Chickens

Fancy chicken photo from Murray McMurray website.

Everybody wants chickens. I know I do. And I've seen a few coops in Fairfield. Are you wondering whether keeping chickens is legal in Victoria? According to the Victoria Animal Control Services Inc. (which may be the ugliest website ever)...

Farm Animals are prohibited with the exception of chickens, ducks & geese.   These fowl can only be kept as pets or for personal egg consumption.   Eggs cannot be sold or advertised for sale.   Excessive numbers of fowl will bring into question intended use.   Roosters are prohibited.   If you are thinking about keeping chickens call us and we will tell you the issues and potential problems to avoid.   Potbellied pigs are considered Farm Animals regardless of where they are kept (indoors or outdoors).

So that seems clear. Fortunately, the city of Victoria doesn't mind if we keep chickens. Tempted? To find out everything you ever needed to know about poultry, visit the Murray McMurray hatchery website.

Now, how about chickens in Community Gardens?

-Fiona Gilsenan

Pallet Gardening

Photo of a door garden from Clarence House, London, by Fiona Gilsenan

For those of you with narrow spaces—like a balcony or sunny sideyard—here's an idea that I've been seeing more and more lately: planting a pallet garden. I see it as a way to plant herbs, but here's a good step-by-step from Life on the Balcony on how to build one.

In Fairfield, we have nearly 6,500 townhouses, duplexes, or apartments (most people are surprised to hear that number, but you can find the source at the City of Victoria website). That's a lot of balconies. Let us know if you try building a pallet garden on yours!

-Fiona Gilsenan

The Mayor is Coming to Fairfield

Tonight, Wed. March 16th, Mayor Dean Fortin will be in our neighbourhood to talk about budget issues. You'll find him in the Garry Oak Room at the Fairfield Community Association from 7:30 to 9 pm. I wonder if anyone will raise some of the issues that matter to gardeners in Fairfield, such as the City's Community Garden Policy, which is due for a revamp.

-Fiona Gilsenan

Park Tour of Fairfield

Video by Augustus Productions.

We decided to do a little tour of the neighbourhood to look at all the available land in Fairfield that could possibly be used for community gardening. There isn't much! Here we walk through all the park spaces and comment on their suitability, uses, size, and more. Join us!

-Fiona Gilsenan

Community Garden Policy

Michigan Street Gardens, James Bay


Did you know that the City of Victoria has had a Community Gardens policy in place for over 5 years? It was released in Sept, 2005 and has the following policy goals:

• To recognize the need for community gardens
• To establish community gardens throughout the City on public or private lands, where feasible.
• To recognize the value of community gardens, as a public amenity, in land use redevelopment.
• To encourage backyard, rooftop and workplace gardening to complement community gardens, as ways to promote more greening of the City.
• To maintain existing community gardens and protect local food production.

Somebody wrote up a bit of background information for the policy. Here's what they have to say about Victoria, worth reading in full.

Population projections of Victoria suggest growth and interest particularly in the older age groups (baby boomers) who like to garden. Gardening is the top leisure activity for 80% of households according to Statistics Canada. More households will be living in multiple family housing which generates great demand for community gardens. In addition, the CRD's Regional Growth Strategy promotes increased densification of the core municipalities and de-emphasizes single detached housing. There in the future there will be more demand for gardens and less land available, as fewer residents will not have their own backyards in which to garden.

Although this may not be comfortable reading for everyone (baby boomers are now in the older age group?), it's just a fact that the future of urban life means more density--and that's not a bad thing. Single-family homeowners are by far the minority in Fairfield-Gonzales. Can we say that the neighbourhood public spaces are a good reflection of that? What do you think?

Waterview Community Garden

Photo from City Farmer (www.cityfarmer.info).

Gardening is good for everybody. Here's an article from last summer's Times Colonist about just that subject. Why link to this now? Because there's an update on one of the gardening projects mentioned in the article—the Waterview Garden.

The City of Victoria recently gave Pacifica a $9,500 special-project grant to create a demonstration and training garden at the Waterview Housing Complex in Victoria, where they have just finished construction of a raised-bed veggie garden.

A report has just been released on the first phase of the garden. You can find the full report at the City Farmer website. But here's a sample of what it has to say.

However, some of its most important accomplishments occurred in the areas of local food production together with limiting our collective and individual environmental footprint..Each participant had their own 4' x 8' raised bed garden when they learned to grow their own food using organic methods. Not only were the participants able to learn how to garden and eat the fruits of their labours, but other tenants were able to watch and learn as well. And with the addition of a 8' x 30' mural—depicting a countryside scene—on the wall overlooking the garden, the garden has become a beautiful demonstration garden. Ten of the twelve original gardeners plan on returning to garden in 2011, together with 7 more Waterview residents. With the publicity it received, the garden also challenged members of the public to ask themselves, “If they can build this and do these things, why can‟t I?”

Acceptance of Matching Grant!

A 2010 matching grant for the Fairfield Community Gardens project has been accepted by the City of Victoria. The group is now developing the design, proposal, and agreements with the Parks Department and the FGCA.

Thanks to everyone who has been doing amazing work on this!