MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Spring 2018

26 ML BLUE SPRING 2018 UP FRONT Good ideas are sprouting in the Blue Mountains. In the grassy expanse of the Beaver Valley Community Centre property, the Thornbury Community Gardens will launch this spring, bringing sustainable food into our backyard. This garden will host 20 rental plots (10 raised beds and 10 in-ground beds), and offer free public and school workshops. The brainchild of non-profit, registered charity Free Spirit Gardens, the project comes on the heels of the already established Collingwood Community Gardens, which hosts 60-plus plot renters. Free Spirit’s Kimberly Edwards is overseeing the establishment of the gardens and running the workshops. In addition to rental plots, Free Spirit Gardens and volunteers will tend plots dedicated to the local food bank and for school groups. “We’ll have a committee of volunteers from the community who will oversee the operation on the ground level,” says Edwards, “and Free Sprit Gardens will be the central organizer and manage the funding applications. “Anyone who lives in a townhome or doesn’t have a garden at home can rent a plot for the season and of course it’s totally up to them what they want to grow,” Edwards adds. “The raised beds we will prioritize to those with accessibility needs.” Workshops will encourage students to get their hands dirty. ”Students will do whatever needs to be done in the garden at that time, so it might be planting potatoes, weeding around radish sprouts, or pruning tomato plants,” Edwards says. “In the fall, they will be harvesting their plot. We want repeat visits so the kids plant something and then get a chance to water it, weed it, and taste it. So they see it through to the end. It’s about getting kids outside and interested in how food grows…We want to tie the workshops in with our overall food system in its current state and engage kids in the conversation of what needs to happen in the future to make that system healthier and more sustainable.” Thornbury Community Gardens’ funders: Blue Mountain Village Foundation, TD Friends of the Environment, and a Town of the Blue Mountains Sustainability Grant. Details on plot rentals and everything else here : freespiritgardens.org SMART FOOD: THORNBURY COMMUNITY GARDENS