Show search options
You are on the [cover page] of folder [Events]Events
Upcoming & Current Events
Green Thumbs Growing Kids Garden Party & Flower Tasting Fundraiser May 16 Event
|
|
|
|
A big, big thank you to those that attended the GTGK Garden Party and Flower Tasting Fundraiser on Sunday! Also a giant thank you to board members, staff, volunteers, and attendees who helped make this event happen. A special thank you to Anne who kept the tasty food coming, Lawrence for playing bartender and Guille for making alfajores with candied flowers that Sunday had prepared, our musicians Fado Blues, featuring Catarina Cardeal and Mike Siracusa; Blake Howard, Michael-Owen Liston and Doug Tielli; Watershed - Andres Descalzi, Keli Bellaire, Anna Eidt; our emcee Mary-Margaret and of course Allan Gardens Children's Conservatory for letting us use their wonderful space.
To learn what else happened at the event and what food Anne Sorrenti made, and see a list of our generous donors please go to our blog by clicking here.
For more photos, please go to our Flickr page here.
Recent Events
Green Thumbs Growing Kids Garden Party & Flower Tasting Fundraiser
Experience the beautiful Victorian-era greenhouses and a new children's garden at Allan Gardens Children Conservatory by joining us on Sunday May 16th from 1 to 4 pm, while supporting food growing and environmental education programs in 3 inner-city schools and 2 park sites at Green Thumbs Growing Kids' Garden Party & Flower Fundraiser.
Sample a fantastic menu prepared by our chef Anne Sorrenti, inspired by and infused with local organic seasonal flowers and herbs, and sip an assortment of delicious sunteas & creative mocktails.
There will also be a silent auction, live music, door prizes such as seeds and plants, and other exciting spring activities & games for the whole family. This is a great opportunity to spend a lovely afternoon celebrating spring and all it has to offer!
Adults: $ 50 Children: Free
You can purchase tickets online. You can also RSVP by contacting us at info@kidsgrowing.ca and pay at the door. A receipt for a portion of the ticket cost can be issued.
There will be more details to come as we get closer to the date! Subscribe to our blog or check it frequently to see updates!
Come and enjoy a spring afternoon with us AND help support Green Thumbs Growing Kids connecting children and healthy food through gardening and nature activities!
Sample menu items inspired by the sights and smells of spring to be savoured at the Garden Party & Flower Tasting:
- Flower Petal Tortilla Pinwheels with fresh Salsa
- Sauteed Day Lily Buds and Wild Mushroom Tart
- Herb Flower Pesto and Chevre with Crispy Leeks on Crostini
- Herbed Scones with Old Cheddar and Hot Pepper Jelly
- Tea Sandwiches with flower and herb infused cream cheese and other fillings
- Nasturtium Lemon Butter glazed Salmon on a Chive and Thyme Potato Cake
- Lavender Shortbread
Silent Auction Items:
- Autographed copies of Margaret Atwood's novel the Year of the Flood
- An audiobook of the Year of the Flood
- Urban Harvest organic heirloom seeds & plants
- A subscription to Green Teacher magazine
- An assortment of fun gift baskets
- A 100$ gift certificate to Hothouse Cafe
- A framed photo from professional food and agriculture photographer Laura Berman
- A Chocosol $50 dollar gift basket full of goodies and a $150 tasting workshop at the Chocosol loft
MORE INFO TO COME!
Green Thumbs at Seedy Saturday...on a Sunday - This February 21st!
Green Thumbs Growing Kids will have a table at Seedy Saturday... on a Sunday, Toronto's best Eco Fair, at the Green Barns from 12:30pm to 6:00pm on February 21st. They'll be heirloom seed vendors, a seed exchange area, garden workshops, children's activities and food at this fun event. Come by and say hi!
For more information please go to the Toronto Community Garden Network website here.
Winter workshops & projects
Although it's cold and there's frost outside, Green Thumbs Growing Kids is busy with winter workshops! We are continuing with Stone Soup and seed saving classroom workshops, experimenting with season extension techniques outdoors, organizing cooking sessions and growing under lights with middle school students, planning for upcoming projects and educational workshops in the new year and many other exciting endeavours! We also recently ran a seed saving workshop with St. James Town youth in collaboration with U4Change and organized a well attended teacher workshop in collaboration with the Garden and Food Curriculum Working Group.
Green Thumbs presenting at the Toronto Food Policy Council Meeting
The "Toronto Food Policy Council will be holding its first-of-the-year public meeting on February 10, 2010. With big changes afoot in the world of food and education, the meeting will explore school gardening, food literacy, the recently announced ban on junk food in schools and, of course, any recent news concerning the development of Toronto Public Health's Food Strategy".
Our very own Sunday Harrison is one of the panelists speaking on the topic of school food gardening and food literacy. The other panelists are Talia Singer, Toronto Public Health Nurse, and Wai Yin Mok, Vice-Principal of James S. Bell Jr. Middle School.
Again the meeting is taking place on Wednesday, February 10, 2010, from 2:00 to 5:00 pm, in Committee Room #4, at Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West.
Fall workshops in our schools
Green Thumbs Growing Kids staff is in the thick of the fall harvest season and taking advantage of the garden bounty! We are in the midst of doing harvesting workshops, as well as garden maintenance, with classes at our partnering schools in the TDSB and the French school board, the Conseil Scolaire de District du Centre-Sud-Ouest. So far we've made pesto and salad, made herbal tea and dandelion root coffee, had many garden tasting tours, and have had nutritional workshops. We've also been able to pick for the school salad bar at Winchester P.S. too!
Past Events
Green Thumbs at Harvest Wednesdays
Green Thumbs Growing Kids attended Harvest Wednesdays on October 7th and August 12th, a weekly culinary summer and fall event showcasing a local seasonal menu created by the Gladstone Hotel's Chef Marc Breton. On August 12th we were able to donate some Vietnamese coriander which Marc incorporated in a delicious cucumber and peanut concoction.
Go to the Gladstone Hotel for more details.
Green Thumbs at the Brick Works Picnic on October 4th
Green Thumbs was at the Brick Works Picnic on October 4th. Hosted by Slow Food Toronto and Evergreen, the Picnic is a fundraiser, celebrating local food producers teaming up with award-winning chefs as they work side-by-side to offer the best locally sourced produce, artisan products, wine and beer.
Green Thumbs Growing Kids participated as a member of the Community Marketplace.
Go to the Evergreen Brick Works website for more details.
Green Thumbs partners with LEAF for a tree tour in St. James Town
LEAF and Green Thumbs Growing Kids led an engaging and informative walk through St.James Town on Wednesday September 23rd, where a group of over 60 people learned about the lives of individual trees in the neighbourhood, the benefits of the urban forest and easy ways to care for this valuable resource, as well as the history about the neighbourhood.
photo courtesy of LEAF
photo courtesy of LEAF
Please go to the LEAF tree tour website for more details or contact Green Thumbs Growing Kids at (647)FIT-KIDS.
Green Thumbs at Cabbagetown Festival on September 12th
This year Green Thumbs was at the corner of Winchester and Parliament to show off its various school gardens and programs through art, photography and some tasty treats from the gardens.
Go to the Cabbagetown Festival website for more details.
Summer Garden Drop-Ins for Families
From July 7th to August 27th families from the neighbourhood are welcome to come by the Winchester school garden and the Rose Avenue school garden once a week to harvest, compost,water and take care of the garden. Come by Tuesday evenings at Winchester from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm and Thursday evenings at Rose from 6:30pm to 8:00pm!
Green Toronto Awards 2009 Winners
Green Thumbs Growing Kids is happy to announce that we won an Environmental Awareness Award! Go to the Green Toronto Awards 2009 website to see videos of all the finalists, award winners and a short blurb on us. We had a great time!
 |
 Green Thumbs with Mayor David Miller and actor Ed Begley Jr. |
Spring Workshops
We ran an early spring greenhouse program from March to the end of May at Allan Gardens Children's Conservatory for four visiting schools with seven different interactive curriculum-linked programs for different grade levels:
- Kindergarten - Grassy head growing and wheatgrass juice tasting
- Grade 1 - Samir and the Sunflower - an activity that looked at plant needs
- Grade 2 - Dress Up a Bean Plant and Fabulous Five - activities from Shelburne Farms
- Grade 3/4 - You Eat What You Are - the Plant Parts Game
- Grade 5 - Rock to Apple and Apple Earth - a soil exploration activity adapted from Shelburne Farms
- Grade 6 - Biodiversity City - an activity looking at urban ecosystems, and garden and agricultural biodiversity
- Grade 7/8 - Making a Banana Split - a social justice activity adapted from the Stop Community Food Centre and the Supermarket Tour
After the age-specific programs, each visiting class screened compost, prepared potting soil and started seedlings in the greenhouse for their school garden which we brought to their schools for transplanting by the students in May.
In addition, we also started to run outdoor programs in April that ran until the end of the school year with classes directly sowing seeds, composting, mulching and building new garden beds. We also helped run weekly garden clubs that were more recreational in nature at both Winchester P.S. and Rose Avenue P.S., as well as helping with the grade 7 and 8 Eco-Club Team at Winchester. A busy spring all around!
Green Toronto Awards Nomination!
Green Thumbs Growing Kids is excited to be finalists for the Environmental Awareness Award for the upcoming 2009 Green Toronto Awards. The Environmental Awareness Award is for an individual, group or company who has helped people understand the delicate balance of the natural and man-made worlds as they interact in the City of Toronto.
The public is invited to attend and cheer on the finalists at this free event which kicks-off this year’s Green Living Show! Mayor David Miller, Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, and actor and environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr. will announce the winners at the Green Toronto Awards ceremony on April 23, 2009 at the Direct Energy Centre, Heritage Court on the Green Living Show Main Stage. Come join us!
Go to the Green Toronto Awards website for more information and to read about the other finalists.
Winter Workshops
For the first time ever Green Thumbs Growing Kids has been able to run classroom workshops, in English and in French, all winter long in many of its schools. Highlights included a breadmaking workshop with grade 3 students, a food and media literacy workshop, growing under lights, and a stone soup workshop.
Other notable programs were our weekly after-school garden club, and a cooking club for 9 to 11 year olds featuring chef Bashir Munye at the Toronto Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club. Bashir was able to ignite culinary and food appreciation among the many participants who came back again and again each week to learn and make many tasty dishes such as chicken mole and vegetable tagine.
Cabbagetown Festival
Green Thumbs Growing Kids was once again proudly at the Cabbagetown Festival on Saturday, September 6. The Cabbagetown Festival took place Wednesday, September 3, to Sunday, September 7, 2008 and featured stage entertainment, the Grand Parade, pubs and patio entertainers, and street vendors on the weekend. Green Thumbs was at the corner of Winchester and Parliament to show off its various school gardens through art, photography and some tasty treats from the gardens. The highlight of the day was the breaking of the seed pinata, constructed and creatively designed by over 80 children passing through Parliament street, over at Winchester School Garden.
Go to the Cabbagetown Festival website for more details.
Harvest Wednesdays
Green Thumbs Growing Kids was present at Harvest Wednesdays at the Gladstone Hotel on August 6th and July 9th with other community partners FoodShare and Slow Food Toronto. Green Thumbs will also attend the last tasting on September 10. Harvest Wednesdays is a weekly culinary summer event showcasing a local seasonal menu created by the Gladstone Hotel's Chef Marc Breton. Produce from our gardens was featured on the menu!
Go to the Gladstone Hotel for more details.
Biodiversity Action Day
May 22 we celebrated Biodiversity at Allan Gardens Children's Greenhouse
...in celebration of Year of the Potato
Organized by the Garden and Food Curriculum Working Group
participating organizations included:
the Stop Community Food Centre
Co-sponsors:
We had a fun and educational day planned with four grade-six classes that came to Allan Gardens Children's Conservatory. Children had an opportunity to do hands-on activities about biodiversity, and enjoyed their lunch outside Allan Gardens. For more information please contact Green Thumbs Growing Kids.
Learn more about International Year of the Potato
and International Biodiversity Day
Our Poster:
Content last modified on June 01, 2010, at 05:39 PM EST