by City Farmer - Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture
Now Celebrating Our 46th
Year!
Go to our new City Farmer Web Site - "City Farmer News" (www.cityfarmer.info)
On January 1, 2008, we
created a new web site "City Farmer News" at (www.cityfarmer.info) where
all our new stories are featured.
This site, "Urban Agriculture Notes" (www.cityfarmer.org), which has been
running continuously since 1994 with its hundreds of pages of urban
agriculture information, will remain online and will be updated when
necessary with corrected emails, URL's, etc. It is still a gold mine of
useful resources.
March 23, 2008
Search the City Farmer Website.
Go to our new City Farmer Web Site - "City Farmer News" (www.cityfarmer.info)
The material below this line is part of our original web site from before 2008.
Most Recent Pages and
Links Added (by Date)
Established 1978, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Prepared by Michael Levenston, Executive Director
cityfarmer@gmail.com
On-line on the World Wide Web since October
15, 1994.
© Copyright City Farmer 1994-2021
E-mail us at: cityfarmer@gmail.com
Mailing Address:
City Farmer - Canada's Office of Urban
Agriculture
Box 74567, Kitsilano RPO,
Vancouver, B.C.
V6K 4P4 Canada
Office Phone: 604-736-2250
Map showing the location
of our garden at 2150 Maple Street.
Garden Location:
Vancouver Compost
Demonstration Garden
2150 Maple Street, Kitsilano, (6th
and Maple)
Vancouver BC, V6J 3T3 Canada
Garden Phone: (604) 736-2250
City Farmer runs the Vancouver Regional Compost Hotline: 604.736.2250
Email the Hotline at: composthotline@telus.net
Introduction to
Organic Food Gardening - City Farmer's 2014 Classes in
March
Learn how to grow your own
vegetables in an urban environment. City Farmer's hands on organic food
gardening course includes: site selection/design/soil preparation seed
sourcing and starting; planting/harvesting/composting; organic gardening
techniques/natural pest control; container gardening; waterwise
gardening.
City Farmer's Step-By-Step Photo Guide to Composting in a
Backyard Bin
"Alternate layers of green and
brown materials; keep the layers 2" - 4" deep. Common green (nitrogen)
materials are grass, food scraps (uncooked fruit and vegetables, coffee
grounds, filters, tea bags and egg shells) (wet), garden trimmings.
Common brown (carbon) materials are, fall leaves, straw and newspaper
strips (dry). Chop up larger materials for faster decomposition." Posted March 31, 2005
City Farmer's Step-By-Step Photo Guide to Worm
Composting
"Harvesting: You can dump the entire
contents of the bin onto a large plastic sheet and separate the worms
manually. Most children love to help with this process and you can turn
it into a fun lesson about worms for them. Watch out for the tiny
lemon-shaped worm cocoons which contain between two and twenty baby
worms! By separating the worms from the compost, you save more worms for
your next bin." Posted March 21, 2005
Metro Vancouver Composting Brochures
Download "How To" brochures in PDF format here: Here's the Dirt -
Backyard Composting; Here's the Dirt - Worm Composting; Compost Bin
Construction Plan (Single Bin System) and (Three Bin System); Natural
Yard Care; Waterwise Gardening. Revised January 9, 2009
How to Worm Compost: Comix Style - How to Backyard Compost: Comix
Style
City Farmer has produced two, new, teaching flyers in
comic-book format. These are based on images from our How-To Slide
Shows.
Posted January
8, 2008
One Year of Time-Lapse Photos of the City Farmer Demonstration
Garden
Graham Clark chose one web cam photo from
every day over the past year, November 2006 - October 2007, and put 360
of them in this time-lapse movie. You'll see the garden slowly come to
life and also see some of our visitors.
Sharing Backyards
in Greater Vancouver
Grow your own veggies, herbs, flowers, and soft fruit.
If you have a garden and want to share it with someone, or if you are
looking for a space to garden, this page is for you.
Updated March 5, 2008
Use quick links for Vancouver
residents:
European Chafer - A New Turf Pest - Now in Greater Vancouver * Grow Natural * City Farmer's Waterwise Garden
* Community Gardens in Greater
Vancouver and Victoria * Instructions for Backyard
Composting * Home
Composting* Worm
Composting * Grasscycling and Natural
Lawn Care * Waterwise Gardening and the City Rain Barrel
Program
* Organic
Landscapers/Gardeners in Greater Vancouver * Other Rain Barrels and Water Wisdom From
Around the World * How to Set Out Your Yard Trimmings * Worm
Suppliers * Pet
Waste Composting * Farm/Garden Land For
Rent in Greater Vancouver and Elsewhere * Wholesale and Retail
Native Plant Nurseries in BC * Drought Tolerant
Plant List for Vancouver City Boulevards * Fruit Tree
Projects
Composting's New
Appeal
"Vancouver is a perfect climate for a worm
bin," Levenston explained, speaking of a bin filled with about 500 worms
working to break down kitchen scraps on an apartment balcony. "You set
up this bin with a bedding of newspaper and other materials and the
worms will process the food waste and within three to four months you
will have a finished compost," he said." Posted
August 24, 2007
City Farmer Was Born At The Vancouver Community Conservation
Centre in 1978
During a six month federal energy
conservation project, City Farmer was created. Read about the group's
formative months in a report written by the project's leader. "The
first issue of City Farmer came out at the end of July (1978) and the second at the end of
August. Both received a very positive response. The paper
attempts to interest the public by showing them examples of successful
Vancouver city farmers. It also reports on political issues that affect
the city farmers (there has been a great deal of controversy lately
about a particular woman in Vancouver who raises chickens in defiance of
city by-laws), and products and information that are of use to them."
Posted August 13, 2007
City Farmer's Pig-tailed
Gardening Dynamo Teaches Kids About Bugs
Keating,
an enviro-science grad, who works at the City Farmer compost demo garden,
and runs her own biological control consulting company, teaches kids
about the important jobs bugs have; why we have them; and if they are
good or bad bugs. Her high-energy bug classes, which typically run from
45 minutes to an hour and a half, include interactive games, glossy
flash cards, the always-popular bug song ("two antenna and six legs and
don't forget the wings") and, of course, lots of live bugs!" Updated August 20, 2007
Nature's Way of Recycling
Sharon Slack (of City Farmer) is
not squeamish about worms. She encourages people to get their hands
dirty and slimy, all for a good cause. "These little guys do a very good
job for us," she says. "They're called red wigglers. They're not the
same as the big worms you see in the garden."
Posted June 6, 2007
Using Compost to Make a Container Garden: Step-by-Step
Slideshow
"Balconies, Rooftops and Decks. City
Farmer Head Gardener, Sharon Slack, shares her recipe for starting a
container garden." Posted July 17, 2006
Fly From Space to Community Gardens in BC Using Google Earth
City Farmer created 'place-markers' in Google
Earth, which allow you to fly from the sky to different garden sites;
that is virtually. You can visit individually chosen sites or you can
push the 'play' button (an arrow under the Places window) to
automatically fly to all the gardens. See Victoria's Capital City
gardens for instance and then fly back to UBC's Acadia gardens. Simply
click on our link to download a tiny 'kmz' file (unzip the .zip file
first) and then open the file in your Google Earth program. Updated September 27, 2006
BC Community Gardens Up Close - Aerial
Photos
We've created a slideshow of aerial
photos of community gardens in British Columbia; most of these are
higher resolution images than can be found on Google Earth. See the
Fraser Street Garden in Vancouver, or visit us in the Compost
Demonstration Garden next to our neighbours, the Maple Street Community
Garden. We've also included photos of some of the gardens at ground
level for those who don't like heights. Posted
September 27, 2006
Pristine Outhouse a Compost Outpost
Features City Farmer's Toilet - "There's a lock on the outhouse
door, so the toilet is used only by staff and garden visitors willing to
abide by the rules: 'Please place toilet paper in toilet after use but
do not add other hygiene products; Please sprinkle a cup of shavings
from the green container on solid waste after use; Please mark on the
calendar an X for liquid waste or an O for solid waste after using the
toilet.' " Posted September 4, 2006
Meet City
Farmer Staff at the Garden or call our Compost
Hotline
"City Farmer staff both garden and teach
at our Demonstration Garden all year long. They give workshops, attend
'outreach' events in the community, speak to the media, develop
educational material for our web site, answer the Compost Hotline, look
for new varieties of plants and search out the 'greenest' gardening
techniques. Here's a brief summary of their expertise." Posted August 10, 2006
City Farmer's
Pesticide Reduction Resources
"On this page you
will find a growing list of resources to help you replace pesticides
with natural pest control techniques. BC biological suppliers, organic
fertilizers for your lawn and garden, organic landscapers in Vancouver
and a look at insects we see at our garden and how we respond are
published here." Posted April 9,
2006
See City Farmer's
Fabulous Coldframe
Graham Clark built this
attractive and useful mini-greenhouse for us. The used skylights (double
glazed so you get two for one) cost us only $25 at a used 'stuff'
store. Updated December 4, 2005
Garden Warriors of 'Yesteryear' - Photos
Slideshow
We are building on the ideas and work
of past generations. These photos are from the Library of Congress,
Prints and Photographs Division, Washington and one from the Archives of
Canada, Ottawa. Posted November 15, 2005
School Children Gardening - Photos 1914-1918:
Slideshow
These wonderful photos are in the
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington. They
remind us that earlier generations were as excited as we are today about
the potential of teaching kids about food gardening. Posted November 7, 2005
City Farmer's Bugshops - The "5Ps" : Slideshow
"Pollinators, Predators, Processors, Pests, Parasitoids. Photos © by
Maria Keating" Posted October 4, 2005
Using Compost to Start a Food Garden: Step-by-Step
Slideshow
"Compost is an essential ingredient for
making fertile soil. We've used it for 25 years at our Demonstration
Garden. Sharon digs over-wintered leaf mulch and compost into the beds.
She seeds some plants indoors in flats. First she adds sifted
compost." Posted July 25, 2005
Design for Food: Landscape architects find roles in city
farms.
Short excerpt from the June issue of
Landscape Architecture Magazine "There are many different ideas
about what constitutes an urban farm. Michael Levenston, executive
director of City Farmer, one of the oldest North American organizations
devoted to urban food production, says: "An urban farm can be a pot of
herbs grown on a balcony or a large market garden. If it involves
something you eat, and you're growing it in the city, I'd call it an
urban farm." Updated August 18, 2005
Insect Life at 2150 Maple Street
"At City
Farmer, we show visitors both beneficial and pest bugs as part of our
"natural yard care" tour of the garden. By introducing people to the
fascinating life of a wide variety of insects, we believe people will
come to appreciate rather than fear them. Less than 1 percent of garden
insects actually damage plants." Posted May 15,
2005
Wise Water Use at our Demonstration Garden: Step-By-Step
Reducing water use in the garden and managing
stormwater runoff are priorities at the Vancouver Compost Demonstration
Garden. Posted May 8, 2005
Natural Gardening Posters in Chinese
We've translated five large gardening posters, featured at our
Demonstration Garden, into Chinese: backyard composting, worm
composting, waterwise gardening, natural lawn care and
grasscycling. Posted April 29, 2005
City Farmer's Step-By-Step Photo Guide to Natural Lawn
Care
"No pesticides. No wasted water. No air
pollution. No trucking grass clippings to the landfill." " Posted April 20, 2005
City Farmer's Isabelle Speaks from the Garden
(Needs Real Player on your computer, 46 second clip.) Isabelle tells
CBC why she likes to work at our Demonstration Garden." Posted April 13, 2005
A Bug Lady's Observations
at Vancouver's Compost Demonstration Garden
"Today I saw mothflies in the composter. They are neither moths nor
flies, but are members of the the same order as aphids. In the compost
they are not considered pests, but their numbers can skyrocket. When
that happens the best thing to do when opening the lid is to keep your
mouth closed. To reduce the numbers, cover the top layer of the compost
with baking soda and a newspaper." Updated
September 28, 2005
Urban Sustainability
Tours at City Farmer's Garden
"City
Farmer's garden has been open continuously since 1982 at 2150 Maple
Street in Vancouver. We demonstrate urban agriculture and various
"green" technologies, all of which can be practiced by residents in the
city. Urban Agriculture, Backyard Composters, Worm Bins, Water-wise
Garden, Natural Lawn Care, Rain Barrels, Compost Toilet, Country Lane,
Cob Shed, Garden Gates and Animals in the Garden." Posted September 16, 2001
City Farmer's Cob Shed -
It has a Living Green Roof
Sculptor, George
Rammell, donates Haida artist Bill Reid's clay to our cob project. "The
clay I provided belonged to Haida artist Bill Reid. It provided the form
for many of Bill's sculpture projects including the Whale at the
aquarium, and the huge bronze Spirit Canoe at the airport." Updated October 9, 2003
City Farmer's
Green Roof on the Cob Shed
Photos of the roof
planted, our goat, and Arctic roof gardens from long ago. Posted October 9, 2003
City Farmer's Country
Lane
Vancouver City Council passed a report to
fund three demonstration "Country Lanes". These lanes have permeable
surfaces that allow stormwater to flow into the earth rather than drain
into the sewers. Updated October 9, 2003
City
Farmer's Waterwise Garden
"Waterwise gardening is
not synonymous with xeriscaping. Waterwise gardening is a more
appropriate explanation for gardening in mesic climates like Vancouver
and incorporates the collection and storage of rainwater, soil health,
maintenance techniques and the choice of appropriate plant species to
create healthy, beautiful gardens. " Posted
February 14 2004
City Farmer TV -
2007 - 2008
Video Blogging!
These short clips will bring you up close and personal with the kind of
work we do at the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden. See how we
trap rats in a compost bin and plant our cold frame with over-wintering
salad greens. Our videoblog will put you in touch with what happens at
our garden. We talk to our gardeners, to visitors and also visit
other urban agriculture projects in Vancouver. You can watch these short
films on your computer.
City Farmer TV - 2006
City Farmer TV can also be seen on
YouTube
LA Times Story: Vancouver
Envisions Radicchio on its Rooftops
"The Canadian
city sees food-producing gardens in urban residential developments as
the wave of the future. ... The Southeast False Creek conditions require
shared garden plots for 30% of the neighborhood's residential units that
lack access to balconies or patios of at least 100 square feet. False
Creek buildings also will have a maximum of 12 stories to increase green
space and sun exposure. Plans call for fruit trees and raised beds on
rooftops, courtyards lined with blueberry bushes, and balcony trellises
to support fruit-bearing vines." Updated August 26,
2007
Farming In The City 2
(Guests: Steve Pedersen - Coordinator, Public Health
Association of BC. Michael Levenston - Executive Director, City Farmer.
Peter Mcallister - Woodlot Director / Mushroom Grower, Lofstedt Farm.)
"This broadcast marks the second of an ongoing series that will explore
urban agriculture in British Columbia, Canada, and around the world. Featured on the broadcast will
be the launch of an on-line community of gardeners with the hope that
every lawn in British Columbia will contain a food producing garden. We
will learn of an innovative project that links up underutilized backyard
garden space with those willing to urban farm it. When we think of urban
agriculture, rarely do we think of growing mushrooms! The steps on how
to go about becoming an urban mushroom grower will be shared on this
broadcast."
Posted May 13, 2007
In Memoriam: Arthur Wesley "Wes" Barrett, 1937 - 2001. Wes was Head Gardener
at City Farmer for over ten years. He was loved by everyone and will be
sorely missed by all of us who worked with him at the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden.
On his retirement from City Farmer in 2000, this song was written
about him.
From the Desk of Jac
Smit - "Urban Agriculture"
Jac Smit will be
contributing his thoughts here from time to time. "Jac has contributed
to plans for agriculture in cities as diverse as: Abidjan, Asmera,
Bogota, Dar es Salaam, Karachi, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Washington
DC. Some of his most satisfying urban agriculture effort was in refugee
camps in India, Bangladesh and the Ivory Coast."
Urban
Agriculture Magazine from the RUAF
18 wonderful
issues have come out so far, and they all can be read on the internet.
Some issues are available in Espanol, Franais, Arabic, Chinese, Portugus, and Turkish. "The
Urban Agriculture Magazine is an initiative under the RUAF Programme. It
functions as a platform for exchange and discussion of grounded
information on urban agriculture: research results, project experiences,
and critical analyses of conventional and innovative policies on urban
agriculture." UA Magazine no. 14 - Urban Aquatic Production; UA Magazine no. 15 -
Multiple Functions of Urban Agriculture; no. 16 - Formulating Effective
Policies on Urban Agriculture; no. 17 - Strengthening Urban Producers'
Organisations; no. 18 - Building Communities through Urban Agriculture Posted August 21, 2007
Go to our new City Farmer Web Site - "City Farmer News" (www.cityfarmer.info)
Food
Urbanism: Urban Agriculture, Food Security, Local and Sustainable Food
Systems, Grow-Your-Own, Polyculture, Urban Food ...
"When I was in Vancouver a few months ago for the Bridging Borders
Toward Food Security conference, I visited a number of Urban Agriculture
projects, the most significant of which was City Farmer. City Farmer has
been focusing on Urban Agriculture for almost 30 years and their web
site is, for many people, the main portal into the diverse world of
growing food in a city." Posted January 18,
2007
All-You-Can-Grow Buffet
Broken Pencil
#33 The Food Issue, October 2006. An excerpt from the article on this
web link; 800 more words in the hard copy issue." 'Food is essential for
us, so it only makes sense we should know where it comes from,'
Levenston says matter-of-factly. But where to start? He recommends
growing sprigs of parsley and handfuls of oregano at first, something
small that can be put in a pot on a balcony. Progressing further means
securing a swath of land to grow vegetables, fruits and even grains if
the space allows." Updated October 19, 2006
44 Urban Agriculture Photos
Finding new
photos that illustrate city farming is an exciting occasion. You'll find
something to surprise you in this collection. "Queen Elizabeth II in
lively discussion with gardening enthusiasts on their garden allotment."
and "With their garden implements held on their shoulders these blind
children form a 'V' for victory gardening." Posted
July 27, 2006
National Post article:
Worms dine just outside my kitchen
City of
Vancouver - City Farmer Program. "I recalled my wife's expression from
earlier that day, and also her parting words. But it was too late to
bail. The instructor had already dumped a bucket of worms onto a
composter lid. From this pile of damp earth emerged a swarming mosh.
Suddenly, it was our turn to handle worms. We hived off into groups and
got to work. My team prepped its black plastic compost box, filling it
halfway with a supply of straw and shredded newspaper. Using a watering
can, we more or less soaked the bedding." Posted
July 23, 2006
Agricultural innovation responds to market forces just like the stock
market, and all of the others in between. Issues like
water, nitrogen, phosphorous, synthetic fertilizer, local foods,aquaculture,
pests, and the move toward organics all need to be
addressed in order to gain attention from potential ag investors. There
certainly exists plenty of room for agricultural improvements, which
also yields the underlying potential for agricultural innovation to
transform into the next hot investment sector. Take a quick peak at what
currently has Silicon Valley investors and bankers buzzing.
IDRC reports...Vancouver's Urban Agriculture Resource
Centre
"A group of five writers, supported by
IDRC through its Focus City Research Initiative, toured Vancouver's City
Farmer, a demonstration site and resource centre for urban agriculture
(UA). In addition to its public education programs, City Farmer offers a
Web site that has become a information clearinghouse for UA information
around the world. During WUF, City Farmer provided material and staff to
demonstrate some of the innovative programs the City of Vancouver
funds." Posted July 8, 2006
Soild Waste Branch Vancouver BC - Experience over 15
Years
"As sophisticated, beautiful and livable
Vancouver is, there exists an element of poverty and pollution in the
raw underbelly of our City that demands leadership, innovative thinking,
and aggressive strategic policy and planning, combined with a healthy
dose of compassion on the part of our civic leaders. " Posted June 27, 2006
Compost Chef Shares Recipe for Composting Success - at
World Urban Forum
"It's like a cake," she said,
"you layer it - green, brown, green, brown." The green Costa is
referring to are moist materials, like kitchen scraps that are high in
nitrogen. Brown materials, like leaves, are drier and high in carbon.
Costa is with City Farmer, a long-time IDRC partner." Posted July 8, 2006
Lure of the Urban Veggie Garden: Digging for love, money, fame
and sex appeal.
"The various efforts in Vancouver
are what make the city feature prominently on the international urban
gardening stage, says Michael Levenston. "We're it: Vancouver, Canada,"
he argues. Levenston is the seasoned guru behind the local fixture City
Farmer, and he's witnessed his life-long obsession go from the fringe to
the mainstream since he started out in 1978." Posted May 29, 2006
Grow your own,
Big City
"People like Levenston believe there is
an enormous and untapped potential to turn concrete jungles into
abundant food producers. According to a mapping project undertaken by
City Farmer, one third of a typical residential block in Vancouver is
landscaped, and could be growing crops."
Updated June 6, 2006
Urban Agriculture in Vancouver: Slideshow by City Farmer
"Vancouver is recognized as one of North
America's most liveable cities. It is no coincidence that 25% of British
Columbia's food is produced within an hour of downtown Vancouver and
more than 40% of Vancouverites grow food in yards, balconies, and
community gardens. The city is home to 1000 community garden plots at 22
active sites." Posted June 6,
2006
Vancouver's New Pesticide Reduction Bylaw -
January 1, 2006
"As of January 1, 2006, the use of outdoor pesticides on lawns and
in gardens will be regulated by section 5.17 of the Health By-Law No.
6580. Application of pesticides, including insecticides, herbicides, and
fungicides, will be restricted. Certain conditions will need to be met
before pesticides will be permitted provided they are listed in Schedule
A to the by-law."
You can read about the new by-law on the Grow Natural web site:
Pesticide Use Restriction By-law for
2006
The Good, the Bad and the Bugly
"Keating says many people are afraid of ground beetles because
they're quite large, but she explains they serve a very important
function in biological control by eating the eggs of snails, slugs,
cutworms and grubs. She blames science fiction movies about giant bugs
for promoting people's fear of them. 'You have to realize they're not 10
feet tall and they're not coming to get us.'" Posted April 27, 2006
Parks board says: bugs not drugs
"The ladybugs were at the City Farmer garden with other
environmentally friendly methods to illustrate a new city bylaw banning
the application of pesticides. Dessureault said pests and weeds can be
prevented without using harmful chemicals. She said the parks board,
city and Vancouver Coastal Health are encouraging residents to 'get
their yards off drugs.'" April 9, 2006
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City Farmer's Step-By-Step Photo Guide to Making a Dog Waste
Composter
This waste biodegrades and flows into
the subsoil. It is not used as compost in garden beds. "Collect
the dog doo and drop it into the hole. Sprinkle a packet of septic tank
starter on top of the dog doo and add a litre or so of water. Cover the
hole with the lid. Within 48 hours, the septic tank starter, which is
non-caustic, and promotes natural bacterial growth will have begun its
work and you can add more dog doo. You can then begin to add it
daily." updated August 17, 2005
Tours of Urban
Agriculture Sites in Vancouver, BC
Visitors
coming to Vancouver have a wealth of interesting urban agriculture sites
to visit. Perhaps the most important sites, from City Farmer's
perspective, are people's home gardens. Back lanes are useful for
studying urban agriculture. They display the private back yards of
homes, making it is easy to see what gardeners are growing.
Posted January 24, 2005
25 Years of City
Farming, 1978-2003 - City Farmer's Story
In
1978, a group of young environmentalists working at the Vancouver Energy
Conservation Center stumbled across a book called The City People's
Book of Raising Food by William and Helga Olkowski. It described in
everyday language how the authors grew all their own food right in the
middle of the city of Berkeley. This inspiring book led us on an
exploration of urban food production, which continues today, twenty-five
years later.
Posted January 25,
2005
Vancouver's Worm
Program Written-up in Der Spiegel Magazine
"Der
Spiegel magazine published a story about Vancouver's worm composting
program in their well-read magazine on page 182 of issue No. 39, dated
September 20, 2004. Their circulation is around 1.1 million and the
magazine is distributed in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as well as
all over the world at foreign language newsstands." Posted September 26, 2004
Worm Bins Turn Kitchen Scraps
Into Compost
National Geographic's web site
features a story on Vancouver's wormbin distribution program. Their
on-line site publishes roughly 60 stories a month, and has on average
1.3 million readers a month. This is wonderful coverage and shows the
world our City's commitment to a healthier environment. Posted September 14, 2004
Virtual Tour of City Farmer's Demonstration
Garden
This virtual tour was created by Graham
Clark in April 2004. You will need QuickTime and the On2 codec installed
to view the tour. This software is free and can be downloaded once you
click on the link. If your QuickTime software and browser won't play
the tour, go to this site and download the On2 QuickTime plugin. On2
Plugin Updated September 13,
2005
Cob Oven
Cooking Event at City Farmer
Played on CBC radio
on August 29, 2004 ... the City Farmer show, recorded on location at the
City Farmer garden in Vancouver. Guests include James Barber, Eve
Johnson and Assefa Kebede cooking in the cob oven..." Posted September 5, 2004
Green Roof on our Cob Garden Shed (see Cob Oven and Cob
Slideshows 1 and 2 as well)
44% of Vancouver
Households Grow Food says City Farmer
40% of Toronto
Households Grow Food
News Flash ... March 1, 2005 ...
"Angola" and "Suriname" are the 199th and 200th countries to visit our
web site since we began tracking visitors! (See City Farmer's country count.) Almost
5 million hits were recorded on our site during the year 2004!
Urban
Agriculture
Books For Sale
How to find information on our site. Our web site
includes both local (Vancouver) City Farmer stories and urban
agriculture information from around the globe.
1. Use the search engine:
The "Recent Pages" link just below
is updated almost daily. That's where you'll find all the latest
stories. Don't miss it!
2. See most recently added
pages:
Most Recent Pages and
Links Added (by Date)
3. Use the topic links:
Africa * Asia * Europe * Latin America * Middle-East * North America * South-East Asia/Australia * South Asia
Allotments/Community Gardens * Books/Media * Children * City Farmer * Entrepreneurs * Growing Food * Health/Nutrition * Hydroponics * Insects * Livestock - Fish * Policy/Planning * Rooftops/Containers * Solid Waste/Composting * Urban Forestry * Water
4. Use quick links for Vancouver
residents:
European Chafer - A New Turf Pest - Now in Greater Vancouver * Grow Natural * City Farmer's Waterwise Garden
* Community Gardens in Greater
Vancouver and Victoria * Instructions for Backyard
Composting * Home
Composting* Worm
Composting * Grasscycling and Natural
Lawn Care * Waterwise Gardening and the City Rain Barrel
Program
* Organic
Landscapers/Gardeners in Greater Vancouver * Other Rain Barrels and Water Wisdom From
Around the World * How to Set Out Your Yard Trimmings * Worm
Suppliers * Pet
Waste Composting * Farm/Garden Land For
Rent in Greater Vancouver and Elsewhere * Wholesale and Retail
Native Plant Nurseries in BC * Drought Tolerant
Plant List for Vancouver City Boulevards * Fruit Tree
Projects
5. Some popular pages on this
site:
The "Recent Pages" link just below
is updated almost daily. That's where you'll find all the latest
stories. Don't miss it!
Most Recent Pages and
Links Added (by Date) * * Bulletins/Conferences * UA References
Welcome to City Farmer's home on the World Wide Web. After 28
years digging in the fields of Urban Agriculture, we want to share with
you what we have learned. The Web makes it possible for us to reach a
much larger audience than we were reaching before the arrival of on-line
publications.
Our non-profit society promotes urban food production and
environmental conservation from a small office in downtown Vancouver,
British Columbia and from our demonstration food garden in nearby
Kitsilano, a residential neighbourhood.
Map showing the location
of our garden at 2150 Maple Street.
Virtual Tour of City Farmer's Demonstration
Garden
This new virtual
tour was created by Graham Clark in April 2004. You will need QuickTime
and the On2 codec installed to view the tour. This software is free and
can be downloaded once you click on the link. Posted May 2, 2004
Urban Agriculture is a new and growing field that is not completely
defined yet even by those closest to it. It concerns itself with all
manner of subjects from rooftop gardens, to composting toilets, to air
pollution and community development. It encompasses mental and physical
health, entertainment, building codes, rats, fruit trees, herbs, recipes
and much more.
Our Office wants you to know about some of the issues we deal with
from day to day. There are very few offices in the world that have our
experience serving city farmers all year round or have done so for as
many years as we have.
These pages will grow as we select the latest breaking information
that comes to us, as we review our large library of resources for useful
documents to put on-line, and as we hook you up with other Urban
Agriculture Web sites that most certainly will emerge.
Urban Agriculture Notes is written for those who want to
start up their own "Office of Urban Agriculture", for those who have
already done so, and for gardeners who are curious about what we refer
to as political horticulture.
"The one small
garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen
to a realm;
his own hands to use, not the hands of others
to command."
Sam Gamgee, The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R.
Tolkien
The "Recent Pages" link just below
is updated almost daily. That's where you'll find all the latest
stories. Don't miss it!
Most Recent Pages and
Links Added (by Date)
- City Farmer's
Urban Agriculture Survey
- Please help us learn more about your involvement in city
farming by filling out this short survey form. Thank you!
Posted March 25, 2000
- City
Farmer's Survey Results No. 2 - Second 100
- See our summary. "14 people said they sold some food at farmer's
markets, retail and wholesale, a coop, restaurants and caterers, traded
food for services or other food, reinvested income back to an
organization, sold eggs at work and to neighbours and friends."
Posted December 27, 2001
- City Farmer's Survey Results No. 1
- First 100
- See our summary. "People from 16
countries submitted surveys - Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Egypt,
England, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Kuwait, New Zealand, Peru,
Philippines, South Africa, Spain and the USA. The vast majority were
from the USA (56%) and Canada (26%)."
Posted May 20, 2000
- Participating in Urban Gardening, or "City Farming" - Results
of an Online Survey conducted by City Farmer
- This
study is based on a survey conducted by one of the organizations working
to encourage participation in urban gardening and urban greening
activities in general - City Farmer, based in Vancouver, B.C. City
Farmer conducted an online survey over the course of 4 years. The survey
asked respondents about their interests and experiences with gardening
in urban areas ("city farming") The survey garnered 500
responses at the time of writing. Each respondent was asked 19 different
questions about their experiences with gardening."
Updated August 5, 2007
- Resource Centre on Urban
Agriculture and Forestry (RUAF) Stories: City Farmer is
honoured to be a partner in this five year project.
- "During recent decades, Urban Forestry has
been developed as integrative and interdisciplinary approach
encompassing the planning, establishing and management of those urban
green areas in which trees are the main element, such as woodlands,
parks, gardens, cemeteries, derelict land and former industrial sites,
and roadside and square plantations."
Posted March 3, 2004
- January 31, 2004 Application Deadline for the AGROPOLIS Awards
- "AGROPOLIS International Graduate Research
Awards in Urban Agriculture - application forms can be obtained from the
Cities Feeding People website in English, French, and Spanish and also
in Arabic (not yet posted)". Posted November 11,
2003
- Urban Agriculture and Food Security (PDF)
and
Urban Agriculture Magazine for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development(PDF)
- "Two special issues of the UA-Magazine have
also been published. The first one, Urban Agriculture and Food Security,
was distributed at the FAO World Summit on Food Security, held in June
in Rome, Italy. The second, has been prepared for the World Summit on
Sustainable Development, which will be held in Johannesburg, South
Africa, in August 2002. Both specials can be downloaded as PDF
files." Posted October 6, 2002
- RUAF: Resource
Centre On Urban Agriculture And Forestry
- "RUAF is a global information and communications
programme implemented by seven regional institutes and coordinated by
ETC-International, based in Leusden, The Netherlands. RUAF is a
five-year programme that is funded by DGIS (the Netherlands)and IDRC
(Canada)and initiated in October 1999. The general aim of RUAF is to
facilitate the integration of urban agriculture into the policies and
plans of city authorities and to enhance the active involvement of all
local stakeholders."
Updated
October 6, 2002
- City Farmer
Stories:
- 44% of Vancouver
Households Grow Food says City Farmer
- "This is the first time in Canadian history a question of this sort
has been asked by a professional pollster and the result is
significant," says Michael Levenston, Executive Director of the
25-year-old non-profit society based in Vancouver. "That figure
represents more than three-quarters of a million people in Greater
Vancouver who live in households growing vegetables, fruit, berries,
nuts or herbs in their yard, balcony or community garden." Posted October 6, 2002
- City
Farmer Uses the Latest Aerial Photos To Find Out How Much Food is Grown
in the City of Vancouver
- "Looking down from the
sky it's easy to see where city farmland lies. Roofs, driveways,
sidewalks, swimming pools, trees, lawns and gardens are all clearly
visible. The photos on this page were taken of homes in South Vancouver
between Fraser and Clarke Avenues. The excellent resolution of the shots
(15cm = 1 pixel) allows us to close in from an airplane-view to an
almost tree-top view of homes and gardens."
Updated October 31, 2001
- Current
Photos from the Demonstration Garden
- "Wasup"? We
get excited about new crops, visitors from other countries, creatures
both pest and beneficial --- and because Mike has a new digital camera,
this page exists.
Posted September
14, 2001
- The Christmas
Tree Shredding Ceremony
- "Look, all I'll say is
this. People want to know that their trees' lives haven't been
sacrificed in vain; that they've served a purpose greater than a light
rack. Over the years, we've recycled hundreds of thousands of Christmas
trees and their remains are composted in our yard trimmings composting
facility here at the Landfill. That product is then spread around
Vancouver parks and sold to landscapers and residents as a rich organic
fertilizer. If that isn't a higher purpose, I don't know what is."
Posted December 29, 2001
- City Farmer's
Grasscycling and Natural Lawn Care Project
- "Once
a week, a gentle pull of the lever starts the quiet machine - there's no
gas or oil to mess with, no fumes to breathe in. A simple squeeze of the
lever by the right front wheel adjusts the mower height and in minutes
the lawn is cut, all the clippings are out of sight, blown as tiny
pieces into the lawn where they will break down and nourish the grass."
Posted May 13, 2001
- Roots of a
Political Plot
- "The growing international
movement known as urban agriculture has its origin in a
2,500-square-foot Vancouver garden"
Posted May 26, 2001
- Results In! - The
Best Food Garden In Vancouver Contest
- "Filled
with, at different times, chicory, radicchio, basil, tomatoes, kiwis,
figs, grapes, prunes, pears, and corn, Calogero's garden occupies two
back yards and much of the front yard. It produces something different
every week, says his daughter Lucy: "[My father] has been growing
vegetables since he moved from Italy over 30 years ago. My mother makes
enough tomato sauce for the family year-round, and sends some to my
sister in Victoria."
Updated
September 22, 2000
- City Farmer's
Demonstration Garden: Detailed Plan Showing Plants and
Features
- Collin Varner has drawn a beautiful plan
of our garden showing exactly where everything is located. Posted August 28, 2000
- Photo Tour
of City Farmer's Demonstration Garden
- See it all!
The vegis, the compost toilet, the worm corner, the office in a
greenhouse, and much more. Posted November 3,
1999
- Introduction
to the Demonstration Garden
- Many media events
take place at our beautiful garden. Sesame Street shot a segment on worm
composting. And the Mayor of Vancouver cut fresh artichokes before the
cameras. Updated November 3, 1999
The Easiest
Way
To Predict The Future
Is To Invent It
- City Farmer's
Garden Gate
- Metal artist, Davide Pan has created
a distinctive front gate for City Farmer's Demonstration Garden. Posted June 28, 1999
- City Farmer's
History: The First Ten Years 1978-1988
- Filing
cabinets, desks and high shelves of books overflow with a paper record
of our efforts from the past 21 years. We have chosen various documents
from this archive and placed them on the following pages to give the
reader a brief glimpse of our past. Posted June
6, 1999
- Red Celery In
the Sunshine - An Urban Eden: transforming hopeless backyard hardpan
into a lush organic plot
- First published in 1984
in Harrowsmith magazine, this article describes City Farmer's
Demonstration Food Garden. "I thought for years that just compost and
the occasional load of manure were enough, and I had perfectly adequate
gardens, but now, I'm not satisfied with adequate. I want Brassicas that
are four feet high and three feet wide." said first Head Gardener,
Catherine Shapiro. Posted May 6, 1999
- City Farmer
Newspaper 1978 -1981
- "25 cents was the street
price for our 'rag'. If a copy sold in a corner store we'd get half that
back from the proprietor as our share. More often, we'd never find our
way back to that store, and if we did, we'd find our paper had turned
yellow with age." Posted May 13, 1998
- We Have a
Compost Toilet!
- "But how do we use it", the staff
wanted to know? "There's no water in the bowl, no handle for flushing.
What can we throw in it, how do we keep track of how much human waste
goes in, and what words should we use to describe our waste?" Posted November 12, 1998
- Composting
Toilets
- In Vancouver, British Columbia, a 30,000 sq.
ft. office complex, utilizes composting toilets and urinals for human
waste disposal. City Farmer has links to toilet manufacturers from
around the world. Updated March 11, 1999
- Urban Home
Composting, City Farmer Style
- If all our urban
organic waste was turned back into crop nourishing humus, think how
fertile the ground would become.
- Dealing With a Rat
in a Compost Bin
- An individual who calls the Compost
Hotline is usually quite shocked that he has a rat on his property.
- City
Farmer/City Of Vancouver Wormshop Program
- "Half a pound of writhing red wiggler worms are included in each
worm "kit". The bin will accommodate up to 1500, so participants are
encouraged to make up a second bin for themselves or a friend (they make
excellent wedding gifts, shower gifts and Christmas presents!)."
- Worm
Suppliers
The world's largest list of worm
sellers. Updated January 4, 2002
- More about the
City's Distribution of Worm Bins!
Newsweek
magazine, Feb. 12, 1996, reports "Entire cities are getting into the
act. Vancouver sells worm bins, wrigglers included at half price."
(Kitchen Help: Wrigglers Under the Sink, page 76)
- Composting
With Red Wiggler Worms
- The great advantage of worm
composting is that this can be done indoors and outdoors, thus allowing
year round composting. It also provides apartment dwellers with a means
of composting.
- Jerry Seinfeld's
Worm Bin
"What's The Deal With Worm Composting?"
- Kramer's friend, a kooky zoology Professor at a New York museum, is
leading a secret expedition into the sewers of New York to search for a
new species of worm that will speed up the process of decomposition in
the bin.
- City Farmer Donates
Garden Produce To Vancouver Hospice
- "The visual
appeal alone was enough to stimulate the resident's taste buds and
heighten their interest in food. This is important, as often we have to
work at tempting the appetites of our residents." Updated November 8, 1998
- Mayor
Opens Water-wise Garden
- This unique water
conservation garden was developed by the City of Vancouver, in
cooperation with City Farmer. The
project, funded by Environment Canada, demonstrates the principles of
water-wise gardening. It is located on the street front and will be open
to the public year-round. Updated August 22,
1998
-
Waterwise
Gardening
Principal Wholesale and Retail Native Plant Nurseries on the BC
South Coast and Islands (PDF format)
- Vancouver
Begins Disconnecting Downspouts
Disconnecting
residential roof downspouts from the combined sewer system may be an
important way to reduce water pollution caused by Combined Sewer
Overflows.
- Rain Barrels and
Water Wisdom From Around the World
- "Here in Bermuda
all residential properties catch rainwater on the roof. Roofs are
constructed of lapped limestone slate on a timber frame. The water
collected drains down into a water tank which is located beneath the
house."Updated October 5, 1998
The "Recent Pages" link just below
is updated almost daily. That's where you'll find all the latest
stories. Don't miss it!
*** Most Recent Pages and Links Added (by Date)
***
- In 1979, almost 20
years ago, City Farmer's founding directors spoke at the 20th
International Science Education Symposium about our vision of Urban
Agriculture.
- "Ideally we believe that simply by changing from suit to jeans,
digging up a bit of lawn, and planting vegetable seeds, the city person
will begin asking questions about his environment and about his urban
behavior and thinking patterns."
- "To most city people soil is simply mud or dirt,
not a substance in which food is born.
- "Rain, means 'no beach'. It is not seen as a drink for thirsty
plants.
- "Sunny days are 'tanning days', not givers of food energy.
- "There are no such things as 'beneficial insects'. They're all big
game for a can of 'Raid'.
- "Big toothed dogs are nice animals to feed. Egg producing chickens
are not.
- "Left-over food, minutes after a delicious meal, becomes garbage to
be trucked away out of sight rather than a valuable homemade soil
conditioner."
- More
About City Farmer's Work - Update December, 1996
- Our Compost Hotline has received 17,000 calls since 1992.
- 3000 visitors a year come to our Demonstration Garden.
- Since 1992, City Farmer has taught 431 children's wormshops for a
total of 9771 "contacts".
Go to our new City Farmer Web Site - "City Farmer News" (www.cityfarmer.info)
The ideal project
is one where people don't have meetings,
they have lunch.
The size of the team should be the size of the lunch
table.
Bill Joy, cofounder of Sun Microsystems
Readers in the following countries have accessed our web site since
February 12, 1996. We will be looking at our web stats every day to see
what new additions can be made to this list.
News Flash ... March 1, 2005 ...
"Angola" and "Suriname" are the 199th and 200th countries to visit our
web site since we began tracking visitors! (See City Farmer's country count.) Almost
5 million hits were recorded on our site during the year 2004!
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra
Angola
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Austria
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Canada
Cayman Islands
Chad
Chile
China
Christmas Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Colombia
Congo
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Croatia (Hrvatska)
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Faroe Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
French Guiana
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Gabon
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Gibraltar
Great Britain (UK)
Greece
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Guadeloupe
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Guatemala
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Guinea
Guyana
Heard and McDonald Islands
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
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India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Isle of Man
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
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Site
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noted in many places. Visit the trophy room.
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revised, January 1, 2024
E-mail us at: cityfarmer@gmail.com
Mailing Address:
City Farmer - Canada's Office of Urban
Agriculture
Box 74567, Kitsilano RPO,
Vancouver, B.C.
V6K 4P4 Canada
Office Phone: 604-736-2250
Map showing the location
of our garden at 2150 Maple Street.
Satellite view of 2150 Maple Street.
Garden Location:
Vancouver Compost
Demonstration Garden
2150 Maple Street, Kitsilano, (6th
and Maple)
Vancouver BC, V6J 3T3 Canada
Garden Phone: 604-736-2250
Garden Hours:
Summer, April-October, Monday - Saturday 9am - 4pm
Winter, December-March, Monday and Wednesday-Saturday 9am - 4pm
Hotline: From Monday-Saturday, all year, 9am-4pm