Some exciting developments and possibilities for our Village

Hello fellow Grandview-Woodlanders!

Happy new year! I hope that 2012 has started off well for everyone and that you are able to sense the same energy in the air that I can. Something tells me that, whatever happens, 2012 will not be a boring year. I believe that it will be a year of crises, but also a year full of people's inspiring responses to those crises. I think that as members of the Transition movement, we all want to be part of those inspirational responses. This is the year!

Some interesting things have been taking place in our Village over the last couple of months:

First of all, Grandview-Woodland is the official home of Macy Mondays, a monthly gathering facilitated by Heather Talbot that is focussed on the concept of "inner transition" and based on the work of Joanna Macy (author of "The Work that Reconnects"). As a regular participant, I can tell you first hand that participating in these gatherings is a cathartic experience, both due to the power of the exercises we do and to Heather's skillful and compassionate facilitation. We typically meet on the first Monday of each month at the Grace McInnis housing co-op at Adanac and Salsbury, so if you would be interested in attending sometime please contact Heather at h_talbot [at] yahoo.co.uk.

Secondly, I and a few others including fellow Grandview-Woodland Villager Carolyn Shaffer have been working hard on an initiative to establish a new community garden in Woodland Park (read the full proposal here: Woodland Park Community Garden Proposal). The proposal is now in the hands of the Parks Board and we will be meeting with some of their planners on site in early February to go over some details. We have enjoyed huge community support for the garden initiative, and all signs are pointing to this becoming a reality. I think that the garden can become a great place to build community in this part of the city, and can provide many opportunities for Grandview-Woodland Villagers to put Transition into practice. If you are interested in taking part in the Woodland Park Community Garden but haven't contact me yet, please send an email to jordan@villagevancouver.ca so that you receive an invite to our community garden visioning party and can be placed on the list of interested gardeners.

Speaking of community gardens, I have been in contact with Templeton Secondary School lately, and the staff there are very interested in the idea of having a garden set up on the school grounds. However, they know that in order to do so, they need to partner up with other members of the community who can continue to keep the garden going when school is out. According to the VBE school gardens policy, it is too late at this point to get a garden started there this spring (a proposal would have had to have been submitted by Dec. 1st), but if a proposal is submitted by July 1st work could begin on setting up a garden in September or October this year. Would anyone be interested in taking on the cause of creating a community garden at Templeton Secondary? I won't be able to take a leading role in this personally because I already have my hands full with other projects, but I would be happy to help get the process started by connecting and guiding the people who would be interested in spearheading such an initiative. If this interests you, please write to me at jordan@villagevancouver.ca.

In November we held a delightful gathering at Micah's where we made stone soup, ate a delicious meal and discussed some interesting projects, events and workshops that we could undertake within our village. Within a couple of months it will be time to apply for Neighbourhood Small Grants, which are grants of up to $500 we can receive from the Vancouver Foundation to do things as a community. Some of the ideas that came up in November were: 

-Alyssa could lead us in a fermenting workshop (by the way, I've made a great connection with the program coordinator of the Lion's Den Recreation Centre at Commercial and Adanac recently, and as a result we now have access to a spacious kitchen facility that would be perfect for this and other cooking/preserving workshops!)

-We have a few people with experience in natural/cob building among us, so another idea is to construct an earth oven somewhere. Maybe even in our new Woodland Park Community Garden?

-We could get someone knowledgeable about foraging to lead us in a foraging workshop/expedition

-We could construct a community root cellar so that people can extend the period over which they can consume self-grown food.

-We could plant a food forest (perhaps in Salsbury Park?)

Please comment on this discussion if any of these ideas appeal to you!

Another idea that has come up is to start a Resiliency Circle, which in a nutshell would consist of a group of people all supporting each other and working together to boost their individual and collective resiliency in all aspects of life. This could well be the most powerful way of all to help each of us make the deep changes in our lives that we know will be very necessary much sooner than most people want to acknowledge. The exact activities of a Resiliency Circle would be determined by the priorities set by its members, but would likely involve a combination of emergency preparedness, reskilling and actions aimed at reducing our dependence on cheap oil and the flow of goods that it brings to us every day. If you would be interested in helping form such a Resiliency Circle, please either comment on this discussion or send an email to jordan@villagevancouver.ca.

Cheers,

Jordan