We've been a little quiet in this corner since winter, but we hope you had a restful and restorative season and are excited about spring fast approaching! We've been busy attending workshops and conferences, welcoming new farmers and community gardeners onsite, and planning for another big year ahead. Both our Regenerative Farmer Program and our Community Gardens are full for the year, but we have other exciting ways for you to be involved! See a summary of our programs below:
While our Community Gardens are full, there's still space for you! Join our Regenerative Gardener Program to learn from our expert regenerative farmer and take your growing skills to the next level.Â
This 4-part series will increase your productivity in the home garden! Join us in person to get your hands dirty and learn how to build healthy soil and grow delicious, nutrient dense vegetables.Â
Register for just one session, or sign up for all 4 to receive 10% off, an additional Zoom introductory session, and gain access to the garden outside of scheduled sessions!
Session 1: Intro to vegetables, seed starting, healthy soil (amendments and fertility), bed prep
Session 2: Garden design, irrigation, vertical growing (trellising), companion planting, succession planting
Session 3: Composting, soil food web, pests and disease
Session 4: Harvesting, storing vegetables, winter growing
When? Last Monday of the month:
Monday, May 27th, Monday, June 24th, Monday, July 29th, Monday, August 26th
5pm - 8pm, bring your own dinner
Where? Sandown Centre, 1810 Glamorgan Rd.
How much? $75 per session, or $270 for all 4!
Looking for other ways to be involved? Join our restoration & stewardship efforts in the forest, meadow, or wetlands by reaching out to Matthew at stewardship@sandowncentre.com
Did you see us at Saanich Seedy Saturday?! We were there with the help of UVic Working in Community Student, Eric. Fellow Sandown farmer, Testbed Farm was also present, selling plant starts and more. We want to know about our farming community, so we're taking surveys on your involvement in the local food movement. Thanks to Big Wheel Burger for providing a gift card for the survey draw. Missed us? We'll be at Victoria Seedy Sunday this weekend, along with fellow Sandown farmers Cory of Testbed Farm and Ali of Fireweed Farms! More info here.
Congratulations to the South Island Farmers Institute for providing an excellent opportunity for farmers to learn and connect together at the annual Farmer to Farmer conference! We were happy to support the initiative and be present for many excellent workshops. UVic PhD Candidate Brooke Hayes, who conducts research at Sandown, and Lisa Willott of FarmFolk CityFolk, who grows vegetables
on site as part of the Citizen Seed Trial project were two of the many incredible presenters. Interested in joining the South Island Farmers Institute? Check out their website here for more information.
This year we said goodbye to two farmers who left the program, Veronique of Frozen Coast Farm, and Lauren of Fairweather Farm. We look forward to Veronique's new venture at Haliburton Community Organic Farm where she will expand to an acre of land and become certified organic, and Lauren who is continuing in landscaping. We are extremely grateful for the immense contributions they made to the
Sandown community and the incredible soil restoration they achieved on their plots. We are pleased to welcome to new farmers to the program! More details to come, so stay tuned for the introductions of Tyler and Shannon in our next newsletter.
Did you know that in 2023 we partnered with The Growing Young Farmers Society? We look forward to welcoming students of all ages and abilities to site for hands-on learning about sustainable food production and environmental stewardship. Do you know of a school or class that might be interested in joining us? We are accepting bookings through email at info@sandowncentre.com
Want to donate? Click here to support this program!
Until next time, stay tuned and grow on!