Letters to the Editor: Support for Beach Community Edible Garden is much needed
Growing season is upon us again and it’s extra special for the Beach Community Edible Garden as this is our 10-year anniversary!
A decade ago Alex Rochon-Terry, then an environmental studies student with a focus in environment and culture, had a simple idea: “I decided to start the Beach Community Edible Garden at a time in my life where I was learning about the power of community gardens and the linkages that form when people come together to grow food. I wanted there to be a space in the Beaches for a communal community garden where local residents learned about growing food together, and help combat food insecurity with fresh vegetables for those in need.”
The city provided space in Ashbridges Bay Park, the wooden planters were built by private donation, and the city also donated the round planters and built the fence. We teamed up with our local food bank, now called Nourish East End, which runs at Glen Rhodes United Church, to provide fresh produce through the growing season.
We also do occasional programs for school children, bringing them by the garden to teach them a bit about where food comes from.
Last year we also teamed up with the Native Oak Alliance to grow native red oak seedlings with acorns from the massive ancient red oak in Kew Gardens. We provide the kind of produce that is hard to come by at food banks, like fresh herbs, garlic, green beans, lettuces, kale, and a small variety of other vegetables.
“We are getting less supply from the Daily Bread Food Bank and Second Harvest,” said Ryan Galloway, Resource Manager of Nourish East End. “It’s tougher now to meet the needs of people. We try to offer more than your usual food bank, we even have pet food, but it’s not just that produce is expensive, now U.S. tariffs have made canned goods more expensive because of shipping Canadian aluminum to the U.S. to be turned into cans.”
Since the pandemic, food bank usage has exploded and Nourish East End can barely keep up. “On Wednesdays, our sole day of operation, we will serve around 300 families between the morning and afternoon shifts,” said David Williams, team lead for Nourish. “People were absolutely delighted to get truly fresh produce not offered by our usual sources, and it’s usually gone within 15 minutes.”
The Beach Community Edible Garden needs all the help we can get. Not only are we looking to build some new planters to be able to grow more for the food bank, but after a decade some of our other planters are in serious disrepair.
We also always need volunteers to help with planting, watering, and harvesting. Planting Day is on June 1 and it’s fun for the whole family.
Being a small community garden that is 100 per cent volunteer-driven, we are entirely dependent on private donations though we do not have charitable status despite our charitable work.
If you would like to volunteer, or make a donation, contact Adam Smith at beachcommunityediblegarden@gmail.com. Your support is greatly appreciated in the struggle against food insecurity.
Adam Smith, Administrator, Beach Edible Community Garden
