February 2025

Today’s the last day of February, but the weather feels like we’re already well into March! These last couple days of sunshine and warmer temperatures have me sooo excited for the spring, especially with all the exciting things going on in the garden over the next few months :-)

February was a big month at the garden - we had lots of fun things going on, and did lots of planning for the upcoming growing season! It’s been an awesome month of working as a team and supporting one another to get things done, and I’m feeling so grateful for this community for coming out to our events and workshops, participating in our silly little projects, and overall just being such a lovely group to be a part of. 

The month started off with some snow and freezing temperatures, which meant that we were mostly spending our time working indoors instead of in the garden (it’s hard to work in the frozen ground!). Our first workshop of the month was our microgreens workshop, which was originally going to be held on February 4th, but got moved to the 11th as UVic was closed because of the snow. This was an introductory workshop, hosted by our garden site staff member, Jack. We learned about what microgreens are, how to grow different kinds of microgreens, and even got to grow our own!

Once the temperatures rose a bit we were back in the garden, and back to holding our Friday volunteer parties outdoors! We’ve had some awesome work parties this month, doing lots of weeding and cover cropping as we come to the end of the winter. Work parties have continued to be drop-in style on Friday afternoons from 2-4pm, no sign-ups or experience is needed to join! Just come by anytime between 2-4 to lend a hand and hang out in the garden. Keep an eye on our Instagram to stay up-to-date with work party tasks and times.

​Another exciting thing that happened this month is that the latest edition of Sundew came together! Some printing issues have delayed the official release, but keep an eye out for that this week!! 

We also finished putting together our silly little mixtape this month! The CCG winter mixtape has been one of the most fun projects I’ve had the pleasure of working on in my time with the garden - together with our star board member, Clare! The mixtape started as a random, silly what-if, and has turned into a beautiful documentation of the sounds of our community. It starts off with the sound of the gate to the garden opening and closing, and moves into a wide range of pieces, from stories to songs to a recipe, all coming together to represent the garden and the people who make it what it is. We launched the mixtape live on CFUV on Feb 25th, and the recording will be up on our website soon, but you can also get your hands on a real physical copy of the mixtape! We’re burning a limited number of CDs, we have cover art (2 versions!), and we’re selling them by donation!! 50% of proceeds will go to the garden, and 50% will go to our friends at Peers. You can find the mixtape at our table at FemExpo this week, or send us a message and we can figure out a time to drop by our office in the SUB to pick one up :)

We also hosted a miso-making workshop this week, led by garden plot-renter James! Folks learned about the individual ingredients that go into making miso, the different kinds of miso, and worked together to make a big batch of miso which we split between the group so that everyone could take some home! Now, we leave our containers of miso in a cool, dark place for 3 months, and see how it’s doing at the end of May. This is definitely one that we want to do again, so if you missed it this time keep an eye out for another miso-making workshop in the fall!

Coming up in March, we’ll be bringing back our pop-up giveaways, finishing up with some final touches for the new accessible bed, selling Sundew and the mixtape, and preparing for this year’s spring event in the garden! This year we’re changing things up a bit and hosting a Spring Market! Plan to come by the garden on the afternoon of March 28th (the last Friday in March), where there will be vendors (ranging from local farms and gardens to artists and makers), live music, and good vibes all around!! Keep an eye on our Instagram for more details :)

I hope you all have a chance to enjoy the sunshine this weekend, and wishing you all the best for March!

Happy gardening,
Jessi