Wonderful gift suggestions for the gardener in your life. Embark Gardens Manager Pablo Vimes has some great ideas for useful and unique gifts for gardeners.
Gardening with Embark is a short weekly podcast on the important gardening tasks of the week.

Gifts for Gardeners Gardening with Embark week 49

Students at Burnaby’s Simon Fraser University created new connections within the university’s growing climate and sustainability focused community — and at the same time, learned how to use a sewing machine to turn old, discarded clothing into one-of-a-kind tote bags.

The event was Rework, Reuse, Revolutionize workshop, held on Tuesday and hosted by Embark Sustainability, the student-led climate and sustainability organization at Simon Fraser University.

The workshop provided materials, training and company to students eager to contribute to sustainability and learn about the environmental impact of fast fashion. Participants were presented with a wealth of information about the environmental and ethical issues that come with a culture of disposability and the  low-cost, low-quality clothing production that comes with it.

Rework, Reuse, Revolutionize — SFU students shun fast fashion for repurposed style

A collection of artifacts documenting the nearly century-long history of the Riverview Hospital and the evolution of mental health care in British Columbia is now accessible to the public through an interactive online database.

The new database makes it easy to view, search and sort the approximately 2,500 artifacts, including personal effects and clothing, arts and crafts created by patients, and institutional tools and equipment – and also allows researchers and the general public to contribute by adding information and context to the collection.

The Riverview Hospital was a mental health facility in Coquitlam, British Columbia, which operated from 1913 until 2012.

Database provides unprecedented access to Riverview Hospital artifact collection

A group of Chinese-Canadian musicians in Vancouver are celebrating the Lunar New Year with a new holiday song, “New Year is Here!”

Co-written and performed by Daniel Lew, Ginalina, Kapa Arkieh, and Van Lefan, “New Year is Here” features lyrics in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taiwanese celebrating the Lunar New Year and inviting Canadians of all backgrounds to participate in the celebrations.

Celebrating the lunar new year with a Chinese-language song allows local Chinese-Canadian communities to connect with traditions that may have been lost or forgotten over the course of their immigration to and lives spent in Canada. It also provides a gateway into Chinese language and culture for non-speakers.

Photo Credit: Tosha Lobsinger (Used with permission)

Lunar New Year Song Celebrates and Shares Chinese-Canadian Culture

The City of New Westminster is developing a city-wide toilet strategy to address gaps in the availability, safety, maintenance, and dignity of toilet facilities for all members of the community.

Beginning with extensive consultation and research, the strategy aims to take into account the wide range of needs that residents of New Westminster have when it comes to public toilet access, and to partner with businesses, faith-based and non-profit organizations to ensure equitable access to toilets across the city.

CJSF 90.1FM sat down with John Stark, Manager of Social Planning with the City of New Westminster, who is overseeing the City-Wide Toilet Strategy, to discuss the project.

Currently in the research and consultation phase, a progress report will be presented to City council later this spring.

Gotta go? New Westminster is developing a strategy to make bathroom facilities more available

Director Chris Auchter joins Jesse for a conversation about his documentary film The Stand, which chronicles the hidden true story of Indigenous resistance on Haida Gwaii.

The Stand returns to the VIFF Centre on Friday, February 28th and runs until March 20th.

Image from the film, courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada.

Interview with Chris Auchter, director of The Stand

We look at different gardening approaches important to planning your garden for a sucessful year ahead.
There is no one right way of gardening, and as you continue gardening, you will find your own approach. There are several methods and principles to grow a food garden and every year there are new and innovative approaches. The table below lists the most common garden methods and principles for food production.
Some of the approaches mentioned are:
The Double-Dug Bed
The Raised Bed
Traditional Row Gardening
Square-Foot Gardening
Straw-Bale Gardening
Hugelkultur
Ruth Stout’s Mulched Garden
Lasagna Gardening
Core Gardening
Landrace Gardening
Forest Gardening
Polyculture
Perennial Gardening
No-Dig Garden / Zero Tilling
Natural Farming
Vegan Gardening
Countertop Gardening
Biodynamic
Permaculture
Regenerative
Perelandra

With Pablo Vimes of Embark Sustainability and host Magnus Thyvold

Gardening with Embark Week 12 2025 edited

Garden season. The seasons determine what to plant and what you will have success with in your garden. Cold season, cool season, hot season. It all makes a big difference.
Gardening with Embark is a short weekly podcast on the important gardening tasks of the week.

Gardening with Embark Week 13 2025 (March 31)



A new exhibition at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver is celebrating the work of a Master Haida Artist and his outstanding contributions to his community and culture.

The retrospective exhibition, entitled Kihl ‘Yahda Christian White: Master Haida Artist, spans the career of the renowned carver and multidisciplinary artist, ranging from stunningly detailed stone argillite sculptures and silver jewelery to cedar bentwood boxes and ceremonial masks.

The unifying theme running through the entire exhibition is one of family and community. It tells the story of Kihl ‘Yahda Christian White’s unwavering commitment to uplifting his family and community through apprenticeships, the revival of traditional artistic and cultural practices, and the transformation of his own craft into an artistic community that preserves, shares, and pushes Haida art into the future.

Kihl ‘Yahda Christian White: Master Haida Artist runs until February 2026 at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver.

[Photo Credit – Jesse Wentzloff, CJSF 90.1FM]


Exhibition Celebrates Haida Master Carver’s Contributions to Art, Culture, and Community


Participants at a workshop at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, walked through an experiential history of colonization in what is now Canada. Telling history through an indigenous perspective, the Kairos Blanket Exercise invited participants to witness, experience, and immerse themselves in the devastating impacts of European colonization on the original inhabitants of North America.

The event was facilitated by Moontide Reconciliation, with Lana Arnold taking the lead. She says that beyond providing an opportunity for non-indigenous participants to engage with the history of colonialism and participate in a small act of reconciliation, delivering the workshops has helped her resolve her own personal struggles, making a tremendous, positive change in her own life.

[Photo Credit: Jesse Wentzloff, CJSF 90.1FM]


Blanket exercise immerses participants in the experience of colonization from an Indigenous perspective

In the fall of 1985, the Haida People began their blockade of a road on Lyell Island, demanding the recognition of aboriginal title to allow them to protect their land from destructive logging and resource extraction. Chris Auchter’s feature documentary The Stand tells the story, now largely-forgotten, of the Haida resistance and their long, complex battle to protect their ancestral land and way of life.

Drawn from archival footage and audio, The Stand provides unprecedented behind-the-scenes access into the planning, organization and execution of the Haida blockade; their engagement with media and political figures as they work to sway public opinion; and insights into the actions and attitudes of police, logging workers and executives.

CJSF’s Jesse Wentzloff met with writer and director Chris Auchter for this interview.

Produced and distributed by the National Film Board of Canada, The Stand opens at the VIFF Centre in Vancouver on Friday, February 28th and plays until Thursday, March 20th. It will be released online for free streaming across Canada on nfb.ca, starting June 19, 2025.

Documentary ‘The Stand’ chronicles groundbreaking Indigenous resistance

Understanding what your seeds packets are teliing is important for making the right choices for your garden. Our gardening expert Pablo Vimes breaks it down for you.
Gardening with Embark is a short weekly podcast on the important gardening tasks of the week. With Pablo Vimes and Magnus Thyvold.

Gardening With Embark Week 15 - April 21, 2025

In advance of Canada’s April 28th Federal Election, CJSF 90.1FM Burnaby is presenting a series of interviews with the mayors of British Columbia’s lower mainland. This series will give each a chance to share what they see as the most important issues for voters in their city; what they would like to see from members of parliament elected within their municipality; and why this election is particularly important for their constituents.

In this interview, CJSF’s Danny Nesvaderani speaks with the Mayor of Coquitlam, Richard Stewart. During the interview, he speaks on the unique importance of this election due to Canada’s current relations with the United States. He also highlights housing affordability and mental health support as some of his key concerns this election.

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart weighs in on the importance of upcoming federal election

Preparing and fertilizing your soil is important for good results in your garden. Aerating, adding nutrients, and readying the garden for planting will improve your harvest and make your plants happier.
Gardening with Embark is a short weekly podcast on the important gardening tasks of the week. With Pablo Vimes and Magnus Thyvold.

Gardening With Embark: Preparing the soil for your plants Week 16 - April 21, 2025

Watering is one of the keys tasks in the garden. Doing it right is easy but takes some knowledge and commitment. 
Gardening with Embark is a short weekly podcast on the important gardening tasks of the week.
With Pablo Vimes and Magnus Thyvold


Gardening With Embark: Watering for GArden Success - Week 17 - April 28, 2025

Jesse speaks with Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff about Crime in Canadian Sea Cucumber Fisheries; his new paper Characterising Canadian sea cucumber fisheries: History, regulation and compliance, co-authored with Felix Morrow, Nivedita Tanksali and Bryce Casavant; and his work with Oceans Asia.

Teale Phelps Bondaroff - Sea Cucumber Crime



A new feature exhibit at the Burnaby Village Museum profiles the city’s Afghani residents, presenting audio-visual portraits of several community members that highlight its diversity, resiliency, and importance to the cultural and social fabric of Burnaby.

The result is a series of visual displays, each dedicated to a particular Afghani-Canadian who lives in Burnaby, paired with a QR code that viewers can scan to hear an audio excerpt from a longer interview that explains the role each person plays in their community.

Community members were eager to participate, both to make their presence known within Burnaby, and to provide more depth and context to their identity as Afghani-Canadians, which is all too often reduced to the stereotype of a refugee fleeing a war-torn country.

From Afghanistan to Canada, with Hope is one of the museum’s feature exhibits until September 1st.

With files used with permission from the Burnaby Village Museum and Heritage Burnaby.
[Photo Credit: Jesse Wentzloff, CJSF 90.1FM]


Exhibit highlights the diversity of Burnaby’s Afghani community



Monday, May 5th was Red Dress Day and the National Day of Awareness and Remembrance for the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people, and in acknowledgement, red dresses hang throughout all three campuses of Simon Fraser University. A red dress hanging from a window, a porch, or a doorway is a powerful symbol and a reminder of the ongoing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2 Spirit People.

At the entrance of the Burnaby Campus’ Student Union Building, a memorial display was set up by SFU’s Sexual Violence Support and Prevention Office and the Women’s Centre, giving students, staff, and community members the opportunity to remember, memorialize, and pay tribute.

[Photo Credit: Jesse Wentzloff, CJSF 90.1FM]


Red Dress Day memorializes Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People at Simon Fraser University

Pinching, pruning and tying are an important part of maintaining  and getting the best result from your garden. Pinching off shoots and leaves, pruning flowers from your leafy greens like basel and tying up your tomatoes, squashes and cucumbers.
Gardening with Embark is a short weekly podcast on the important gardening tasks of the week. With Pablo Vimes and Magnus Thyvold.

Gardening With Embark - Pinching Pruning & Tying -Week 24 - June 16, 2025

CJSF 90.1 FM is Simon Fraser University's arts, public affairs and indie music radio station!

CJSF strives to provide points of view that are rarely expressed in mainstream media. We take pride in being an alternative to mainstream media, offering the public a forum for expressing perspectives that otherwise may not be heard.

CJSF 90.1 FM broadcasts from the Burnaby Mountain campus of Simon Fraser University to most of Greater Vancouver, from Langley to Point Grey and from the North Shore to the US Border. 

As a non-commercial station, CJSF takes pride in being an alternative to mainstream media and offers the public a forum for artists and social issues that otherwise may not receive media attention. This includes music by independent artists from a diverse range of genres and public affairs programming that addresses issues faced by marginalized or disadvantages communities. 

CJSF and all campus/community radio enables the public to create the media they want to hear. They have over 150 volunteers from the SFU and Metro Vancouver community and are always looking for new recruits to come in and make radio. 

New tracks tagged #CJSF