Another fabulous day of Lectures , Vendors and Plant Sales.
Spring Forward 2015 , was Sunday, March 8, 2015 10 am - 4:30 pm MJ Fox Theatre, Burnaby
We welcomed over 250 people: Friends, Family and the General Public to this once a year event!
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Eliza Olsen - Burns Bog - For Peat's Sake & Others
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Ryan Nassichuk - The Meandering Path to Goosefoot Farms Ryan Nassichuk is a 31 year old small-scale vegetable grower and soil enthusiast living on Quadra Island. Born into a vegetable gardening family in North Vancouver, Ryan raised his first crops in his parents' backyard at the age of 11, and very quickly afterward plants and gardening became an integral part of most aspects of his life. In 2005 Ryan graduated from the once-renowned, now-defunct Landscape Horticulture program at Capilano College in North Vancouver, where he met and fell in love with his partner Jessica Hammersmark. In early 2010, right before the Vancouver Olympics, Ryan and Jessica decided to leave the city to find a fertile, sunny field somewhere out in the countryside. Through luck and serendipity they wound up on Quadra Island, where they began creating Goosefoot Farms. Currently Ryan and Jessica raise a very wide variety of vegetables and herbs, most of which are distributed locally through their Community Supported Agriculture program. Ryan also continues to work off the farm, offering a variety of horticultural services and leading as many gardening workshops and presentations as he can. Ryan's website is www.ryansgarden.com and Goosefoot Farms' website is www.goosefootfarms.com Ryan will present “The Meandering Path to Goosefoot Farms”, a lighthearted look back at his life as a teen and young man immersed in vegetable gardening, and the windy, sometimes surprising path that led to his eventual decision to leave the city to start a farm on Quadra Island
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Dr. Drew Zwart - Nutrient Issues with Plants: Recognition and Impact on Plant Health
Drew Zwart is a plant pathologist and physiologist on the scientific staff at the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories. Drew earned his Ph.D. at the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture while studying plant stress physiology. Drew received his B.S. in agronomy from Cornell University and an M.S. in plant pathology and physiology from Clemson University. He currently conducts research on plant stress and disease resistance, and provides technical support for the Bartlett Tree Experts operations in Canada and the western United States. His lecture is titled “Nutrient Issues with Plants: Recognition and Impact on Plant Health”. Plant disease and insect pests can be a real nuisance in the landscape. However, the majority of these problems found in ornamental plantings are considered secondary or stress related, and fixing simple cultural issues can often reduce or eliminate the problem. In most cases, trees and shrubs have natural defenses against invading pathogens or insects, but environmental stress reduces these defenses. This presentation will focus on stresses related to soil moisture and soil nutrient content and how they affect plant health. Special attention will be paid to the specific disease and insect problems found on moisture stressed plants, as well as the specific role in plant defense played by various macro- and micro-nutrients.
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Vanessa Farnsworth - Lyme Disease in Canada Simplified
Vanessa Farnsworth is the author of Rain on a Distant Roof: A Personal Journey Through Lyme Disease inCanada. She has published more than 100 columns and articles (including several on Lyme disease) in national and regional publications, including Canadian Gardening, Canadian Living, Cottage, Garden Making, The Creston Valley Advance, The Grower, Harrowsmith Country Life, Kootenay Life East, Route 3, and Vitality Magazine. She holds a degree in English from Toronto's York University, a diploma in print journalism from Oakville's Sheridan College, and she studied creative writing at The Humber School for Writers. Her literary fiction has been published in journals across Canada and in the United States, includingThe Dalhousie Review, dANDelion, The New Quarterly, PRECIPICe, Qwerty, and Reed Magazine. But most importantly, Vanessa is a Master Gardener from the Okanagan Chapter. “Lyme Disease in Canada Simplified” is a frank, fresh and entertaining talk on Lyme disease in Canada. Vanessa brings vitality and insight to a subject that for many people is enigmatic. In the process, she takes a hard look at what we do and - more importantly - what we don't know about Lyme disease in this country, explaining the complexities of the disease, the controversy over it, and the latest in scientific and medical research in a way that is easy to understand.
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Douglas Justice - Biodiversity in the Garden
Douglas Justice is the head of horticulture and collections at UBC Botanical Garden. He teaches horticulture and plant identification and writes and speaks on a variety of plant-related subjects. Douglas is active in a number of local and international plant and garden organizations, including serving on the boards of two local public gardens. He is an advocate for trees and the conservation of historic landscapes and natural ecosystems. Douglas’s most recent project is an app entitled Vancouver Trees; Identification and Ecology. Douglas will present “Biodiversity in the Garden”. The reduction in people's tolerance for pesticides in public landscapes is emblematic of a major shift in societal thinking currently underway. Gardeners are on the front lines of these changes, and our gardens are excellent models of what is happening in the wider landscape. Gardeners are increasingly seeing the world in ecological terms, gradually switching from reactive to pro-active behaviour and coming to understand the importance of biodiversity to the success of our gardens
