Cape Farewell and the Vegetable Garden Tour?

"You need an artist to bring the science back to the way we live, to a human scale." That's a quote from artist David Buckland, founder of Cape Farewell, a group promoting a cultural response to climate change. Long based in England, Cape Farewell is opening its North American office in Toronto with a benefit concert on Thursday November 10 titled "The Dew Line Concert".

So what does this have to do with the veggie garden tour? The organizer of the tour was Beth Kapusta, a well known Toronto writer on architecture and design. Cape Farewell organizes yearly expeditions with a mixed crew of artists and scientists to areas affected by climate change. Beth was part of the 2010 Svalbard and Spitsbergen tour, a fact I discovered when we were sitting in her dining room this summer working on the veggie tour.  I was looking at some of the amazing and very well mounted photographs of Arctic scenes on her wall that were unsigned. "Beth", I asked, "these are very good! Who is the photographer?".  I guess I asked the right question, because she had a big smile when she replied "me"! I must say I think Beth keeps interesting company - look at her and some of the other artists in Cape Farewell expeditions here. You can read Beth's article in the Fall 2011 issue of Canadian Art or see some more pictures on her Facebook site.

If being on a month-long Arctic tour somehow prepared Beth to organize our Vegetable Garden Tour, we can only be grateful. But because I knew Beth from the veggie tour, I got early warning of the Cape Farewell event. If you'd like to meet her, and perhaps the board chair for North America David Miller, plus hear some good music, check out the site for the concert and buy some tickets - they're going fast!

The Cape Farewell story is also featured in this post on the Pollinator Gardens blog. Find out how climate change and pollinators intersect!

- Clement Kent

New rules for non-profit groups?

Today the Globe and Mail has an article on changes to both federal and provincial laws governing not for profit organizations. Please follow the link to read the details - but it may mean changes to our bylaws over the next 2 years to comply. We'll be looking to groups like the OHA to find out what changes may be required, but if you work with another non-profit that has already worked through these changes we'd love to hear from you!