July 2025!

​And just like that we’re almost two weeks into August!

July was a wonderful month at the CCG - the weather was good, everything has been growing well, and we had tons of fun! Between our events, board meetings, and regular garden shenanigans it was a packed month, but we wouldn’t have had it any other way! This summer has been incredible so far, and it feels like the community around the garden grows a little bigger and better each day. Before I get into the recap, I just want to say thank you for being here and for being a part of this community! It’s been so special to get to be part of the garden, and what really makes it special is the people<3

The beginning of the month honestly feels like a lifetime ago!! I can’t believe it was only a few weeks ago that we held our Farm Crawl with the UVic Sustainability Project and the Community Action Bus. We had so much fun riding the bus around and learning about different farms! We visited Haliburton Farm and did some volunteering, went to Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse to learn about cider making and eat lunch, and then toured the CCG! It was a fantastic day - I missed last year’s farm crawl so being here this year was a real treat!

On July 10th we had a special open mic night in the garden featuring not one but TWO bands: Filthy Blonde and Savy! The turnout was even better than we’d expected, and we had such a fun time singing and dancing along all night! I say this all the time, but it really is so so so wonderful to get to share the space with so many lovely people - the garden shines her brightest when there is community around :-)

We also ~finally~ got the “Campus Community Garden” sign back up on the outside of our fence (facing Mckenzie Ave). This was a long time coming type of project, and we’re so happy with how it looks! Now, when folks are walking by the garden they can tell what it is that’s behind the hedgerow!

The biweekly knitting circle has continued to go strong - stronger even now that we’ve moved to a 1.5hr circle (1 hour was NOT enough!). Knitting circles are every second Monday night from 6:30-8pm, and the next one is on Monday, August 18th!

At the end of July we put on a new kind of event for the garden, a tattoo event! As part of our open mic event on Thursday, July 24th we had tattoos and mehendi being done. A few months ago we reached out to the lovely folks at The Brass Iris Studio to see if they would be interested in creating a ccg-themed flash sheet and putting on an event with us. They worked with us to come up with ideas, and created an assortment of designs for everyone! We also had our wonderful board member, Priyanka, doing mehendi for folks who wanted a non-permanent option or were just interested in something else! On top of all this, we had Vikes Improv providing endless laughs and fun. This was SUCH an awesome event, and we’re so excited that folks were interested in keeping a little bit of the garden with them forever :-)

Our volunteer work parties (drop-in weekly volunteer times) have continued to run twice a week through July, and will keep being on Wednesday evenings (5-7pm) and Friday afternoons (2-4pm) through August! It’s been lovely to have new folks showing up, and we’re really excited to keep meeting new people as we get closer to the school year! If you’re interested in volunteering with the CCG, come out to a work party! 

Looking forward, August is a big month! We’ve got lots of prep for the school year going on, and some big changes are coming to the garden at the end of the month (stay tuned for that). It’s been such a wonderful summer so far, and we’re excited to see what the rest of the month has in store!

‘Till then, happy gardening!
​
Jessi