HONEYMOON WITH THE FARMERS THIS WEEKEND
The first
UBC Farm Saturday Market of the season takes place this weekend and they will be celebrating the solstice with their annual
Honey Moon Festival.
The term "Honeymoon" comes from the mead made from fermented honey and traditionally drunk in pagan times during the weddings which were traditionally held around the time of the solstice. For the market, it's a chance to celebrate the bees that live and work at the Farm. Local bee expert
Allen Garr will lead a bee hive tour at 10:30 a.m. (if the weather cooperates). And, the bee program will have an outreach table where you can learn what all the 'buzz' is about. Bee also on the lookout for
Madame Beespeaker who will invite you to help out the honeybees in Vancouver by creating seedballs for urban bee gardens. You can be a guerrilla gardener by launching your seedballs into vacant lots, to fill the city with nectar- and pollen-rich flowers for the bees. Prepare to get a bit mucky and bring along an old egg carton to take home your seed balls.
Other highlights at the farm this weekend include homegrown potatoes from the on-campus demonstration garden at the MacMillan building, the first strawberries of the season, lettuce heads, and the popular salad mix.
The Friends of the UBC Farm will be selling tomato transplants and fresh cut lavendar. Additional produce in season should include: green garlic, fresh herbs, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, garlic scapes, kale, mushrooms and Swiss chard.
Hours are 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., every Saturday through October, rain or shine. 6182 South Campus Road (see
http://www.landfood.ubc.ca/ubcfarm/contact.php for directions)
IMPORTANT NOTE: As you may know, the UBC farmlands, with their high $$$ real estate value are under threat of being converted into luxury condo developments, and only public support can prevent this from happening. If you agree that Vancouver’s last working farm with its over 40 years of farming enriched soil is worth preserving for its unique ability to produce locally grown food, and to teach the public how to grow food for themselves, then you should watch this interesting
video interview with
Gavin Wright, the Academic Coordinator at UBC Farm, which was filmed by
IAM Vancouver.
For more details on the situation, or just to keep up to date with weekly changes at the Saturday market, you can also now access all information via the Farm's new
blog.
