Category Archives: Local

Grow What You Eat!

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Grow what you eat on Friday, March 2nd from 7 – 11pm at Nelson the Seagull, 315 Carall Street, Gastown.

Victory Gardens, an urban farming business from Vancouver BC, is pleased to announce the launch of their first growing season with a silent auction and fundraiser, featuring generous donations from a host of the community’s finest, including: Nelson the Seagull, Collage Collage, Raincity Chronicles, Pickershack, Gravity Pope, Lark, Regional Assembly of Text, Beth Richards, Heartbreaker Salon, Rocklore, Dace, Back-yard Buzz, Humble Roots Wellness, Community Vintage, Instinct Training, Ystava and more!

Lisa Giroday, Sam Philips and Sandra Lopuch have come together to form the urban farming business, Victory Gardens. With varying backgrounds and interests in food production, sustainable development and environmental activism, Victory Gardens embodies many of the principles in which they were born, but with a fresh perspective. The team at Victory Gardens looks forward to working with the community; transforming front yards for food production, facilitating dynamic workshops, such as: “Grow Your Own Pizza”, providing education and planning tools for the new urban farmer to grow what they eat and much more.

The term Victory Gardens speaks to WWI and WWII era campaigns instigated by American, Canadian, German and British governments intending to reduce the pressure on public food supply. However; more than that, Victory Gardens served as symbols of comradery and support, unifying the masses to promote sustainability, efficient land use, innovative economic models and to unite families in a passive war effort for victory. British Columbia and Vancouver were no exception to this push for city farming, and in early 1943, The Vancouver News Herald reported, “If all the Victory Gardens in British Columbia were lumped together, they would occupy a space approximately three times the size of Vancouver’s great Stanley Park.” At that time, the paper said, there were 1425 gardens on city-owned lots.” (http://www.cityfarmer.org/victgarB58.html)

Not much has changed in the way a Victory Garden can benefit the community today, so we’re delighted to provide the tools to make that connection!

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Masthead photo courtesy of Rob Holland

A Vancouver Food Tour

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When I travel, I visit vegetarian restaurants.  In Toronto, I go to Fresh.  In Victoria, I go to Rebar.  I was in Calgary recently and checked out The Coup (awesome).  I love finding my way to a new place, trying delicious food and soaking up the vibe.  Vegetarian restaurants are like a home away from home and I visit them like other travellers visit cultural sites.  For me, a vegetarian restaurant is the epicentre of the culture that I want to experience in a new city.

We’re fortunate in Vancouver to have plenty of dining-out choices, including places that appeal to people like me. Here’s a quick overview of my favourite vegetarian restaurants in Vancouver.

I used to live in Kits and split my time between The Naam, Nevermind (now kaput) and The Hollywood Theatre (also kaput – sad).  I like that The Naam has not changed since I started eating there in the 90’s.  And it probably hadn’t changed in the 30 years it existed before that.  I like how cozy it is there in the winter.  And I love their miso gravy and rice pudding.  What I don’t love is the bland menu, spotty service and inconsistent food quality.  After giving The Naam a wide berth for the past couple of years, I had lunch there last week and had a great time.  The menu was the same, the service was weird, and there were burnt potato wedges in my Gold Dragon Bowl.  All of that didn’t matter though, because it felt like home.

I live in Mount Pleasant now and am within walking distance of lots of amazing food choices.  I was happy when The Foundation came onto the scene and I’ve dropped a fair bit of dough there, mostly on nachos and beer.  I like the goofily named vegetarian basics on the menu and the nutritious options.  I don’t go there much anymore though because the loud music and prickly service makes for a decidedly un-kid-friendly environment.  I still give it two thumbs up though.

On The Drive, my top picks are Café Deux Soleils for their super awesome breakfasts, kid-friendly space, and fun evening events, and Sweet Cherubim for their tasty organic menu, low-key vibe, and affordable groceries.

Radha, in Chinatown, was my favourite but it closed in May last year.  The food was so good and I loved it there.  Their creative vegan menu was outstanding.  The space is still open as a yoga studio and their former head-chef continues to offer vegan cooking classes.

Gorilla Food downtown is a good alternative to Radha as it offers organic, local and seasonal deliciousness.  It’s menu caters exclusively to the raw vegan set and it’s interesting, creative and filling.  I’ve taken die-hard meat-eaters there and they were impressed.  The service can be flakey, but whatever.  You get that in this scene.

Rounding out this entirely subjective list is my personal fave, The Rhizome.  The food is basic and reliable, the service is friendly, the owners are lovely and the place is a hub for the socially-minded.  The Rhizome has been around for five years and it’s an oasis of calm across from the Kingsgate Mall on East Broadway.  The restaurant is a community space, with a variety of events hosted there through the week.  The Rhizome is all things that I love about vegetarian restaurants.  It’s my favourite place in Vancouver and I hope you check it out.  Perhaps you’ll love it as much as I do!

Octopi Brings up Farm Team Blue Chippers to Earn 1-1 Draw

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Thanks, Katie@! and Flickr Creative Commons

With General-Manager-Coach-Director-of-Public-Relations-Starting-Centre-Defenseman Kurt Heinrich away at an undisclosed honeymoon location, an under-staffed Octopi Vancouver squad called in some favours and called up some enthusiastic talent from the team’s junior league squad, The Soccer Balls. Thanks to Blaine, Chris, Beau, Jess, and Andrea for your stellar contributions – and sorry for any name-related spelling mistakes…

It was a mild and dewy Wednesday night under the lights of UBC’s Thunderbird stadium. And we played some soccer. Against another team. They were called “Totti Hots Purr” and there is a good chance that they cheated en route to a 1-1 draw against an Octopi squad that, in addition to enduring probable cheating, struggled to control play in the middle of the field and failed to capitalize on some really good scoring opportunities.

Expertly backstopped by All Star goaltender David Willinsky, Octopi dominated the first half. Soccer Generalist and Everyman, Brenton Walters, worked the middle of the field and the sidelines with new recruits Jess and Andrea to near perfection – only a few misstrikes (it’s a word), an off-the-post-header, and, as I mentioned before, probable cheating the their opponents, saw Octopi race through the first 10 minutes without notching at least two goals.

And then John Horn – following a great header from New Guy Chris (who, incidentally, refused to sport a bright pink Octopi kit … no judgment …) and a great attacking run in the third person – ping-ponged the ball past two defenders and half-a-goalie before cracking it into the back of a half-empty-net. Things looked good for Octopi.

Now back to the cheating. Look, all I’m saying is that, from the sidelines, it looked as though the Totti Hots Purr player – after being pushed to the turf by our team during an intense goal-mouth scramble – hand-passed the ball to a teammate who kicked it into an empty net. Like I said. Cheating.

In the second half, Octopi sat back and played a little too much of a dump-and-chase game, which resulted in the other team #winning a lot of the midfield play. There was really only one chance in the second half and it was for Totti Hots Purr, but League MVP David Willinsky splayed his body across the goal and robbed the THP sniper of what he – and his misplaced track-pants – thought was a sure goal.

Looking forward, Octopi hopes to continue gelling with a skilled team nucleus that has yet to play together this season. And when it does, look out Urban Rec. This is a team that has as much talent as it does chemistry as it does a dumb name with hilariously awesome pink uniforms.

Mindcheck Builds Community Around Mental Health Awareness

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Courtesy of Whitegadget.com

Former Vancouver Canuck, Rick Rypien, stuggled against depression for years, and sadly passed away in August 2011. The NHLer was touted as a “a quiet hero” who “confided in those he knew best of his plans to support others and help alleviate the stigma associated with mental illness by being a spokesperson of the ordeals of the disease.” Those who knew him best, like Kevin Bieksa, have committed to tell his story and carry out the mission as a legacy of their friend.

As told above by Bieksa (who, incidentally, blocks shots with his sprawling body because he’s awesome), Rick’s tragic passing has galvanized the Vancouver Canucks community to speak out about mental health issues, which has resulted in the incredibly powerful mindcheck.ca‘s recently launched initiative called In One Voice.

Mental health and substance use challenges affect our community each and every day. So, if you know someone who is silently suffering, please speak up about it. Here are some facts that make the case:

  • Mental health and substance use disorders are the primary health issues experienced by young people in their teen years and early 20s. In fact, one in five youth in BC will experience a mental health or substance use disorder serious enough to cause significant distress and impair their ability to function at home, at school and with their peers.
  • Often early symptoms or behaviours are mislabeled as being just a phase or part of an individual’s personality. In addition, youth and young adults are often embarrassed to talk about or seek support for how they’re feeling or what they’re experiencing due to stigma.
  • 75% of mental health and substance use issues begin by age 24 and often go unrecognized and untreated. Mindcheck has been developed to connect youth and young adults to support early and quickly to prevent initial problems and challenges from developing into disorders. Support includes self-help resources, non-professional support, or established mental health services.
  • When issues are identified early, simple self-help strategies are often all that are needed to help young people get better in less time and can prevent things from becoming worse.

I believe in this idea and I spoke up because I’ve seen how mental health and substance use challenges can tear up families and communities – and it’s worse when we don’t talk about it. You can speak up by following this link. Here are some other reasons to believe in the idea:

  • Talking about and understanding mental health issues will eliminate the stigma that surrounds them.
  • Increasing knowledge about mental health issues will increase the likelihood that people will reach out for help.
  • When family and friends understand mental health issues, they will be able to recognize the behaviours associated with these issues and provide support.
  • According to the McCreary Centre Society’s 2008 Adolescent Health Survey Report, the vast majority of youth turn to their friends when they are seeking help. Among youth who sought support, they reported that advice from friends was even more helpful than advice from doctors, nurses, teachers or school counsellors.

Yes, the good people at Fraser Health, BC Mental Health & Addiction Services, the Provincial Health Services Authority, the RBC Children’s Mental Health Project, the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, and the Canucks for Kids fund make a strong case for speaking up about mental health and substance challenges. Right, Kevin Bieksa?

An Ode to the Lamrichs!

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[Editor's note: on Saturday, two of my favourite people in Vancouver the world, Kurt and Theodora Lamrich, tied the knott - at the Planetarium, and it was epic. And their reception at Main Street's Heritage Hall was equally epic and unfolded as a true representation of the couple's love and character. For example, the hashtag #TheoandKurtkiss was trending on Twitter by the end of the evening. The wedding was, like there love is, truly galactic. More importantly, it was foretold by one of William Shakespeare's little known comedic characters, Hornlet. The poem unfolds below. Enjoy!]

HORNLET: To wed, or not to wed–that is the question:

Whether ’tis proper to wait four years to marry

Finding each other, your quite good fortune

Did you take arms against a sea of troubles

And with our help, ended them. Tonight, no sleep–

No more–and when you sleep to say we end.

Marriage, tell your story together forever

That love found in you. ‘Tis a declaration

We devoutly wished. To love, to wed–

Marriage—to live your dreams: ay, there’s the rub,

For in your marriage what dreams may come

When you are nestled in your lovers’ coil,

Must give us pause. There’s the respect

To grow old together of so long life.

For you will bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th’ NPA is wrong, the Heinrich’s qualified

The pangs of bromance love, did some delay,

The insolence of Hornlet, and fiery burns

That nutted merit Lammer’s friendship makes,

When she herself might cross the hall take

View a bare bottom? What do neighbours share,

Some advice to live your married life,

Or the dread of zombies after death,

The undiscovered marriage, from you’s bourn

No traveller returns, journey you will,

And will you rather bear the love you have

And fly to places that we know not of?

This wedding does make lovers of us all (not literally, that’d be weird),

And thus the serious tone of my elocution

Is shaded o’er with a much happy thought,

Your enterprise of red hair and eyebrows

With this regard your currents intertwined

And love the name of Lamrich. — Soft you now,

The fair Theodora! — Kurt, kiss her crimsons

And we all your love remember.

- Exeunt

XYBOOM Conference Discusses Workplace Community

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[Editor's note: whether you're an un-or-under-employed Millennial, Gen Xer, or Baby Boomer, you should be paying attention to an upcoming awesometastic collaboration between Service Canada, My Loudspeaker, the post-secondary community, and many change-making businesses from Metro Vancouver and beyond. It's called the XYBOOM Conference and it will be community-building at its finest!]

Vancouver, BC – January 10, 2012 – When a business loses an employee, it loses more than a staff member: employee turnover is estimated to cost more than double the cost of retainment. Loss of productivity, resources and time spent re-hiring and training are some of the burdens of employee replacement. The BC Business Council urges businesses to be more competitive in their retention strategies, suggesting investing in succession planning and staff development as solutions. The XYBOOM Conference seeks to address these issues with a dynamic, intergenerational approach.

Sustainable hiring systems and employee development and retention are key topics to be addressed at the conference on January 20th. This unique initiative, funded primarily by Service Canada brings togther business professionals and youth with experts from three generations – X,Y and Baby Boomer – to collaborate on finding strategies and solutions on mitigating the growing labour shortage.

The conference offers more than ten industry panelists who have diverse career backgrounds – including expertise in human resources, intercultural understanding, workplace organization and strategic marketing – as well as engaging, participatory workshops sessions, guaranteeing attendees will leave with strategies and insights on the issues at hand.

“The conference plays an important role in mitigating the pending labour shortage as baby boomers exit the workforce” says Alden Habacon, UBC Director of Intercultural Understanding Strategy Development and XYBOOM panelist. With baby boomers beginning to retire and a looming labour shortage, employee replacement is becoming a growing financial burden for unprepared businesses. Higher retention rates give businesses a competitive edge during labour shortages.

Business applications for XYBOOM will be accepted at www.xyboom.ca.

Hosted by My Loud Speaker, the XYBOOM Conference will be held on January 20th from 9-5pm at the Yaletown Roundhouse. This not-for-profit event will also include a live streaming feature for off-site youth participants across the Lower Mainland, XYBOOM awards for businesses, case study reports and an interactive art installation created by Gen Why Media Project at the W2 atrium from Jan 19-21st.

Please visit www.xyboom.ca for more information on the conference, issues at hand, and a complete guest panelist list.

Devon Wong – Media Relations
604 250 4662 | www.xyboom.ca
XYBOOM: January 20, 2012

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Masthead photo (The Train at the Roundhouse Theatre in Yaletown) courtesy of goldberg

Will Vancouver’s Ferries Ever Make a Comeback?

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It’s been over 60 years since the last crossing between West Van’s Dundarave pier and the Vancouver Wharf, yet its memory and talk of its resurrection live on. In fact, it’s always been a bit of a surprise and disappointment to me that there aren’t more boat transportation options in a city with so many waterways. Is the demand just not there? Would operating costs be too high?

1920s, West Vancouver Ferry crossing the Burrard Inlet, Archives Item#: SGN 1123

Before the Lion’s Gate Bridge there was a ferry linking Vancouver’s Downtown with West Vancouver’s Ambleside neighbourhood. And at one time  ferries bound for Vancouver Island serviced both false creek and the downtown core. The rise of the car and the parallel construction of the city’s major inner-city bridges spelled the end of these busy, working ferries. Check out this great post by Miss 604 describing the evolution of West Vancouver’s storied ferry service which ended with the Lions Gate ribbon cutting in 1947.

As recently as 2010, West Van did a 6 month trial run of the old service to downtown which it then abruptly cancelled. I can’t seem to find out why, but it wasn’t due to lack of demand from Vancouverites as far as I can tell. I wonder how West Enders and Yaletowners would respond to a ferry service between their neighbourhoods and the North Shore. Pretty well, I would think, particularly when these are communities with below average per capita car ownership.

Am I just dreaming that inner city ferries could even survive given our dependence on four-wheeled traffic and  bridges? What would it take to bring some of these old ferry services back on line?

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Masthead photo courtesy of rollanb

Streetfront Builds a Community for Troubled Youth Around Running

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Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Courier

Hidden away in a pair of joined portables on the cusp of Britannia Secondary’s property is one of the Vancouver School Board’s most dynamic and inspiring programs.

It’s called Streetfront. Captained by Head Teacher Trevor Stokes, Streefront is an alternative program aimed at giving kids that don’t fit into regular secondary school a second chance by making them work for it. How? Marathon running. For the past decade, Stokes has been taking bunches of youth to compete (and finish) in the Seattle and Vancouver Marathons. Frequently the youngest competitors of these 42.195 kilometer races are Streetfront youth.

For Stokes, the marathon is a perfect metaphor for his students’ lives, particularly the lives of troubled kids used to quitting (and being quitted on). He’s fond of saying that during a marathon, there are 42,195 opportunities to quit. That his students choose to push their physical limits and persevere says a lot. Their drive to train and prepare over the months of less glamorous running in the rain and mud of Vancouver leading up to the run says even more.

Streetfront youth run three times a week and also do a wide range of other physical activities like soccer, basketball and skiing. Their runs take them everywhere. They run to nearby parks one day and then all the way to Deep Cove (in another suburb of the Lower Mainland) or Stanley Park the next day. Stokes says the running instils an impressive amount of discipline and structure in lives that frequently completely lack it.

The program is one of a number of innovative alternative programs offered throughout the city. It’s designed for Grade 8 – 10 students. During the semester, the students spend approximately 35 days out of 190 school days in the outdoor environment. This includes three full day camp trips. In between the runs and outdoor excursions, students work on math, sciences, socials and English.

The results have been inspiring. Some students that have failed or been kicked out of several schools thrive at the Streetfront program.  Others have managed to pull their lives together, find work, enter back into secondary school and go on to university. Then there are the alumni. Stokes says groups of them still keep coming back to run with him and his students, years after graduating. Talk about a powerfully inspiring community.

Winter

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Winter has been slow arriving this year. In a lot of ways it is hard to complain. The warmer weather is easier on our energy bills and makes for an less stressful commute, especially as a transit strike since October still has me driving when I’d much rather be reading, listening to music, or doing a better job with my gumboot posts. But at the same time there are a lot of parts of winter that I’ve been looking forward to that as a result of the warmer weather I’ve put off. But in the last couple of weeks winter has shown up in Toronto, the air is crisp and there is snow on the ground. I want to share a few things that make the dark, cold, snowy (or rainy) months something for me to enjoy and hope you too find positivity in the months ahead.

Getting (and Sleeping) Outside.

I wasn’t always a fan of spending time outside in winter until I started running a few years ago and kept on running right through winter.  (Check out Jim’s past post on the lonely community of winter runners).  I then realized that being outside in winter makes those dark vitamin D deprived months a lot better. Sure there aren’t seemly endless hours of sunshine and instead there are layers of every type of clothing imaginable, but there also aren’t sunburns or mosquitoes.  This year, Jim and I are taking our quest to embrace winter a step further with our plan to complete a whole year of camping every month.  And after sleeping outside on Dec. 23 and Dec. 24, with temperature dipping close to -20C the first night and waking up to a white Christmas the next, I can say that I’m looking forward to more outside time in the months ahead.

Seasonal Hobbies (and hobbies that adapt to the season).

When I’m not outside in winter I enjoy being curled up on a coach with cat on my lap, watching TV, which I do way more of in the winter (I’m re-watching The Wire right now).  Two additional hobbies make this better, knitting and beer.  I’m a seasonal knitter and it wasn’t until last week that I picked up the needles again, which coincided with Toronto’s first substantial snowfall.  It means that when my tendency is more towards hibernation than outside, I end up with something cozy coincidentally makes winter better.  Beer, which I’ve recently started brewing, had to undergo some adaptations for winter, which we’re still working out.  The brewery has moved from friends’  backward to our apartment for the winter, where our back deck’s overhang and ground-level bathtub (for the beer chilling) means we can brew through the cold months.  And as long as we figure out how to adjust for the higher evaporation rate in winter we’ll keep ending up with amazing beer.

Tomatoes, Endings and Beginnings

And finally, what would one of my lists be without a reference to tomatoes.  I’ve just cooked my last fresh tomatoes a couple of days ago. That’s right, tomatoes that I grew on my back deck that have been slowly ripening wrapped in newspaper in the months since they’ve been picked in the fall.  They were delicious.  And while that should make me sad, it is only a mere month and a half until I plant tomato seeds again.  In the meantime, I have cans of crushed tomatoes, homemade salsa, pizza sauce, and ketchup for the down-time in mid-winter.

What makes you happy about winter? 

Lessons in Culinary Community Building

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Picture a long festive table decked with candles and lined with  a dozen smiling faces. Surely, all the ingredients for sharing of food, laughter and good conversation? Well, not so much.

As I sat down excited to spend the evening catching up with everyone, I realized a good third of the long table was out of earshot and I was confined to chatting only with my immediate neighbour. Others dishes were also out of tasting/sharing range. By the end of the evening, I left for home feeling unfulfilled -  increasingly convinced  that other cultures, particularly in Asia, but, oddly, as close as Switzerland, know where it’s at when it comes to shared dining. Here’s why:

Circle Sitting:

Rectangular tables are recipes for isolation and are basically retrograde – some sort of throwback to medieval banqueting. They’re also hierarchical when you think about it. Why do we need a “Head of the table”, for example? Sitting in a circle does away with all that and facilitates a shared social and culinary experience. Chinese Dim-sum restaurants have got it right.

Cooking (!) the food at the table:

Last year’s Christmas highlight was having endless Swiss Raclette with my family. A stack of cheese and a two little propane fired pans set up around our coffee table was all it took to have an interactive, collaborative and leisurely meal.

Japanese 'Hot Potting'

 

This year, the highlight was my first Japanese Hot Pot experience with six friends. Again, we relaxed around two bubbling cookers, working together to keep the pots full of pre-prepared seafood, mushrooms, kim-chi and other delicacies.

Admittedly my international experience is limited and hence my examples are too. But I feel it’s safe to say the West has a lot to learn. Sure – we’re good around a campfire with wieners and marshmallows, but it’d be great to bring that communal experience more regularly into our homes. Chopping the corners off all tables square is good start!