permaculture

[farmcity@alternatives.com (FarmFolk/CityFolk)]

Hello, thought I'd let permaculturists know about what we hope will become
a very large and high-profile demonstration farm in the Vancouver, BC area.

"Colony Farm" is in British Columbia's Agricultural Land Reserve, and is
just now becoming a regional park. It's about 600 acres, of which
280 are designated for wildlife
190 are designated for agriculture
and 130 acres are designated for 'integrated management'.

This includes 3-10 acres of community gardens.
The park is located on the Fraser and Coquitlam rivers, between the
municipalities of Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, and directly adjacent to
the Coquitlam Indian Band (Kwayhquitlam Nation).

The Land Use Plan, finally formulated in April 1995, includes some very
progressive principles, with the ultimate goal being "to manage and protect
Colony Farm based on its importance for wildlife, agriculture, and passive
recreation." Environmentally sensitive agriculture is a large part of the
principles outlined, although it leaves room for some highly unsustainable
agriculture, as written. The Parks Board is trying to manage the park
through a public participatory process; this is a long, drawn out process
involving many meetings, with various groups and individuals.
FarmFolk/CityFolk society is proposing to take a coordinator role in some,
most, or all of the initial steps towards building a Park Association and
developing a site design. We are working (loosely, at this stage) with the
Vancouver Permaculture Network towards holding design courses on the site
which would help develop the overall design. Here's the message we just
sent out to our local update e.mail list:


COLONY FARM UPDATE
June 26 1996

Well, the next stage of actually working on tangible realities for Colony
Farm has finally begun. Yesterday I met with some of the interested parties
at the GVRD offices in Burnaby Lake: GVRD Parks staff, Burke Mountain
Naturalists, Pt. Coquitlam Hunting and Game Club, the Wildlife Rescue
Association, City of Coquitlam, Douglas College's Greenlinks program, The
Pt. Moody Ecological Society, the Alpine Riding Academy, and local
residents (invited by the GVRD). (Notably absent: a representative from the
Kwayhquitlam Nation.) They heard about our vision for a permaculture design
for the farm, incorporating community development and wildlife preservation
with a demonstration farm and community gardens. The response was quite
positive, with a general request for much more information about
permaculture principles. The salient features of the meeting:

- an agreement around the table that it is highly desireable that the farm
become and remain certifiably organic;
- the principles of sustainable agriculture must be maintained;
- we will move slowly to develop the farm part of the site in stages;
- community gardens, not allotment gardens;
- the ownership transfer is still dragging on (GVRD not full owners yet);
- the problems with drainage and dikes on the site are huge, and have yet
to be made fully obvious;
- Community Gardens are the first step...

This is the good part. FarmFolk/CityFolk has been given the go-ahead to
apply for funding to organize the initial stage of the community gardens:
invite participation, hold workshops and planning sessions, develop a
structure for the gardens committee (which will be part of the overall park
Association), design the gardens (including demonstration areas,
composters, etc.), and then forward all this to the appropriate GVRD
authorities for approval (sometime in the Fall).
We are in the process of putting a grant application together for VanCity's
Envirofund: the deadline is July 5, so it's rush rush. If you have any
other sources of funding you'd like to suggest, let us know.
The group there cordially and cooperatively organized a field trip to the
site for
                        Wednesday, July 3, 10:30am
                        Colony Farm Parking Lot
                        Bring Lunch!
At the site, we will be going over the possibilities and details to pay
attention to for the funding process, and to finalize general approval of
FarmFolk/CityFolk's role in this (and deal with some wildlife
considerations). The Gardens themselves may be 3-7 acres: HUGE.

This meeting/field trip is open to everyone; as a matter of fact, all the
Colony Farm meetings are open to the public, SO COME ON OUT next Wednesday,
and bring interested friends. We'll inform people as soon as we're aware of
the next meeting date after that.

Thanks for your interest. We've been holding back somewhat, waiting for
this kind of go-ahead; now we'll be initiating more activity. It's still
just planning and study, but it's more tangible.
You can contact myself or Rebecca Kneen at the office for more details.

Wreford Miller
Information Services Coordinator



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                 FarmFolk/CityFolk Society
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                 Vancouver, B.C., Canada
                         V6K 4S2

                    phone (604) 730-0450
                    fax   (604) 730-0451
                  farmcity@alternatives.com
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      "Eating is an agricultural act."  - Wendell Berry