily accepted at our office.

THE LATEST DIRT is published quarterly. Unless

otherwise noted, ar5cles appearing in this news-

le�er may be reprinted only in other not-for-profit

publica5ons, with the credit given to the author

(when named) and THE LATEST DIRT.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS

Date Event Time Cost

Jul 27 *INTENSIVE* Backyard Chickens

Followed by LifeCycles’ Tour de Coop 9am - 12pm $30 ($25 for members)

Aug 10 Composting Basics 10am - 12pm FREE

Aug 10 *INTENSIVE* Natural Beekeeping 1pm - 4pm $30 ($25 for members)

Aug 17 Fall Organic Plant Sale 10am -1pm FREE

Aug 24 *INTENSIVE* Herbal Tea, Tinctures,

& Salves 1pm - 4pm $30 ($25 for members)

Sep 7 Grow Your Own Food 101 10am - 12pm FREE

Sep 7 Seed Saving 2pm - 4pm $15 - Members refer to policy

Sep 14 *INTENSIVE* Canning 1pm - 4pm $30 ($25 for members)

Sep 19-21 Compost Educator Program Thurs & Fri 6:30-9pm

Sat 9am - 4pm

$100 ($75 refund once 30

hours of volunteering is

complete)

Sep 28 *INTENSIVE* Home Orchards 1pm - 4pm $30 ($25 for members)

Sep 28 Plant A Fruit Tree Day 10am - 3pm FREE

Oct 5 Grow the Best Garlic 2pm - 4pm $15 - Members refer to policy

Oct 19 Worm Composting 10am - 12pm FREE

Oct 19 *INTENSIVE* Fermenting 1pm - 4pm $30 ($25 for members)

Oct 19 Harvest Celebration TBA FREE for Grow A Row

Oct 5 Composting Basics 10am - 12pm FREE

R. & S. Miller

L. Lawson

N. Turner

...continued from page 3 Don’t forget about our Annual Grow A Row Harvest Celebration! This year, it will be held on October 19. Come celebrate the harvest by sharing food, music, and garden stories with us.

For more information about Grow A Row, visit our website: www.vicgrowarow.org. For the latest news and Grow A Row updates, follow us on twitter @vicgrowarow