Urban Agriculture

We are thrilled to publicize our involvement with the Artscape Green/Arts Barns project at the former Wychwood TTC street car repair barns!

Click here to view our brochure.

Click here to view the brochure for the entire project.

After many years of planning, The Stop’s groundbreaking Urban Agriculture program is getting set to expand its profile, reach and impact. By 2008, what was once an abandoned industrial site in the St. Clair and Christie area will become a vibrant community space with live/work artist’s studios, space for environmental and arts groups and a public park. The Stop will be a vital part of this creative hub with The Green Barn, a sustainable food systems education centre that will actively engage people to grow, eat, celebrate, advocate for and learn about healthy, local food.

The Green Barn will be a place where everyone from children to seniors can learn about growing organic food in their own neighbourhood as well as hear about good food policies and innovative ideas from across the city and around the world. A year-round greenhouse, built within the walls of a former TTC streetcar maintenance barn, and sheltered gardens are planned. These efficient new growing spaces will make it possible to stretch our idea of what we can grow locally, from greens and herbs in the winter to extending the season for tender fruits and vegetables in protected outdoor beds. This means Stop users will see an increase in the amount of fresh produce in our many food programs. Community members will also be able to cook and enjoy food together in a beautiful new space equipped with a community kitchen and an outdoor wood-burning bake oven. With its balance of social justice, healthy food production and innovation, The Green Barn will be a powerful magnet in the neighbourhood and city. We hope to see it attract a wide range of people working together on solutions to hunger and poverty and building a more sustainable and just food system – an ideal extension of our current community food centre model.

Like the seeds we plant in our Earlscourt garden, this exciting project needs lots of attention in order to grow. The costs will be significant. But just as with those seeds, the results will be more than worth it. If you’d like to learn more about The Green Barn and how to contribute, please contact Nick Saul at 416-652-7867 ext. 223.

In 2005, The Stop was selected as the recipient of the first ever Green Toronto Award of Excellence in the category of Environmental Awareness. As well The Stop is highlighted in the Green Living Enviro Guide Spring/Summer 2005 magazine.

The Stop's Urban Agriculture program is a year-round organic food production and environmental education initiative.

The Stop, in partnership with Toronto Parks and Recreation runs the Urban Agriculture Program. Since 1998 it has proven itself to be a valuable tool for integrating four goals:

food security - increasing the amount of nutritious food (organic produce) available in the food bank and other meals programs
environmental protection - growing locally and organically
challenging the "charity food model" - by fostering the involvement of community members in all aspects of the program and by providing an opportunity for community members of diverse backgrounds to work together
educating the broader community about social and environmental issues - by teaching the community about urban ecology

The Stop recognizes the interdependence of people's access to food and the health of the environment. The Urban Agriculture Program has been a way to accomplish many interlocking goals, including naturalization, protection of native species, environmental education, urban food production, waste reduction and the development of strong social networks in the community.

Activities:

Our primary garden site is an 8,000 square foot vegetable and native wildflower garden in Earlscourt Park .
We also conduct gardening activities in the community garden and Peace Garden at the Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood Centre.
Throughout the summer The Stop hosts regular drop-in pizza days at the bake oven behind DPNC.
In the winter, gardening moves indoors to a greenhouse space donated by Rosedale Heights School of the Arts.
The gardens are organic and we are now looking at trying to grow more native and heritage varieties in the hopes of supporting seed growers and promoting these varieties in our neighbourhood.

Food Security

• Over 2,000 lbs of fresh organic produce is harvested each year and is distributed to people through our food bank and meals programs.

• Community gardens and community kitchens ensure that people coming to our programs have access to nutritious, fresh, good quality produce that meets personal and cultural needs.

• Growing food in the city helps to "reclaim" local food production lost when urban sprawl encroaches upon agricultural land.

Environmental Protection

• Producing food locally reduces energy use and pollution by eliminating the need for long-distance transportation.

• Organic practices eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides, build the health of the soil and promote the growth of beneficial organisms

• The gardens create habitat for birds, butterflies and other beneficial insects.

• Habitat is also provided for native and heritage plants. Native plants existed here before the arrival of European settlers. Heritage varieties have been grown for at least 50 years but are in danger of disappearing as commercial growers select fewer and fewer varieties. As the number of varieties dwindles, the diversity of the gene pool also wanes and we risk losing varieties with valuable traits such as flavour, adaptability, nutrition and resistance to disease.

• Composting reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and helps to build soil fertility and resistance to pests and disease.

Moving from Charity to Community Development Food Access Programming

• Passively receiving food as charity is demeaning to the recipient. When people become actively involved in creating solutions to food insecurity in their community, they feel less stigmatized. They also develop their skills further, feel less isolated, build support networks and learn more about available resources. The community benefits from increased leadership capacity and more green spaces. Both participating and non-participating residents can feel good about having an attractive, productive garden in their neighbourhood.

• The involvement of vulnerable community members helps to fight the stereotypes of people living in poverty as lazy, unskilled and uncommitted to their neighbourhood.

Education

Over the past few years, The Stop has been working to expand our capacity to educate our community, and particularly youth, about the goals and benefits of our Urban Agriculture program. Children and youth are a focus because, as the common wisdom goes, if you can engage a child in gardening and ecological conservation when they are young, they are more likely to be avid environmental stewards for the rest of their lives.

• Opening our programs to children, youth and adults provides the opportunity to teach the value (the why) of protecting the environment, building community and working for food security. It also teaches people how to accomplish these goals. The hope is that people will take away what they've learned and apply it to their own lives.

• Working with others of diverse backgrounds, statuses and experiences on a common goal is a learning experience in itself, one that can teach the benefits of communication, patience and respect for differences.

Outdoor Bake Oven

As part of our partnership with the Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood Centre, The Stop makes good use of the bake oven each summer. Every Tuesday from June until October we have a pizza-making drop in that's open to everyone. We provide the dough and some toppings, and people bring their creative pizza designs. An unofficial poll rated these as the best pizzas ever.

Active engagement of youth in programs in the evenings and on weekends has been identified as a critical need in our neighbourhood. Through a partnership with our neighbours - the Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood Centre, an outdoor bake oven was constructed near the community garden behind DPNC. This bake oven provides programming and training opportunities for young people and serves to connect them to the garden at times when programs are usually not offered. Participation in the garden program benefits young people in the same way that all of our participants benefit: a sense of pride and connectedness, leadership and skills development and an opportunity to work with others of diverse backgrounds and experiences. By actively involving youth, the program benefits from their input and will be better able to adapt to their needs and interests.

"When I got involved in the garden I wanted to know more because I wanted to start my own in my backyard. I learned a lot by doing the herbs and vegetables in the garden. I now do it at home, so it was really helpful."

Garden events - get involved!

If you'd like to get involved with our Community Gardens project, there are many opportunities (from tending the gardens and helping with environmental education to coming to our garden events), please call 416-652-7867 ext. 222

One volunteer says:

"I have a mental illness and haven't worked for a while, so I got myself hooked up in a program called Work Adjustment and it helped me find this place called The Stop. The staff has been supportive and gardening has helped me with the work transition. It's been a great experience."