100 People Project Interview with Harvey
June 5, 2010
I met with Harvey from Love Bucket Photography, who is not only an amazing photographer but is local to our Summerside Community, a couple weeks ago about his 100 People Project. He was in for a meeting with some clients when we started chatting and hit it off, leading to him asking if I’d wanted to participate in his 100 people project where he’s interviewing and doing a quick photo-shoot with two Edmonton residents a week for year. It’s a great project creating some exposure for Edmonton and the interesting people who reside here. Edmonton’s often overlooked for it’s cultural, artistic, and exciting people by those who don’t live here, but there’s a great scene to be discovered. Simply though our cafe working with Edmonton’s Pure Artists and U22 Productions alone it’s amazing how many musicians they are mentoring who have the potential to break onto the national scene.
I’ll leave you with a short extract from the interview and encourage you to follow the link to the article as it provides some good insight into the direction we want see our cafe evolve into a corner stone of the community as well as a hub for arts and cultures on the south side!
100 People Project :: A Coffee Man Starting an Edmonton Arts Scene and a Girl with a Hello Kitty Bicycle
Posted by Harvey on May 18, 2010
This week we are featuring Dustin and Blake. Dustin is the proud
owner of a brand new Good Earth Coffee House on 91 street and Ellerslie Road. I must say he has made his new coffee shop a super friendly, relaxing, and comfortable place to hang out… just what a good coffee house needs to be! Dustin also has some great plans for the place, for example, he is working on starting “gallery nights” where he will feature local artists and their work. He also invites local musicians to showcase their talents. One of his staff members actually plays guitar and sings as part of this initiative. I was in there last night hanging out and enjoying an awesome strawberry-mango smoothie (a special combo recommended by the barrista) and one staff member was sitting on the couch playing the guitar and singing away. She was awesome!! I can’t wait to see what Dustin does next to turn this place into a major artsy hangout on the south side of Edmonton. Moving on to Blake, there are so many things to say about Blake, she is also a photographer and actually rode her bike to my shoot. Her bike happens to be a “Hello Kitty” themed cruiser style bike. Very unique and funky just like Blake! We had a great time hanging out and snapping pictures mostly because she’s always so full of fun and laughter. Did I mention she basically biked up a mountain to come to this shoot! (Thanks for that Blake.) http://www.goodearthsummerside.ca/wp-admin/post-new.php
If you ever want to meet with us to talk about the project, we’ll gladly meet you at Good Earth Summerside and chat it up!!
Finally check out Harvey’s portrait photography website at www.lovebucketphotography.com and his commercial portraits/business profile site www.harveyrobot.com.
Friday Music Nights – Update
June 3, 2010
We are excited to welcome the musicians from Edmonton’s U22 to our Cafe June 4th and 11th, and Edmonton’s Pure Artists will be returning the weeks of June 18th and 25th.
For those of you aren’t familiar with U22 they are a group who Mentor, Inspire and Motivate young musicians into building successful careers in the music. You can learn more about them at http://u22.ca/about/what-we-do.html
Also I have to apologize for not having a chance to update the Featured artists section for the last couple rotations through our Cafe. However last week we saw Danielle Lowe, Payton Klassen and Sean Sonego perform in our cafe where not only there voices but their friendship, energy between each other filled our cafe. And the performance before that saw 5 artists perform a wide variety of music with Daylin, Hailey, Jordan, Joy, Quincy and Zana creating a fun filled night! I’ll update our featured artist section over the next couple day so you can learn a little more about these amazing musicians!
International Bike to Work Day
May 18, 2010
The 3rd Friday of May is internationally known as bike to work day to raise awareness for commuting on your bicycle. Why participate in the bike to work day. With the increasing trends of staying fit and healthy with our often sedentary jobs, increasing quality of life, concerns for the environment and price fluctuation of Gas Prices the reasons for commuting by bike are increasing. And personally I have to add the 25 minute ride home at the end of my day clears my mind most likely saving me multiple hours of therapy bills!
So this Friday to encourage commuting by bicycle we’ll give a free small coffee (or equivalent discount on other drink) card to anyone who bikes in to the cafe this Friday!!!!
Concrete Proof of Global Warming?
May 15, 2010
I thought this was an interesting article I picked up from the Guardian Newspaper in the UK that some of you may be interested in.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/13/catlin-arctic-survey-north-pole-water
Here’s an excerpts from it.
“Arctic explorers have taken the first-ever samples of ocean water at the north pole after a gruelling two-and–a-half 
month expedition across the polar ice…..
……The survey hopes to measure how fast the Arctic Ocean is acidifying due to rising CO2 levels and what effect it has on the region’s animals and plants. Setting out in early March, the three-strong explorer team trekked over 483 miles across sea ice off the coast of Greenland to the geographic north pole.”
Asim Chin’s Fogotten @ Good Earth Summerside
May 15, 2010
I mentioned last week that Asim showed early to last weeks artists showcase to record a song for his Youtube channel he updates weekly. I wanted to share it with all of you and invite you to check our his youtube channel to see a mix of amazing covers and originals at http://www.youtube.com/user/AsimChin#p/u/12/23aiEk9ZVKM . So I’ll stop making you read away and let you enjoy the song!
Pure Artist Feature Night May 10th, 2010
May 10, 2010
Friday saw another great night of performances by the singers from Pure Artists! Asim, Mackenzie, and Sean returned to our cafe and we were pleased to also welcome Lyndsey Manyluk to our cafe for the first time! They delighted us with a wide range of music this past Friday ranging from energetic pop songs to soulful blues and Jazz influenced songs for a night that was sure to have something to please everyone. As always visit our feature artists page to learn more about the 4 of them!
Grounds for Gardens
May 6, 2010
I wanted to take a moment to educate everyone about our Grounds for Gardens Initiative. With one of our mandates being environmental responsibility and waste being a personal pet peeve, we are trying to find homes for our coffee grounds in your compost. Thankfully I have a new garden I’m working on which has already consumed multiple 5 gallon buckets of grounds however we produce much more then I can dispose of personally.
So why put coffee grounds in your garden?
It’s a great compost additive, working as a soil enhancer creating richer compost! Coffee grinds have a high carbon to nitrogen level. For which the Acidity will create a good texture to the compost without making your soil much more acidic as the compositing process creates a neutral pH level. Also worms love coffee as much as we do and the grounds promote activity, making your compost process quicker. This also works if you want to increase activity in your garden by adding coffee with your soil as a top layer which will keep the worms working harder (sounds like they have similar correlation between effectiveness at work and their caffeine intake as I do). Some plants that particularly like coffee grounds are those that like higher levels of acidity such Hydrangeas, Blueberries, Daffodils, Spring Bulbs, Cardinals, Cranberries, Rhododendrons, Spruce and Oak to name a few. However any garden can benefit from coffee grounds.
Pest Control
There’s contradicting theories between Pest Control and if there’s an effect. The theory behind it’s benifits are that a concentration of caffeine will kill slugs. Thankfully coffee grounds do not have a high enough concentration to actually kill the slugs, but that the concentration of caffeine left in ground coffee is a slug and snail deterrent which if sprinkled around tender plants and veggies will keep the evil villains away. However, many also argue that the concentration of caffeine in brewed coffee grounds isn’t significant enough to have an effect as the brewing process removes most of the caffeine so we can reap the benefits of it : ). If anyone has personal experience using coffee grounds as pest control I’ll love to hear the results or lack there of.
A few tips, for composting coffee grounds.
1) Mix your grounds with approximately equal amounts of potting soil and add bit of water to create a fast acting fertilizer
2) Ring plants with coffee grounds before watering or rain to create a source of nitrogen and create a pest deterrent. Aside from slugs and snails many claim that it will deter cats and other animals as well.
3) You can dry the coffee grounds and work them into the soil around acid loving plants.
4) For composting don’t worry about throwing the coffee filters in. They are biodegradable and will compost quickly as well
5) Ron from www.urbanfarmer.ca recently suggested using grounds as a growing medium for mushroom cultivation, particularly oyster mushrooms. Simply place the grounds in a plastic bags and mushroom spawn is mixed. Keep it in a moist and dark place and a harvest should be had in a 3 to 6 months time.
I’ll end on the note if you want to take advantage of some free composting materials please bring us a bucket with your name and phone # and we will call you as soon as it’s filled and ready to be picked up!
Pure Artists Feature Night!
May 3, 2010
Friday was the our Pure Artists Showcase night and they impressed us once again with talent and passion not often seen. All those I spoke to last night where astonished by the voices, music, poise, and passion all the young artists displayed.
Last night performers included Emily Seal, Livy Jeanne, Mieke Maligne & Sameena Sherman putting on a amazing performances all with individual styles. We also heard many original song last night showing that the talent goes much deeper then their amazing voices, also allowing us to discover some new music you won’t hear on the radio. Actually let me rephrase that some new music before it makes it on the radio. I can’t wait to see them all back in the cafe!
Once again please check out our Featured Artist Page to learn more about these artist.
And I apologize for the mediocre picture quality, I have to figure out this new camera quick.
Upcoming Events
April 27, 2010
With our Grand Opening and Earth Day events behind us I wanted to take a moment to fill you in on what we have happening on a regular basis and what we are working on for the future. As mentioned throughout our site multiple times we strive for perfection with our fresh baked goods and espresso based drinks and we’ve 
received a lot of feedback that they alone would be enough to keep customers coming back. But we are striving to become a lot more! We want to instill a sense of community and become a hub for arts and culture on the South side of Edmonton. We look forward to watching families grow up in our cafes, be talked about in stories starting with remember when, and enjoy hearing our room filled with laughter on multiple occasions.
We are proud to announce that Edmonton’s Pure Artists are going to be playing in our cafe most Friday nights. You can visit our Featured Artists section to learn more about the musicians who have came through our cafe. Or stop buy and listen to them on the following nights!
Friday April 30th, 2010
Friday May 7th, 2010
Friday May14th, 2010
Friday May28th, 2010
In additions to supporting pure Artists we are also in discussion with multiple groups about creating a monthly artists gala night to help promote local artists by displaying photographers, Painters, and other artists work throughout the cafe for you to not only come out and enjoy but have a chance to meet the people behind the art! We are hoping the amazing start is only the tip of what’s to come and can’t wait to see you in our cafe.
Earth Day – Recap
April 27, 2010
It’s been a fun couple of weeks, with live music, new friends, great drinks and baking up a storm. For our latest update I’m excited that our Earth Day celebration last Thursday was a huge success! First I’m proud to say the combined efforts of all the Good Earth Cafe’s has sold enough coffee to provide 458 weeks of food to less fortunate children through the UN World Food Program and this is before we consider any donations from Earth Day! I’m also proud of the support you’ve all given to the program as our Summerside Location has sold the most Earth Coffee of all the Cafe’s in the Good Earth family during Earth Week. I must say it’s exciting to be part of a community that is willing to give back and make an effort to improve the world we live in.
I’ll end this post off inviting you to visit our featured musicians page to learn a little more about the amazing performance that was put on by Asim, Mieke, and Maria from Pure Artists for Earth Day. Unfortunately I’m sad to say I forgot my camera so I don’t have pictures to share with you but I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again! However, I did received a few more pictures from the Grand Opening I’ll share those for your viewing pleasure.
