Presenting … Greenest City’s 2010 calendar!

It’s an annual tradition of ours, and a way for us to share what we’ve accomplished in the year that was.

Featuring beautiful pictures of the people and work of Greenest City, the calendar is a perfect gift for yourself and to your family and friends as we near the holiday season.

The calendar includes all the important Canadian and multicultural holidays, as well as the different lunar phases, daylight saving time days, environmental dates, among other things. The boxes are bigger than last year’s, so you can have enough space to fill it out with notes. The design is crisp and simple, and we look forward to hearing what you have to say about it when you hold it.

Some preview shots:

Please click here to find out how you can get these calendars. Apologies for the multiple linkages. WordPress doesn’t approve of paypal’s “buy now” buttons, so our website is the only place where you can click on it.

For comparison, here are 2008 and 2009 calendars.

Enjoy!

Parkdale Food, Earth and Culture Festival

Sunday, Sept 27, 12 noon – 4 pm
Masaryk Park, 220 Cowan Ave

Come celebrate Parkdale, healthy food and the environment with Greenest City. Featuring a variety of musical performances: Baro Dununba (African drummers), Mario “the Voyce” Murray (hiphop), Tibetan youth cultural performance, among others. We will serve food prepared by local restaurants using local produce from farmers’ market. We’ll even have a farmers’ market for you to buy local produce from!

Other features include: arts + crafts activities, children’s games, eco workshop, bike tune-ups and a Shiatsu massage tent.

All of the activities above are free of charge. We only ask a minimum donation of $2 for a plate of our delectable dish. So please join us.

If you would like to volunteer, sponsor, or have any questions, please contact us at 647-438-0038, info[at]greenestcity.ca.

Back by popular demand: the fabulous Greenest City Calendar!

Due to the tremendous popularity of our first calendar last winter, we will be publishing a new one for 2009.

Featuring gorgeous pictures of HOPE garden, people young and older, field trips and potlucks from this year, and beautiful images of plants too. The design is uncluttered and colourful.

This is the gift that gives several times:

All funds will go towards making HOPE garden programs more inclusive next year.

AND…

In Greenest City fashion, the calendar is of highest eco-standards: printed on enviro-stock paper with vegetable-based ink and a “waterless” printing process.

We will have the calendars ready by mid November, but please pre-order now! The calendars are $ 15 each.

Enjoy the beauty of the gardens and community, every page, every day! This calendar will be the perfect gift to your friends and family for this year’s holiday season.

Thank you!

P.S. If you haven’t seen last year’s calendar, view it here!

This year’s promises to be even more beautiful.

It’s that time of the year again. The air is crisp, the elections are over, hockey season is well underway, and in a quiet pocket in the neighbourhood of Parkdale, a community garden is being put to bed before the onset of winter.

What: HOPE Garden Cleanup

When: Sunday, Oct 26. 12 noon – 5 pm

Where: HOPE Garden, 220 Cowan Ave.

So please join us if you are in the area. We’ll share our favourite memories from the garden, meet old friends, and also hot delectable soup.

It’s for the comfort of fall. It’s falling leaves, soft cardigans, and getting ready to prepare for another stronger and more beautiful season of gardening next spring.

What: Food, Earth & Culture Festival
When: Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008. 12 noon – 5 pm
Where: HOPE Garden, Masaryk Park, 220 Cowan Ave. [map]

Featuring acclaimed children’s musician Chris McKhool, and a host of other talents. And best of all – everything is FREE!

There will be:
Food! Sample free food from our delectable Local Food Café… and enjoy an afternoon corn roast and local apples. Local Food Café opens from 12:00-1:30.
Music! Featuring accomplished performer Chris McKhool, who at 1pm will delight with his children’s music for the green-at-heart; also featuring African drummers, Tibetan folk music, storytelling and harpist, and more.
Eco-activities! Arts and crafts, free bike check-ups and garden scavenger adventures.
Fall Fun Fair! 3-legged races, bobbing for apples, hay-bale toss and more! With prizes for the fastest, strongest & silliest!
Press Conference! Join Greenest City, Organic Gardening Magazine and local dignitaries to officially open our NEW rainwater harvesting system at 12:30 pm.

For more information contact: Gelek 416-922-7626.

And don’t miss out on the satisfaction of volunteering to make it a great day! Please let us know if you could help with one of these important teams:

1) Food preparation [9:30 am – 11:30 am]: 2 hours of chopping help.
2) Set-up team [9 am – 12 noon]: this team is important.
3) Dish Washing Station [11:45 – 2:00 pm]: help keep the dishwashing station stocked and moving well.
4) Corn Roast [1:30 – 4 pm]: be a fire keeper, husker and all-around corn-y king.
5) Food Servers [11:45 am – 1:30 pm]: have the pleasure of serving local organic food to guests.
6) Clean-up [4:30pm – 6:30pm]: the all-star “many hands make light work” team.
7) Runners [12- 2pm and 2-4pm]: fetch things that we need during the day.

Volunteer letters and hours will be provided. Just email us and say what team you would like to be a part of.

So come on over and have yourself a good time with the folks from Parkdale & HOPE Community garden.

[Our thanks to the city of Toronto and Parkdale BIA for their support in making this event possible.]

Position: Project Manager, From the Ground UP
(full-time, 1-year contract, with possibility of extension)
Organization: Greenest City, www.greenestcity.net
Application deadline: September 15, 2008, Start date: September 24, 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada

Greenest City’s project, From the Ground UP, is an initiative centred around urban food production and education with marginalized communities in Parkdale, and employs youth as garden animators and environmental leaders. This position will lead the ongoing refinement of and securing of funds for the project, and oversee all aspects of project implementation for 2009. Reports to Greenest City’s Director of Projects.
For more information on the project, see the website and HOPE Garden blog (http://hopecommunitygarden.wordpress.com).

Responsibilities:
• Project implementation
• Secure funds for From the Ground UP project
• Recruit, hire and supervise staff
• Involve and empower volunteers
• Facilitate community capacity-building with the steering committee of the HOPE Community Garden (element of From the Ground UP project)
• Ensure community outreach is undertaken to attract community members to the above programming
• Develop and maintain relationships with core program partners
• Establish and monitor program budgets
• Fulfill donor and funder reporting requirements
• Refinement and evaluation of existing projects (ongoing)
• Development and implementation of new programming
• Help develop organizational policies and systems
• Update website and other communications materials
• Participate in the strategic planning for the organization as required
• Participate in Board of Director’s Meetings as required

You are/have:
• At least 3 years of previous project management experience, with the ability to drive projects from conception through to completion
• Experience in the design of local food and environment projects
• At least 2 examples of well-written grant proposals that you took the lead on, with other fundraising experience considered a strong asset
• Highly motivated, resourceful and passionate – demonstrated commitment to issues of environmental, social and economic justice
• Demonstrated ability to work within a diverse community (people of different ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds)
• A positive and kind way with community volunteers and partners
• Self-starter that can work with minimal supervision when needed
• Excellent facilitation and community development skills
• Previous experience managing staff
• Superior written communication skills
• Ability to speak a language relevant to the South Parkdale neighbourhood
considered a strong asset

Salary: approximately $40,000
Hours: 35 hours/wk
Start date: September 24/08

Please submit your cover letter and résumé by September 15th at 5:00 p.m. to:
shannon[at]greenestcity[dot]ca

We will not accept late résumés.

Greenest City is committed to Employment Equity and encourages applicants from equity seeking groups. We regret that only those applicants being considered will be contacted.

If you were ever interested in the native flora of Ontario, please come and attend our workshop on “Native Plants & Perennials“.

The workshop will be led by Bennet Deakin, and will cover all the important aspects of designing an ecological garden brimming with locally thriving flowers and vegetables.

When: Tuesday, August 12.

Starting at 6 pm till 8 pm.

Please contact us: garden[at]greenestcity.ca or call us at 647-438-0038 for any questions.