Showing posts with label The Stop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Stop. Show all posts

Monday, October 31, 2016

Harvest Party 2016

Global Roots 2016 came to a celebratory end on Oct 31, with a Harvest Party and Halloween Party!

Some participants came dressed in wigs and funky glasses to celebrate the halloween.

Roy looking bright in purple!

Jiawen rocking the blue locks!

Angelita, our Filipino senior gardener joining in the dress-up!
Carving pumpkins in celebration of Halloween
Others brought a wide range of delicious cultural food to share with everyone else, potluck style!


Maria, our Italian senior gardener, Urszula, our Polish senior gardener and Kulwant, our South Asian senior gardener crossing cultural and linguistic barriers and enjoying one another's company, and the delicious food. 
This wonderful program run in partnership between The Stop Community Food Centre and CultureLink provides the senior and youth newcomer participants with the resources and opportunity to plant and grow their own food, and also to engage in cultural exchange through the sharing of gardening knowledge, food and cooking.


This inter-generational program encourages interaction between folks regardless of age. 
The youth and senior participants also benefit from one another through socializing, exchange of ideas, and helping one another in the gardens.

Wendy and Joyce enjoying some fresh soup cooked with ingredients from the garden. 
One of the most significant benefit of the program is that participants get the opportunity to have access to fresh, organic produce. The difference between organic produce and conventional produce can be noticed in taste and quality of the food that is shared during the program.

Jangchup and Sonam cooking up some Tibetan momos made with organic produce from their garden. 
Final clean up of the garden for the end of the growing season
The physical activity that everyone get from the actual gardening also provides mental and physical health benefits. Some of the senior participants even reported that they sleep especially well every Monday, after the program activity!

Chinese senior gardeners recognized for their participation

Thanks volunteer, Tala, The Stop staff, Angel, CultureLink staff, Lynda and so many others for helping make this program a success!

The Harvest Party brings the 2016 growing season to an end. Stay tuned for the next season starting again in April 2017! Contact CultureLink at 416 588 6288 for more information.








No comments:
Tags , , , ,

Monday, October 17, 2016

Noodle Making Workshop at Global Roots

Global Roots is a program run by The Stop Community Food Centre and CultureLink, for newcomer seniors and youth to share time, knowledge and camaraderie through gardening and food. Today, the Italian senior gardeners taught everyone how to make noodles from scratch!




Here's the basic recipe:
100 g  all purpose flour
1         egg
Estimated amount of water, enough to make the dough stick together nicely.

The Italian seniors were very patient in their explanation. Everyone else was very happy to get to see the demonstration from start to finish. The process is not difficult, but it is somewhat tedious and time consuming.

Yves getting in on the action of rolling out the noodle dough

 We have to first mix the ingredients, then cut the dough into palm sized blocks, flatten each of them out using the noodle making machine, and fold and flatten each of them repeatedly, then roll them through the machine again to cut them into noodle-thin strips, and coating the dough with flour every step of the way, to prevent sticking.




Fatoumata, Janeila and Isidora helping separate the noodles using flour.

Despite the multiple steps we had to go through to make the noodles, the end result was incredibly satisfying. The noodles were cooked in a big pot and dressed in two different styles of sauces made by Angel, our staff from The Stop. It was delicious!




The gardening season is almost over, so things in the gardens are winding down. There's still lots to do to clean and prepare for the next growing season. Next week, we will be planting garlic bulbs and mulching the gardens for the winter.

Check out our find



We will be celebrating the last day of our program for this season on Oct 31. Join us for our Harvest Party + Halloween celebration!




No comments:
Tags , ,

Monday, September 19, 2016

Cook and Share with Global Roots

It's pizzas galore, on this beautiful mid-September Monday afternoon! The seniors from the Italian Garden of CultureLink's Global Roots program made pizzas and for everyone.

We got busy in the kitchen. Everyone was chopping peppers, rolling out the dough, oiling the pans, putting on the topping, frying the Italian pancakes and so on. It was a very exciting experience!




And then the food started to smell delicious! The kitchen was warm, but we enjoyed staying for the mouthwatering aroma of the delightful pizzas coming out of the oven and the delectable Italian-style cheese pancakes coming out of the sizzling pans.

All we could do was hope for a piece of pancake or a side of the pizzas to break off, and claim the morsel, while loudly exclaiming that it's for the common good.




We had many lovely little chats while we were preparing the food. We got to know each other better, through food, and exchanging pieces of information about our daily lives, and our lives from back home.




Everyone had a good time! We were very thankful to the seniors for cooking and sharing with us. This will be a treasured memory for a long time to come.

Global Roots is an intergenerational program offered by CultureLink in partnership with The Stop. It gives youth and senior newcomers the opportunity to garden and share good food through the exchange of knowledge and culture. This program runs until the end of October. Click here to find out more.

No comments:
Tags , , ,

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Youth Gardeners Cook and Share at Global Roots

We are right in the middle of our growing season, and the weather is beautifully sunny! The youth garden looks almost like a jungle with the way the greens are growing. We are excited about the harvesting, but we are also very excited about preparing and sharing food with fellow gardeners!




This week, it is the youth gardeners' turn to host the Cook and Share session for the Global Roots program participants. What's on the menu? Salsa, guacamole, pico de gallo and grated cheese as toppings for some organic corn chips and *drum roll* cucumber freshly picked from the youth garden!




This wonderful program by The Stop Community Food Centre run in partnership with CultureLink offers newcomer youth and seniors the opportunity to grow their own food, and learn about food and food equity issues. The participants get to learn from one another and share good food with each other.




In addition to food, the participants also get to grow flowers, and more importantly, their friendship.







Tomatoes and cucumber harvested by the seniors from the Filipino garden.

The program happens every Monday from 3pm to 5pm. Registration is required. Contact lyoung(at)culturelink.ca for more information!




No comments:
Tags ,

Monday, July 18, 2016

Let’s garden and eat Spring Rolls!


On Jul 18, at The Stop Community Food Centre, besides the usual gardening program, Global Roots, where youth and seniors from a wide range of nationalities come together to share experiences and garden their own plants, we had a nice lunch made by the Chinese ladies that have frequented the program for years. 



They offered the participants Chinese pancakes and also Spring Rolls, which are a traditional Chinese snack made to celebrate Spring and also to avert disaster for season to come.

It was a great experience for me to see the ladies cooking and interacting with each other, I learned how to make an authentic bittersweet Chinese sauce! In addition, the integration between seniors and youth allow the participants to have a unique experience with nice weather and amazing people!




This event was very important for the participants, since it joins together people from Tibet, Ecuador, China, Philippines, Venezuela, Poland and Italy to celebrate diversity and exchange knowledge not only about gardening but also about life. 



The Global Roots program is offered by CultureLink in partnership with The Stop, it promotes light physical activity, increases knowledge for health consumption and contributes to improved social interaction.

Chinese seniors enjoying the food they spent 3 hours to prepare for everyone!


Join us!

The program happens every Monday from 3pm to 5pm. It is necessary to sign up in advance. Contact lyoung(at)culturelink.ca for more information!
Patricia (far right) with Angel, staff  from The Stop and Gurmeet, senior participant from South Asian Garden (right to left).


Written by: Patricia Almendro
Placement Student at CultureLink from Seneca College
No comments:
Tags ,

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Outdoors Volunteer Fair at CultureLink



Priya (left) previous NOW Leader,
with SWIS worker, Barbora
CultureLink hosted its first ever Outdoors Volunteer Fair on Tuesday July 12, 2016 at their program center to assist youth looking for volunteer opportunities to help make Toronto a greener city. The fair was organized by Barbora Gomezova and Lynda Young, SWIS Worker and Youth Program Worker aiming to make youth aware of the positive impacts they can make on the environment by helping to create a more sustainable future for the planet.

Organizations such as Earth Day Canada, The Stop, Not Far From the Tree, SPARK Ontario, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, LEAF (Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests) and West Neighbourhood House all set up booths representing their specific missions with opportunities to get involved. All of the organizations that participated offered a variety of ways they strive to create positive change for our Earth encouraging volunteers to support an environmental cause that they can relate to.




The fair provided a strong platform to youth and young adults to become associated with various environmental organizations and build their network allowing them to express their passion for environmentally sustainable living. 

By: Priya Saha

Read more »
No comments:
Tags , , , , ,

Monday, June 20, 2016

Mid-season Pizza Party at Global Roots

Every year, mid-planting season, Global Roots participants celebrate our time together by sharing good food.




This Monday, we had a pizza party, and as the name suggests, everyone enjoyed some wonderfully delicious pizzas!

Pizza making on the spot

Sharing a moment at the pizza dough rolling station

Piling on the yummy ingredients for the pizza to be fired up in the outdoor wood stove.

Global Roots is an intergenerational gardening program run in partnership between The Stop Community Food Centre and CultureLink that connects newcomer youth and seniors through activities like gardening, learning about food and food equity issues. 
Participants work hard in their garden plots every Monday

These ladies love tending to their beautiful flowers

Plants, like us need lots of water and tender loving care

Happy to be in the Global Roots program!
Not only do the participants get to enjoy harvesting the hard work they put in, the friendship that is built through the program also lasts a long time
A goodbye token to our beloved staff, Mik, from The Stop

We'll keep coming back, Global Roots!


No comments:
Tags , ,

Monday, June 13, 2016

Harvesting our delicious, nutritious hard work

Global Roots is an intergenerational gardening program that connects newcomer youth and seniors through activities like gardening, learning about food and food equity issues. 

We are only in the month of June, and there are already lots of delicious greens to harvest. Garlic scapes, basil, bak choy, lettuce, kale and arugula were harvested. We also planted some other flowers and seedlings into the plots that are now ready for growing more stuff.


Youth and seniors harvesting delicious greens in the early-mid season
This program in partnership between The Stop Community Food Centre and CultureLink benefits the newcomer youth and seniors profoundly. The youth get to learn about growing their own food, and to learn from the seniors in the program. They also get to learn about other cultures through mingling with all the other senior and youth participants of the program who are from diverse cultural backgrounds. The seniors also welcome the help of the youth in doing the heavier part of the gardening work.


Lettuce, kale and bak choy galore!

Best of all, the participants all get to bring home a share of their own hard labour. What can be better in building friendship than through the sharing of good, delicious, healthy food?

Youth excited about splitting up the lettuce and arugula loot.
There are many opportunities for youth to take part in gardening! If you are interested in joining us, check out the information here.

You can also check out the following for other food education and gardening opportunities:


By: Lynda Young
No comments:
Tags , ,

Monday, May 2, 2016

Global Roots Fun!

Global Roots is an intergenerational gardening program by The Stop Community Food Centreand CultureLink to connect newcomer youth and seniors through activities like gardening, learning about food and food equity issues.

Here's an update of what happened on our second day of gardening!

The Chinese seniors gathering their first harvest of the season! Spring onions!




South Asian gardeners at their plot


The Philippino seniors checking out the shade of the tree in their garden plot


Devon helping the senior gardeners with moving the wheelbarrow




Working on the youth garden! Planted lettuce, spinach, arugula seeds and more!


The vibrant youth of our Global Roots project 2016 

See here for more postings

No comments:
Tags ,

Monday, April 25, 2016

Global Roots new season 2016

Global Roots is an intergenerational gardening program by The Stop Community Food Centre and CultureLink to connect newcomer youth and seniors through activities like gardening, learning about food and food equity issues.

 On Apr 25, we started our 2016 season with a blast! 
Having a coffee and snacks and catching up with old friends
We started off the session by welcoming everyone with coffee and fresh baked apple and walnut muffins (recipe from The Stop. Check out other awesome recipes here), followed by a breathing and stretching warm up session led by CultureLink staff, Dora. 
Mass warm-up session before going out into the garden plots
The Chinese senior gardeners weeding and fertilizing, team work!

 The seniors for the various cultural gardens couldn't wait to get into it. We planted some bitter gourd seeds in the greenhouse, and everyone got their fingers right into the dirt. We weeded and fertilized, and got the plots ready for seeding and planting of seedlings. 
The Polish seniors love planting flowers

Each season, the participants get to choose what kinds of seeds and plants they want to grow in their gardens. The Polish seniors, for example, love planting flowers, and the Italian seniors love tomatoes. 



The program provides the opportunity for senior and youth newcomers to engage through various ways. The youth help the senior gardener out with some of the heavy lifting, and the youth learn gardening wisdom from some of the seniors who are more experienced gardeners. 

Our growing youth garden participants under the guidance of Gurmeet, our senior volunteer.
Gardening is a great way to socialise. 
It crosses cultural boundaries, breaks language barriers, and bridges generational gaps.

Welcoming newly arrived Canadians from Syria by putting them to work at our youth garden plot.
Have a break! Our dear staff, Dora, offering everyone a drink

Looking forward to the next session! We'll be planting seeds and seedlings in the plots. 
See here for more information

1 comment:
Tags ,

Saturday, April 16, 2016

The Stop Green House

Global Roots is an intergenerational gardening program by The Stop Community Food Centre and CultureLink to connect newcomer youth and seniors through activities like gardening, learning about food and food equity issues.



Lots of exciting plants at the green house

This year, we ran a pre-launch activity at The Stop Farmers Market on Apr 16, where we did a scavenger hunt - farmer's market edition, and shared some delicious treats from the market!

Getting a taste of fresh-picked lemon grass, grown in the green house - Tour led by The Stop staff, Mik
Asking the farmers at the market about how the fish is caught, the organic vegetables grown and how the meat animals are raised. 

Interested to find out more? Join us for Global Roots on Apr 24! Contact us for more information!

Check out some photos from previous years:
The tomatoes are coming!
Our very own youth garden
Salve making workshop

No comments:
Tags ,

Friday, March 18, 2016

Farmers Market Scavenger Hunt

Global Roots is about to launch into our 2016 planting season, and we are very excited to invite you to join us for a day of scavenger hunt at The Stop's Farmers' Market!


Where: 601 Christie St, Barn 4
When: Sat Apr 16, 11am 
Who: Youth who identify as newcomer to Canada, aged 14-29, regardless of immigration status

 Contact us to register!
No comments:
Tags , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)