Advanced Soil Smithing Workshop – October 17th

Announcing the next workshop in our Farm Lab garden series. Al Chomica will be doing a deep dive into advanced soil-smithing, Thursday Oct 17th from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at the MAC Community Garden and indoors at The MAC – McMillan Arts Centre

You’ll learn some of the tricks for building a fertile, biologically-complete soil using secret natural growing techniques and amendments. We will discuss charcoal, along with biochar, plus its little-known derivatives of torrification and bioceramics and how they work in the soil. Hand’s-on Bokashi Composting will be showcased along with a discussion on the good, the bad and the ugly of microbe identification. This is not a workshop for beginners…

Follow the Eventbrite link to buy tickets. Event goes rain or shine.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/advanced-soil-smithing-with-al-chomica-bokashi-biochar-microbes-tickets-1027114385777?aff=oddtdtcreator

Light It Up – Fundraising Raffle

Light it up – Fundraising Raffle to support our Community Garden and light up our greenhouse for the winter growing season.

Tickets are $100 each, with only 100 tickets sold. The odds are 1 in 100 of winning our grand prize of $2500. Second prize is $100. This draw is licenced by the BC Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, Gaming Event License #153856. Live draw at our Sept 21 garden event. 

Anyne in BC can buy their ticket with paypal to pqbfruit@gmail.com, or direct e-transfer to pqbfruit@gmail.com. Tickets are $100.00 each

We’re raising money to help install greenhouse lighting, and grow more food this fall and winter for our neighbours. 

The PQB Fruit Tree Project’s mission is to build community wellness by growing, gleaning, and distributing healthy, locally grown food to everyone. Our goals and results are to reduce food miles, lower carbon footprint, teach and provide healthy food and lifestyle choices, reduce waste, support local farmers, employ and enable People With Disabilities,

Thank you for supporting our local food security efforts.

Here’s a subtle reminder of how far we’ve come in 16 months

We’re having a party!

Come join us at the Grand Opening Open House event Wednesday July 31 from 5:00 – 8:00. We’re celebrating the completion of our greenhouse, and the end of the heavy construction phase of our Good Food project.

Tours and demos. Raffles. Live music. And homegrown food prepared and provided as part of the Oceanside at the Table initiative, by EcoChef Academy and the Bradley Centre. Mark it on your calendar, and watch for more details.

Meet our new greenhouse

And there it is! Our new BC Greenhouse install, 320 square feet and over 11 feet high at the peak. So many possibilities!

Come check it out this week, and help support our work towards local food security, and building community spaces.

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Summer Update 2024

Let’s face it, it’s way easier to update Facebook pages than wordpress websites, so that’s why you should follow us there if you want to be up to date with the group, the Community Garden, and our gleaning operation.

But… Here we are on June 25th, growing steady at the garden, soon to complete our much-awaited greenhouse installation, and about to start on another season of gleaning. We’ve got volunteers coming in on a regular basis but there’s always room for more, especially when it comes to fruit picking. Scroll down for our volunteer sign up sheet. Use the same form if you have trees that you would like picked.

We’re keeping the garden gates open generally from 10 am to 6 pm every day. You’re welcome to come in and browse around. There are benches and tables to relax at or enjoy your lunch.

Call Dan at 250-240-3564 if you’d like to book the space for summer classes, workshops, concerts, etc.

Native Bee and Natural Pollinator Workshop Saturday April 6th

We’re holding a Native Bees and Pollinator-Friendly Garden Workshop, Saturday April 6th at 10 am.

Explore native bees and pollinators and their integral role in food production. Learn how to create a pollinator-friendly garden

Our group member and volunteer, Howard Abel, is offered this workshop to increase awareness of native pollinators and their integral role in food production. Creating a pollinator-friendly garden, including appropriate flowers and nesting sites, will also be discussed. Get your tickets at Eventbrite.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/846609831797?aff=oddtdtcreator

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Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop – Feb 16, 2024

We’re gearing up for spring, and pleased to announce our first workshop of the 2024 season, Fruit Tree Pruning with Master Gardener, Connie Kuramoto.

This hands-on workshop will take place at a mature urban orchard off Moilliet St in Parksville. We’re going to learn the when, why and how to prune your fruit trees to maximize health and production of this valuable local food source. Bring a sweater. Brought to you by PQB Fruit Tree Project, watch our website for upcoming workshops.

Click this link for Eventbrite tickets

Donate to the PQB Fruit Tree Foundation

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Support our existing and expanded programming schedule, dedicated to local food security and education in Parksville / Qualicum Beach. Your donations will go directly into supporting the operation of the Art Farm at the MAC and our other programming initiatives. Click the button, or follow this link to our PayPal donate page.