In March 2022 we had to say a sad goodbye to our Garden Manager, Chelsea Dozois. Before she left, Chelsea organized and led a SOG Book Club, a session on nutrition with Elycia Thompson, and a second on-line symposium. We were still under restrictions so our Book Club was virtual. Chelsea chose the books Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and To Speak for the Trees by Diana Beresford-Kroeger. We had excellent discussions led by Chelsea who made sure the participants each had a copy of the book. Funds from the New Horizons grant funded the purchase of the books. The highlight of the symposium was a talk by Diana Beresford-Kroeger. We also had sessions on vermicomposting with the founders of The Box for Life, native wildflowers, soil amelioration, and herbs.
We warmly welcomed Rita Moore as our Garden Helper and are grateful for her willingness to dig right in.
We established a connection with the indigenous seniors at Madawan Lodge on Carmen Avenue through the Gignal Non-profit Housing Corporation.
Thanks to the organic seedling order completed by Chelsea, Rita and Betty were able to pick up hundreds of seedlings from Northern Seeds in Farrellton, Quebec. Seedlings were donated to the seniors at Clementine Avenue, Madawan Lodge, the Bronson Centre, The Olde Forge, Ottawa Community housing residents downtown, and to seniors in their homes. Our Garden Coach led numerous Zoom sessions and submitted articles to Down to Earth.
We secured the services of Ivan Plotnikov to design our new logo and build our website.
