Herbs growing on a deck (Photo: Evergreen)

Urban agriculture may sound a little strange and daunting but it has become an important part of living in the city. It allows us to be more self-sufficient and puts fresh, healthy food at our fingertips. Not to mention the satisfaction you get from knowing that the vegetables and herbs you’re eating are cut from plants grown and tended by you!

With spring around the corner, now is the perfect time to start preparing for a new season of planting. If you’re eager to take part but not sure where to begin, Evergreen has a range of resources for you.

L: Planting a herb spiral R: Finished spiral (Photos: Evergreen)

From organic pest control methods for your window or balcony garden to starting your own herb spiral to storage and cooking, we’ve got you covered from seed to harvest to table.

Fresh tomatoes (Photo: Evergreen)

Visit our website to download these handy fact sheets and more. And, if you’re in the Toronto area, stay tuned for the re-opening of Evergreen Gardens in April, where you can find tools, plants, seeds and advice to get you through the year. Happy growing!

The Emmett Ave. Community Gardeners with some of the West Mt. Dennis Community Kitchen Group (Photo: Mike Derblich)

I remember the 45 minute bike ride from my home to our meeting spot at West Mt. Dennis United Church. It was a rainy Saturday morning and chilly for mid-September. We were a group of community gardeners and cooks, taking a field trip to the St. Jacob’s Market in Waterloo and excited to capitalize on all the fresh produce still available from Ontario producers.

Most of us had never made the trip before, a fact that was easily visible by our ill preparedness. Among our group of 36, we carried a few umbrellas, roughly ten reusable shopping bags and less money than we all would have liked – perhaps the one good thing.

As we stepped off the school bus we were amazed at the sights and smells of the market. Row upon row of Ontario grown fruits and vegetables, interspersed with preserves and other products stretched before us. Most of the vendors at St. Jacob’s are part of the Mennonite community, adding a unique twist to the market with all the goods locally grown, slow cooked or hand-crafted and built.

Parsnips and fresh herbs (Photo L: Michelle Scrivener R: Shadi Edarehchi)

Many of us quickly made our way to the back of the outdoor market where we were able to warm up inside with fresh apple cider while we perused the many offerings of meats, cheeses, baked goods, crafts, clothing and jewellery. Beyond this central hub there were more vendors selling an array of antiques, furniture and clothing.

After five hours in the rain we were ready to go home and back at the school bus, most of us were clad in garbage bags, carrying more garbage bags full of food and crafts. It was a funny but beautiful sight. The air was full of excitement as people talked about their adventure at the market and all the wonderful things they were bringing home to their families.

The West Mt. Dennis Community Kitchen meets every Friday night in the basement of Mt. Dennis United Church and brings together a variety of individuals and families from the community to connect over preparing nutritious food and sharing a meal together.

In addition to their own small garden behind the church, the kitchen group has a garden plot at the Emmet Avenue community garden—a site that was initiated more than four years ago with the help of Evergreen staff and volunteers. To date, Evergreen continues to work with the community kitchen group to develop their garden and compost system, as well as to bring fun workshops such as canning and soap making to the kitchen.

For more information on St. Jacob’s Market, check out their website here:
http://www.stjacobs.com/html/shopping-farmersmarkets.html

UTSC Garden Celebration, (Photos: Tooba Shakeel)

University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) Garden saw a successful season of growth! On Sept 29, students and staff at UTSC celebrated the harvest by enjoying a delicious salad made from vegetables grown in the University Community Garden. Participants also enjoyed Gourd Bowling using butternut squash!

UTCS Community Garden, (Photos: Tooba Shakeel)

UTSC Garden was established in the spring of 2010 in partnership with the UTSC Sustainability Office and Evergreen. The aim was to provide students and community members a chance to practice gardening and grow vegetables. During the celebration, participants harvested pepper, zucchini, eggplant, onion, parsley, oregano, lemon grass, basil, rosemary, nasturtium and much more. Not only did everyone enjoy a delicious salad but participants also took plenty of vegetables home. The garden has been put to sleep for winter and we hope to have an even better growing season next year!

Click here for information on UTSC Sustainability Office projects and events.

Pallets and Things at the Union Street Urban Orchard (Photo: Quite Peculiar on Flickr). Evergreen will be taking inspiration from this innovative and temporary orchard in London, England.

With a successful fall season behind us, Evergreen is busy working on crafting some new and exciting projects for 2011. One that we’re all particularly excited about is an urban orchard to be located in Vancouver’s False Creek Flats.

Urban orchards are growing in popularity across North America and Europe as effective land management strategies to enhance community food security, increase the urban forest canopy and connect communities with nature and local food production. Evergreen has been inspired by this innovative work and has set its eye on the Great Northern Way Campus, the home of our regional office.

Currently a mixture of offices, industrial buildings and expanses of concrete and gravel, the heart of the Great Northern Way Campus will be transformed in 2011 into a community-based orchard, with up to 80 fruit and nut trees and other edible plants.  All to provide nutritious (and delicious!) food to the local community as well as a space for engaging people of all ages and backgrounds.

Though in its very early stages of development, the orchard has amazing potential to act as an outdoor classroom, host community workshops on food and organic growing, hold volunteer stewardship events and community celebrations as well as a tool to research local food production. There will be something for everyone, so be sure to keep your eyes and ears open!

To find out more about this project or to get involved, contact Allison Houser at ahouser@evergreen.ca.

A woman in Turin making handmade gnocchi (Photo: Stewart Chisholm)

Traditional methods of food production and preparation are as much as discussion about culture as it is about the evolution of one culture versus another.  An example of which is Europeans, whose cultures had eons to develop their food because of a lifestyle that included more “leisure” time to develop traditional food systems.  It can be posited that North Americans’ food was born several hundred years ago out of basic need and subsistence living from a colonial culture.

“It’s as if we’re working backwards to develop deeper appreciation for food and these traditional ways of enjoying food and community,” said Arlene.  ”You might say [North American] food has always been fast food.  Not too long ago we had apple storage here, we had canning too but all those operations eventually shut down as we found more efficient means to an end.”

Slow Food is about building a deeper appreciation of food and taste, and the process of cultivating, preparing and convening to enjoy good, clean, fair food.  And it’s also about enjoying food together and building a sense of community, very much the impetus why local food has become an important part of Evergreen’s mission to bring communities and nature together for the benefit of both.

“Being surrounded by people from other cultures, sharing their unique and deep appreciation for food, makes one think differently about the meaning of food and a bigger role it plays as a catalyst for community building,” said Stewart. “Our partnership with Slow Food Toronto is based on shared values around food and community, that’s why events like the Picnic at the Brick Works are so important.”

For a recap of the event and to find out what they had to say on issues such as backyard chickens, visit Jennifer’s guest blog post on, Push Food Forward.

Digging (Photo Credit: Anna-Kay Gordon)

The Kokum’s Little Friends Daycare at the Brandon Friendship Centre in Manitoba had an extra special harvest this fall. With the support of a Walmart-Evergreen Green Grant, their on-site children’s garden became, according to the Daycare Co-ordinator Anna-Kay Gordon, “a magical garden,” that taught the children about the importance of growing your own food as well as provided for 36 families in the community.

The children, many of whom have developmental impairments, were involved in every step of the garden’s development, and learned about dirt (its texture, smell, taste and uses!), watering and weeding, and sang “Bumblebee, ants, go marching one by one!” by the garden non-stop to keep pests away. Together, the centre’s staff, students, community members, Elders, and contractors harvested corn, potatoes, beets, squash, pumpkins, zucchinis and onions to supplement the centre’s food services.

Watering (Photo Credit: Anna-Kay Gordon)

Anna-Kay was thrilled with the outcome, saying “I have nothing but thanks from us to Evergreen for making this dream possible. Teaching good nutrition to low income families is so important and essential. Over the summer duration the children waited and counted the days for their next visit back to the garden.”

The Brandon Friendship Centre is an urban Aboriginal community centre that administers programs that attempt to bridge the gap between the community’s urban and non-urban cultures.

The Kokum's Little Friends Daycare (Photo Credit: Anna-Kay Gordon)

Since 2005, Walmart has partnered with Evergreen to create Walmart–Evergreen Green Grants, a national program that has supported more than 319 community-based projects focused on introducing or enhancing local community green spaces. In 2010, $453,000 was awarded to 58 projects across the country from St. John’s to Whitehorse, including the Brandon Friendship Centre in Brandon, Manitoba.

Get the full list of 2010 Walmart-Evergreen Green Grant recipients here.

The application and guide for the 2011 program will be available on the Evergreen website during the first week of December 2010, with a submission deadline of January 31, 2011. For more information about the Walmart–Evergreen Green Grant program, please visit our web site.

In the corn field (Photo Credit: Anna-Kay Gordon)

Learn more about the Brandon Friendship Centre on their web site.

Gardeners getting their hands in the dirt. (Photo Credit: Aimee Carson)

At Emmett Ave, there are about 40 plots that are stewarded by individuals and/or community groups. These plots engage more than 150 community members, including friends and family, who take part in weekly garden programming. Community garden members are involved in the process from start to finish—from making compost and planning their plots, to planting and harvesting, and finally, putting their gardens to bed. The result: a bounty of fresh, organic vegetables every week.

Enjoying the fruits of their labour. (Photo Credit: Aimee Carson)

One of the fantastic events that the Emmett Ave gardeners host is the annual potluck, which was extremely successful this year. On the evening of July 14, Emmett Ave Community gardeners, members of the Weston-Mount Dennis community, and Evergreen staff and volunteers came together to share fresh, organic food from the garden. Evergreen staff member Aimee Carson commented, “the potluck was a big success. Upwards of 40 community members from the Weston Mt. Dennis neighbourhood came out to enjoy a beautiful night of gardening and locally grown food.”

TVO also came down and shot footage for their Get Involved! program, which showcases intimate documentary portraits that inspire people to get involved and demonstrate the value of an active, engaged citizenry.

Enjoying delicious food, and TVO catching all the fun! (Photo Credit: Aimee Carson)

The community garden members all live within a two to three kilometer radius of the garden, and many live in the two high rise buildings nearby, with limited access to outdoor space at their own homes. For this diverse group (from age 5 to seniors, and encompassing varying cultures and backgrounds), the Emmett Ave Community Garden is an opportunity to share knowledge about indigenous food cultures and food growing techniques, and to learn from one another. While our mother tongues may differ, communicating through food is a universal language.

Beautiful garden fresh zucchini. (Photo Credit: Aimee Carson)

To learn more and find a community garden in your area, check out the Toronto Community Garden Network.

To learn about Evergreen’s connection to community gardens, see our website.

Find natural sweets on our edible plant walk. (Photo: Evergreen)

Explore your local park with Evergreen and the City of Mississauga in an Edible Plant Walk tomorrow, Thursday, August 12.  For more information visit our online calendar. Sign up by contacting Emily Adam, eadam@evergreen.ca.

Many native plants provide edible and medicinal benefits and can be a beautiful addition to any garden or greening project.  Native plants that bear fruit also provide wonderful habitat and food for birds, pollinators and small mammals.

Help create urban green corridors, wildlife habitat and beautify your city with native plants. Visit our Native Plant Database to find native, edible plants that will thrive in your garden!

Sharon browsing at the Evergreen Brick Works Farmers' Market (Photo: Evergreen)

Sharon Brown started off at Evergreen Brick Works this spring volunteering at Doors Open and hasn’t stopped since.  Although not a morning person at heart, Sharon now looks forward to sunrise on Saturday mornings, when she can be a Weekend Program Assistant and help with set-up, greeting visitors, waste education and even traffic.

Why volunteer? I’d stumbled across the site on my way to work and started to soak up the nature in the park. When I discovered the programs going on, I had to get involved.  I get to meet people, learn, be an integral part of how it all works and have fun! This is the first time in my volunteering life that I’ve been able to be part of such a diverse team of men and women of different ages and backgrounds. It’s been a wonderful experience.

What I’ve learned: It’s been eye-opening – it’s the first time I’ve eaten food that has tasted so good.  I LOVE the farmers and I’m so grateful to them for growing our food.  I know so much more about local food, as well as sustainability.  I’ve had the chance to go to some workshops too and learn about bees and edible plants and have such a greater awareness now I can’t help sharing it with others.

Super-hero moment: A couple of times at the height of parking lot construction, the TTC bus wasn’t able to come right up the driveway. When I saw it approach on the first run of the day, I got right out there and literally stopped the bus and with (Evergreen’s manager of sustainability) Robert, we were able to help the driver navigate safely.

My other life: I’m a Customs Officer by night. I’m looking forward to a trip to Italy when I hope to connect with farms and farmers while practicing my Italian.