reseed.ca in the Aviva Community Fund
reseed.ca has entered the Aviva Community Fund
http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf3802
Please Vote for us!
Here is our entry:
2010 will mark year #4 of an effort to transform Kensington Market, in the Heart of Toronto's Chinatown, into a diverse and productive urban farmland. The goal of our project in to foster community efforts to reclaim and reshape our neighbourhoods through gardening, land reclaimation and land management. The ultimate goal, however, is food security via growing and harvesting a diverse variety of food-bearing organic seed stocks, we, as a community, are manifesting the tools needed to generate large amounts of food in an urban environment.
Our motto is simple: The idea will grow!
We are in the process of transforming derelict and available spaces into full-functioning, botanically diverse food gardens. To this point there has been no limit to what or where we have grown food, and the project is taking shape by changing the ways people interact with Kensington Market, a cityspace with a high volume of pedestrian traffic.
In 4 different space, including residential space, reclaimed derelict land, a rooftop and a community effort, We have grown and harvested 4 Varieties of Native Heirloom Corn Species (Golden Bantan, Old Gentelman, +2 Native "Ornamental" types), 5 Types of Beans, Green Lentils and Kamut, Pumpkins, Cantaloupe, Cucumbers and Striaghtneck Squash, Broccoli and Cauliflower, Wild Strawberries, Mulberry Trees, 3 Types of Tomatoes (Roma VF, Sweet 100, San Marzano), Leeks, Eggplant, Radishes and Carrots, Genovese Basil, Italian and Greek Oregano, Garlic and Herb Chives, 3 types of Thyme, Corriander and Curry plant.
This year, we had corn stalks 16 feet high! This land in the middle of the city is amazingly fertile.
This summer, we even drew the attention of a farm reporter from Hanover, ON. See Jon Radojkovic's article here: http://thepost.on.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1758535
In 2010, we plan to expand, by three times, the amount of land we cover with diverse food crops, as well as initiate a program to clone 15 types of food bearing trees and vines already growing locally, for replanting in public and private spaces over the next 5 years. We are teaming with local restaurants and businesses and intend to have the food bearing gardens become points of interest for a walking tour of the area, cross-promoting our neighbours and friends.
We are looking for funding to further the following pursuits: - To further a community-cleanup project that targets condemned buildings that are currently being used as an illegal garbage dump for many toxic chemicals, and transform that space into reclaimed garden-space and greenhouse - To offset project expenses, including a rather significant burden imposed by the quantity frequency of trash cleanup and removal, tools - To nominally compensate the community leaders who spend countless hours developing community gardens. - To acquire equipment necessary for a small-scale indoor greenhouse capable of sustaining the saplings of food-bearing trees through the first two years of development. - To develop and market a program that integrates food garden and local restaurant and businesses on a walking tour of this transformed urban environment.
We thank you for your consideration.
Reseed was inspired by the belief that giving constant, magnificent generosity to your community was done through small and simple acts. We believe that, by respecting and fostering healthy land in our city, we can restore the vitality of the soil beneath our feet
Our website is new and content-bare, so please stay tuned. visit : http://www.reseed.ca
'Grow it anywhere and grow it densely'
Posted By JON RADOJKOVIC, FOR THE HANOVER POST
taken from http://thepost.on.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1758535
Deep in the heart of Toronto, where one would hardly expect to see a patch of grass, there is a tiny plot of land in front of an old row house full of lush, growing vegetables. There is so much growth in the 4 foot by 10 foot patch that it's spilling onto the sidewalk.
This is what Jeffrey Vermeer, the grower, refers to as Project Re-Seed. The project is in its second year and has expanded to four plots of vegetable gardens for the public to view.
"We need to re-connect with the food we eat by growing it," said Vermeer from his home in the Kensington Market area of Toronto. He explained that the demand for locally grown - especially organic -food in Toronto is so great it can hardly keep up and this is one way to supplement that demand. In fact, growing your own food in Toronto is not only about having good fresh vegetables, but also realizing how important it is to know how farmers grow food.
"We're so far removed from farming that people think food just comes in plastic bags and have no connection with what it looks like raw," Vermeer said. Certainly, walking by one of four of Vermeer's gardens brings all the rawness of plants onto the passer-by. Seven foot high corn stalks sway in the breeze, squash plant leaves have poked their way onto the sidewalk, and a broccoli plant is vying for the sun's rays. The small plot is impressive for the amount of varieties of vegetables it has in it - about 15, Vermeer is not quite sure anymore. But what is there is growing well, such as tomatoes, six kinds of corn, oregano, thyme, basil, kale, kidney beans, pole beans, lettuces and more.
The further urban people realize how important good fresh food is, the more local farmers will benefit and this starts with people like Vermeer, who is trying to get his counterparts to know what some of this food looks like. "I've had so many comments from passers-by," Vermeer says. "And what is most important is that they may take the fact I'm growing vegetables in this small, intense way and go home and do it as well."
Vermeer is atra ined chef and knows about how the good quality of local food makes a difference in taste. He has worked with Michael Stadtlander, a world renowned chef living in Grey County who only serves fresh food, most of which he grows himself.
"Farmers should know that we here appreciate what they do," Vermeer acknowledged. This is something that the National Farmers Union found out last spring when they attended a University of Toronto briefing on locally grown food.
"People are saying that farmers are the new heroes. That's how much Torontonians appreciate their food," said Ann Stewart Finley, aG rey County resident, food seller, and a member of NFU.
Another of Vermeer's plots is planted just down the street in front of an abandoned
house. Using found material from garbage days, Vermeer and friends built asm all wooden fence around the front yard and planted a garden. Next year he plans on 10 plots and to grow more. Vermeer acknowledges the fact that ethnic people in the neighbourhood, such as Chinese, Italian and Portuguese, have been growing gardens in urban scapes for a while, but he wants it to be mainstream and not necessarily in nice neat little rows.
"Grow it anywhere and grow it densely," he states. He would like to see it become normal to have gardens in front of and behind houses instead of lawns. And Vermeer doesn't think this new growth in urban gardens will take business away from local farmers. "Once they taste the difference with their own fresh produce they will want more from local farmers."
He points out how successful Quebec has been at marketing their farmers' products and how the demand has grown astronomically in the last decade. "Let's do that here and have more cheeses, yogurts, different types of meats and more fresh produce," Vermeer surmised.