Canada: City Farmer in Vancouver – an urban wonderland
The garden is a wonderland of delights – abundant with flowers, winding pathways, hidden nooks, hanging fruit, curiosities and artworks.
By Clytie Binder
Soil Searching Diaries
Aug 27, 2023
Excerpt:
I spent a lovely couple of hours on two occasions visiting the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden, AKA City Farmer, exploring this magical garden and enjoying the company of the wonderful Michael Levenston and Joan MacNab. I rode a bicycle to get there (Vancouver is very bicycle friendly) and marvelled at the position of the garden – located in a residential street adjacent to three community gardens (Kitsilano Community Garden, Maple Community Garden and Cyprus Community Garden) as well as a community share, reuse, and repair hub (Kitsilano Thingery).
The Vancouver Compost Garden started in 1981, is funded by the City of Vancouver and Metro Vancouver. City Farmer works with a variety of City Departments (e.g.Solid Waste, Water Design, Parks, Green Streets) to provide environmental education for residents, schools and visitors about backyard and worm composting, water conservation (rain barrels, drip irrigation, permeable surfaces) safe pest control and natural lawn care. Rather than asking people to sit in a classroom and watch PowerPoint presentations or download an app, they impart knowledge by making it possible to see, touch and smell examples of living composting systems, food-growing techniques and harvesting and conserving water. Features of the site include a climate adaptation garden, a green roof, a cob tool shed, organic food gardens, a permeable surface lane, natural lawns, waterwise gardens, and various worm and backyard compost systems.
