Red tips of rhubarb are peaking through next to the lane--a sign of more edibles in this tiny spot? The photo was taken March 1, 2009.
Why do I include this seemingly inconsequential plot? It represents such a small endeavor to grow something edible. Perhaps it's because I resonate with the words by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, one of Britain's top TV chefs, in the
New York Times Travel section, November 30, 2008, p. 10:
"Even a window box of herbs in central London is better than nothing...food-blindness is part of our post industrial alienation; we're alienated from our very plates."
Will this new raised bed be used for vegetables? Since there is a "Save the UBC Farm" poster on the front door, I'm voting for vegetables. The gardener is starting from scratch but is well on his or her way with the piles of leaves and bags of manure. Let's return to this garden later and see what is grown on this south-west corner.
Red tips of rhubarb are peaking through next to the lane--a sign of more edibles in this tiny spot? The photo was taken March 1, 2009.
This vacant lot sits next to a Mennonite church in east Vancouver. The lot is used occasionally for the church's overflow parking, but some young people from the church came up with a vision to open up the use of this land for growing vegetables by people in the church or the community or by refugee claimants who attend the weekly food bank. Permission from the church and creation of the plots took place too late for growing vegetables in 2008, so only a few flowers were grown. Soil was brought in from a construction job site and mixed with purchased compost. Some of the costs were covered by a government grant. The soil must be good because the dandelions were flourishing in November!
