Community Garden Events

With the season underway and the gardens planted, we can turn our excitement to some of the fun and creative events happening at The Mount Community Garden. Check back here often to read about our upcoming garden events and volunteer opportunities or to peruse our list of past events.

 

Four hens on campus: Noodle, Nugget, Butter & Biscuit!

June Events

Planting 101 – June 11 (12-1pm)

Are you new to gardening? Pick up some useful beginner gardening tips by joining us in the Planting 101 Workshop. Learn all about the basics of gardening in this informative workshop, with topics including seed starting, crop seasonality, succession planting, watering, and much more. This workshop is suitable for novice gardeners, children and youth included, who are looking to pick up some starter advice on gardening.

July Events

Eating Healthy Veggies Workshop – July 28 (12-1pm)

Faculty and staff are invited to join the Mount Community Garden’s lecture-style Eating Healthy Veggies workshop on Wednesday, July 28th, from 12:00-1:00 PM. Join us to learn about the nutritional benefits of healthy vegetables that can be planted in your garden and how these vegetables can align with Canada’s Food Guide. You can send in your RSVP to garden@msvu.ca to receive a link to the online workshop.

August Events

Yoga in the Garden – August 10 (12-1pm)

You are invited to join us at the Mount Community Garden for our Yoga in the Garden event! Come and enjoy a relaxing lunch hour of instructor-led yoga at the Mount’s beautiful garden in the Meadows. The event will take place on Tuesday, August 10th, from 12:00-1:00 PM. Send in your RSVP by Sunday, August 8th. Email garden@MSVU.ca to RSVP or for more information. Please note, there is a $5.00 participant’s fee.

Health Benefits of Community Gardens Workshop – August 17 (12-1pm)

You are invited to join the Mount Community Garden on Tuesday, August 17th, from 12:00-1:00 PM for our lecture-style Health Benefits of Community Gardening Workshop! Come to learn all about how community gardening can impact your physical, nutritional, and mental well-being. Other topics include an overview of what community gardens are, a background on the mental, physical, and nutrition status of Canadians and how community garden can affect these aspects of health. Email garden@msvu.ca to RSVP to the workshop. We hope to see you there!

The Community Garden was closed for the 2020-2021 growing season due to Covid-19.

May/June Events

Planting 101 – May 29th (12-1pm)

This workshop was designed to help educate novice gardeners or anyone seeking to learn how to seed start indoors. Join us and learn different germination techniques, ideal growing setup, transplanting tips and more. This informative session is a great way to kick start your gardening season!


Yoga in the Garden – June 12th (12 -1pm)

Come join the Garden and Mount Fitness Center’s Melissa Millar as she leads a relaxing yoga session by the garden. Surround yourself in nature, feel the sun on your face and soak up some vitamin D! Make sure to bring a yoga mat or beach towel, sunglasses, sunscreen, a hat and some water. Please RSVP before June 10th, by emailing the Garden at: garden@msvu.ca


Annual Hike to Susie’s Lake – June 16th (10am – 1pm)

The Mount Community Garden’s annual hike to Susie’s Lake will take place on June 16th from 10 am -1pm. Lead by a fellow community gardener, this hike in nature will take place rain or shine. Please bring a water bottle, snacks, hat, sunglasses, and wear a good pair of sneakers or hiking boots.

July Events

Hydroponics 101 – July 11th (12 – 1pm)

Join the Community Garden as we visit our new hydroponics system. Learn about how this device works, how it compares to traditional gardening, it’s benefits and more.

Eat your Veggies! – July 30th (12 – 12:45 pm)

Join the Community Garden in the Garden as we discuss the importance of fruits and vegetables in our diets and more importantly, how to increase our daily consumption. Get tips on simple substitutions, recipe modification and how to overcome common hurdles that limit our produce consumption in this fun and educational event. Please wear a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and bring some water as this event takes place outdoors. RSVP by sending an email to: garden@msvu.ca

August Events

Creating a bee-friendly garden – August 20th (12 – 1pm)

Join the Community Garden and resident bee-keeper, Jillian Ruhl, in the Garden for an educational event on how to make your garden a more inviting space for bees. The event will start off in the Community Garden and finish with a short beehive inspection. Make sure to bring some water and wear a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen to beat the heat. Feel free to bring your lunch. Please email the garden coordinator at: garden@msvu.ca to confirm your attendance. Rain date is scheduled for August 27th from 12-1 PM – meet at the Community Garden.

September Events

Annual General Meeting – September 10th (2 – 4pm)

Celebrating the end of the garden season, the Community Garden will host it’s annual garden meeting September 10th from 2-4pm. Similar to past years, a silent auction will take place as well as vote for best plot in show, best weeded, most colourful & best use of space. Light refreshments will be provided. Please email the garden coordinator at: garden@msvu.ca to confirm your attendance.

100-in-1 Day (Community Scarecrow Building)

For this annual 100-in-1 day, the community garden had a community scarecrow building event. This event took place on Saturday June the 4th as part of a city-wide event to show off everything that Halifax can be. A few people from the Mount and surrounding community came to this building event, and helped turn some stored straw into creative decorations for our garden. The remaining supplies will be used in partnership with the MSVU summer day camp where children will be able to come up to the garden, express their creativity, and learn a bit about growing your own food.

Annual General Meeting

Celebrating the end of the garden season, the Community Garden will host it’s annual garden meeting each year. Normally a silent auction will take place as well as vote for best plot in show, best weeded, most colourful & best use of space.

Ice Cream Social/Plant Swap

While this year’s plant swap and ice cream social was a cloudy one, that didn’t stop faculty, staff, students or members of the community from coming out and enjoying the festivities. Many varieties of plants were sold or given away and lots of ice cream was eaten; be sure to come out next season to enjoy another refreshing treat and meet some enthusiastic gardeners from the area.

Hike to Susie’s Lake

This annual hike to Susie’s lake in the Blue Mountain Birch Cove lakes area was lead by two of the community garden members. The leaders pointed out various types of plants and flora, talked about the area, it’s history and how it connects to The Mount as well as what the average individual can do to help protect the area. The hike departed from a nearby Kent’s, takes approximately an hour (with stops) and is of mild to medium difficulty; hikers should bring proper footwear, water, food, and weather appropriate clothing. If you are interested in joining in the fun, contact the MSVU community garden coordinator by e-mail or by phone: garden@msvu.ca (902)457-6179 and receive further details about when or next hike is scheduled.

Community Garden Volunteer Day

Miss gardening but don’t have a place to sink your hands in the dirt? Just feel like helping out and meeting some like-minded people on campus? Then come up to the Community Garden to enjoy the sun, and volunteer some of your time making it a more beautiful space for everyone.
The community garden coordinator will be on hand to answer any questions and to direct volunteers into groups that will be lead by members from the community garden itself. Some examples of what you can help with are: Fence repairs, weeding, watering, general cleanup, fertilizing, construction, and maybe even some harvesting! If you are interested,either join our event on Facebook or email garden@msvu.ca to signal your attendance and then we will see you there. Any questions can be directed to garden@msvu.ca or (902) 457-6179.

Pickling Worshop

Come join us while we learn to use our harvest’s for pickling! We will be pickle cucumbers in order to make dill pickles and/or sweet mustard pickles, and perhaps some carrots.

Paint the Garden

We at the community garden planned a Plein Air (open air) Painting Event for adults and children alike. Individuals were encouraged to bring their canvas and paints (or their sketchbooks) in order to come paint the beautiful garden and it’s surroundings while in full bloom. No instructions or materials were provided for this event. Donations of paintings were accepted to be auctioned at the Annual General Meeting for the Community Garden.

Yoga in the Garden

Come join the Garden and Mount Fitness Center’s Melissa Millar as she leads a relaxing yoga session by the garden. Surround yourself in nature, feel the sun on your face and soak up some vitamin D! Make sure to bring a yoga mat or beach towel, sunglasses, sunscreen, a hat and some water.

Beehive Workshops

  • Bee Safety 101, Introduction to Beekeeping & First Full Inspection
  • Honey Bee Democracy
  • Intro to Beekeeping for Kids & Families
  • Honey Extraction Workshop
  • Disease, Pests, Management & Treatments
  • Fall Inspection & Winterization