the sky garden

Dig In! Campus Agriculture Presents…

Sky Garden and the Food and Water Institute are pleased to offer an introductory workshop to coldframes and extending the season techniques.

Interested in learning how to have greens throughout the winter months? Come out and join us next Monday, October 24th at 5pm!

When? Monday, October 24 from 5pm – 6pm
Where? Sandford Flemming Building (10 King’s College Road) Room 1009
Why? Learn some of the basics of extending the growing season and see a couple coldframes in use on the U of T campus!

Space is limited! Please RSVP to urbanagriculturesociety@gmail.com.

A container gardening workshop will be held on July 7th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the U of T’s Farmers Market (Willcocks Street and St. George Street).

We’ll have a table set up with demos displaying various types of containers, self-watering systems, soil types and mixes, and show simple ways that you can grow food at home.

Information and demos provided by Toronto Green Community (http://torontogreen.ca/), Sky Garden and Dig In! Campus Agriculture.

Hope to see you there!

Access Alliance is having a celebration to officially open their new Green Roof on July 12th!

Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

-Green Roof tours and AccessPoint Hub tours

-A beautiful slideshow of the 2011 spring season

-Refreshments and freshly made garden recipes

-Herbal tea garden scavenger hunt

-Planting a seed

-Learning about Green Roofs

-Short speeches about the story of Access Point Green Roof

-Meeting Green Roof garden volunteers

Location: 3079 Danforth Ave.

For those interested, they have a beautiful teaching garden, herb garden, as well as  native plants and a multi-cultural food garden.

Please RSVP to lmrosovsky@accessalliance.ca.

To view a poster about this event, please click here.  Keep reading →

All tours will begin at 5:00 p.m. in the main lobby of the Galbraith Building located at 35 St. George Street.

July 6th & 20th

August 10th & 24th

Sept. 7th & 21th

Oct. 12th & 26th

Don’t forget to RSVP at urbanagriculturesociety@gmail.com to reserve your spot.

For those who would like to tour the Sky Garden, we’ll be holding scheduled tours where you’ll not only get the chance to tour our rooftop garden, but discussions will also be held on the garden’s  automated drip irrigation system, the use of semi-hydroponics, and finally on the benefits & challenges of having a rooftop garden.

Our first tour will begin on Wednesday July 6  at 5 p.m. in the lobby of the Galbraith Building located at 35 St. George Street. Check the tour schedule, posted above, for other dates. Please RSVP at urbanagriculturesociety@gmail.com to reserve your spot.

Work-Study Position: Urban Farming Laboratory Assistant

Number of Vacancies: 2

Position Description:
The Urban Farming Laboratory is a new initiative in the Department of Civil Engineering combining the SkyGarden (one of Toronto’s most productive green roofs, situated on top of the Galbraith Building), the Galbraith Garden (a redevelopment project designed to provide a naturalized outdoor lab, classroom, and study space as well as a home to a building-wide composting initiative), and the Aeroponics Project (an advanced pod designed to provide building occupants with fresh vegetables year round with a significantly reduced carbon footprint).

This summer we are planning expansion projects that will extend our growing season. This includes the building and design of cold frames, a solar dehydrator and an inflatable greenhouse for winter gardening. The work study student(s) will be involved in research of four-season growing as well as helping to source and gather materials. There is also potential to work with designers to plan the greenhouse, if the student is interested. We would also require help organizing and planning workshops to share our project knowledge with the university community.

We encourage students in any discipline with an interest in urban agriculture and design to apply. Engineering background is not required.

Hours of work available/week: 12 (flexible/negotiable)

How to apply:

Email: colin@civ.utoronto.ca

Colin Anderson, Communications and Student Programs Coordinator

Submit your resume and covering letter by Friday, May 13, 2011

**This is a work study position. Applicants must be eligible for the work study program. For eligibility information, see the U of T Career Center website: http://www.careers.utoronto.ca/jobsearch/workstudy.aspx?tr

is.. TOMORROW – May 1st, 2011!

so, grab some sunflower seeds, some friends and head to an abandoned plot or unloved patch of earth.. check out the video here.

for those harder to reach places – consider making some seedbombs!

happy may day folks.

1. First Sky Garden planning meeting of 2011!
March 4, 4.30pm.
Galbraith Building, i2c boardroom

We’ll have our first Sky Garden 2011 planning meeting this Friday at 4:30 pm. We’ll meet in the i2c boardroom in the Galbraith Building (35 St. George Street). The i2c room is on the second floor, across from 222.

We will discuss plans for the upcoming growing season including:

1. Bees at Sky Garden
2. Building a massive solar food dehydrator
3. Designing an inflatable greenhouse for winter harvesting
4. Updates on non-profit work and expanding our Sky Garden model to other rooftops and balconies
5. What to plant this year
6. Seedling starting

If you are interested in any of these initiatives please come to the meeting and share your ideas and get involved. If you know anyone who would be interested, feel free to pass this message along. If you can’t make it to the meeting, but want to help out with any of the above initiatives, please let me know.

AND if you have other ideas that you want to try out or are excited about, share them with the group and we’ll try to make them happen!

See you on Friday

2. UofT Foodies Unite @ the Spring ShinDIG!
March 11, 4-6pm
Hart House, East Common Room

Curious about campus agriculture? We’re talking community gardens, rooftop apiaries, mushroom logs, composters, and other edible initiatives at the University of Toronto.

Free dinner!

This event is sponsored by the Dig In! Campus Agriculture Network, a collective of student-driven local food initiatives at UofT. Check out www.campusagriculture.ca or facebook for more information!

Cost: $0

2. Root Cellars Webinar!
March 23, 12.00pm
the world wide web (register)

You may have caught her at the Guelph Organic Conference, but if not (or even if you did!), be sure to listen in (for free!) to Tarrah Young teaching about root cellars on this webinar.  She recently converted her swimming pool at Green Being Farm to a root cellar… Check out this and other great webinars here.

1. JANUARY 27, 4.10pm

Say Yes to Food: Prioritizing Healthy Food in Our Personal Lives, Neighbourhoods and in Social Policy – Debbie Field

where? Centre for Environment, University of Toronto – Rosebrugh Building, Room RS208, 4 Taddle Creek Road

2. FEBRUARY 3-4

Growing a Greener Future From Field to Table – a province-wide conference on school gardens, local food procurement and climate change
Be sure to RSVP, space is limited: recipeforchange@foodshare.net

where? Foodshare, Toronto – 90 Croatia Street

3. FEBRUARY 13, 12.30 – 6 pm

Seedy Sunday : more info here (also, consider: volunteering, taking part in a seed packing party (!), donating seeds and.. make sure you find the Seed Exchange on Sunday)

where? Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle (also 2 other locations in March!)

note: all of these events are free!