Kitsilano Transition Village

January Potluck Sunday, Jan 9th, at the Billy Bishop Legion, 1407 Laburnum Street, 5pm onwards. 604 738 4142. No minors please - 19 years or older.

The theme and surprises are still being pulled together but we are hoping to celebrate Plough Sunday with the Vancouver Morris Men for whom the pub is their 'village church' in Canada.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plough_Sunday

http://www.vancouvermorrismen.org/PloughSunday06/

All's well then!

Potluck January 9th, Billy Bishop Legion, Plough Sunday

The VMM will not be coming to the Billy but may be enjoyed on Granville Island. They perform at the Triangle Square area in front of the French Bakery at 1pm and 3pm.Angela will be going to their performances.

VV will meet at 5.30pm onwards at the Billy whose members are welcome to bring a dish and join our potluck. The event will be advertised to Billy members. A Celtic style jam group meets from 7pm. and have been invited to come early and join in the potluck.

Queries: call Angela at 778 322 8778 or post message here.

Kits Community Garden at Billy Bishop Legion 1407 Laburnum St

Our proposal to use planting beds and areas for growing food in exchange for maintaining their existing landscaping received the approval of the House & Grounds Chair; it will be ratified by their Executive early Feb. Ross and I are going to check out the soil and develop plans/logistics for utilizing the good soil from KNH before construction begins.
I like the idea of integrating food crops into existing landscaping in an aesthetically pleasing manner like we did at KNH, rather than the usual separation of landscape from 'kitchen garden' areas. We hope that this will stimulate other locations to make space available for community gardening in neighbourhoods.

Please let us know if you are interested in participating in our Billy Bishop Community Garden. In February we will be doing some much needed pruning of shrubs that have been neglected and planning our crop planting and soil preparation.

Does the Billy have a compost bin? And if not, could it?

Hey all!

Interested in helping plan future Kits Village activities and direction?

Good things are cooking  -- figuratively as well as  literally -- in our village! Currently activities include monthly potlucks/garden parties, movie nights, and dropin spaghetti nights.

Last year we gardened collaboratively at Kits House and this year we're looking to start a new garden at Billy Bishop Legion Hall -- and perhaps in other locations as well.

We just had our 1st Soup Freeze 'n Share earlier this week, with more in the works. And next up, of course, is our village Visioning session.

A Permaculture "blitz" day (transforming a property using Permaculture design methods) is being planned for late March or early April,  as well as more gardening workshops, and word has it that there's going to be a village garage sale in early summer.

There's also talk of starting a seed saving collective, and other ideas floating around include a bee keeping group and straw deliveries to the neighbourhood for gardeners and chicken keepers. And, of course, many of us are involved in the 20 or so block parties that take place in Kits every Car Free Day (June 19th).

If you're interested in joining with other villagers in planning new activities, planning our village's direction, and in building community, please reply here or contact me. (Or come to the visioning session on Sunday, where we'll be discussing a lot of this)

P.S. Several members are currently hosting or have hosted gatherings, and we're always looking for new places to get together. If you'd like to host something (a potluck, a spaghetti night, or ?) or know of free spaces that might be available, we'd love to hear from you!

Hey Pia,

Great re: gardening at the Billy and the bee idea. There seem to be at least a few people with either bees or at least an interest in them in Kits Village; hoping you/they can connect. You might also want to check the beekeeping group (Karen you also) - go to food groups and scroll down.

I think beekeeping will come up at the visioning session on Sunday...along with chickens, seed saving, collaborative gardening, straw deliveries, the Permaculture blitz in April/May, the soup freeze 'n share, and all the other good stuff we've been doing or talking about doing.

By the way all,

In response to a question...

the potluck is towards the end of the visioning (and we're not going to kick anyone out at 6).

I've sent the address for Sunday's Visioning/potuck to everyone who's RSVPed so far. If for some reason you haven't received it, please let me know.

It's looking like a good turnout. (Still room for a few more!)

Cheers,

Ross

604.742.9881

ross@villagevancouver.ca

Some specific Visioning thoughts from Sue Lang...

I am really trying to make year round gardening work. I would love to share practical ideas with people in the same boat. For example, last year was the first time I got a good crop of greens going in my garden for winter, only to have them all crushed by the early snow. Next year I plan to put support stakes all over my garden so i can throw a tarp or a blanket over the plants to pull them through. It's things like that i would like to talk about.

I am also looking for a top quality source of organic garden soil...I have seen two online- Got Dirt and Artisan Landscaping....if anyone has any experience with these or can recommend a good organic gardening soil free of weeds, I would love to hear from them!
sue

Movie night is being rescheduled to Monday evening. For the address, please RSVP on the event page.

Reminder: Dropin spaghetti night this Wednesday. Please RSVP, so Derek knows how much food to make.

Hi all,

The Permaculture PET (blitz) day (see events page) is at my place tomorrow. It looks like we have a pretty good crowd coming, but if anyone else wants to join us or just stop by to say hi, you're more than welcome to.

A community conversation and potuck all about food happening in Kits on August 3rd! See the full details on the blog below.

http://www.villagevancouver.ca/profiles/blogs/building-a-westside-k...

Kitsilano Neighbourhood House is on the search for youth aged 15-18 who are already or ready to be the next generation of movers and shakers in their communities! Although hosted on the west side youth from anywhere can register.

Youth Volunteer Skills for youth aged 15-18 with little to no previous volunteer experience will begin on February 7 and run for 10 weeks. Workshops and 15 hours of volunteer experience will engage youth in team building, communication, self-reflection, and community engagement among other topics. 

Youth Leadership is for youth aged 16-18 who have volunteer experience already and are looking for some extra challenges and skill building. Program starts on January 31. Work on community volunteer projects for 20 hours and engage in topics like social inequality, the environment, the food system, and multiculturalism.

Register in person at 3683 West 4^th, office hours are 9am to 5:30pm Monday to Friday. Cost is $25 including Kits House membership.

- Youth must be available at least one day after school other than Tuesdays. Tuesdays is when we run the programs.

-Both programs will be at St. Mark's Anglican Church at Larch and 2nd

- Youth must be able to attend AT LEAST 7 of the skill building workshops (Tuesdays 4:00 – 5:30pm). Youth Volunteer Skills starts on    February 7 for 10 weeks. Youth Leadership starts on January 31 for 9 weeks.

- Friendly and enthusiastic attitude

For more information on Youth Volunteer Skills contact Julie Rieter 604-736-3588 ext. 33 or julier@kitshouse.org.

For more information on Youth Leadership contact Zsuzsi Fodor 604-736-3588 ext. 31 or zsuzsi@kitshouse.org

Join us for a FREE community kitchen pilot session being held this Friday at St. Mark's Anglican Church from 6-8 pm at Larch and 2nd. Registration is open to all but you must register in advance as space is limited.

We will prepare and enjoy a vegetarian meal together. No need to bring anything with you, just your hungry selves!

You can contact me at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House 604-736-3588 ext. 31 or zsuzsi@kitshouse.org. Please do register ASAP so we can ensure we have enough participants to run the session.

We'll have the Kits Village Seed Library at the potluck tonight. Please feel free to take some seeds, including a bunch of new seeds. And to bring some to replenish the library now (and later in the season as your plants grow.)

Hello neighbors,

Please join me next Wednesday for crane folding in support of making ecocide illegal. I will provide spaghetti (or possibly some other meal). Sign up on the events page so I can keep you posted on the menu and send you my address. So far all the people coming can walk! Nice feeling of locality. But don't let it dissuade you from coming if you have to pedal or drive. Last crane folding we had so much fun that people stayed until the hour was well into the double digits. And kept folding cranes! Hope to see you there.

Janet

Hi Folks
I am about to start up a medicinal herb garden on the traffic circle on Maple st and 13th ave which has been funded by the community neighbourhood grants. We will not be needing some of the current resident plants and wanted to offer them to anyone who may like them. They are Iris, Heuchera, Heather, Sedum, Caentauea Montana, Hardy Geranium, Helleborus, Crocosmia, Eryngium. Please let me know if you would like any of these asap. We will be working in the garden tomorrow morning from 8:30 t0 10:30, sunday afternoon and monday or tuesday evening.
Bless
Marika

Come and learn to wrap gifts with fabric - furoshiki - at Kits House next Tuesday 6:30-8:30pm with Keiko Honda. See you there.