Food

By Robin Hadac and Nikoo Boroumand At the Farm to School BC Spring Celebration, one of the schools SPEC works with, John Norquay Elementary, was awarded the highest award for a school garden. The Farm to School BC Pollinator Award recognizes Farm to School programs and school teams that act as pollinators within their community: […]

By Olga Lansdorp, Tara Moreau, and Robin Hadac Today, there is a group of individuals representing educational institutions, non-profit organizations, cooperatives, and other groups with a focus on small-scale, diversified agriculture, who are all aware of what the other organizations strive to accomplish over the next five years. They are also aware of the funding

By Olga Lansdorp Olga is the program manager for SPEC’s Climate Change Adaptation for Small Scale Farmers program.  It was a cold, windy morning in late January, but that didn’t stop the farmers, presenters, volunteers, and other interested parties from coming to the Scandinavian Community Centre in Burnaby, BC. It promised to be a day filled with

By Art Bomke and Wayne Temple Art Bomke is a SPEC Director and co-wrote this piece for the Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust newsletter. You can find the complete article here.  In the Beginning: It’s hard to believe that nearly 25 years have flown by since the inception of the Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust (DF&WT). In spite of

By Olga Lansdorp, Project Coordinator, Climate Change Adaptation for Small Scale Farmers, Society Promoting Environmental Conservation Have you ever had your eyes opened to a new way of seeing the world, to find that there is no turning back? I first experienced this when I was 18 and worked studying birds in the Rocky Mountains;

By Janey Lee, Teacher at Thunderbird Elementary, SPEC Fundraiser and Celebration Speech,  Good evening everyone. My name is Janey Lee and for the past 19 years I have been proudly teaching at Thunderbird Elementary. Thunderbird is a Tier 1 inner city, east side school in Vancouver. Thunderbird is located across the street from the largest

By Dr. Art Bomke, SPEC Director The article in the September 8th Vancouver Sun refers to recent census data that is reflecting a loss of farms and fewer farmers in Metro Vancouver. It may seem odd that an urban-based environmental organization like SPEC would be engaged in supporting local farmers, however, our ongoing Climate Change Adaptation

By Amrita Pooni Amrita is a student entering her final year of university. She is majoring in a B.A. of International Relations at the University of British Columbia. She is currently interning with the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) ​as the facilitator of the annual Westside Community Food Market (a partnership with Kitsilano Neighbourhood House)​.  As a student, working on the Westside Community Food Market has

Written by Karla Olson Why did you become a farmer? “I used to work in a government office doing IT and found myself looking out the window all the time longing to be in the fresh air and sunshine. I started volunteering with the permaculture Vancouver meet-up group and loved the experience of gardening and