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May 1, 2007

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Making a Community Garden

Parkdale, the neighborhood where I have made my home for most of my adult life houses approximately 75% of its residents in apartments with 38% residing in high-rise towers without access to outdoor space. This neighbourhood is incredibly diverse with people hailing from literally all over the world. It’s an excellent example why Toronto is lauded as the most multicultural city in the world and why I love it here so much. But with so many people living on low incomes and without outdoor space, we desperately need food-growing gardens that serve the needs of this community.

Over the last month or so I’ve been involved with an exciting innitiative in my neighborhood to build a community garden in an underused park next to the local community centre. It’s not a huge garden and demand for space is high, but the hope is that the success of one such garden will open up the possibility for many more in this area.

This past weekend marked the official groundbreaking of the garden. The City gave us two options to get the garden started: they would remove the sod with a cutting machine or rototill the entire area. From the start the group has established a mandate to be as ecologically sound as possible, our goal being to create an environment that cultivates the health of the neighborhood. As a result we opted for the less invasive sod removal method. We would have loved to have simply composted the grass in place (sometimes called sod conversion) however time is not on our side this time around. Rolling up the sod means we can control how much the soil is cultivated, preserving the health of the soil and keeping as much nutritional matter intact as possible. We were also concerned that rototilling would result in grass popping up in plots within a few weeks.

We saved some of the sod to form rows between plots and gave the rest away to locals who needed it.

I am really excited to be a part of such a great project and can’t wait to see how it evolves and grows in the coming weeks and most especially once the gardens are planted and on their way to making food and building relationships within the community.

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April 30, 2007

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Water for All Occassions

This is one of the smartest rain barrel contraptions I have seen, spotted at the Alex Wilson Community Garden here in Toronto. They don’t have access to a downspout but turned that around by setting up some kind of pipe system that funnels rainwater into this massive tub that also probably collect some amount of rain due to the large surface area. The multi-tiered system allows a great deal of water to be stored long-term.

Unfortunately, the following story about this particular rain barrel might turn some off the idea of contructing one in the first place. I think it just adds to the charming surprise of city gardening. Apparently when the system was first constructed, and before it had a protective mesh top, a friend of a friend arrived at his plot one day to find a nude man emersed in the “tub” taking a bath!

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April 27, 2007

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“You Grow Girl” in Shameless Magazine

I’m proud to be included in the recent issue of Shameless Magazine, an independent magazine for strong, smart, and sassy teen girls that breaks the mold of the typical diet tips and beauty trends magazine.

I interviewed with writer Caroline Pelletier on growing food which can be found on pages 18-19.

Here’s what I said in response to her question, “Why is gardening fun and fulfilling?”

Gardening just IS fun. I wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t fun. Because it can also be hard work and challenging. It’s problem-solving, and learning patience. It’s learning to accept failure as a part of learning. It’s becoming an observer. That part can be really exciting, especially as you make discoveries or come to understand and appreciate things in a new way. It’s creating space for wonder in your life and finding that part of your child brain that may have been lost or crushed in the challenges of adult life.

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April 26, 2007

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12 Reasons Why I Don’t Grow Edibles in My Street Garden

When I started digging what would eventually become the street garden I had no idea that it would evolve into a social and scientific experiment. People often ask me if I grow food in this garden. The following twelve points should clear that question up. Hell, number two will do the job all on its own.

1. The Soil Hasn’t Been Tested: And seriously, anything could be in there. Never mind the chemicals that can’t be seen with the eye, you wouldn’t believe some of the “artifacts” unearthed over the years through planting and general maintenance. Anything could have happened in that space within the last 100 years. Anything.

2. Gifts From Neighbourhood Dogs, Both Large and Small: Their special poo packages come in appropriate sizes. Delightful discoveries revealed with the first thaw. Dog people of the world, when your puppy is sick, magical faeries do not remove the evidence with a wave of their magic wand… suckers like me do.

I am sorry you had to see that. Believe me, I chose the least offensive of the bunch.

3. The Urinators: Late night partyers or mid-afternoon dudes too lazy to walk a few feet to the local coffee shop. The surprise in turning the corner and catching a glimpse of some strange dude having a private moment over my plants is bad enough… now imagine that those plants are what’s for dinner.

4. The Tramplers: Aka drunk dudes who fall butt first into my gorgeous blooming iris bed crushing said iris bed and impeding their ability to bloom for an entire year. Who’s not bitter?

5. It’s Not Called the Street Garden for Nothing: Car and truck exhaust continuously showering the plants and soil in a chemical cloud of ass stench.

6. The Smokers: There is a constant assembly of stressed-out civil defence attorneys and their clients satisfying their cravings curbside from 9-5 daily. This same group also serves as my personal audience, peering over puffs of smoke at my ass crack as I bend over to pluck a weed or deadhead a spent bloom. It’s like I’m famous! Who doesn’t love an audience? This same group often throw their butts into the garden where a team of little elves are perched on standby ready to scoop the butts and swiftly deliver them to a nearby garbage receptacle.

A pill bottle and a cigarette butt together! At once! Just as nature intended.

7. Scary Trash: From collections of used needles (Despite the drop-off box located directly across the street. At least this spring’s collection had caps!), to not-yet-empty prescription bottles, half-full cans of tall beer, and used glow-in-the-dark condoms. The possible seepage off of these items alone is terrifying. Or that time someone dumped an entire bag of used kitty litter (poo and all) into the garden. Yeah, THAT’S where it goes.

8. The Potting Soil and Dead Houseplant Dumpers: I can’t begin to explain this one but people regularly dump large pots of used potting soil and dead or half-dead tropicals into the garden. There must be some kind of “back to its source” logic in action here.

9. Building Waste/Street Cleaners/Salt: More products of the street-side location. There was also that time early one Sunday am when some idiot smashed their car into the building leaving a front bumper and assorted car parts behind.

10. Stashed Possessions and/or Gifted Items: Pairs of jeans, purses, underwear, full makeup sets, gym bags… you name it. People see a garden and naturally conclude “personal outdoor locker.” Or there are the numerous lawn ornaments, plastic windmills, planters and assorted ephemera that have been anonymously “gifted” to the garden only to disappear sometime later. At least this stuff amuses me. Check out today’s offering…

I’m definitely NOT going to eat that. But I guarantee you someone did. I should take a look.

11. The BIA (Business Improvement Association) Might Make Me Remove the Garden: So they can put in a garden. This really happened! No bitterness here. Nope. None. Jerks.

12. Some Dumbass Would Reach to Take a Tomato and Rip Out the Entire Plant: Just like that time someone reached for a sunflower, peony, iris, rose, [insert plant name here]. Which I would then find in pieces scattered down the block or stuck into the BIA planter boxes in a half-earnest attempt to will it back to life.

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April 25, 2007

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Prince Charles, Slow Food, and Sustainable Agriculture

A friend of mine recommended this New York Times piece about Prince Charles and his involvement in the Slow Food Movement. Be sure to listen to his speech on small-scale and sustainable agriculture given at the Terra Madre conference in Turin, Italy (2004).

“The one resource the developing world has in abundance is people so why are we promoting systems of agriculture that negate this advantage and contriubte directly to further human misery and indignity.”

Ã¢â‚¬Å“I can only say that for some reason I felt in my bones that if you abuse nature unnecessarily and fail to maintain a balance, then she will probably abuse you in return,Ã¢â‚¬Â he wrote in his new book, Ã¢â‚¬Å“The Elements of Organic Gardening,Ã¢â‚¬Â written with Stephanie Donaldson (Weidenfeld & Nicolson).

What surprised my friend and myself as well is how clear and honestly he speaks about poverty and it’s attachment to food and agriculture. Who knew the Prince of Wales was such a progressive chap?

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