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2012 Queen Street Commons Lunch& Learn Schedule2

Next Wednesday,  January 25, is the next date in our Small Business  Lunch & Learn Series  and is hosted by Ronda Bellefontaine. Ronda is a management consultant with more than 20 years experience working with large and small businesses. Much of her experience comes from the agriculture industry where she has established a reputation as a knowledgeable, efficent and accessible management expert. Ronda recently started her own business Like Nobody’s Business, and she comes to the Commons to share her experience with fiscal year end and what it really means for a small business besides a bill from your accountant! Session begins at noon and costs $5 for non-members which includes a light lunch.

For more information or to register for the event follow this link:

http://www.peibwa.org/events_details.asp?id=702

Mike Newman from Newman Estate Winery will be at the Commons during the event to showcase his brand new wine offerings. Come by and sample some great wines and see our great facility!

Group Coaching for Youth

Youth Coach Sue Sullivan, CPC will begin holding Group Coaching sessions for Youth.  The sessions will be held at Queen Street Commons.  Topics will be relevant to the issues today’s young people are dealing with in school and society.  Topics will change often and group size is 12 youth per session.  Group Coaching is a forum where youth can come and talk in a confidential and neutral environment about their personal experiences with other youth who may have had similar or different experiences.  Sue will facilitate the conversation, ask questions of the group when necessary, and express insight to the group on what is being said by the group.  Group sessions are kept to 12 youth to maintain an atmosphere which is comfortable for an open discussion.  Due to limited session size it is important to reserve a space for the sessions.  A minimal fee is charged per session. To become a part of the email information network which receives updates on all session information contact Sue through her website www.visiblepathcoaching.ca, by email at info@visiblepathcoaching.ca or call at 393-3893.

Wednesday, January  11, 2012 sees the start of  the Small Business Series in our ongoing  Lunch & Learn sessions here at the Commons, and to start things off is Suzanne Scott of Village Pottery.  Suzanne is a social media innovator and has used social media tools to transform a small, traditional artisan business in rural PEI. Come listen as Suzanne shares her experience, knowledge and ongoing learning with us.

Join Karen Murchison, P.Ag, former aggie and aspiring urban farmer at the Queen Street Commons (QSC) as we launch our series of workshops and short courses:  Growing Food – the Basics.

The series will begin with a new course: Eight Steps to Being an Urban Farmer; which provides a whole system approach to designing your urban farm space. This course will provide accelerated training in planning, design and basic permaculture concepts.  It will draw from real world examples to provide a broader sense that creating your own Urban Farm is a continuous learning process.

During this course you will:

• Create a step-by-step plan to transform your home and the land around your home into your own Urban Farm.
• Obtain a deeper understanding of concepts such as:
  • Site design
  • Rain harvesting
  • Solar aspect and site planning
  • Soil health and pest management
  • Seed saving and propagation
  • How to observe to create change
• Meet and interact with others creating their own Urban Farm.
• Participate in site visits so that you can begin to integrate what you are learning.
• Create together a public Urban Farm site in downtown Charlottetown.

Module 1

• Session 1 explores the importance of producing your own food and examines issues surrounding environment, health & nutrition and food sovereignty
• Session 2 explores site observation, assessing your space, water, soil, tools, and defining your garden goals.
• Session 3 explores the types of gardens available, site preparation, building healthy soil, composting and non-composting.
• Session 4 explores planting your water first, watering methods, mulching, what to plant when, annuals vs perennials, seed types and planting techniques.

 Module 2 Hands On Sessions:

• Session 5 initiates the planning process for individual urban farming projects
• Session 6 consults a local nursery, seed house and gardening supplier to get hands on experience of what to buy for an urban farm without spending too much.
• Sessions 7 creates the plans for the public Urban Farm and individual Urban Farms
• Session 8 dives into the Urban Farm for soil prep, sheet mulching, watering systems, and planting.
• Open Session(s) observes your work, visits the gardens discusses disease and pests.

The Eight Steps to Being an Urban Farmer course will be offered at the Queen Street Commons in Charlottetown in two modules. Module 1 begins Wednesday February 15 and continues weekly through to March 07, 2012. Weekly sessions will run from 7:00 – 8:30 PM.  Module 2 begins Wednesday, March 21 through to April 11, 2012.

Cost is $100 per person per module and includes instruction and any necessary resources or materials. Space is limited to 10 per module.  Register early to ensure a space.  Register online at:  http://queenstreetcommons.org/

The Growing Food Series is designed to take you on a journey to rethink how you view your living space. Whether you live on a large property, in an apartment, condo or townhouse these courses will transform your perceptions of how to live an urban farm lifestyle.

Through the Queen Street Commons we will begin to offer a wide range of classes on urban agriculture, urban orchards and living green. Classes will be held at our Charlottetown site and will typically be two hours in length. They are designed to target a specific project like keeping urban chickens or water harvesting. For a full list of these classes visit soon our Commons Academy page.

Youth Coach Sue Sullivan, CPC will begin holding Group Coaching sessions for YOUTH.  The weekly sessions will be held at Queen Street Commons, 224 Queen Street East, Charlottetown.  Topics will be relevant to the issues today’s young people are dealing with in school and society.  Topics will change often and group size is 12 YOUTH per session.  Group Coaching is a forum where youth can come and talk in a confidential and neutral environment about their personal experiences with other youth who may have had similar or different experiences.  Sue will facilitate the conversation, ask questions of the group when necessary, and express insight to the group on what is being said by the group.  Group sessions are kept to 12 youth to maintain an atmosphere which is comfortable for an open discussion.  Due to limited session size it is important to reserve a space for the sessions. For a schedule of weekly topics and times, to reserve a spot for a session, or for additional information visit www.visiblepathcoaching.ca or contact Sue at 393-3893.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

You get up at what time?”

I hear that a lot, along with “You are so lucky.” So, I’m going to help out here and let you in on the secrets of my success. Well, not all of them–but enough to show you the foundation I build on every day.

1. Wake up early. For the next week, get up a half an hour earlier that you normally do–and get going. If you get a few more things done, then get up even earlier the next week. Early in the morning is a great time to get work done because most of your associates have not started emailing, tweeting, IMing, or posting yet.  *UPDATE: The rebuttal for those who want to argue this point

2. Read the headlines and watch the news. Not only should you know what is going on in the world, you will also be the first to recognize opportunities (if you followed #1) for you and your business–long before the competition has even had their first cup of coffee.

3. Send something to one person who can hire you or buy your product–something you promised to follow-up with, a quick email with a link to something relevant or a “Hey, just checking in to see how thing are going” email.

4. Touch base with an READ MORE

A simple yet highly effective list. Try all five every weekday for a month. Then, tell me I’m right. If I’m wrong, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee. When you finally wake up …