Village Vancouver

Vancouver's Leader in Transition toward Strong, Resilient, Complete Communities

Julia Smith
  • Vancouver, BC
  • Canada
Share on Facebook MySpace

Julia Smith's Friends

  • Vimi Sian
  • Nima
  • Rossana Miro
  • David Paterson
  • Joshua Hergesheimer
  • Nikiah Seeds
  • Lorraine Krakow
  • Zsuzsi Fodor
  • Trish Hines
  • The World In A Garden
  • Stephanie Imhoff
  • Asia Warner
  • Amir Masoud Niroumand
  • Jessica Smith
  • Jana Ronne
 

Julia Smith's Page

Profile Information

In which Vancouver neighbourhood or other community do you live?
Dunbar, Southlands

A Bit About Me

Thanks for visiting my page :) If I've added you as a friend and you're wondering who the heck I am and why you might want to be friends with me... here ya go:

I live in the Dunbar neighbourhood just north of Southlands with my boyfriend, Ludo and my two sons, Monty (16) and Michael (14) and a whole bunch of critters including our dogs CJ (Rhodesian Ridgeback) and Tempie (pittie/boxer rescue mutt), our cat Troy (Bengal), and our chickens (Marans, Hamburg, Polish, Buff Orpington and a Dorking/Campine mixy bantum).

I'm a geology student at UBC and Ludo works in restoration. We're pretty outdoorsy but very much enjoy good food and a night in front of the television too. I'm pretty big into mountaineering and rock climbing but still do the tamer stuff for family trips. Always looking for other people with kids to do trips with!

We're in the process of turning our sprawling jungle property into a productive urban farm. It is an overwhelming amount of work but we're loving it and meeting a lot of super cool people along the way. We've built a beautiful chicken coop, a productive herb garden, a massive raised bed in the middle of our lawn, reclaimed a neglected veggie garden, transformed a completely out of control geranium/morning glory jungle into a corn/bean garden, set up a potato and garlic garden with used tires, shoveled more horse shit and sifted more soil than I even want to think about, built fences, compost and rain collection systems..... you get the picture.

Please don't confuse my enthusiasm for urban farming with knowledge. We've gotten where we are today with nothing more than one good book and determination bordering on obsession.

We still have loads of room if anyone out there has more ambition than space to plant. We're on several major bus routes and you're welcome to use our tools and stuff.

Looking forward to meeting more of you!

Julia Smith's Photos

  • Add Photos
  • View All

Julia Smith's Blog

Who's really to blame for the oil spill in the Gulf?

Posted on June 16, 2010 at 10:30pm 1 Comment

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about how evil BP is. Blame, blame, blame, blame. "Make them pay.... blah blah blah." This is like people who smoke and get lung cancer suing the tobacco manufacturers... or the fat guy who sues MacDonalds. I hope anyone who is pinning all the blame for this disaster on BP isn't driving a fossil fuel guzzling vehicle to the lynching. BP is in the Gulf because we keep buying their products. We are ALL responsible for this environmental clustercluck and the sooner… Continue

Coop Expansion, Outdoor Shower & Mulch... oh my!

Posted on June 6, 2010 at 9:09am 1 Comment

Nice to have a couple of surprise sunny days this week huh? Ludo took Thursday off work to help me on the farm so between that and another productive sunny day yesterday, things are really starting to come together out there.



Wednesday was the Chickens 101 workshop with Jordan. It was fun and informative with a great group of people. A huge eagle made several passes through the sky above and we learned that this eagle had thinned Jordan's flock significantly lately. I'd had my own… Continue

Enough with the spring showers already!

Posted on May 31, 2010 at 10:30am 1 Comment

Boy we are really paying for all that nice weather we had early in the month huh? Fortunately I have most of the big jobs I needed to do under control and I really need to spend the next 2 weeks studying for an exam anyway.



We participated in the 7th annual Blenheim Street Bazaar on Saturday with a yard sale and an "Open Coop." In spite of the terrible weather, we had a HUGE turnout... got rid of a lot of stuff and got a lot of people excited or at least curious about backyard… Continue

Meet me and my chickens on the CTV news at 11:30 tonight!

Posted on May 18, 2010 at 7:57pm 2 Comments

I only had 30 minutes warning so I wasn't as prepared as I would have liked to have been for the interview but hopefully I won't make us all look like total fools for wanting to have chickens in our back yards! It'll be on their web site tomorrow in case you miss it tonight. They were heading off the the council meeting after they left here.

Comment Wall (7 comments)

You need to be a member of Village Vancouver to add comments!

Join Village Vancouver

At 12:07am on May 27, 2017, Keltie Craig said…
Hi, this is a very old thread but wondering if you are still raising chickens Julia? We just lost one of ours to a coyote, looking to get 2 new ones either at point of lay or at least under 1 year old.
At 6:01pm on March 29, 2011, Lorraine Krakow said…
Lorraine again, I guess I shouldn't have said hens, I meant young ones that would start laying this summer some time.
At 6:00pm on March 29, 2011, Lorraine Krakow said…

Hello Julia,  Thanks for the welcome. I would really like to see your hens and chicks.  I know I want to get six hens who would be good layers and not too tricky for an amature but I'm not sure what kind.  Two different kinds that get along would be interesting. I'm open to suggestions. Can I order them from you?  Would Sunday some time work for a visit?  Or the following weekend perhaps?   

Best,   Lorraine Krakow

At 7:27am on February 24, 2011, Cylia said…
Hi Julia:  yes, please save 2 spots on March 26.  Preferred time is 10-1 pm, 2nd choice is 2-5 pm.  Thanks. Cylia (& Peter)
At 3:05pm on February 21, 2011, Hella Dee said…
Hey Julia, yeah I agree you have a beautiful coop and your chicks are so cute! Thanks for wanting to do a blog post for helladelicious. Take your time, it isn't urgent and I don't want to add any extra stress to anyone's life!
At 4:56pm on February 15, 2011, Emily Hein said…

hey Julia,

You've got a beautiful looking coop there! My house and I are looking to get a few more laying hens. We started with 3 and now only have one. I think our original source gave us older hens, one was sick, the other mauled by a neighbour's dog. Now we are left with one lonely hen and hope to get a few more. I saw that you might have some insight into a supplier? If you could pass on that info it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

-emily

At 11:52am on July 22, 2010, James Griffiths said…
The girls are great! Growing fast for sure. They still don't love being picked up, but we're trying to handle them daily. The chicken tractor is fully operational and very secure. I'm finding they'll eat more kitchen scraps if I chop them finely - good thing I got a Slap Chop for christmas :-) Haven't done surgery on Betty's beak yet - likely this weekend. They all have names now: Betty, Isabella, Lucy, and Ethel.
 
 
 

Village engages individuals, neighbourhoods & organizations to take actions that build sustainable communities & have fun doing it. Join us!

Donate or Join VV Transition Society

Join VV Transition Society

Make a donation here or here:

Become a Monthly Donor here or here (click on desired option before hitting subscribe):

Buy Books -- Support Village Vancouver

Village earns 15% on your book purchases from New Society Publishers. Details here.

Latest Activity

Alicia Wei is now a member of Village Vancouver
Jun 13
Samantha Pavlik is now a member of Village Vancouver
May 30
Village Vancouver's event was featured
Thumbnail

*Depth of Field: Film Screening and Community Event at Community Hall, Kitsilano Neighbourhood House

March 21, 2024 from 5pm to 8pm
Mar 18
Village Vancouver posted an event
Thumbnail

*Depth of Field: Film Screening and Community Event at Community Hall, Kitsilano Neighbourhood House

March 21, 2024 from 5pm to 8pm
Mar 18

Ongoing Activities

Interested in getting involved or volunteering with Village Vancouver? check out http://www.villagevancouver.ca/page/volunteering-1.

Regular activities:

Interested in participating in a VV garden? We have collaborative gardens/garden spaces in 5 neighbourhoods. Contact us at gardening@villagevancouver.ca. Gardening now in progress. New gardeners welcome (space allowing).

Kits Village Recycling Depot (Kits Community Centre) Next depot: Thursday, June 15th

Main St. Village monthly gatherings (1st Tuesdays Little Mountain Neighbourhood House) Currently on hold due to COVID

Permaculture Vancouver Meetups (3rd Wednesdays VV McBride Park Fieldhouse (sometimes elsewhere) Next meetup: Special date Thursday, July 29th

West End Community Potluck/WE Urban Garden Club (3rd Sundays West End Community Centre, in July and August 4th Thursdays - July 22nd and August 26th.

© 2024   Created by Yael Stav.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service