March Update

Spring has sprung and the SLUGS youth and staff are busy getting prepared for the season ahead! In the first month of the program we were introduced to this awesome concept called Permaculture and have been starting to rethink what it means to have a sustainable food system. We've been sowing seeds, designing our veggie gardens, and getting inspired by local farmers on our fieldtrip to Ragley Farm (thanks to Susan, Vivi & Josie!). We have some awesome workshops and fieldtrips coming up, so keep on reading to find out what is in store for March...

Thursday, March 11  4:00-6:00 pm

Sheet Mulching Workparty! Ever heard of “lasagna” gardening? Nope, unfortunately lasagna doesn’t grow on trees, but you can build your soil in layers that make it look a bit like lasagna! Come discover how to create a no-dig sheet mulch in your garden. We’ll be layering manure, compost, veggie scraps, cardboard, straw, leaves and other delicious materials to create healthy garden beds without having to ship in soil. There’s no cost for this workshop and all are welcome! Bring your gloves and gumboots because we will definitely get dirty!

Thursday, March 18  4:00-6:30 pm

Community Mapping Where is your favourite chill-out spot?  Are there hidden pockets of fruit trees in your neighbourhood?  Unused soil that could be growing food?  Piles of leaves to jump in – or turn into a lasagna garden?  What is your vision for your neighbourhood?  In this workshop we will be creating maps of our communities, based on what YOU think should be on a map, and what resources might be just around the corner for our gardens and compost piles.  These maps might be just the beginning of bigger maps for your use and for green city and neighbourhood maps. We’ll finish off this workshop with an intro to Brassicas and Legumes. Come find out what plants are in these families and how to grow them!

Thursday, March 25  4:00-6:30 pm

Blogging and Photographing Your Garden  We’re teaming up with the Power of Hope (www.powerofhope.org) to bring you this exciting workshop on how to use social media to record and share your gardening experience! Learn how to use photography, writing, and personal stories to create journals and blogs that will show how you and your garden evolves over time and will inspire others along the way.

FIELD TRIP: Saturday, March 27

Eco-Sense Come meet Ann and Gord Baird and visit their beautiful cob home just outside of Victoria. You’ll have the chance to see their solar and wind power systems, green roof, composting toilets, greywater systems, amazing cob structures and organic gardens. We’ll be having a potluck picnic out there and checking out another farm en route. Take a look at photos of Eco-Sense at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eco-sense/sets/72157600040396645. This workshop is available for youth who have attended our Thursday workshops. For more info and registration, give us a call at 386-9676.   Thursday, April 1st Befriending Weeds and Pests Weeds often get a bad rap in our culture. What we often don’t see is all the amazing services these tenacious little suckers provide for us. Just a few of these benefits include holding topsoil, pulling up water and nutrients, providing food, and helping control insects. Many weeds are also good for our health, providing nutritious food and medicine! In this workshop, join our guest presenter Alix Link as she takes us on an adventure to identify common weeds, discover practical uses for them, and enjoy a tasting of edible weeds. We’ll also be meeting plants in the Solanaceae family! Don’t know what this means? Come check out the workshop to find out!

Here's an updated workshop schedule. Changes are highlighted in yellow. *** Note that the workshops on March 18th and 25th have been switched but not updated on this schedule.***

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Any youth aged 15-18 who want to come to a workshop are welcome to drop in for $5 a session. Saturday Fieldtrips are for open to folks who have attended some of our Thursday workshops and are $10 for drop-in. To register or get more info, give us a shout at 250-386-9676!

From the Straw Bale Hut

I have the great pleasure of being a story-keeper for the SLUGS program, ‘documentation facilitator’ I believe we’re calling it. I think that witnessing the evolution of a new program is as exciting as watching a garden move through the seasons, each week brings new growth – visible in the moment…or not. The arc of a program, or the evolution of a vegetable garden is sometimes better seen from a distance, through a series of vignettes that remind us of our journey, ‘oh my goodness, I can’t believe that we’ve come so far’.

This is what I’m doing here, planting small snapshots of the program as it develops and unfolds (and doing my very best to use earth-friendly metaphors along the way, you’ll notice).

This evening I attended the second ever SLUGS workshop, hosted by Nashira, Kim, and Marika attended by Jen, Kim and Caleigh, and guested by Steve, a Times Colonist reporter. The topic? From the Ground Up: Soil and Compost. Let me ask you something, when you think of the world’s natural resources, do you ever think of soil? I tend to think of oil, wood, water, you know, things that newspapers talk about. Nashira and Kim had a wealth of knowledge to share with the group, and did it all while we, the participants, had our fingers plunged in samples of soil from our own gardens. We listened to soil, we made ‘ribbons’ of soil, and we pH tested our soil. This is hands-on stuff. The 3 SLUG members, between 16 and 18 years, were alert, interested, and seemed to connect their learning with their own garden plots and plans. This is amazing – after a full day of school, to participate wholly in more learning takes a special kind of person, and a lot of motivation. I overheard the reporter asking what drew the members in to the program. The will to actually practice environmental action, to relearn the skill of growing food that we seemed to have lost a generation or two ago, to prepare for their future plans, I’m pretty sure the list goes on. I felt so lucky to share a room full of such humble passion and motivation. YES SLUGS, YES!

I look forward to the journey ahead with you all! (and by the way, there is still lots of room to join the program, and YES you can drop in when you have a free Thursday afternoon – what a dream ☺ )

~Leanna Platt

The program now has a drop-in option!

Hello Friends of SLUGS!

Drop-in SLUGS

Too busy to do SLUGS??  Exciting news!  You can now take the SLUGS workshops without committing to the whole Feb-Sept season.  Anyone can come at any time. (Cost for drop-in is $5).  Check out the workshop line-up below to pick out the workshops you want to do!

Cheaper SLUGS!

We got a grant!! Now, you can also join up for the Full Season at anytime for only $175!! - with bursaries available

Field Trips

For full-season participants or folks who regularly come to workshops, there will be seven awesome Saturday fieldtrips to local farms, ecovillages, and gardens to check out what is happening around Victoria. (See line-up below.)

Why the Change?

We received a lot of feedback from youth that they were super excited about the program, but too incredibly busy with school and clubs and all the amazing stuff that you are all committed to already.  This way, you can come when it works for you – and bring friends to join in the fun!

Also, we received 2 generous grants from the Lifecycles Project Society and VanCity enviroFund, which has allowed us to expand and improve the program and make it more accessible to anyone who wants to take part!

Wait, what is SLUGS again?

Sustainable Living and Urban Gardening Skills

-       A fun season of growing food and learning to live green in the city!

-          Weekly workshops (4-6:30pm Thursdays)

-          Monthly fieldtrips

-          Help starting up your own garden (= free food!)

-          Community projects

-          Leadership/volunteer hours

-     Fun, friends, food!

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Last-minute applications & Donations

The SLUGS application deadline has now passed, but we are still accepting late applications from those last-minute folks who are still interested. Email it (sitemgr@compost.bc.ca), fax it (250-386-9678), or drop it by our office (1216 North Park St). Spring is fast approaching and so is the program start date, so send your applications in as soon as you can.

We'd like to extend a big thank you to two generous organizations for their support of SLUGS! Stellar Seeds in Sorrento, B.C. has donated a huge box of organic heritage seeds to the program for the youth to use this season and they look amazing. Vancity enviroFund generously awarded a grant to help support the SLUGS program and all our projects, gardens, fieldtrips, and events! A huge thank you to both of them, their support is deeply appreciated.

And if YOU would like to support us, we would gladly accept in-kind donations! Gardening can be a tool-intensive and expensive passion to take up, so we are looking for donations of good quality, good condition tools and other supplies for the SLUGS program. If you have any of the below items and would like to donate them to us, please us at call 250-386-9676!

o       Secateurs (hand pruners), pruners & pruning saws

o       Digging forks, shovels, hand trowels

o       Hoes, swoes & shears

o       Wheelbarrows

o       Hammers, screwdrivers, screws & nails

o       Greenhouse plastic

o       Hardware cloth (¼” – ½”)

o       Long pieces ½” – 1½” PVC piping

o       Lumber for building raised beds and compost bins

o       Garden hose nozzles, Garden hoses and irrigation supplies

o       Art supplies: pastels, acrylic paints, pencil crayons, drawing paper, blank journals

GOOD NEWS! Extended Application Deadline! -- Jan 21

Great news folks!  We know that this is a busy time of year, and we want to make sure everyone has a chance to get their applications in.  So if you missed yesterday's deadline, not to worry!

You now have until January 21, 2010 to become a SLUGS farmer! 

So use this wonderful holiday time to compose a creative application and ask your grandparents for money to help you pay for the program (bursaries are still available as well, ask us for details).

Have a Worm-derful holiday!!

Get your applications in before the snow falls (Dec 14th)!!

The application deadline is fast approaching to get yourself in for SLUGS!  Fill it out this weekend and send it to us by Monday, Dec. 14.

Have a lovely holiday!

Inviting all youth to design the SLUGS program!

The SLUGS program is having it's first brainstorming gathering next Tuesday, and we are looking for any youth ages 15-18 who might be interested in this program to come on down!

WHO: Youth ages 15-18 in the Victoria area

WHAT: Info gathering for SLUGS program. FOOD!!

WHEN: Tuesday, December 1st 7-8:30pm

WHERE: 1216 North Park St. (Compost Ed. Centre).


This will be a chance for those who are interested in this program to learn more about what SLUGS is all about, to share ideas on where they want the program to go, and to meet the people involved (there will be snacks involved!).

Please pass this information on to anyone you know who might be interested. Contact us at sitemgr@compost.bc.ca or 250-386-9676 if you plan on attending or want more information! Thanks,

Kim and Nashira
Program Coordinators