The Value of Barter

This past Monday I attended Well Preserved's Preserve Swap. M and I were not really sure what to expect, having been invited by WP's Dana and Joel after bumping into them on the street earlier in the week. But curiosity and practicality gave way, as we still needed to find a home for a couple jars of spicy dilly beans sitting on our shelf.

The event was a great turn-out. Preservers packed the little neighborhood bar and lined the counter space with their jars of jams, jellies, pickles and preserves. Some of the more unique items were rumtopf, dandelion jelly, maple syrup, and cured ham hock. I felt a little out-of-place, having only brought 2 measly, unlabelled jars, but I was intent on trading for something different.

We ended up meeting a handful of passionate preservers, and scoring a nice slab of bacon (cured by Starfish chef Kyle Deming) and a bright red jar of apple jelly (freshly made by local Beverley Barnett Graham). A sweet deal for our 2 jars of dilly beans! Ah, money-less exchange makes me happy, as does hot sizzling bacon and a mouthful of sweet jelly. Best of all, now that I have a Preserve Swap under my belt, I promise to step up my game for the next event.

The Sunflower Revolution (Part Three)

What a day! Seedy Sunday was back again this year, and in full force. The event moved to the University of Toronto Hart House, a bigger space than the Wychwood Barns location it has been at for the past years. It was clear that the extra space was needed for new and bigger displays and tables. The buzz of ideas exchanging between seed swappers, food sellers, community groups and gardening gurus filled the hall with excitement and body heat.

I dropped off the seed bomb dispenser early in the morning prior to the sneak preview. I was unable to get the "Sunflower Your City" seed bombing info blog up-and-running last night... bah. The dispenser, sign and envelopes were strategically set-up at the end of the TCGN display, close to the event reception desk. As I took photos of my mini display, a few people approached me to give me props, one of whom was Lara. She was at the event promoting a campaign to have her book, An Illustrated Guide to Growing Food on Your Balcony, sent to the printer. Big up yourself!

I left the hall shortly after, feeling anxious about splitting so quickly. When I returned a couple hours later, it looked like a good chunk of balls were missing. Hurray! TCGN volunteers were doing a great job of manning the display and explaining what it was to curious onlookers. Garden Jane's seed bomb making kits were also set-up beside the dispenser... a perfect combination. I was able to chat with Jane a little later on, and she explained to me that she sourced a special food-safe clay for her kit. She suggested that we join forces in the near future. High five!

At the end of the day, about half of the bombs had been dispensed, and a little envelope of coins was collected for the TCGN. The seed bomb machine garnered much attention and appreciation, though coins kept getting stuck and the balls didn't come out all the time. I ended up lending the entire display to the Seedy Sunday organizers, who wanted to use it for their North York event next month. Though I would be out of the country by that time, I was happy to oblige. Hopefully I'll be able to connect them with Evergreen, who was keen on taking the dispenser for the rest of the year.

Now, we wait and watch. Go forth, bomb throwers and sunflower minions, and spread your roots of colour and life into our city.

The Sunflower Revolution (Part Two)

Seedy Sunday is less than 24 hours away, and I'm scrambling to get my seed bomb dispenser completed. I also found out that there's a TCGN-member sneak preview of the event, meaning we start 1.5 hrs earlier than I thought. The good news is that I've made all 229-ish seed bombs, using up all of the sunflower seeds and clay. And the dispenser isn't even full! It could probably take 300 bombs. About 30 seed bomb envelopes are also ready to go, each of which fit 3 bombs snug.

I put a good handful of bombs into the dispenser as a test run, and it works like a charm. But with all 200+ bombs, it doesn't work so nice. Hm, that makes me a little nervous. I've found that giving the dispenser a good shake will help move the bombs along.

I've mentioned this project to a few friends, most of whom have no clue about seed bombing. I struggle with a good explanation to explain why anyone would want to deposit these balls around the city for fun. After some thought, I think this might describe it best: seed bombing is like graffiti for gardeners.

The dispenser is as much of an interactive art installation as it is a community activist weapon. The sign I've started to sketch will probably be more of the 'art' part. I also wanted it all to be accompanied by a blog with more information about seed bombs, sunflowers and guerrilla gardening, but I'm not sure I have time to do a good job of it. I've set-up an email account (thesunflowerrevolution@gmail.com) and reserved the blog name (sunflower-your-city.blogspot.com), just in case.

With markers in one hand and a beer in the other, I hope the next 12 hours will be good to me.

The Sunflower Revolution (Part One)

Sometime last summer, I was at a local burrito shop grabbing a quick bite before a movie. A business card tacked on the bulletin board caught my eye. It read: "Soiled and Seeded - cultivating a garden culture". I took a photo with my camera phone to look it up later. When I did, I learned that Soiled and Seeded was a Toronto-based, soon-to-be online urban gardening magazine. I loved the concept, loved the arsty photos, and signed-up for their newsletter.

When I received their first newsletter, there was an article that caught my eye. A company in Los Angeles, Greenaid, was renting out seed bomb dispensers that looked like gumball machines in major American cities. The idea impressed me a great deal, but I wasn't so keen with the seemingly for-profit nature of it. To me, seed bombs are a tool for freedom of expression and community ownershipurban gardening in its most basic, raw form. Profit just doesn't fit into the picture.

In December, I was at an indie craft show with a friend, when an art installation caught my eye. It was a giant junk food dispenser, only instead of candy, it dispensed poems. I remembered the seed bomb dispenser, and mentioned it to my pal. She suggested that instead of renting out a machine from Greenaid, that I make my own dispenser from a vintage gumball machine. I was impressed with my friend's ingenuity.

Last week, I was surfing on Craigslist, and saw a vintage gumball machine for sale. It was perfect: counter-top sized, and set-up for a pay-what-you-can system, where someone would not have to insert coins in order to retrieve the goodies inside. I did some quick research and learned how easy making seed bombs was. I quickly sourced the clay from an art store, the compost from my worm bin, and the seeds from Urban Harvest. The seeds, I decided, would have to be from the sunflower plant; for their fiery beauty, their toughness, and their amazing powers in removing toxins from the soil. Exactly what this city needs.

A quick email to one of the organizers of Seedy Sunday sealed the deal. They were more than happy to set-up my repurposed sunflower seed bomb dispenser at one of their tables. We agreed that all bomb proceeds would go to The Toronto Community Garden Network, a committed group of urban gardeners that fuels the garden movement through engagement and involvement.

I guess it's a very long winded way of telling you some exciting news, but I really love the way all of these small events came together so nicely. Each event became a catalyst for the next, and I think it poetically illustrates the symbiotic relationship of a community.

Les Pommes de Nuit Blanche

This past weekend was Toronto's 5th annual Nuit Blanche event. Being a night-owl and creative type, the idea of a dusk-to-dawn massive public art-party event naturally excites me. And when I received Not Far From The Tree's call for volunteers for their "Cider Making Spectacle" as part of the event, I couldn't help but join in on the fun.

I showed up at 3:30am at the Gladstone Hotel's Art Bar, along with 3 other volunteers. For the event, Not Far From The Tree brought in 400 lbs of apples, which was a small portion of the thousands of pounds of fruit they collect from trees around the city each year. For the last 3 hours of the event, we turned these unloved apples into steamy hot cider, which sold for $2 per sample.

The cider-making process was simple, but labour intensive:

Wash apples. Peel-off skin (using neat-o peeling device). Slice into quarters.













Crank slices through manual grinder.















Press. Collect cider (i.e. unfiltered juice).






















Heat with cinnamon sticks. Pour into little cups, and sell.






















By 6:30am, our little operation/performance/installation served out many little cups of cider, and a little cider-making know-how, to many happy people.

Let's Get Seedy

Words heard just before entering this past weekend's much anticipated "Seedy Saturday on a Sunday" event at Toronto's Wychwood Barns.

The usual suspects were present: Urban Harvest, Greta's, The Cottage Gardener, and the like, selling their organic, rare, heirloom and mostly edible plant seeds. But there were quite a number of small seed vendors, a welcome change from last year. I bought dill seeds for my balcony from Wall Flower Studio, and 'merveille de quatre saisons lettuce' seeds from Wildsome Gardens and mache seeds from the Riverdale Meadow Community Garden for a gardener pal. I also picked up greenheaded coneflower and cup plant seeds from the seed exchange tables, for a guerilla gardening experiment. Most artful seed packet prize goes to Urban Tomato Seeds, and photography prize to the person who always forgets their camera goes to moi.

Not to be overlooked were the community and activist groups also present at the event. These organizations work with fire in their hearts and sweat on their brows to build and maintain local and global food security systems. I now know that USC Canada created an animated film called "The Story of Food" to teach the public about our food system, the Riverdale Meadow Community Garden has plots available, and Not Far From The Tree taps maple syrup in the city. Seeds for your brain.

Pay-What-You-Can was also a clear theme, making the event and its information and wares accessible to all cash-brackets.

Let's all get seedy.

Aspire to Something Higher

I was counting on growing all plants from seed this year, figuring it wouldn't be too difficult: sow, water and harvest, right? But after many weeks of very slow progress, with the realization that I might not be able to eat anything from the garden this year except sprouts, I decided to try planting seedlings.

Last weekend, my partner's mother brought over some tomato plants from her own stash: 2 Beefsteaks and 1 Tiny Tom. And just yesterday, I went to FoodShare's Plant Give-Away event, where I picked up 5 healthy looking plants: 2 Golden Cherry Tomato, 1 Ruby Red Chard, 1 Cinnamon Basil and 1 King of the North Sweet Pepper.

All these babies are now replanted into containers on my balcony. With half a bag of mushroom compost mixed into the soil, and sunnier skies in the forecast, the plants should all be a happier bunch. Now that the little seedlings have bigger, stronger plants in their crew, they're sure to be more motivated to grow.