The Wandering Jews Are Looking to Root Down

We recently submitted an application to the Six Points Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund. The Fund did a call to visionaries in the Toronto Jewish community asking for their next big idea that would move the community forward.

In our application, we asked for support to help find a permanent home for the Kavanah Garden. UJA Federation generously donated the Garden's current land to us for 3-5 years. Now, in our third year, we have to make a plan to move somewhere else.

As organic gardeners, we spend a lot of time building and strengthening the soil so that our crops can flourish without the synthetic fertilizers. It is therefore very important that we find land that we can stay on for a long period of time and build the soil up over generations.

We hope you enjoy our video. You can view it below or by clicking here: http://sixpoints.ca/project/kavanah-garden

If you or anyone you know might want to be involved in helping us root down, please be in touch.


Kavanah Kids-Summer Camp in the Garden!

We just finished our first week of Kavanah Kids and boy, did we have a blast! Painting, storytelling, catching crayfish and butterflies and learning how to garden. We are super excited for the August session.


Our crew
It finally stopped raining and now we can water the plants.


Water from the creek into the garden...


Sacred river


Seed Exchange


Reading by the Pollinator Garden!


Music with Mati


Look Ima! I found a crayfish!


It all starts with a seed...


Garden Beautification


Composting!



Swallowtails are pretty.


The Good Life



Late Spring in the Kavanah Garden = AWESOME!

With summer just here, we have started harvesting the fruits of our labor! We are also thrilled that the Tikkun Adamah CSA is back at the Kavanah Garden and that 65 families are eating local, organic, fresh vegetables from our friend, Daniel Hoffman.


Harvesting our first radishes for tzedakah !


This toad has taken up residence in our toad abode!


Getting ready to do some serious creak exploration during our thursday afternoon free family drop-in program


Our grapes are doing great! we'll be making our own juice for kiddush in no time!


CSA-Sprouts!


CSA-Green Onions!


CSA-Mustard Greens!

Seeds Balls, Watering Cans and Native Bees


My, oh my! We are a busy bunch of gardeners and ecologists at the Kavanah Garden. Last week, students and teachers from Robbins Hebrew Academy (Bayview) and Netivot HaTorah came out to help make seed balls, tend to our native bees, weed unwanted plants and of course, water the emerging seedlings.

Enjoy this wonderful photo journey of these awesome students working joyfully with nature at the Garden.


The Garden of Sages features sage plants from around the world with quotes from various sages.
Seed Balls are awesome!

We love getting our hands dirty!

Planting is fun!

Learning about native pollinators at the Kavanah Garden's Pollinator Garden.

Planting seeds.

Watering is the best!

Vermicomposting with Shoresh's lead Environmental Educator, Kyla.

JKs love the garden.

Precious.

Worms + Seeds + Soil= Awesome




"This was by far and away the best field trip I have ever gone on."
-Day school teacher


It takes a community to prepare a garden


Over the past few weeks, Shoresh's Kavanah Garden has been visited by many. Humans, mining bees, hawks, turkey vultures, an American Toad, a Leopard Frog, a Garder snake and many more species have come out to enjoy the beautiful garden. One of the many lessons we have learned over this time has been that it takes a community to plant and prepare a garden. People are the key actors in community gardens and we are so grateful for our ever growing team of volunteers who are helping to develop and grow the Kavanah Garden.


Jewish Environmental Educators Training

The humans have been particularly helpful. Three weeks ago we ran our first Jewish Environmental Educators Training at Shoresh's Kavanah Garden! Eight of us studied, planted, and prepped together for 3 days, learning how to integrating Jewish texts and teachings into garden-based activities and projects!


Philosophizing about the connections between Judaism, agriculture and sustainability.

Shoresh staff, Kyla Landon filling up our new raised beds.

Yoga? Dance? Neither! The Jewish Environmental Educators are spreading native wildflower seeds to help attract native pollinators to the Kavanah Garden with the help of some homemade seed balls!


Lag Ba'Omer

On Sunday May 30th, in honor of Lab Ba'Omer, 30 people came out and helped transform and prepare the garden for the 2011 growing season. Together we finished building 16 raised beds, planted Jerusalem artichokes, tomatoes, corn, sunflowers, radishes, nastursiums, lettuces in wheelchairs beds and made deer scares out of old CDS to keep deer from eating our gardens (sorry deer, we love you but we want to enjoy and share the fruits of our labor!).


Wheelchair accessible gardens are ready for planting lettuce and radishes!


Human-power pedaled mowing! There's no electricity at Shoresh's Kavanah Garden...thank goodness we have lots of volunteer muscle power to mow the open areas using our own push lawnmower!

Helping prepare our worm bins for another season of eating and pooping!


Lag Ba'Omer is the only day between Passover and Shavuot when traditionally observant Jews are permitted to cut their hair. So Marc took the opportunity to shave!




Yom Manual Labour

Yesterday we celebrated Yom Manual Labor at the Garden. Twenty eager workers came out to prepare the garden for the season. We assembled ten new raised beds, tilled the soil, pulled out some weeds, picked up garbage, turned the compost, fixed the shed and put up our beautiful new sign!


Ruvena, 2010 Kavanah Garden Intern, helped build our unnamed Scarecrow last year an placed him in the garden yesterday. We are accepting names for him. Cast your vote/suggestion here.


J Scott MacIvor, PhD Candidate at York University is conducting innovative research about native pollinators at the Kavanah Garden. For details on his project, visit http://www.tobee.ca/.


Meet our 2011 Interns: Jenny and Bronwyn. Welcome to the team ladies!


Alice meets a millipede.


Weeding, tilling, preparing, oh my!


Thank you to Transtek Graphic Systems for donating this wonderful sign to the garden!


Preparing last years in ground beds for our new raised beds.


Wind swept through the garden and lifted up our shed!