Summer gardenin' had us a blast

September 22, 2017

Volunteers in a garden set up tomato trellises

Summer gardenin’ had us a blast
Submitted by Feed Nova Scotia

Our member agencies are no strangers to community gardens, but we’ve never dipped our feet into the waters until this summer. What did we learn? That it wouldn’t have been possible without these four key ingredients:

One: A timely opportunity
Did you know Halifax Transit has a big, beautiful community garden at their headquarters in Burnside? We didn’t either until they offered us a chance to take the reins! We were thrilled to manage the project, knowing it would help our efforts to increase the amount of fresh, healthy food we ship out to food banks and meal programs across Nova Scotia. With a chance to put more local produce like beans, cukes, and tomatoes on family dinner tables, how could we say no?

Halifax Transit Community Garden tilled and in rows ready for planting — *Halifax Transit's Community Garden in Burnside is prepped for planting for Feed Nova Scotia*

Two: Someone in the know
Everyone needs an Adelaide! So far, our volunteer gardener extraordinaire has spent almost 40 hours leading this project—when she’s not working at Halifax Seed. With her endless skill set, Adelaide seemed like a natural fit, and lucky for us she was keen to dig in.

woman smiling and digging in garden — *Feed Nova Scotia volunteer and gardener* *extraordinaire* *Adelaide weeding the garden (again!)*

Three: Many hands to make light work
Volunteers are critical to every part of our organization, and the community garden was no exception. Big thanks to our regular volunteers, and folks from UPS, IWK, YWCA, and Adsum for relishing the opportunity to spend some time in the fresh air building trellises, planting, weeding, and harvesting.

Three women working in a garden — *Staff from member agency Adsum House volunteering in the garden*

Four: A big purpose
There’s nothing more rewarding than watching your hard work bloom into something that will provide nourishment and comfort. At least 44,000 Nova Scotians accessed a food bank in 2016, and we hear firsthand the difference it makes when people have healthy food to feed themselves and their families. To date, we’ve harvested more than 70 kilograms of vegetables from the Halifax Transit community garden. Where does it go? Right on our trucks and on the road to our member agencies.

A box full of green and yellow beans — *Green and yellow beans harvested from the garden*

It’s been an awesome summer of learning. We’re sad to see it go, but the cool air also brings Nova Scotians through our doors to share their own harvest—and what better way to welcome fall.