Grandview Woodland (Commercial Drive) Village

Comment

Comment by Stewart McIntosh on March 27, 2011 at 1:03pm

Hi Cabot,

I just wanted to respond quickly to your note above about focussing on mapping.

A bunch of us who attended the Eco-Dreaming Vancouver workshop yesterday with Mark Lakeman came up with an idea to put in an application for a Neighbourhood Small Grant to have a Block Repair Party/Workshop, or something of the same ilk.  

Asset mapping will be an important part of it, so I hope we can get the two to work together somehow.

I'll be emailing the group off-site, and will keep you posted via email, though I will also try to get the discussion to migrate to be on-site.

Cheers,

Stewart

Comment by Jordan B on February 8, 2011 at 6:03pm

And one more thing! I just wanted to let everyone know that Michael Linton and I will be co-hosting a presentation/workshop on community currencies next Sunday, February 13th! This is a perfect opportunity for anyone who would like to learn more about community currencies and their theory, practice and history - and about how you can get involved in the Local Economy Network's own project to launch community currencies hear in Vancouver!

Michael Linton has graciously volunteered to make the trip all the way from his home in the Comox Valley to share his philosophy and experiences as the inventor of the LETS and and Community Way models of community currency, so don't miss out on this great chance to be both enlightened and inspired! Please pass the word to anyone else you know who may be interested, and RSVP on the event page: http://www.villagevancouver.ca/events/community-currency.

Comment by Jordan B on February 8, 2011 at 5:46pm

I wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone that, if you have an idea for how to promote Vancouver's transition to a sustainable and resilient city, please submit your ideas to Kathryn Chollette (kcpb@shaw.ca) no later than February 15, 2011 for consideration for the Transition Project Ideas Fair taking place on April 30th. For more information, please see the event page at http://www.villagevancouver.ca/events/prepare-proposals-for-the.

Comment by Jordan B on February 3, 2011 at 8:10pm

Hello everyone,

At the Village Vancouver Meet-up held last week, we broke off into groups corresponding to different geographical areas of the city and brainstormed various projects that could possibly be organised at the village level. The purpose of this is to get ideas flowing and to make everyone aware of the kinds of ideas they may share in common with others from the same village. I have been tasked with posting the results of this min-visioning session to the GW village page, so here it is:

 

1. Sustainable systems: Compost sharing/common compost, mutual assistance with set-up of grey water recycling systems, energy efficiency projects including possibly creating a system to allow the microfinancing of home retrofitting (maybe piggybacking on the city's current initiative to fund home retrofits for increased energy efficiency).

2. Social: Potlucks to encourage neighbours to get to know each other, "block buddy" system for mutual assistance in case of a disaster, mapping of community vulnerabilities and resources in case of a disaster, setting up "phone trees" for rapid emergency dissemination of information, checking up on people in case of a disaster, etc.

3. Children: Set up toy sharing, shared child care, organising nature outings for children.

4. Food: Sharing of food, storage and preservation activities/space/equipment, sharing of expertise, shared cob ovens, mutual help with watering gardens etc in case someone is away.

5. Elders: looking out for our elders by offering care and company.

6. Education: Setting up a common library for book sharing, mutual teaching

7. Medicine: Sharing of medicinal knowledge, herbs, etc.

Comment by Alyssa K on January 14, 2011 at 7:36am

Does anyone want to go to the Winter Farmer's Market with me tomorrow (Saturday Jan 15)? I've been getting a co-op car so as not to have to haul heavy rutabagas to the bus stop. It would feel better to drive if someone else wanted to tag along. I will probably go around noon, but am flexible on that. Post a message here (I will get an email) or call 303-903-6714.

Comment by Duncan Martin on January 11, 2011 at 1:09am

Icouldn't make it to the dinner, but it looks like something good is brewing and I'll try to make it next month.  Thanks Ross, Rin, Jordan, Jodi, Jeff, Cabot, et al for getting this going.

Chicken coop orders are starting to come in as the days get longer - be ready for those spring chickens with a Vancooper! And if you are ever at Mark's Pet Stop, give him a big thanks for supplying organic chicken feed.  Businesses like his truly support a spirit of community-minded infrastructure. And we don't have to drive to Pitt Meadows anymore!

Comment by Jordan B on January 10, 2011 at 9:30pm

Dear Grandview-Woodlanders,

We have been a somewhat sleepy village up until now, but I would like to take this opportunity to fill everyone in on a great visioning session attended by about a dozen of us this past Saturday with the aim of awakening and coordinating the massive amount of passion, energy, knowledge and skill that exists in this fair corner of our fair city. We were helped along in this process by the tireless VV Steering Committee member Ross Moster and permaculture designer/people organiser extraordinaire Erin Innes from the Mount Pleasant Village.

As part of this visioning effort, Rin led us in an exercise whereby we all threw scraps of paper with key components of our visions for a better society/neighbourhood onto the floor and identified clusters of interests. The main clusters to emerge were:

Food!  (growing, preparing, sharing...)
Mapping
Community Resources -- biking or walking tours?
Connecting and networking what is already happening
Working from a place of abundance
Gatherings and celebrations
Education
Intergenerational learning/working
Work parties
Co-operative ownership/access (tools, resources, etc.)

Eventually, a consensus emerged in the group that one of the best ways to begin our work was by undertaking a mapping project. By mapping we mean taking stock of who and what we already have as part of our rapidly growing community of Transition Villages. What resources, skills, knowledge, projects and passions do our Villagers possess? And where are they located? An effective map of all these things would be a powerful tool for our movement, allowing people and resources to connect for the common good like never before. The Grandview-Woodland Village has therefore decided to take this on as a good first project with benefits for Village Vancouver city-wide. Fortunately, Village Vancouver has already made contact with someone with expertise in the area of mapping who would be happy to offer her assistance. Stay tuned for more information about how to participate in this exciting and important initiative.

Some of the other important things to emerge from Saturday's meeting:

-It was decided that regular monthly Grandview-Woodland potlucks and meetings should take place on the second Saturday of each month from 1pm to 4pm, and Saturday's host Cabot Lyford has graciously offered to host these meetings in the common room of the Grace McInnis Housing Co-op at 825 Salsbury Drive. To find this room:

"Enter through the front gates which face East onto the the park at Adanac and Salsbury Drive.  Once you are through the front gate, go straight until you descend one set of steps and then hook 180 degrees right, go down the stairs, through the door and follow your nose until you reach the common room where you'll find us."

So unless otherwise notified, this is the where and when of our regular meetings!

-Regular potlucks/meetings may only take place on a monthly basis, but that doesn't have to mean that that's the only time we do things. By all means, use this community we're building to hook up with others to pursue projects together or simply to be neighbourly.

-Communication via the Village Vancouver website can be tricky at times, but use of the discussion forums on the GW Village page is encouraged. Anyone can start a discussion on a particular topic or send a message to the whole group.

-Jodi and Jeff have agreed to act as the keepers of the master GW list of email addresses and phone numbers, so if you ever need to get ahold of someone, you can get their contact details from Jodi and Jeff at 604-251-4522 or fish@backyardbountycollective.com.

-We know that there are all sorts of awesome people in the area excited about building a better and more sustainable community, but who aren't necessarily members of the Grandview-Woodland Village or of Village Vancouver at all. If you know people that fit that description, by all means invite them to join our group!

-We do not yet have any kind of formal steering committee in place for Grandview-Woodland, but thought that we would take some time to think about how we would like to organise ourselves as we take on some of our first projects of the next couple of months.

I think that about covers it for now. Looking forward to meeting and working (and having fun!) with all of you!

Cheers,
Jordan

Comment by Marnie on October 21, 2010 at 10:45am

Hi Grandview Woodlanders,

Would you like to learn how to preserve food for the winter? Join myself and Caitlin Dorward as we make jam and pickles and discuss different canning and preserving methods.

This hands-on workshop will run this Saturday, October 23rd from 1-3pm at SPEC (Kitsilano). You will come away with a jar of preserves and instructions to help you get started.

Please view more details and pre-register at www.spec.bc.ca/events

Thank you and we hope to see you there.

Marnie Newell,
SPEC

PS Kits Neighbourhood house is also holding their fall fair nearby the same day. So visit them that morning before heading over.

Comment by Marnie on September 14, 2010 at 3:39pm

FYI

The Farmer's Markets are holding food preservation demonstrations.

See http://eatlocal.org/makeitlast/

There will also be some canning workshops in September and October at the Strathcona Community Center

https://pbregister.vancouver.ca/registrationmain.sdi?default_locati...

Comment by Marnie on August 17, 2010 at 10:50am

Hi there. I'm now going away but still interested in canning in September. I will try to get something organized or keep you posted on available workshops.

:)

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