**UPDATE:

Hi all. Due to the incredible interest in this workshop we are making a few changes. We are going to offer the workshop a second time. And we ask that you RSVP for which day you want to come. To make sure there is space for everyone to work, we’ll have to cap it at 20 people per workshop.

The two workshops will be:
Thursday, March 29th, 1-3pm 
Thursday, April 5th, 1-3pm

To reserve your spot follow this link http://www.doodle.com/65ihe3b5h4tvbief
The reservations will be on a first come, first served basis so hurry, hurry hurry!

Thanks!

How to Build A Window Farm
Where: Concordia Greenhouse
When: Thursday, March 29th, 2012,  1 to 3pm

What the heck is a window farm you ask? It’s a vertical hydroponic growing system that allows you to grow food in your house year round! All you need is a window to put it in. By the end of this workshop you’ll have your very own to take home! Enjoy the power that growing your own food provides!

All you need to bring is an aquarium air pump found at any pet store.

Fermentation Workshop
When: Wed March 28th, 2012
3-5 pm
Where: Concordia Greenhouse

Come and learn more about the wonderful world of fermentations !
After this workshop you will know how to make sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir, sourdough bread, kombucha, mead and much more.
It’s going to be a space to share experiences about your own homemade fermentations 🙂
Please bring some fermented foods for tasting and your own ferments to share with others. Also bring along your own mason jars to take some home with you.

Monday to Thursday: 10am – 6pm
Friday: 10am – 4pm

Please check back regularly for updates. We aim to be flexible to the strike decisions made by students.

The Greenhouse is holding two workshops as part of What Sustains You? week organized by Sustainable Concordia.

Vermi-Composting
When: Friday March 23nd 1-2:30pm

Where: the Greenhouse

The vermicomposting workshop is designed to enhance knowledge of basic composting skills by using red wiggler worms for at-home, year-round, indoor composting. The workshop will review some basic worm anatomy, bin building, getting started at home, what and what not to feed your bin, troubleshooting (including pest control), harvesting and storing the compost soil for plants, making compost tea for your plants, dealing with excess worms (and possibly making a business out of your very own kitchen), and of course the most important question: why compost?

Sprouts and Micro-greens
When: Friday March 23 2:30-4pm

Where: the Greenhouse

Have you ever fantasized about growing your own food, but found your thumbs didn’t quite have enough of that green hue? This workshop can show you an easy, quick way to have fresh, living salad ingredients growing in your house year-round. Sprouting is the eating practice of growing and enjoying thousands of baby plants, tender and full of life. Ranging from your classic alfalfa sprout found in your local grocery store, to sprouted legumes like lentils and mung beans, to growing more leafy babies such as radish and peas, here you’ll get the basics of how to liven up your diet, your home and your soul with the joy of sprouting. Watch out, you might even find that the grains in your bread can be sprouted, too!

In support of the students on strike and respect for the picket line around the Hall building, the Concordia Greenhouse will be closed for the duration of the CSU mandated strike: March 15 – March 22.
 
Our upcoming workshop has been moved to a new space so let’s keep on learnin’!

Biodynamic Farming Workshop
WHEN: Tuesday March 20 11:30-12:30
WHERE: QPIRG-Concordia
1500 de Maisonneuve West, #204
Montreal, Quebec

Come learn about the basics of biodynamics history and contemporary methods. We will experiment with practical plant-based preparations to enhance soil quality and plant life.

Biodynamic agriculture is a method that means to unite man with nature in order to create a living environment through the subtle interactions of earth, plants, animals and human beings, trying to find equilibrium and unity. The biodynamic movement recognizes that the life of a farm is exposed to many influences: the subtle rhythms of the sun, the moon and the planets form the basis of an annually produced planting calendar. This guides the farmer towards appropriate times for cultivation and sowing for maximum quantity and quality.

 Thanks!

Concordia Greenhouse

March 6th, 2012

Endorsement letter for Frigo Vert’s Fee Levy Campaign
Written by Stefanie Dimitrovas, Coordinator of the Four Seasons Growing Project On behalf of The Concordia Greenhouse Project

Concordians, I encourage you to vote in favour of Frigo Vert’s fee levy. I hail from the glass house on the 13th floor of the hall building, the Concordia Greenhouse Project, to represent the collective up here and express our overwhelming support and solidarity for Le Frigo Vert and their collective operation. Frigo is such an important place to support the environmental movement, because they really take care to find sources of food that are organic, and especially local and fair-trade when they can. As a great example, they are one of the Greenhouse’s distributors of local, organic microgreen salad mix! On top of it all, it is part of their mission to bring to you quality food at an affordable price, by selling in bulk and actively avoiding over-pricing thanks to their anti-capitalist mandate.

The Greenhouse also has big dreams in the near future of increasing our food production to help finance ourselves, and Frigo has always expressed support for our mission of local, organic food production in the heart of the city, and would love as much of what we grow as possible. We really hope the Frigo gets the support they need from you students so that we can bring to you our fresh, beautiful produce grown with love and excitement. You’ll get more out of shopping at a place like Frigo because you know that people committed to issues of food security and urban sustainability are making it happen.

I would like to end by quoting a fellow Greenhouse collective member, Nina Slykhuis-Landry, as she exited the greenhouse office today to get her supper from the Frigo: “When I think Frigo Vert, I think delicious food, healthy and humanitarian, and affordable. It’s the best combination.” Vote yes!

Warm Regards,

Stefanie Dimitrovas
Coordinator of the Four Seasons Growing Project

Dear Greenhouse Community, 

The 2012 growing season has started! The Greenhouse Collective invites you to help us grow healthy, strong seedlings that are free from pests. Indeed, we need your help to usher in a horticulturally recommended cleanliness in the Greenhouse. We want to do this to protect our plants from harmful diseases and insects, so that we have higher yields this summer. 

The Atrium Tea Garden continues to be open to the public as a beautiful location for cultural & educational events. The rest of the greenhouse space is now concentrated on growing plants and new hygiene practices will be in place. The greenhouse remains accessible to the public — only now, we encourage participation to take the form of starting, assisting and maintaing healthy plant growth. 

As Silvia Federici noted at Study in Action this past weekend, urban gardens are indispensable if we are to regain control over our food production, regenerate our environment and provide for our subsistence. With this space entrusted to us, we as a community have such a great opportunity: let’s continue to genuinely address issues of food security and urban sustainability by growing food & sharing knowledge about growing food.

Alternatives and City Farm School are proud to offer a summer-long paid internship working with youth aged 12 -18.

This multidisciplinary internship offers a unique opportunity for interns to acquire the skills and experience necessary to develop and manage a community based urban agriculture initiative. This program aspires to bridge theory with practice by coupling skills training with hands-on work experience in the community.

Apply now! Deadline is March 2

Check out the full details here

Interested in urban farming? Want to learn how to actually make money at it? Or just have the ultimate backyard garden?

At this presentation, you’ll learn how the SPIN (Small Plot INtensive) farming system, which is now being practiced by a growing corps of farmers across Canada and the U.S., can be used to create a high-income producing farm or improve your current operation. SPIN is the first organic-based production system for land bases under an acre in size, and it can be implemented by aspiring and practicing backyard, front lawn and neighborhood lot farmers everywhere. All you need is to equip yourself with the right gear and a radically new understanding of what it means to be a farmer.

About the presenter, Curtis Stone
Curtis is the owner/operator of Green City Acres, a pedal powered urban SPIN farm based in Kelowna, BC. Farming under an acre on a collection of 8 different urban plots, he sells through the local farmers market, restaurants and a 30 member CSA veggie box program. All operations on his SPIN farm, including deliveries, moving compost, tools and a 400 lb. rear tine rototiller, are done with custom utility bicycles and custom built steel framed trailers.

http://www.greencityacres.com/

Take a break from Jack Frost and cozy up with us over a nice cup of tea at the Concordia Greenhouse this Thursday for a fine fundraising soirée.There will be live music featuring:

Bum Tickins’
http://www.myspace.com/bumtickins

Davita G.
www.myspace.com/davitag

Patrick Hutchinson of the Swift Years

http://www.myspace.com/httpwwwmyspacecomswiftyears

Don’t miss out on the crazy punch and baked goodies we prepared just for you. Help us keep the space running by gracing us with your presence and kindly donations.

Event is PWYC.

* Event follows a presentation by Curtis Stone on Small Plot INtensive (SPIN) farming