Our community garden sits beside Riley Park just outside of downtown Calgary, in the vibrant Hillhurst-Sunnyside area. If you have previously belonged to a city run community garden you may find that our structure and philosophy are a little different for several reasons.
The land we are using does not belong to the city and we get no funding from the city. It is part of St. Barnabas Church and as such actually belongs to the Anglican diocese of Calgary. Parishioners of St. Barnabas have lent it to us so we can run a community garden. Initially a large donation was offered to set up a garden as the parishioners felt it was better use of the land to share it with the community than to have water-wasteful lawns
Membership is open to everyone, whether you are new to gardening or a veteran gardener. If you are interested in joining us, please send us an email to stbarnabasgarden@gmail.com
The Garden Committee
The 2022 Garden Committee:
- Simon Dyck: Chair, Treasurer
- Linda Martin: Secretary
- Peter and Francesca Davenport: members at large
- Joy Halvorson: Church liaison
Community Garden Committee positions:
The Chairperson
The Chairperson is appointed by the vicar of St. Barnabas Anglican church, and may or may not be a member of the church. Their responsibilities are to chair all the committee meetings and general meetings, to draw up the agendas for the meetings, and to approve all communications which go out to the garden members.
The Secretary
The Secretary is a garden member who has either been elected or has volunteered for the job. Their responsibilities are to take minutes for all meetings and to keep them on file.
The Webmaster
The Webmaster is a garden member who has either been elected or has volunteered for this position. Their responsibilities include taking care of the email account, maintaining the website, blog, and Facebook page and posting items approved by the committee.
The Church Liaison
The Church Liaison is St. Barnabas’ representative on the committee. They must be member of the church but not necessarily part of the community garden. Their duties include communicating between the garden committee and the church council and informing the church congregation about what is happening in the garden.
The Treasurer
The Treasurer is a garden member who has either been elected or has volunteered for this job. Their responsibilities include collecting and managing all the fees and refunds from the beds, allocating beds to garden members, and maintaining the mailing list for the garden.
In addition to these five positions, there may also be
Members at Large
Members at Large are individuals invited by the committee or elected by the gardeners from time to time to help out as needed.