Fourteen garden beds at the corner of Leon Avenue and Bertram Street in Kelowna, B.C., are going to produce 250 pounds of food for vulnerable families.
The garden boxes that now wrap around the busy street corner represent a partnership between Project Literacy Central Okanagan and KCR Community Resources to help feed their participants.
“We work with families and individuals who are in need. Many of those families are in need of healthy food for their own well-being,” said Ellen Boelcke with KCR Community Resources.
Joining their services together, the community garden care project is a two-year commitment they have made to the people for whom they provide services.
“It’s to help educate new people to Kelowna, new Canadians and immigrants on what fresh produce is available that they might not be familiar with and they also might not know how to grow it,” said Paul Zuurbier with the Project Literacy Central Okanagan Society.
The tall narrow flower boxes have been designed to prevent vandalism while maximizing the yield. They are too tall to be used as chairs and too narrow to be slept in.
- Toronto Pearson gold heist: Ontario man arrested at airport after arriving from India
- Capital gains changes could have ‘irreversible’ effects, business groups warn
- Could notwithstanding clause be used on abortion? Poilievre’s office says ‘never’
- Renters so far more ‘vulnerable’ than homeowners amid higher interest rates. Why?
After harvest, the food will be stored at KCR Community Resources and staff members will distribute it to the participants who need it.
Vital to the project are 20 volunteers who will be taking turns planting, watering and caring for the growing urban crop.
“We are doing the square foot gardening program which is a grid system so you can maximize your produce out of one square,” said Dianne Bondaroff, community gardener.
Their first harvest will be ready to be picked from its garden bed as early as next week.
Comments