Kaslo

Kaslo People’s Garden

kaslo1Students David Jackson and Tess Hotchkis with Barbara Scott, Selkirk Gardening Teacher, at the vacant lot on Front St. The “Before” Photo – April

The People’s Garden is located between the liquor store and the Landmark Bakery in downtown Kaslo.

The People’s Garden Manifesto starts out, “We have come to the understanding that we can separate gardens—as celebrations of beauty and nutrition—from notions of ownership and commerce.

kaslo2“There is magic in a garden, and sustenance, but ownership is less important than stewardship and there need be no dollar profit. We should have gardens, all of us, to remind us of who we are and the connection between our bodies and the Earth,” and is signed by Woody Wodraska and Barbara Scott, long-time Biodynamic farmers and teachers who have returned to the Kootenays after years away.

The “Manifesto” ends with the fine-print notice, “The People’s Garden is a not-for-profit non-entity.”

kaslo3Woody says, “The heroes and heroines of the coming decades will be those who can grow food with love; food that sings with vitality and natural power. Can we stretch ourselves to care about three generations…even seven generations?”

The couple expects to co-create with the community a downtown Kaslo garden designed as a place of beauty, light, and fragrance where “folks can stop for a minute, pick a flower, admire the scene, maybe munch on a green bean,” says Woody. “What kind of people? Old people, young people, children especially; lonesome people, people who love flowers, people who make peace.”

Stewardship is the focus behind the work, “We all need to remember how to grow our food, and to love the land on which we stand.”

There is a powerful connection between the health of soil and the health of the people who eat the food, the merging of nutrition and care of the land.

Students may enroll in any or all of the 12 mini-courses offered, at the low tuition of $15 for three sessions in one week. Then we skip a week and the next mini-course begins the following week. Some of the topics covered: Planning and Planting, Herbs and Salad Crops, Conscious Composting, Heirloom Seed Saving.