Canada: Doig River First Nation in BC receives $51K for community garden
“In our raised bed garden, we grew peas, carrots, beets, radishes, corn, tomatoes, beans, cabbage, chives, zucchini, asparagus, strawberries, lettuce, and various flowers.”
By Shailynn Foster
Energetic City
Aug 4, 2022
Excerpt:
The funding from the Victoria Foundation’s Food Security – Provincial Initiatives Fund will be used for workshops and to increase garden capacity and outreach to gardeners.
“This funding will allow Doig River First Nation to expand our community garden project, which is a community-driven response to food insecurity challenges that are compounded by living remotely and in a changing climate,” said Sara Rowe, forestry manager of Doig River First Nation.
“We aim to offer locally grown fruits and vegetables to community members and facilitate learning opportunities for individuals and families to be able to start their own gardens.”
The money is part of $800,000 being distributed throughout British Columbia through the fund.
“In our raised bed garden, we grew peas, carrots, beets, radishes, corn, tomatoes, beans, cabbage, chives, zucchini, asparagus, strawberries, lettuce, and various flowers. In the riverside garden we grew beans, strawberries, garlic, zucchini, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, carrots, cabbages, broccoli, and asparagus. The biggest success was probably the potatoes, we grew about 100 plants that each produced a pound of potatoes. Another success was that we grew all our own seedlings, and even had extras for some people to take home and plant in their own gardens.
“We are looking to expand and improve our riverside garden. We plan to install fencing to keep the deer out and irrigation to keep a regular watering schedule. The perennials we planted in 2020/21 will continue to grow and should start producing in the next few years – we have raspberries, haskaps, rhubarb, asparagus, and strawberries.”
