So far, Lantzville's Urban Agriculture Committee has met twice, and is going to meet again tomorrow evening at 7 pm. So far, the meetings have been rather eventful, and Andrew Mostad and Angela Wallace have been doing an excellent job in trying to push for a broader understanding of what urban agriculture is, and how it can be implemented in Lantzville.
Once again, it is hard to understand the choices of Lantzville's Council. David Elgie in particular seems unsuited for the task of commenting on the proposed bylaw, as he has no experience in agriculture, and is not even a long-time resident of Lantzville. Considering the many well-qualified applicants who asked to be a part of the committee, this space could have been much better utilized. As always, Jim Brash is muddying the waters, bringing up issues, such as water contamination and large pests (bears are his example) to which his only solution is "don't allow it". Again, this space on the committee could have been used much more effectively, had someone been appointed who was interested in creating actual, working solutions to real, Lantzville issues.
I am very excited for the presentation tomorrow night at the committee of a commercial composter. Hopefully his testimony will finally silence some of the more outrageous notions surrounding composting and manure.
Looking towards the future, FUAL's informational events are scheduled and being advertised in The Log. The first one is going to be Sunday, September 18th at the Legion. We will be showing "Dirt: The Movie" and having a discussion with local composter, Connie Kuramoto. It should be a good time, and I'm excited to hear everyone's views on the subject of good, clean, healthy dirt!
Thank you all for your support, and hope to hear from everyone soon.
