Category: Recent News

DECA Green partnered with the Danforth Mosaic BIA to bring you four workshops in the month of April. Each session featured a presentation from our local experts, followed by a Q&A. Below are the summaries and recordings. Thank you to everyone who participated! It was wonderful to see such a great community turnout for each event.

Mend your Clothes to Reduce Textile Waste with FABRIC SPARK

Don’t replace…repair. Shirley shows us how to make repairs to well loved clothes, with a focus on items such as leggings and pant knees. You can also check out her presentation slides with all the techniques she covered.

Bicycle Readiness with THE CYCLEPATH

April 8 was our first workshop, where we learned essentials like rules of the road, how to safely lock up a bike, and how to fix a flat from Spencer at The Cyclepath. You can watch the workshop recording here:

Stocks and soups with  DICKIE’S COOKING SCHOOL

April 15 was our stocks workshop, where Lisa Dickie taught us everything we needed to know about how to make delicious food from veggie scraps. Check out Lisa’s blog for lots of great recipes! (Sorry that we don’t have a recording for this one.)

Sustainable Living and Gardening with THE RE PLACE

This Earth Day workshop showed us how to make an herb garden out of an old trunk and gave us a great tour of The Re.Place!

You can catch the recording here (minus a couple of minutes at the beginning–sorry for the tech difficulties!)

Don’t forget the mending workshop Thursday night at 8! (that’s tonight if you’re getting this in your Thursday morning email).  REGISTER HERE We asked our homeschool questions of our workshop leader, Shirley, and Fabric Spark’s owner, Daryl. 1. History: How long have you worked at your business/in this field? How long has your business been in the community? Fabric Spark is about 8 years old, but we’ve only been in the east end for 4 years. Before that, it was online only.  Shirley is a lifelong sewist and teacher of many things including most things fabric related. She is a teacher and sewing coach for Fabric Spark. 2. Geography: What’s your favourite place in Toronto? Daryl -I love walking in Wilket Creek, I’ve been doing it since I was a little kid. Shirley – I grew up on the Humber River but now I call the Don River valley my local hiking space.   What other east-end businesses do you recommend? Other East End Shops?  For Daryl,  it’s all about the food: Cumin  Cafe Coroco Mon K (Shirley too)  Knuckle Sandwich Samosarie Sharman’s Proper Pies – (Shirley too) 3. English: What are your go-to websites/channels/books for additional info on your skill? Daryl – Visible Mending and Mending Matters Shirley –  the two books above and for embellishment with Embroidery: Creative Stitching by Sue Spargo

Don’t replace…repair. We have creative ways to upcycle your clothes! Join Shirley from Fabric Spark to learn how to make repairs to well loved clothes. She will go through a number of techniques for different kinds of repairs, and then hear your questions at the end.

If you want to try things during the demonstration, you will need thread, needles, scissors, embroidery thread, fabric for patches, pins. There will be a discussion on many ways to embellish repairs. REGISTER HERE

This is our final workshop in the DECA Zero series! Recordings or notes for the three previous sessions can be found at deca.to on the homepage. Thank you to the many members of our community who have been coming out to join the conversation on Thursday nights this Earth month!

Our third workshop in the DECA Zero series is Thursday night. We are excited to learn more about zero waste living with Mira from The RePlace, and then get our garden planning questions answered by Erin from Dirty Girl Gardening. You can REGISTER HERE

We asked Mira our “home school” questions. Read on to find out her local faves and recommendations!

1. History:

How long have you worked at your business/in this field? How long has your business been in the community?  I’ve never owned my own business before opening up Poured and The RE Place.  I knew nothing about green living or eco friendly choices until just a year and a half ago.  When my eyes were opened to what is happening to the planet, I just had to do something about it and became passionate about sustainability.  I’m still learning and truly believe that it’s all about the journey.  

2. Geography:

What’s your favourite place in Toronto? Glen Stewart Ravine at 7 am.  

What other east-end businesses do you recommend?  Moberley Fine foods compliments our ethos so well and they’re so great there!  We also love Cumin for some great eats

3. English:

What are your go-to websites/channels/books for additional info on your skill? Truthfully, I’m a full-time working mom of a 3, 5 and 7 year old.  Whatever spare time I have is dedicated to being with my family because hey, the days are long but the years go by way too fast. 

If you’re looking for bite size info that packs a punch, visit Instagram and check out @https://www.instagram.com/solidarify/ and https://www.instagram.com/yourecofriend/

Also: Stock School Q & A from last week

This Thursday’s workshop has two special hosts: Mira, the owner of The Re.Place and Erin from Dirty Girl Gardening. They will be showing you how to reduce your household waste and how to plan for your urban garden. Register here!

Stock School

Who knew compost could be so delicious? Lisa Dickie did, and she showed us how in last Thursday night’s vegetable stock workshop! We don’t have a recording of the workshop, but we will have Lisa’s recipe up on our site soon, and in the meantime, here are the highlights of the Q&A portion of the workshop

Q. Can you even use potato peels? And ginger peels?
A. Yes! Just give things a scrub before you peel them. You can keep your food scraps in a ziplock bag in the freezer until you are ready to use them.

Q. If you’re working with frozen scraps, do you have to separate the different veg?
A. No

Q. What are some examples of neutral oils you like for stock?
A. Olive oil, coconut oil – could really use anything

Q. Do you just boil the scraps? or sauté?
A. Saute the onions, carrots

Q. Should we peel the carrots before cutting them?
A. No (just scrub)

Q. What are the health benefits of adding egg shells?
Added calcium

Q. Can you use dried egg shells? Like keeping in a container until making stock?
A. Yes

Q.Are there any vegetables that you wouldn’t put in?
A. Corn – it’s too starchy

Q. Do dried mushrooms need to be pre-soaked?
A. No

Q. How long would stock last in the fridge?
A. One week – otherwise freeze it.

Q. Can you cook the stock straight from frozen?
A. Yes

Q. After you strain the liquid stock can you put the leftovers in the compost or do you use it in some other way?
A. Into the compost!

We are so excited to continue our DECA Zero workshops tonight with Lisa from Dickie’s Cooking School teaching us how to cook stocks and soups to use up food scraps.

Register here!

Here are Lisa’s answers to our home-school questions!

1. History: How long have you worked at your business/in this field? How long has your business been in the community?

Dickie’s Cooking School has been open for 3 1/2 years. I have over 10 years of teaching experience and did freelance catering for a few years. I can remember making “pies” out of pastry scraps with my mom when I was 3. I have always loved cooking (and eating).  

2. Geography:What’s your favourite place in Toronto? What other east-end businesses do you recommend?

My favourite place is Ashbridges Bay. I go there year round and love it as much when it is rainy and blustery as I do when it is hot. The East End is LOADED with great businesses. For groceries, I love Warren Fruit Market, Royal Beef, Plank Road and Masellis. For specialty items and take out I love Sharman’s Pies, Cumin, The Dylan and Local 1794. To burn it all off I love virtual classes at The Pink Studio and Toronto Yoga Company. Percy Waters is a beautiful local florist and I go there whenever I need a pick me up or someone in my life does. 

3. English:What are your go-to cooking websites?

The Minimalist Baker is an exceptional source for recipes (minimalistbaker.com). Same goes for Spruce Eats (https://www.thespruceeats.com/) and Epicurious (epicurious.com).