Gorge Tillicum Urban Farmers

At the Food Matter forum last week I met Gabe Epstein of the Gorge Tillicum Urban Farmers. The group is very much the sort of thing I am very interested in, sharing of information about growing food and talking about issues related to food production.

Our Objective

We seek to promote and maximize food production and community food security in as wide a variety of settings in our community as possible, in as sustainable a manner as possible.

As such, we:

• Share information about food production and food security;
• Encourage and support each other in the practice of producing food; and
• Learn and share skills that promote personal and collective resilience

I can get behind that.

For myself the sharing of knowledge is the most important part. I lived in Lillooet for close to 10 years and that is where I did the majority of my gardening. Coming to the coast means dealing with a completely different climate and completely different pests. My first year here I lost all of tomatoes and carrots.

This summer will be my seventh one here in Victoria, but the first and the one 2007 were both lost causes because I could not really do much gardening. 2006 and 2009 were a lost causes for personal reasons. This means I am really only in my third year of gardening here and I have a lot to learn.

I have stuff in the ground already and I hope to get a lot more done this coming weekend.

The next meeting the the Gorge Tillicum Urban Farmers is on April 18th.