Submitted
It was full circle at Groundswell when Alison Bell brought two chef training classes to the Greenhouse recently.
Alison was pivotal in the original vision of Groundswell’s greenhouse and gardens some 17 years ago. She had requested a greenhouse and gardens for her students at the time to learn where their food came from, how to grow it, and then cook wonderful meals with it. To top it off, one of her students, Aviva Rosenfeld, is now manager at Groundswell and taught the class Alison was sub-teaching about healthy soil.
This is what Groundswell has always intended – students coming for visits, learning about food, and growing their own. One of the classes asked for a garden bed of their own in the rental area to grow their own food. We were thrilled that we still have a couple of free beds.
The greenhouse is currently teaming with plants; tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, herbs, flowers, squash, zucchini, raspberries, etc.
Next week on Saturday, May 10 is our annual fundraiser plant sale from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. with hundreds of plants for sale, tomatoes, peppers, basil squash, zucchini, herbs, flowers and much more! Led by our amazing Marion Andrus, the volunteer plant team has been working steadily to produce an amazing array of wonderful plants.
Groundswell has also been involved in the valley’s new food conversation group consisting of over 13 local groups along with United Way and Interior Health. Our mission is to explore ways to increase food sustainability and security through growing more local food, capturing wasted food, such as our Apple Rescue program, and making sure food gets to those who are in need. As well the BC government has a new goal of increasing available local food by 30 per cent.
These food sustainability goals resonate with lots of people now with recent concerns of world events. We encourage you to come out to our plant sale event, become a Groundswell member and help us connect our youth and community to local delicious, highly nutritious food, and grow their love of gardening. To grow a garden is a healthy connection to nature.
