Grandview Woodland (Commercial Drive) Village

Dear Grandview-Woodlanders,

We have been a somewhat sleepy village up until now, but I would like to take this opportunity to fill everyone in on a great visioning session attended by about a dozen of us this past Saturday with the aim of awakening and coordinating the massive amount of passion, energy, knowledge and skill that exists in this fair corner of our fair city. We were helped along in this process by the tireless VV Steering Committee member Ross Moster and permaculture designer/people organiser extraordinaire Erin Innes from the Mount Pleasant Village.

As part of this visioning effort, Rin led us in an exercise whereby we all threw scraps of paper with key components of our visions for a better society/neighbourhood onto the floor and identified clusters of interests. The main clusters to emerge were:

Food!  (growing, preparing, sharing...)
Mapping
Community Resources -- biking or walking tours?
Connecting and networking what is already happening
Working from a place of abundance
Gatherings and celebrations
Education
Intergenerational learning/working
Work parties
Co-operative ownership/access (tools, resources, etc.)

Eventually, a consensus emerged in the group that one of the best ways to begin our work was by undertaking a mapping project. By mapping we mean taking stock of who and what we already have as part of our rapidly growing community of Transition Villages. What resources, skills, knowledge, projects and passions do our Villagers possess? And where are they located? An effective map of all these things would be a powerful tool for our movement, allowing people and resources to connect for the common good like never before. The Grandview-Woodland Village has therefore decided to take this on as a good first project with benefits for Village Vancouver city-wide. Fortunately, Village Vancouver has already made contact with someone with expertise in the area of mapping who would be happy to offer her assistance. Stay tuned for more information about how to participate in this exciting and important initiative.

Some of the other important things to emerge from Saturday's meeting:

-It was decided that regular monthly Grandview-Woodland potlucks and meetings should take place on the second Saturday of each month from 1pm to 4pm, and Saturday's host Cabot Lyford has graciously offered to host these meetings in the common room of the Grace McInnis Housing Co-op at 825 Salsbury Drive. To find this room:

"Enter through the front gates which face East onto the the park at Adanac and Salsbury Drive.  Once you are through the front gate, go straight until you descend one set of steps and then hook 180 degrees right, go down the stairs, through the door and follow your nose until you reach the common room where you'll find us."

So unless otherwise notified, this is the where and when of our regular meetings!

-Regular potlucks/meetings may only take place on a monthly basis, but that doesn't have to mean that that's the only time we do things. By all means, use this community we're building to hook up with others to pursue projects together or simply to be neighbourly.

-Communication via the Village Vancouver website can be tricky at times, but use of the discussion forums on the GW Village page is encouraged. Anyone can start a discussion on a particular topic or send a message to the whole group.

-Jodi and Jeff have agreed to act as the keepers of the master GW list of email addresses and phone numbers, so if you ever need to get ahold of someone, you can get their contact details from Jodi and Jeff at 604-251-4522 or fish@backyardbountycollective.com.

-We know that there are all sorts of awesome people in the area excited about building a better and more sustainable community, but who aren't necessarily members of the Grandview-Woodland Village or of Village Vancouver at all. If you know people that fit that description, by all means invite them to join our group!

-We do not yet have any kind of formal steering committee in place for Grandview-Woodland, but thought that we would take some time to think about how we would like to organise ourselves as we take on some of our first projects of the next couple of months.

I think that about covers it for now. Looking forward to meeting and working (and having fun!) with all of you!

Cheers,
Jordan

Icouldn't make it to the dinner, but it looks like something good is brewing and I'll try to make it next month.  Thanks Ross, Rin, Jordan, Jodi, Jeff, Cabot, et al for getting this going.

Chicken coop orders are starting to come in as the days get longer - be ready for those spring chickens with a Vancooper! And if you are ever at Mark's Pet Stop, give him a big thanks for supplying organic chicken feed.  Businesses like his truly support a spirit of community-minded infrastructure. And we don't have to drive to Pitt Meadows anymore!

Hello everyone,

At the Village Vancouver Meet-up held last week, we broke off into groups corresponding to different geographical areas of the city and brainstormed various projects that could possibly be organised at the village level. The purpose of this is to get ideas flowing and to make everyone aware of the kinds of ideas they may share in common with others from the same village. I have been tasked with posting the results of this min-visioning session to the GW village page, so here it is:

1. Sustainable systems: Compost sharing/common compost, mutual assistance with set-up of grey water recycling systems, energy efficiency projects including possibly creating a system to allow the microfinancing of home retrofitting (maybe piggybacking on the city's current initiative to fund home retrofits for increased energy efficiency).

2. Social: Potlucks to encourage neighbours to get to know each other, "block buddy" system for mutual assistance in case of a disaster, mapping of community vulnerabilities and resources in case of a disaster, setting up "phone trees" for rapid emergency dissemination of information, checking up on people in case of a disaster, etc.

3. Children: Set up toy sharing, shared child care, organising nature outings for children.

4. Food: Sharing of food, storage and preservation activities/space/equipment, sharing of expertise, shared cob ovens, mutual help with watering gardens etc in case someone is away.

5. Elders: looking out for our elders by offering care and company.

6. Education: Setting up a common library for book sharing, mutual teaching

7. Medicine: Sharing of medicinal knowledge, herbs, etc.

And one more thing! I just wanted to let everyone know that Michael Linton and I will be co-hosting a presentation/workshop on community currencies next Sunday, February 13th! This is a perfect opportunity for anyone who would like to learn more about community currencies and their theory, practice and history - and about how you can get involved in the Local Economy Network's own project to launch community currencies hear in Vancouver!

Michael Linton has graciously volunteered to make the trip all the way from his home in the Comox Valley to share his philosophy and experiences as the inventor of the LETS and and Community Way models of community currency, so don't miss out on this great chance to be both enlightened and inspired! Please pass the word to anyone else you know who may be interested, and RSVP on the event page: http://www.villagevancouver.ca/events/community-currency.

Hi Cabot,

I would be fine with a switch to a weeknight as well. Should we perhaps start a Doodle poll to find out what day of the week works best for most people (1st Tuesday, 2nd Wednesday, etc)?

I'll also be commenting right away on the mapping discussion!

Hi Stewart,

I was at the Friday talk but couldn't make the Saturday workshop - sounds like it would have been great though!  I was thinking the same thing re: NSGP and a project in GW.  Unfortunately I'm about to have a baby and working full time, getting chickens, running a CSA etc. so don't have a lot of time to donate to the set-up and application at the moment, but my husband and I would love to be involved in the event.  We're both planners (he with the City, me at UBC doing research), and sustainability-community types.  He's also a professional photographer on the side and would love to volunteer photodocumentation of the process.

Can you keep us posted as to what happens?  We live near Garden Park so are keen on something in that neighbourhood, but consider all of the "Frog Hollow" area the "hood" so happy to support an initiative anywhere there.

Best of luck and keep us posted!

Cheers,

-Kristi

Hi Stewart,

Thanks for taking the iniative on this! Unfortunately I live just outside the boundaries indicated on the form that applicants must come from, but otherwise I would be happy to participate in any way I can.

Hey everyone,

I was also at the Eco-Dreaming event last weekend - and was also wondering about getting in a Neighborhood Small grant...how did that go Stewart? Also - Sara dent, who facilitated the Eco-Dreaming event emailed out a link to the City of Vancouver's Greenest City Neighborhood Grant program, for which the due date is April 20th

http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/grants/gcngrant.htm

As for a meeting night - Thursday nights, once per month, would be best for me. I like the weeknights idea, and could possibly do a different night as well.

Finally - my partner Jeff and I are considering having a backyard "farmgate" sale ever few weeks since our gardens produce more than we can eat, and we're not doing a CSA this year...I'm hoping this can develop into a bit of a neighborhood bazaar, as we have a nice big asphalt parking space that we could fill up with people and local homemade products and fun times!!! I'd love to bring this up at our next village meeting.

Hi Jodi,

I think that the "farmgate sale" idea sounds amazing, and could be just the kernel of action and coming-togetherness that our village needs! It could be a place where people come together from all over the neighbourhood to exchange and share their bounty. As you say, this could include such things as extra garden produce, homemade products and art, but could also be an occasion for a "stuff swap", with people giving away or exchanging stuff they have but no longer need. Not to mention having some fun at the same time! This is definitely something that we should scheme at our next meeting.

Thursday evenings would work for me as well. In an attempt at a more organised gauging of group opinion on the matter of when we should schedule our potluck-meetings, I have started a Doodle poll that everyone can vote in using the following URL:

http://www.doodle.com/am3ekydgemrp4r59

For simplicity's sake I have included only the "2nd" days of the month.

Jordan

Thanks, Jordan, for organizing this.  You seem to be a strong, cohesive force in this virtual neighbourhood.

I have stated my preference for 2nd Thursdays on your doodle.  Like Jodi, I could probably make other nights, but that works well for me.  Most of the time I am willing to host, though there may be the occasional conflict for me.  If we were to start early, say 6 pm, we could do pot luck for an hour, then focused talking until 8:30 and everyone could get home at a very reasonable time.

There's something in Denver called the "HAHO" Market (Handmade Homemade) that might have ideas for "farmgate". denverhaho.org (but this link is not working right now for me).

Based on the 5 responses on the Doodle so far, the two dates with the fewest objections seem to be 2nd Tuesdays and 2nd Thursdays. It seems that the 2nd Thursday might not work for Alyssa this month, but could otherwise work in the future. Stewart, you also didn't mark Thursdays as your preference, but it sounds as though your schedule is variable and therefore you may occasionally be able to make it even on Thursdays? Cabot has stated a preference for 2nd Thursdays above all the other days, and he is likely to host most of these meetings. Therefore, shall we agree to move the meeting/potluck time to 2nd Thursdays of the month, from 6pm-8:30pm? And does anyone have any objections to adopting this new date and time starting this month, meaning that the next meeting would take place on Thursday, April 14th?

Hey all,

Click on the link to view a copy of the neighbourhood grant proposal produced collaboratively by Stewart, Red Sara, Andrew and Jane after our inspiring Eco-Dreaming Session with Mark Lakeman!

 NSGP%20Application%20-%20Venables%20%26%20Lakewood.docx

I was listed as the primary contact so I'll keep you posted as to the funding decision.

Cheers,

Andrew

Hi again,

Here is the image that accompanied the proposal - illustrating our proposal for some intersection repair (street mural, banners, public art etc.)

NSGP%20Proposal%20-%20Venables%20%26%20Lakewood%20v2.ppt

This is for illustrative purposes only. The idea is that the actual design will be prepared by residents of the surrounding blocks through a series of a few street gatherings/potlucks over the course of the spring and implemented this summer.

Andrew

Way to go Andrew!  So glad that there will be a neighbourhood repair project in the hood!  Keep us posted and best of luck.

Cheers,

-Kristi

Next meeting is set for April 14th at 6pm at Cabot's - the Event page has been changed accordingly. Please RSVP at http://www.villagevancouver.ca/events/grandviewwoodland-monthly-1.

Cheers,

Jordan

The new Vancouver Tool Library is opening close to our hood in just a couple of weeks, and I hope that many of us will support it and have great use for it in the time to come. I am on their mailing list and would like to share what I received today:

We had a great Macy Monday event at the beginning of November and there are still plenty of places left for the next one on 5th December... Please come along to this free taster workshop inspired by the work of Joanna Macy! http://http://www.villagevancouver.ca/events/macy-monday-1

HS GW Plant and Seed Exchange in April

Hey Grandview-Woodland! We are merging this event with your neighbourhood, and are currently inviting any GV members who are interested in planning to join in a meeting early next week to make it happen. Some details of the event may be altered depending on what people are most interested in. Please contact me or reply here if interested! Thanks!

http://www.villagevancouver.ca/events/hastings-sunrise-seedy-saturd...

Come join Hastings Sunrise neighbourhood for a seedy Saturday! We will create the beginning of a seed library, a seed bank, and we will make seedballs! Bring seeds to invest, share, trade or sell, and plants to exchange, or sell. Kids encouraged to attend! All are welcome.