Village People Plot Garden Coup

Just got back from a garden meeting with my “village”, one of Village Vancouver’s active neighbourhood networks. Some of us have been gardening together communally at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House for the last couple years. That means we don’t have our own plots, but we tend an area together and share in the entire harvest. But Kits House is slated for renovation, so our little back parking lot garden won’t be available. Given all the devastation going on around the world, most recently the earthquake in Japan, now with the impending nuclear threat, it was a relief to have a lighthearted afternoon with gardeners. We chatted over good food, a delicious hodgepodge of offerings, eaten in no particular order: dried figs and oranges, pizza and potato salad, banana bread and cookies, cheese and crackers and homous on pita.

A lot of ideas had been sprouting over the winter. One woman is commandeering a traffic circle and with help from the group, will build a herb spiral. One of our more dapper members wants to plant an orchard on the ample boulevard in front of his co-op. Another neighbour is a member of Billy Bishop’s Legion and has made a deal with them. We will do the landscaping for them, prune the existing shrubs and trees, keep a few flowers, in exchange for planting some veggies and berries here and there. We might need some terracing by the looks of it, and quite a bit of muscle. Someone was wondering if a beer garden would be part of the plan, we all agreed at a Legion it was compulsory. We also thought this arrangement might give us an “in” with other military establishments around the city. We have visions of deploying food gardens far and wide.  I’ve had my eye on the military base at Jericho Beach for one. Acres of sun-drenched grass just waiting for a gardening coup.

Red wiggler worms were offered on the way out the door. An unusual potluck item. But then, we are a deliciously hodgepodge bunch of Village people.