It's Official!

Spring is here! A relative term in the Bow Valley, I know, but the days are long enough for our seeds to start germinating, and occasionally warm enough for some of the snow to melt!

Some inspiration over the weekend:

Calgary's Seedy Saturday drew it's biggest crowd ever!  Although I wasn't able to make it, the vendor lineup was impressive, and fellow garden enthusiasts have said that there were a lot of great seeds and ideas exchanged.  A  backyard greenhouse operations doing starts for backyard gardeners,  seeds coming from the prairies to the west coast....some to check out: Calgary-based Harmonic Herbs, Slocan-based Mountain Seed Co., Kootenay-based Stellar Seeds,  and from the coast, West Coast Seeds, and Salt Spring Seeds.

Other interesting stuff to come out of that event: Green Calgary is hosting a Rain Barrel and Composter Sale on Saturday May 14th, 9-11am in 3 different locations: Crowfood LRT parking lot, Ikea (8000 11th Street SE), and Anderson LRT parking lot - greencalgary.org

I had the pleasure of attending the first weekend of the Permaculture Design Certificate Course offered by Rob and Michelle Avis of Verge Permaculture, and of course, have come back to the mountains bursting at the seams with ideas and inspiration.

I was delighted to meet a few individuals involved in various community gardens in Calgary.  It was interesting to compare the processes of establishing gardens in different communities, and I am reassured by the similar strategies, designs, and challenges that all these gardens face.  I am also reassured by the fact that our budget is on par with gardens in the city!

Just some thoughts here, but....permaculture is a whole systems design technique that looks at all the elements in your system and connects them in ways that they support one another, so that you don't need to do a lot of work, and so that waste is eliminated.  Approaching our wildlife issue from this perspective offers a very different lens through which to view the relationship between the garden and the animals.  With regards to the bunnies (not actually wildlife, and very much a consistent element to consider at the Hospital site), I wonder if there isn't a way to harness their potential as nutrient cyclers, by collecting and composting their turds.  Once composted, this could be a great fertilizer for our garden!  In this way, the rabbits would be supporting rather than threatening our garden... Just thoughts! Feedback always welcome!