Designing the KSL Shed

After months of planning and organization, we have finally discovered many talented students willing to help out with the creation of the Seed Library. With the help of our new members, we recently created the design for the KSL shed. This shed will contain all the library seeds, and is to divide alphabetically to add more structure to the project. As well, unlike the other Seed Libraries across Vancouver, we have planned to develop a stationary library as opposed to one that constantly wanders across the neighbourhood.

On September 23rd, 2012, a group of students from Grades 8-12 came over to my house to brainstorm the ideas for the shed design. They included Gelareh Modara, Aria Modara, Michelle Avina, Kimberley Wong, Ana Obrknezev, Cameron Chehroudi, Judy Park, Leor Elizur, Lucia Huo, Bryan Buraga, Claire Honda, and Julia Weder. We had a blast during our two-hour work party, and finally created a structure for the shed. 

Below are snap-shots from our design day.

Judy Park, Leor Elizur and Lucia Huo 

are enjoying Cameron Chehroudi's creative ideas.

Meanwhile, Gelareh Modara, Claire Honda, Julia Weder, and Bryan Buraga 

work towards more practical designs.

Currently, we are working towards solidifying the design measurements and lumbar requirements for our shed. In about a week, we shall order the wood supplies.

We are truly looking forward to realizing our plans.
-Sheida Naderi-Azad

Publicity!

Kerrisdale Seed Library is making much improvement. We have recently created an informative brochure and a sample poster, and are spreading the word across the neighbourhood. Below are the electronic copies of our newly-designed advertisement, for all of you enviro-friendly folks!

 The KSL poster, thanks to Kimberey. This poster is currently circulating the Pacific Spirit Parks.

The KSL brochure. Thanks to Graham and Lucia for the design.

Cheers to the hard work,

Sheida Naderi-Azad

Meeting with Metro Vancouver Youth Garden

A couple of weeks ago, I had the honour of meeting up with fellow youth who are passionate about gardening. I heard about them through Metro Vancouver Youth4Action, an organization with youth leaders from across Metro Vancouver. Y4A aims to support youth leaders to achieve their vision and actions for sustainability. This past summer, Y4A created its own bed in a community garden located at Clark St. and 12th Avenue. This allows the Youth Garden to stay connected, share pictures, and talk about the plants it is nurturing. 

On August 7th, 2012, I met up with the Youth Garden at their potluck event to hear more about their garden and let them know about ours. We also met up with the initiators of the Youth Garden, and learned about eh process they went through to create it. It was a great experience since I gained connections, as well as support for our starting Seed Library. Also, the Youth Garden has become a member of the Kerrisdale Seed Library! PW Community Garden has become partners with the Youth Garden, providing mutual support to both groups.

Cheers to this splendid achievement! Finally, here is a  good-bye picture of the Youth Garden, and me on behalf of PW Community Garden.

New friends! From left to right: Vivian, Sheida, Karen, Akshiv, Steven, Bowen, Jason, and Aliya.

Credits to Aliya Dossa.

For more information about Metro Vancouver, check out their website:
http://www.metrovancouver.org/region/Youth4Action/Pages/default.aspx

Once again, to become a member or volunteer for Kerrisdale Seed Library, contact us at kerrisdaleseedlibrary@gmail.com .
Seed you soon!

-Sheida Naderi-Azad

#1: Kale Seed Extraction

In our journey of collecting seeds for the Kerrisdale Seed Library, we are exploring the seed extraction methods for various plants, and will be posting mini tutorials for all library members to learn from. Our very first seed extraction tutorial will be on the Kale seeds. 

For those with little knowledge about the Kale, here are some quick, fun facts:

Kale is a dark-green vegetable full of nutritional value, especially Vitamin A and Calcium. Among its health benefits, it has a major role in the battle against cancer and heart disease. Furthermore, it can be eaten in a many ways: as a side-dish, a main dish, or part of salad. However, PW Community Garden's very own favourites are the Kale Chips.

To extract Kale seeds, you will need to sow the plant about 2 months in advance, depending on the temperature. Then the Kale would be ready to harvest, so take however much you need and leave the rest to seed. We, at the PW Garden, left the Kale from a whole bed untouched. Eventually, small yellow flowers will emerge from the Kale, as will some green buds. Again, this indicates that you should give the plant more time to mature its seeds. You will know when to harvests seeds as the buds will turn from green to a dry brown colour. Remove the brown buds from the plant, and leave the green ones out. You will then have a pile of buds similar to this:

After this, you can take the buds home and softly peel them off. If the seeds have matured enough, the buds will peel off almost immediately. Note that the seeds are arranged in two rows inside the buds, separated by a thin layer. Make sure you do not miss the other half of the seeds! In the end, you will have a bag full of Kale seeds, which you can then sow again for another growing season.

Hope this was a pretty straight-forward tutorial for the kale seed extraction. For any questions, or to become a member of the Kerrisdale Seed Library, e-mail us at kerrisdaleseedlibrary@gmail.com .

Cheers,
Sheida Naderi-Azad

Start-up: Kerrisdale Seed Library

Hi world,

As President of PW Community Garden, I am delighted to introduce to you the Kerrisdale Seed Library. I founded this project weeks ago with the help of some Garden Club members and other volunteers. Even though we are currently at the early stages of development, the library is continually expanding.

We started out the  planning of this Seed Library on Thursday, August 8th, 2012 in my backyard. Some of the most dedicated high-school volunteers came over to help me start this project from scratch. First, we set out the logistics of the project. 

By definition, a Seed Library is somewhere you  exchange seeds with fellow community members to ensure a diverse set of garden products across the neighbourhood. Last year, we used some seeds from the Village Vancouver Seed Library in our garden. However, this year their library ran low on supplies. Left with no other choice, I set out to create our own Seed Library to help not only Prince of Wales Community Garden, but also the surrounding houses.

After the planning, we divided up the work. We were to complete many tasks to have a successful start. These included canvassing, making posters, brochures and pamphlets, and collecting funds and donations. We then set out to make posters for our Seed Library to display at various locations.

The first poster was made by Lucia, Claire, and Mickey.

Kimberley and I designed the second poster together.

A group picture of everyone at work.

Thanks to the special four volunteers who stepped in to make this a very successful beginning. We are currently in making brochures and canvassing. If you are interested in volunteering for us in the upcoming year, or if you would like to become a member of the Kerrisdale Seed Library, please to not hesitate to contact us at kerrisdaleseedlibrary@gmail.com . We look forward to hearing from you!

More updates to come,

-Sheida Naderi-Azad