DECA Learns DECA Eats
My five-year-old son should be employed by Foodland Ontario. “Mummy, I like Ontario food the best.” “Mummy Ontario strawberries are my favourite. Let’s always eat food from Ontario o.k. Mummy?”
DECA Learns – Canning Workshops
If you’re like him, you’ll want to bottle up that sweet local flavour and eat it all year long. And DECA is here to help you do just that. Our canning workshops are up and running again this year so mark your calendars. Register early (melaniej.thompson(at)yahoo.ca) because the workshops sometimes fill up. The workshops start at 7 p.m. and run about 90 minutes.
Wednesday, June 29th – Strawberries
Tuesday, July 26th – Plums
Wednesday, August 17th – Peaches & Pears
Wednesday, September 14th – Tomatoes & Salsa
Wednesday, October 5th – Cranberries, Thanksgiving, Gift giving for the holidays
Workshops will take place in the basement of the Mennonite Church (north side of Danforth, just east of Woodbine). Cost is $10/session to cover our costs. Again, space is limited so register in advance if you can and please please let Melanie know if you can’t make it because she’ll keep a waiting list.
DECA Learns – Foraging For Salad Greens
Did you know there is free, delicious, nutritious leaves can be harvested from the plant lamb’s quarters? Did you know that lamb’s quarters grow wild right here in our neighbourhood? For tasty greens to supplement your salad or soup, take a local foraging trip with Susan and Melanie. On this half-hour walk and pick, you will learn to identify lamb’s quarters, harvest it and get tips on how to use it.
Thursday, June 23rd at 7 p.m. – Meet at the DECA table at the East Lynn Farmers’ Market
For more information, call 416-686-9676
East Lynn Farmers’ Market
Localfoody.net is a website about…yes local food. They recently wrote about our market. The writer loved it, but was concerned there weren’t enough shoppers to keep the market viable. Let’s make sure we put our money where our mouth is and support the farmers’ market that we’ve come to love.
Are you on Twitter? Follow the East Lynn Market at @eastlynnmarket
East Lynn Farmers’ Market Opens June 2nd! 3 – 7 p.m
[slideshow]
Thursday is market day!
We have some new farmers and new items at the market this year including: eggs, flowers, organic vegetables, chicken and beef and maybe rabbit…you’ll have to come to find out.
There will be the ever-popular face painting tent and kids’ events every week at 4.30 p.m. Melissa — one of our new Farmerlicious Femmes — is organizing a crafts table for kids every other week starting next week. Look for the flyer with details.
New this year – there will be food – not just to take home -but to eat on the spot. Local restaurants will be there every Thursday – starting with Cozy Cafe and Columbo’s Pizza. So come, shop, see your neighbours and then settle down for a picnic dinner!
While this week is the first market, our grand opening celebration is next week, June 9. There will be clowns, music, a ribbon cutting (4:30 p.m.) and the unveiling of some new festival games, made by the fabulous local designer and DECA member, Jon Isaac.
See you all there.
Ready Set Eat!
Thanks to Sarah K. for this 2011 inaugural farmers market post!
Although most readers could sympathize with the groans and moans about the recent wet and rainy month of May, our East Lynn Farmers’ Market
farmers were probably jumping for joy watching their spring produce get some much needed moisture to grow another crop of exceptional food
for Toronto’s markets.
Another season of our Ontario farmers providing great local food to Danforth East starts this Thursday (June 2) at 3:00 with the first
farmers’ market of the season at East Lynn Park. Spring veggies to look forward to: asparagus, radishes, rhubarb (mmmmmm, pie….) and more!
This year, we want to know what you’re cooking at your house with this bounty of fresh Ontario produce, so stay tuned for information on our
ultimate East Lynn Farmers Market recipe contest.
Be sure to take part in the special events and children’s activities at 4:30 every Thursday and a lot more family fun festivals to enjoy
including a corn roast, movie night and more.
Best of all, hungry market visitors can now purchase a selection of food ready to eat, right on the spot, from local restaurants. See you there!
sharingbackyards.com
But if a local farm is not quite local enough for you, you may want to learn more about sharingbackyards.com, where those seeking some gardening space can hook up with those with real estate to spare.
Come One Come All!
If you would like to get involved in your community, meet some cool people and have some fun, this is the news for you! Herewith a call for volunteers and some ‘what’s happening’ information on a number of fronts.
Farmers Market
One of the wonderful things about the East Lynn Farmers’ Market is that it is more than a row of vegetable stalls, it’s an event every week. We like to have music and face painting/children’s activities every week and we like to host special events. Our market has always been about community – a way to bring neighbours together, increase foot traffic on the Danforth and strengthen the fabric of our neighbourhood. If you have an idea for an event or activity at the Farmers’ Market, we’d like to hear about it. We’ve had square dancing, unicycling, music of all kinds, theatre, storytelling, paper-making, movies, food demos, corn-shucking contests. If you would like to help organize an event, please contact Catherine at catherine_porter(at)rogers.com. Also contact Catherine if you would like to cook for the farmers this year. If you are able to spare a few hours on a Thursday afternoon at the DECA tent being an all around helpful person, let her know that too.
Art of the Danforth 2012
The absolutely fabulous Art of the Danforth will be back in all it’s glory in…2012! And Cindy sent me the note below to tell you a bit about what is in the works and how you can get involved. And let me tell you – you want to meet interesting people in your neighbourhood – this group is the place to start.
Art of the Danforth is returning in May 2012 and we have some stuff to tell you!
In short….
· We are now accepting applications from artists to fill three curatorial roles, as well as for initial project proposals for the 2012 event. Deadline: May 31. Full details at www.artofthedanforth.com or email info@eastdanforthcreative.com
· We are recruiting volunteers, especially those interested in taking on ongoing, important roles over the next year.
· We are holding our first community meeting on Thursday, May 12 2011, 7 pm – 8:30 pm at LucSculpture Studio & Schools, 663 Greenwood (just north of Danforth). All are invited! RSVP to info@eastdanforthcreative.com
And now, the juicy details….
The Event
Art of the Danforth is a large scale multi-disciplinary art event held along Danforth between Greenwood & Woodbine. Established in 2010, the first AoD broke new ground in bringing together artists & members of the community together in creative collaboration. The next Art of the Danforth will be held May 1 – 31, 2012. The goals of the AoD 2012 are to:
· Bring community members together through the creation of art
· Increase the sense of history and engagement in the community
· Explore the aesthetic possibilities of urban space
· Increase pedestrian traffic down Danforth between Donlands & Woodbine
AoD 2012 is inclusive and open to all forms of artistic practice. Free public exhibitions of art, site specfic installations and the popular Art in Stores program will run all month long, May 1 to May 31st. In addition, performance (music, dance, theatre) activities will be presented on the weekends. Finally, community workshops will be held leading up to and during the festival, allowing community members to participate in the creation of visual art exhibits and performances.
AoD 2012 is public and aims to transform as much public space as possible into venue for creativity. Please see our website for a preliminary list of potential spaces: www.artofthedanforth.com
Curatorial Proposal Submissions
Deadline: May 31, 2011
We are currently accepting proposals for curators to present exhibitions in one of three regions within the event boundaries. See website for zone descriptions. Curators will be requested to address one or all of the goals of the event. Preference will be given to proposals which involve local community involvement and use of existing resources. Whimsy is encouraged. Each curator / curatorial team will be given a budget of up to $3000 (including honorarium), to commission the creation of 4 – 8 public art projects that will stay up for the duration of the month of May 2012. Projects in all media are encouraged, with particular emphasis given to works that involve community interaction and revitalize the neighbourhood. At least 1 project must involve the input of community members.
To apply, please complete and submit the application, available online at www.artofthedanforth.com. For more information email info@eastdanforthcreative.com
Project Proposals – Initial Call
Deadline: May 31, 2011
Art of the Danforth is currently accepting proposals from artists and art groups for visual art exhibits or installations, performing arts and community workshops series that will result in a visual art piece or performance for exhibition, for inclusion in the Art of the Danforth 2012. Examples of projects and available locations are available online. Both new and pre-existing work will be accepted. Preference will be given to works that either involve the community or engage public space. Approved new work may be eligible for some funding.
To apply, please complete and submit the application, available online at www.artofthedanforth.com. For more information email info@eastdanforthcreative.com
Volunteers Needed
We also are on the hunt for dedicated volunteers to take on major roles of responsibility for the next event. In particular, we are seeking community-oriented individuals to fill the following major event roles:
· Interactive Coordinator: responsible for envisioning & implementing social media outreach, i.e. updating facebook, twitter & website updates (wordpress)
· Music/performance Coordinator: to help coordinate a world music showcase in East Lynn park.
· Social Coordinator (i.e. “the party person”): responsible for planning & organizing entertaining activities to help us build community and balance our work with fun (not that we’re not fun already, of course)
We also need volunteers to team up with our planning committee to help with: neighborhood outreach and promotional. If interested in any of the above, email info@eastdanforthcreative.com, visit our website, or come to our community meeting on May 12. And speaking of….
Community Meeting Thursday May 12
Interested in Art of the Danforth 2012? Thinking of volunteering or submitting a project but want to meet the event team first ? Come out and chat with us at our first AoD community meeting:
Date & Time: Thursday, May 12th from 7 – 8:30 pm.
Location: LucSculpture Studio & Schools, 663 Greenwood Avenue (just north of Danforth)
Business Improvement Association Fun Fair
The Danforth Mosaic BIA will be hosting a fun fair on June 11 and 12 in East Lynn Park. There will be inflatable things and games and many other fun activities. They’re looking for volunteers to help out with all of those activities and more. If you would like to know more or to kindly offer your services, contact the Chair, Litsa at litsakosta(at)gmail.com.
So Much To Say
Apologies dear reader, I’ve been neglecting you. Always something else that needed to be done. No matter, there is lots to tell you about today. I’m going to give you the news in this post and then send out another post in the next few days with a bunch of Danforth Gems to tell you about. Don’t let the length of this post discourage you. If you need to take a break and go make a cup of tea in the middle, do so, but make sure to come back and read all the way to the end. Trust me, you won’t want to miss the last section.
Danforth East Arts Fair – September 17/18
Coming soon to a park near you: the third annual Danforth East Arts Fair. On Sept. 17 and 18, East Lynn Park will transform into an outdoor gallery where artisans from near and far will display and sell their wares. The first application deadline for artists’ applications is April 30, so get cracking. Download your application at www.deca-arts.caThis volunteer-run, juried arts fair sprang out of an idea that a resident put forward at one of our meetings back in 2007. You see what happens? Action, people. It’s amazing what a few committed, created citizens can do.
You may remember the iron ukuleles from last fall’s arts fair. Or the skull rings. Or the gorgeous oil paintings. Or the beautiful harp music wafting through the park as people wandered down the path. Maybe you enjoyed a slice of pizza under the sun as you watched all the activity.
If you’re interested in helping out this year, drop the arts fair folks a line at deca.arts@gmail.com. And put Sept. 17 and 18 on your calendar now. Whether you’re helping out or enjoying the show, you wouldn’t want to miss it.
DECA’s Business Revitalization Team and Cozy Cafe and Bakery
- Stephen Caissie photo
By guest DECA diarist, Catherine Porter
The Cozy Cafe’s anniversary party/ community celebration was a huge success — both for the lovely sisters Vera and SzaSza, and for those of us lucky enough to drop in, eat and dance. At one point, I looked up at my two kids dancing in front of my neighbour, musician extraordinaire, Chris Bennett, and I thought: damn, we are lucky to live here.
The sisters figure about 300 people came to their party, given the jugs of coffee they went through. It was so crammed when I arrived, I could barely make it through the door. There was great food, of course, great music, and as promised, at the end of the party, the sisters and the Ontario Folk Dancing Association led some Serbian and Jewish folk dances around the store.
I have written a couple columns about the Cozy Cafe, and the generosity showered upon it by our east end hood. (Not to plug them, but in case you want to read the background here they are: http://tinyurl.com/3ca2ced, and http://tinyurl.com/4sltfet. Okay, that was plugging them….)
It’s quite a story, really — that a stranger would offer to renovate your store for free, that a strange flooring company across town would offer to give you the flooring for free, that a customer with a furniture company would throw in two $600 tables for free, that a designer would sketch out a brochure and a photographer snap the photos of it, and that locals would drop off cheques, only because we all love this place and want it to thrive and keep serving us food and laughter. This type of stuff doesn’t happen much.
So, for the record, a few people need to be thanked:
*Chris Bennett and Lucas Stagg from Twelfth Fret played at the party, which was wonderful.
* Local east ender Alex Zamayoa and Mi Casa Furniture for the tables
* DECA member Steve Caissie for the photos
* Thomas Giannousopoulos for the brochure design
* the DECA Business Revitalization Team for weeks of work on the store, from the frosted window, to painting, changing the store layout and lining up artists to show their work there.
For those of you who don’t know about us, the Business Revitalization Team has now helped transform six stores along the Danforth, starting a couple years ago with Plank Road Market. Our tagline is: “If one smashed window can bring a whole neighbourhood down, what can one smashing window do?” By improving the look of a few stores along the strip, we hope to draw new stores to the area and fill the Danforth in.
The Cozy Cafe was our latest business. If you have another business in mind, which is a gem in the rough, let us know! Email me at catherine_porter@rogers.com
Our team consists of stagers, designers, business branders, real estate agents and schleppers like me who are sick of waiting for a change to come to the Danforth, and want to do something about it. Our rules are simple: it has to be a store with the right stuff but the wrong look. It has to be a store we want to see prosper in the hood. (So, no questionable massage parlours.) The owners have to be people we want to spend our free time with — nice. We supply the expertise and some of the leg work, the owner supplies the basic supplies.
Empty Storefronts
At our last DECA meeting (minutes to come soon), we talked a lot about empty storefronts. We all hate them. What can be done about them? We’re thinking we’d like to try and find out. Why are they empty is the first question. Taxes, disinterest in maintaining the commercial space when the residential is rented, absentee landlords are a few of our thoughts. Then we’ll try to figure out what might be done about it. This article from Open File is great place to start thinking about it. Be sure to read the comments too. If that inspires you to want to get involved in this little project, send me a note – natasha.granatstein(at)gmail.com
Dealicious – Today’s Menu – $25 for $50 worth of food – until midnight tonight (Thursday)!
First – check out the latest local dealicious.ca deal from a store called Today’s Menu. Located at Woodbine and Gerrard, it offers deliciously prepared meals cooked by chefs on location, with the unbeatable convenience of either delivery OR shopping at. Meals are made fresh daily and quick/flash frozen to lock in flavour: all you have to do is heat and serve.
East Lynn Farmers’ Market
Are you a musician interested in busking at various Farmers’ Markets across the city this summer? We’re looking to fill 4 spots per week (Sunday 10-2pm, Tuesday 9-2pm, and Thursday 9-2pm and 3-7pm) If you’re interested, please contact Diana at diana.mymarket@gmail.com
Community Clean Ups This Saturday
Make sure you get yourself to one of the many community clean ups that are happening in our neighbourhood this Saturday.
- Earl Beatty School 10 am – noon with the Earl Beatty Community Centre, school and eco team
- Danforth Avenue 11 am – noon – Clean eastward with the Danforth Mosaic BIA – meet at the corner of Coxwell and Danforth
- On your street. In your nearest park. Wherever you see a public spot that could use a little TLC.
All Candidates Meeting – Wed April 20, 2011
The good people at the Beach United Church and Neighbourhood Link are hosting an all candidates meeting for the federal candidates in Beaches East York on Wednesday, April 20, 2011. 140 Wineva (north of Queen) from 7-9 p.m. They’re even offering light refreshments – how fancy.
Were you the victim of a break and enter?
In the last few months there has been a rash of break and enters in Division 55 from the Beaches up to Danforth Ave. Police have arrested a couple and allege that they are a husband and wife who integrated themselves into their neighborhood in a normal, friendly manner then set out to rob their neighbours. Much of what they allegedly store is now available to be claimed. If you or anyone you know has been a victim of a robbery in the last few months call the police at 416-808-5500 to describe your stolen items and then you can set up an appointment to view the goods and hopefully reclaim what was stolen.