Maple Community Garden

What was accomplished:

·        There was a good turn out on Sunday for the Fence Building and preparation.  Many members helped clean up the wood and debris to clear the way for the awesome fence crew who worked past 4 pm.

·        Apologies if you find things have been moved or disturbed.   We needed to move things out of the way in your plot areas like  trellises, boards etc. so there was a safe space for the fence crew to  install the 4×4 cedar posts.  Fence posts were installed in between  your plots to minimize loss of space.

FYI:  We did  not clear the stones and boulders on CP land…we are  hoping CP will take that away when they come to do more work on the tracks.  There is a big pile of wood at the East end of the Garden by  Jean’s Garden that we plan to dispose of…does anyone have a truck that  can make a trip to the dump?  If you have wood to throw out please use  this pile.  Please take any garbage home.

·        Measurements were re-done to insure our raised beds and other  garden structures are within our property line.  The installed 4×4  posts and a thin line marks the length of the property line.

What needs to be done?

·        Raised Bed Boxes that are ”over the line”  on CP land need to be cut back.   Some gardeners removed their North end board and moved soil so there would be access to trim back the boxes.
·        The Fence Crew hope to install the fence wire on the weekend.

What can you do to help?

1.      Go check your box to find out if it needs to be cut back. The fence crew have measured and marked what needs to be cut back. If you have tools and experience, please go ahead and cut back your box and reinstall the North board.

2.      If you do not have tools, the fence crew will cut back your box, but please do what you can to prepare for this weekend:
·        Remove the north facing end board,  as well as any plants and soil for about a foot.
·        Come back during the week to repair your box ASAP after the cut. It is very important that you get the north end board replaced before then fencing material is put up as you will not have access to that end to contain your soil.

Thank you from the Executive and Fence building committee.

This message is for the members of the Maple Community Garden

The work party schedule has been updated with 2 dates:

• Sunday April 5th, from 10am to 12pm (noon)
• Sunday, April 12th, from 10am to 12pm (noon)

For both dates, the meeting will start at the meeting room located in Maple Crest Apartments (2229 Maple Street) – please arrive early so that we can be efficient.

The purpose of these meetings is to:

1. Pay your membership dues for 2015 garden season
2. Participate in the work party to clean up and repair the common areas

Suggested Tools: Please bring your gloves, trowels, digging tools, edgers, shovels. For those who have building skills and tools bring your cordless drills and saws, hammer, nails.

We hope to get teams working on areas like the wheelchair accessible patio and boxes, a fence etc. Wear sturdy shoes or boots. Knee pads might be useful.

Mike Babiarz made the following video last Friday when CPR started destroying Cypress Community Garden, available through vimeo:

You can also check out this article on city farmer’s website: http://www.cityfarmer.info/2015/03/03/canadian-pacific-railway-cpr-destroys-hundreds-of-beautiful-community-gardens-in-vancouver/#more-266460

Article published today in the Georgia Straight (online version): CP Rail rips up Maple and Cypress community gardens in Kitsilano

 

Canadian Pacific has started to remove “encroachments” along Cypress Community Garden, just 1 block east of Maple Community Garden; click here for photos as of Saturday, February 28th. Work will resume after the weekend.

Unofficial sources reported that CP will start working along Maple Community Garden on Monday, at which point they will remove everything between the track and the orange markers.

This weekend may be your last chance to see the Garden as it exists today, before the “encroachments” are removed by CP.

To Maple Community Garden Members from The Executive

The 2015 Sign-up AGM scheduled for March 1 is POSTPONED

 

– CP Rail has stated this month in the media (newspapers)  that the community gardens on their property would be destroyed within a month. This week, bulldozers have destroyed the north-end of the Pine and Cypress Community Gardens that were encroaching on CPR Right of Way.

– The Executive is postponing the AGM, tentatively to be scheduled early April (date to be announced), in order to get more clarification on the situation as time goes on, and to give everyone a better chance to decide how to proceed.

– Your 2014 membership continues until the next 2015 AGM happens.

* The Executive has only the information published in The Province and The Courier, so please do not contact the Executive members for more info.

Thank you for your patience- and let’s wait and see.

Today February 24th, 2015, CP has destroyed the Pine Street Community Garden located along West 6th Avenue between Burrard, Pine and Fir streets.

This garden is located just two blocks away from Maple Community Garden.

CP has the right of way along the Arbutus Corridor, and is removing these encroachments as part of their plan to reactivate the railway for storage and training (even though it was also announced that they are not planning to use this section of the track at this time).

Source: https://www.straight.com/blogra/397311/cp-rail-tears-pine-street-community-garden-vancouver-photos

CP Rail has committed to cease all work on the Arbutus corridor until the City’s injunction application gets heard in court on December 9th, 2014.

Information from the City of Vancouver website: http://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/cp-rail-agrees-to-cease-work-on-arbutus-corridor.aspx

hi,

below is a message sent by Arbutus Victory Gardens to all gardeners of the Arbutus Corridor about a general meeting organized on Thursday in Kitsilano.

Hope to see you there!

 

Good afternoon, gardeners along the Arbutus Corridor!
Most gardeners along the corridor have just received an email from the City of Vancouver about our meeting, this upcoming Thursday, August 28, at 6:30 pm at the Kitsilano Community Centre.

The City of Vancouver may not have the most up-to-date contact list, particularly for some group-organized gardens, such as Maple, Pine, Cypress, Kerrisdale and World in a Garden. If you are from those gardens, could you please share the information about our meeting with your community, even if you are not able to attend personally?

When the Arbutus Victory Gardeners sent an open letter to the City of Vancouver, the City responded by meeting with some of our members and suggested that our most effective means of protest would be if all gardeners along the corridor meet, strategize and speak with one voice. The City helped us find the space to meet and kindly sent out our meeting invitation to Arbutus Corridor gardeners whose contact information they had.

Our plan for the meeting is to share the latest updates about CP and our gardens, and then to break up into small groups to strategize in specific areas in small groups. We need your help! Please attend if possible, but we are also looking for volunteers for the following:

• front door greeters and information desk
• have an interest in any of the following topics and are willing to help lead a small group session: herbicide use, legal injunctions, political action, plant inventories (we can provide you with a guide before the meeting to help with the discussion)
• media facilitation – greet any media that come and provide information

If you are able to assist in any of these areas, please email arbutusvictorygardens@gmail.com.

Thanks again, please spread the word, and we hope to see as many gardeners as possible on Thursday!

The Arbutus Victory Gardeners have just sent the following letter to Vancouver City Council, local MLAs, MPs, and CP Rail: http://arbutusvictorygardens.wordpress.com/letter-to-city-august-17

It contains four actions they are requesting the City and other government to support them on going forward with CP Rail:

1. intervene by any legal means available, such as a stay of action or a legal suit, to halt the progress of CP’s bulldozers until such time as it presents a viable business plan
2. prevent CP from spraying herbicides;
3. place priority on finding new garden spaces for those whose gardens were destroyed;
4. provide assistance with relocation of plant and garden material.

In their letter to the other gardens, the gardeners from Arbutus Victory also stated:

We were absolutely devastated by the news of the destruction of the Marpole gardens and hope to halt the bulldozers before all other gardens are destroyed. We also hope Marpole gardeners will have new spaces to grow as soon as possible. Please contact us if you wish to work together and strengthen all of our voices going forward.