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urban agriculture

SCPT Agriculture Video

Sat, 10/20/2007 - 9:34am — Southlands Plan...

The SCPT video commitee and the agriculture committee joined forces to produce this short film that investigates some ideas of how agriculture will fit in to an overall plan for the Southlands. The film was premiered at the October 20 Open House.

Planning Session Number 8

Fri, 09/07/2007 - 12:02pm — Southlands Plan...

A great night for an after dinner walk! The weather held on a beautiful late summers night which gave the SCPT the opportunity to see the scope of the land from a seldom seen vantage point.

Urban Agriculture...Earthwise style

Thu, 07/26/2007 - 11:49am — Mike Schneider

An hour with my daughter on a beautiful afternoon at the Earthwise facility gave pause to think about things and how they might be integrated in to a land use plan for the Southlands. Take a look at the video below. Make some time to visit 3rd and Boundary Bay road (Red barn)...you'll be glad you did.

May 27 2007...SCPT Session Seven

Thu, 06/28/2007 - 9:47am — Southlands Plan...

Edward Porter
Edward Porter led a fascinating discussion revolving around agriculture at our seventh planning session. Edward was in town a little over a year or so ago and addressed a Smart Growth BC seminar dealing with 'edge' use of land. Simply put, the edge is where residential land meets agricultural land.
Edward wrote his Masters Thesis on design in the 'edge' and used the Southlands as the foundation of his thesis.
A short movie on the discussion is available below or by clicking Here
Sean also provided a brief slideshow on Fairview Gardens where 12 acres in the middle of suburban Souther California produces a couple of dozen types of fruits and vegetables for the local community.

Thoughts on Session Seven

Thu, 06/28/2007 - 7:45am — Mike Schneider

Farming in Tsawwassen?
I really enjoyed the presentation form Edward Porter and the ensuing discussion from the group. The topic of small niche agricultural lots cropped up and there was some really interesting commentary from many members of the group.
An example of what can be done on small plots of land was shown in a brief power point by Sean. His family visited a 12 acre farm in the middle of several sub divisions in Southern California earlier this year. The property, Fairview Gardens, provides the community with many types of fruits and vegetables and is an excellent example of intensive use of arable land. Take a look at the Fairview Virtual Tour
This session was extremely important in my view and I believe that our community needs to look at practical niche applications of agriculture but it also has to consider regarding agriculture as inherently good in the many ways discussed last night. eg.....Practical, Recreational and Educational.
Great session!

A great Night at the Barn

Tue, 05/06/2008 - 11:02pm — Southlands Plan...

Andres Duany

 

A couple of hundred locals showed up to listen to what Andres Duany had to say at the first of three public events within the Southlands Design Charrette.Take a look at the Charrette Diary Page to get a sense of the event.

Local Restaurant Businesses fuel Small Plot Organic Farming

Sun, 04/27/2008 - 5:39pm — Mike Schneider

The expression "selling the farm" should be regarded a little more closely when we reminisce about local large scale farming of yesteryear. Local Dairy , beet or potato farming that USED to take place locally is no longer given any guarantee of success now. Who would pay to buy this land to grow and produce this type of product now?

Certainly an agricultural component can exist on the Southlands but it does not make sense to suggest it should be of a type that existed a few decades ago or that all of the land could be farmed. The math does not work for the owner of the land and it would certainly be a challenge for any investor to produce a financial model that made sense to farm all of the land now.

Hence the compromise that will be discussed at the table in the coming weeks. The challenge is to recognize innovation and dive in to opportunity.

Some farmers and restauranteurs are doing this now and this type of relationship is what will drive the future of the Southlands. Small plot Urban agriculture is a very real and profitable business for new thinking farmers who are creative enough to recognize dollar signs when they see them.

There is a very interesting story in the April 26 Vancouver Sun that shows how a relationship can develop between small scale producers and local customers. This has Southlands written all over it.

Tsawwassen has a very real opportunity to excel here. Let's be open minded enough to explore the possibilities.

Design Brief

Fri, 04/18/2008 - 12:39pm — Southlands Plan...

After many hundreds of hours of discussion, research and planning, the Southlands Community Planning Team is pleased to present the Southlands Design Brief. This document will be the foundation for the upcoming Design Charrette May 6-May 13

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments on the Design Brief which is attached below as a pdf file.

"Farming the City"

Wed, 04/09/2008 - 7:51am — Southlands Plan...

School Garden Plot

Here is a recent and interesting article in the San Francisco Chronicle regarding residential development and food production

Charade?

Tue, 04/08/2008 - 9:58am — Southlands Plan...

This from John Meech.......

Made to Order

Wed, 05/16/2007 - 10:51am — Mike Schneider

Growing Our Own
There was an excellent article in the VANCOUVER SUN today which describes the realtionship that well know Vancouver Chef John Bishop has with organic farmers Naty and Gary King of Hazelmere Organic Farms.

Perhaps a portion of the Southlands in a mixed use environment could be dedicated to organic niche agricultural product and marketed to local chefs and chefs such as John Bishop in Vancouver?

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