Nanaimo Community Gardens Society is bringing back our monthly vegetarian potluck by popular demand! This time the potlucks will not be held after board meetings but will be their very own events. Everyone is welcome. There is always a lot of variety so bring your stomachs and taste buds and join us for a smorgasbord of yummy foods.

Our next potluck is on March 14th. We will have a vegetarian potluck at 5pm, followed by a special guest presentation at 6pm by Sarah York, an Invasive Plant Outreach Specialist with the Invasive Plants Council of BC. Sarah will make a presentation about invasive plants to raise awareness and to communicate about certain high priority invasive plants. This is all in an effort to prevent new introductions and to provide information about what we can do to "Stop the Spread". The presentation will include a slide show talk, fresh samples and take-away resources. The talk will be free and open to all ages. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.

"Invasive plants are the 2nd greatest threat to biodiversity after habitat loss." -International Union for the Conservation of Nature. http//www.coastalinvasiveplants.com

Nanaimo Community Gardens Society will be attending a number of community events. If you would like to help out by staffing the table, helping with set up or take down, or being a relief person for any of these events please contact us at (250)816-4769 or email info@nanaimocommunitygardens.ca

We will be at:

• The CVIBGS Annual Flower and Garden Show - March 12-14 at Beban Park Social Centre 2300 Bowen Rd, Nanaimo

If you plan on attending this event, this is one way to help out at the same time.

See our upcoming workshops February - October 2010.

There are weekly work parties being held at the Greenhouse in the north end and in the downtown Pine Street Community Garden. They have begun seeding in the Greenhouse and the soil outside at Pine Street is ready to be dug over for planting some early crops. Right now work parties are only held once a week, every Wednesday from 11am-4pm, but as the weather improves and volunteers start to show more of an interest in coming out at other times, more work parties will be held to accommodate your schedule. Help out and learn alongside experienced volunteers so that you can gain experience for your own garden. Or if you have more experience, come on out and share your knowledge.

We are a volunteer run communal community garden located at 271 Pine St, behind Foodshare. We host year round work parties.

Come to one of our hardy Wednesday Winter Work Parties from 11am-4pm. Volunteers are collecting seaweed, manure and other organic material to use in enriching the garden and are turning compost, cleaning up the garden and doing other chores to get ready for spring. Feel free to drop by on Wednesdays between 11am and 3pm and join us. Or call if you have a truck and are willing to help haul supplies for the garden. This garden is run by volunteers. If you wish to attend a planning meeting, please contact Lee at 816-4769 or info@nanaimocommunitygardens.ca.

Want to pitch in? If you have any of the following materials that you would like to donate to the Pine Street Garden, please let us know and we will be happy to take them off your hands:

• Manure (horse, goat, chicken, cow, rabbit etc) with or without bedding
• Spoiled hay or straw
• Bags of leaves
• Wheelbarrows or garden cart

Tour the Community Gardens at 271 Pine St, any Wednesday from 11am-4pm, or contact us for a custom tour.

For many years VIU has been generously allowing Nanaimo Community Gardens to collect, return and sort returnable bottles from the campus residences. This activity provides us with much needed funds but the process of collecting and sorting the bottles is time consuming and requires volunteers. We are looking for regular volunteers to help transport bottles from the campus to the Pine Street Community Garden 1-2 times per month and to help sort bottles on a regular basis. If you are able to help with either of these tasks please call 816-4769 or e-mail us.

We just held our 2010 AGM on February 7th and elected a new board. Your directors for 2010 are Terra Bohart, Anne Gougeon, Jim Simon, Pat Wells and Lindsay Grill. Congratulations to each of them and thank you for the hard work they do.

This was also the first day that we were accepting memberships for 2010. If you were a member last year and anticipate participating in any of our programs (like Gleaning), you need to renew your membership. Or if you would simply like to support us and the work we do, a membership is a wonderful show of support. Download your membership form from this website to send in, or visit us any of the community events listed above to pay us in person.

And lastly, at the AGM we made a public thank you to the many volunteers, donors and sponsors that helped us make 2009 a most successful year. This list will be up on our website shortly so check it out. Two people who we especially wish to thank are Jessica Snider and Eleanor Wennberg. Most of you know Jessica as the Executive Director of Community Gardens. Last year Jessica resigned from this position and we feel her loss keenly. Jessica was responsible for much of the work that went on in the society and we wish to thank her again for her hard work and dedication. Eleanor Wennberg is the owner of the farm where NCGS had an educational garden site in the south end for many years. Her generosity over the years has meant so much for the society.