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Click on the video above to watch B Channel footage of the harvesting of the First Steps garden at Victoria City Hall on August 5, 2009
Click on the video above to watch of City of Victoria Councillor Sonya Chandler talking about the lessons learned from the First Steps Garden at City Hall.
Click on the video above to watch of City of Victoria Councillor Phillipe Lucas talking about regional food security and the First Steps Garden at City Hall.
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City Hall Joins Local Urban Organic Agriculture Movement
Videography and video editing by Andrew Ainsley
Reporting and article by Chris Johnson
August 8, 2009
Things are changing in the local urban agriculture scene, with projects sprouting up around Victoria as diverse as guerrilla gardening on city boulevards, to city councillors growing food on the steps of city hall.
When City Councillors Sonya Chandler and Phillipe Lucas, along with local Permaculture expert Geoff Johnson planted a small garden near the front door of city hall this spring, they became one of several groups turning lawns and flower beds into edible landscapes around the city.
Haultain Avenue, on the border of Fernwood and Oaklands, has become ground zero for the movement that is seeing the small grassy areas between the street and the sidewalk converted to food producing land.
The City of Victoria has approximately 300 kilometres of boulevards within its boundaries. Most of these boulevards are maintained by property owners who own the land adjacent to the boulevard. Several of the newer boulevard gardens that have been planted on or near Haultain Ave. have come about through volunteers approaching homeowners with the offer to maintain the gardens and share the food with the community.
While some municipalities have strict bylaws regarding where food can be planted, and who has the authority to manage the landscaping of the boulevards, the City of Victoria has not only tolerated and encouraged this grassroots movement towards local food security, but they’ve gotten in on the action by planting their own community food garden.
“We’re not going to feed the masses here,” said Chandler at the August 5th harvest. “Very symbolically we’re showing that we’re prepared to walk the talk, to look at what other public spaces we can get food growing, educating our staff about how to care for food vs. ornamental vegetation, and keeping the public informed about the fact that you can just take a small piece of land and grow enough food to feed more than just your family. ”
Vancouver Island is heavily dependent on imported food, making it an important goal for many in the region to encourage local agriculture where-ever possible. These few small symbolic gardens are part of a growing urban agriculture movement that includes projects such as Sharing Backyards, Food Roots, City Harvest, the creation of edible ‘commons’ in several neighbourhoods, and an increasing number of backyard gardeners bringing their produce to Farmer’s Markets. Stay Tuned to B Channel for more coverage of this important issue.
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Related Media Links
City councillors harvest crops from food-growing project
Times Colonist – Aug 6, 2009
Young Family’s Bid To Save Local Farm
Victoria Indymedia – August 2, 2009
Deadline looms in effort to save farm
Times Colonist – Jul 17, 2009
Community Gardens: The Movement is Growing
Victoria Indymedia – July 1, 2009
Buy your rainbow chard and eggplants at work
Globe and Mail – Sep 18, 2008
Housing and food share many vital links
Times Colonist – Sep 11, 2008
Region’s open-air markets blooming
Canada.com – Jun 12, 2008
‘Farmland is like an endangered species’
Canada.com – May 24, 2008
Growing the zero-mile diet
Globe and Mail – May 23, 2008
Island scene: Where have all the farms gone?
Canada.com – May 17, 2007
Related Links
CR-FAIR – Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable
Lifecycles Project – Sharing Backyards
BCpermaculture – Urban Homestead and Community Gardens – Geoff Johnson
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