Village Vancouver Newsletter July 2012

Village Vancouver Newsletter and Calendar of Events 

July 2012

Welcome to the July 2012 edition of the Village Vancouver monthly newsletter and Calendar of Events


Oftentimes things start slowing down in July in Vancouver, but as it turns out, this month looks to potentially be one of the busiest in Village Vancouver's history! With dozens of courses being offered as part of Village Vancouver's Transition School is partnership with Langara College, our first ever AGM on July 17th, projects being unrolled across the city, and many more events, July will be a watershed month for the Transition movement in Vancouver!


We wish you all a great start to your summer, and hope to see you at one of the many events we are organising or participating in the coming weeks. Happy Transitioning!


Your July newsletter team,
Jordan, Sharon and Ross

Village Vancouver's first video newsletter!

Thanks to the media-savvy thinking of VV Convenor Ross Moster and the board's own videographer extraordinaire Dana Wilson, we decided to try something new and  different this summer - a video newsletter! Now how many other organisations do you know of that do this? This short video will give you a good summary of what has been happening in June and important happenings in July, which turns out to be an exceptionally busy month for Village Vancouver!




Kits Blitz
In June, 25 Villagers participated in a Permaculture Blitz to transform a lawn in Kitsilano into a permacultured garden. See more photos of the process here, courtesy of Sharon Zvonar.

Village Vancouver Quick Updates

  • Our first Annual General Meeting as a Society is coming up on July 17th! Become a member of the Village Vancouver Transition Society now so that you can participate fully and help us accomplish our common goals! Please note: Being a member of the Village Vancouver website does not confer automatic membership in the Society.
  • There is an amazing set of classes and workshop taking place as part of Langara College's Sustainable Communities Summer School from July 7th-13th! Langara has teamed up with Village Vancouver's Transition School to put together a broader selection of classes than ever before, from how to start a collaborative garden to Food Energy Descent to  community currencies and much, much more. As a Transitioner, you may feel a bit like a kid in a candy store! See below or click here for more details.








Sustainable Communities Summer School and Village 

Vancouver Transition School at Langara


July 7-13 2012


The Sustainable Communities Summer School is a gathering of people who want to make their neighbourhood and wider world sustainable: a society rooted in social and environmental justice. Join us to learn skills, gain knowledge, develop strategies, and create visions, for creating sustainable communities.

Courses are offered in three streams: Community & Cultural DevelopmentCommunication & Facilitation, and Social Ecology.  Workshops are interactive and provide participants with practical knowledge and skills.

Again this year, we will be collaborating with Village Vancouver's Transition School to offer courses on Re-Skilling, Community Building and Big Picture. 




Join us for the first ever Village Vancouver AGM!

Help set the course of our movement on July 17th!


We welcome you to join us on at our inaugural Village Vancouver Transition Society AGM, 1st ever election for the Board of Directors and Mini-demo Village - Seed Library (bring seeds to swap!) and more.


The AGM will take place on Tuesday, July 17th in the Employee (Staff) Lounge at Langara College, with a potluck starting at 6pm, followed by the board election and other AGM proceedings at 6:45pm and a visioning session for Village Vancouver starting at 8:15. Click here for more details!


Click here to join the Village Vancouver Transition Society today! Our strength lies with a strong membership.


Thanks for a successful Demo Village!

Village Vancouver's Demo Transition Village at Main Street Car Free Day on June 17th was the biggest and best ever! Thank you to all the 75+ volunteers who helped with everything from planning to set-up to manning the various booths and displays, showing a greater breadth of Transition projects than ever before.


Thanks to our intrepid photographer Dana Wilson, this year's Demo Village was also one of the best and most beautifully documented! For more photos, click here.





Westside Community Food Markets 

The Westside Community Food Market is coming to your neighbourhood! Kitsilano Neighbourhood House (KNH) and the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) invite you to attend the Westside Community Food Market. Once a week this summer, a stretch of sidewalk in your neighbourhood will be transformed into a community food market. Buy fresh produce from regional farmers and tasty treats from neighbourhood chefs. Markets will happen every Thursday from 4 PM to 7 PM starting on July 5th and running until September 27th.

There’s lots of ways to get involved in this great project and enjoy evenings with your community. Sign up as a volunteer by sending us an email with your interest and availability. We are also still seeking vendors selling locally grown or processed food and people with food and community expertise who want to run 'sidewalk activities'.

Please contact Oliver at admin@spec.bc.ca or 604 736 7732 OR Zsuzsi at zsuzsi@kitshouse.org or 604 736 3588 ext. 31

Earthwalks in Vancouver - Summer and Fall 2012


Three local non-profit groups – Little Mountain Neighbourhood House, Village Vancouver and the False Creek Watershed Society are partnering with the Greenest City Action Plan to create a series of 10 “Earth Walks”.

We live in the city of Vancouver with almost a million residents. We are blessed to be surrounded by mountains, forests, oceans and rivers. But how well do we know the nature in our own backyard? The natural world is present everywhere – from the gardens of Kitsilano to the Lost Streams of False Creek to the Mighty Fraser River and even at the local shopping centre!


Please join us for this exciting series of free walks this summer and fall. The leaders are amazingly knowledgeable in their specialty. So come along to listen to their words, connect with the land and ask lots of questions! Click here for more details!






Homesteader's Emporium opens its doors!

The Homesteader's Emporium, featured in this newsletter in April, is opening its doors for business starting Friday, July 13!

All kinds of products now in stock! We’ve been taking deliveries nearly every day for the past couple weeks. We’ve got a Vancooper chicken coop, Two Bees beekeeping supplies, Weck all-glass canning jars, mushroom kits from The Mushroom Man, organic, BC grown Stellar Seeds, oils and waxes for soap and candle making, rainwater collectors, coffee roasters, dutch ovens, pressure canners, T-shirts, cheese cultures, bulk soil amendments, planters, and grain mills now in stock. More goodies are arriving every day, making Homesteader’s Emporium an exciting place to be!

Grand opening: Join us July 27-29 for three days of workshops, demonstrations, and fun at the Emporium! Pre-registration will be required for some events - join the Homesteader's Emporium mailing list at www.HomesteadersEmporium.ca to be notified when registrations commence.


Hours of business (starting July 13):

Tuesday- Saturday: 10am - 6pm

Sunday: 11am - 5pm

Monday: closed



For more details find us online at www.HomesteadersEmporium.ca, find us on Facebook, or check out the photos on our blog at homesteadersemporium.blogspot.ca.



Permaculture Design Certification Course @ UBC Farm


Design Solutions for Sustainable Food, Building and Community Systems.
Fifteen unforgettable days over three weeks in Vancouver and surrounding bioregion.

Internationally recognized certification with UBC student credit available.


August 20 - Sept 10th, $975 - $1275



Call-out for Volunteers

As Village Vancouver grows, we're finding that some of our infrastructure is due for an upgrade! For example, we have received feedback from many of you saying that our website would benefit from a makeover that would make it easier to navigate and use, and we are interested in exploring other ways that we can use IT to make our activities easier and more effective.

Are you knowledgeable about web design and/or development or information technology generally? Would you like like to be able to leverage your skills to help further the Transition movement in the Lower Mainland? If so, please get in touch with us at volunteer@villagevancouver.ca! We would certainly appreciate your help.

Even if you're not an IT-afficionado, there are many other ways we could use your help! If you could be interested in volunteering with Village Vancouver, please fill out this form to let us know a bit about yourself.


Village Vancouver Calendar of Events