17 May
The Greenest City’s gardens and programs served 3400 people last year.
THANK-YOU to everyone who made that possible!
High Fives!
And let’s try to beet that number this year 
There’s more details and stats in our 2012 Annual Report that’s hot off the press.
15 May
Greenest City is looking for two super students who are searching for an awesome, hands on summer!
If you’re returning to high school, college, or university in the fall and are between
15-30 years of age, see the the information below or head here.
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We have 2 summer student openings starting June 10, 2013
Join Greenest City’s Youth Green Squad
15 May
The HOPE Garden is located in the vibrant community of South Parkdale.
Over the years, Parkdale has undergone much transformation. Did you know that Parkdale was once its own town in the 19th century?
Check out this fascinating BlogTO post!
The neighbourhood is very different today. Parkdale is now one of Toronto’s most diverse areas. Many cultures compose the social fabric of the community. Over 50 percent of all families in South Parkdale self-identify as immigrants, and close to 45 percent speak a language other than English or French at home. (You can find these and more stats here.)
One major reason why the H.O.P.E. garden is so vital to the community is that 90 percent of South Parkdale’s 25,000 residents are property renters and more than 45 percent are low income families. The accessible plots allow gardeners to grow the foods needed for their cultural cuisines for free.
14 May
Something’s sprouting in South Parkdale…
The Greenest City is excited to kick off another growing season with around 75 community gardeners from the neighbourhood planting the seeds for a fruitful harvest.
On Saturday, May 11th, the HOPE Garden officially opened its gates beside the Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre. Participants from Parkdale tilled, laid compost, and planted everything from beets to bok choy. Gardeners have committed to maintaining their plots for the whole season, but they wont be doing it alone. Many will work the soil with friends and family, some with community groups, and of course, all with the help of Greenest City employees and volunteers.
The free garden plots are situated in a 4000-square-foot space on Cowan Avenue at Queen Street West in Toronto. The garden’s emphasis is on growing food organically, but flowers will help beautify and attract pollinators as well. The year 2013 is the HOPE Garden’s 7th growing season.
Keep updated on the HOPE garden’s growth on Facebook and Twitter.
13 Aug
TODAY IN GREENEST CITY I LOVED THE WHOLE DAY LITERALLY FROM THE MINUTE THAT I GOT AT THE HIGH PARK’S CHILDREN GARDEN UNTIL THE END THAT CAME TO OUR MORE THAN CHILD’S PLAY PERIOD. OKAY LET’S GET TO BUISNESS, I ENJOYED THE GREAT RESPONSIBILTY OF HELPING THE KIDS IN THE HIGH PARK CHILDREN’S GARDEN AND I THINK THAT ALL OF MY TEAMATES(DOLKAR, AND EOIN) ENJOYED OT TOO BUT I WOULDN’T TRUST THAT SOURCE OF INFORMATION BECAUSE IT MIGHT E MISINFORMATIVE.
SOON I WAS SO FILLED WITH WORK THAT I COULDN’T GET ENOUGH TIME TO THINK BUT WITH THE WORK CAME THAT FAMILIAR FEELING OF ADRELINE FLOWING THROUGH ME. EVEN THOUGH WE DIDN’T DO A LOT OF WORK I STILL THINK THAT WE ACCOMPLISHED A GREAT DEAL WHICH BRINGS A QUOTE TO MY MIND ACCOMPLISHING SMALL THINGS BRING BIG STRIFE. YEAH IT’S KIND OF WEIRD BUT THE MEANING IS TRUE AND I THINK THAT THIS QUOTE APPLIES TO THIS SITUATION, AFTER WORKING THE GARDEN WE PAYED A SMALL VISIT TO THE OFFICE FOR THE GARDEN AND ONCE WE HAD FINSIHED BRAINSTORMING IDEAS FOR THE VISIT NEXT WEEK WHERE WE WOULD BE HELPING THE GARDEN’S DROP IN WHICH WAS HAPPENING NEXT WEEK.
WHEN WE WERE FINISHED THAT WE ALL RETURNED BACK TO MASARYK COWAN TO THE GREENEST CITY OFFICE. AFTER FINSHING THIS I FELT AMAZINGLY HAPPY SINCE I LEARNED A LOT OF THINGS AND ALSO IMPROVED MY SKILLS ARSENAL.
THIS MAY BE THE LAST BLOG THAT I WILL POST FOR THE YGS BUT I THANK THE READERS BECAUSE THEY ARE TAKING THE TIME AND FOCUS TO READ MY WORK THANK YOU AGAIN BECAUSE WITHOUT YOU THINGS WOULDN’T TURN OUT THIS WAY.
SINCERELY,
TENZIN NAMSEL
13 Aug
I know it’s been a while since I last wrote a blog, but this week I’m back! First and foremost, I’ve been working for greenest city for 5 weeks now and I only have one week left. Sad I know, but they have treated me well and I’ve come to love working for them. They have given me so many learning opportunities and have taught me a million things about my neighborhood that I never knew. Lately, the Youth Green Squad has been setting up the mural in our youth garden and sketch is preparing a leaving due for us when we leave next week.
But enough of the down sides, now on to the fun stuffs we did.
We haven’t been to the farmers market this week due to the bank holiday Monday, well, I went but no one else did (I went shopping!) and there were a lot of people just chilling and buying food and having a good time. On Tuesday though we had work at PARC which is always fun and rewarding. This week we made hotdog weenies with bread and salad, and some cooked squash that I didn’t eat, I dun like the taste.
Sadly, our plans to go to the brick works went down the manure express due to too many things needed to be done around the office and instead we had a “field trip” to the Parkdale health center for about an hour. We finally got round to cleaning out the hope gardens shed so that it was more accessible, though I didn’t like being inside it because it had been overrun with spiders.
And on a final note, this is my final blog whilst working for Greenest city. Not many people will read this but I like to think at least a few people have and have enjoyed what I’ve got to say. On top of that it has been a tremendous pleasure working with my fellow youth squad members and for Greenest City, and I hope to see my co-workers doing well in the future and saving the environment one leaf at a time.
23 Jul
Hello people my name is Tenzin Namsel and I will be talking about how
Thursday was one of the hardest days I had in the Youth Green Squad
program.
The heat wave was murderous and I could actually feel myself tiring
before I had even started any work. I was sweating like mad when I was
working and the heat nearly made me fall down from tiredom. Impossibly, I
still pushed myself to work because more than anything else I was
gaining experience from working right out in the sun.
I learned how to bear the heat and I also learned how to weed. I
learned how to water plants and save seeds. I’m looking forward to the
weekend for every week. I have learned a lot about how to garden, and
how to cook and it is a great experience working with amazing people
on amazing topics. I truly feel honored to work with a great bunch of
team mates and also having a good time together work on issues that
need to be addressed by the public and the city of Toronto.
Thanks for reading this,
Tenzin Namsel
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