Community garden strengthens neighbourhood

Hope grows in a Vancouver community garden.

“We have become so private in our lives, gardening helps open the door,” says Katherine, a long-time volunteer with the Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House community garden. Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House is a volunteer-driven organization providing services to residents in East Vancouver.

The community garden began four years ago with funding from United Way of the Lower Mainland. There are two locations: one at Frog Hollow and one at Clinton Park. These gardens are planted, tended and harvested by volunteers like Katherine. The goal of a community garden is to engage its diverse community and encourage backyard gardening to be included as part of a family food plan. Adults and children attend workshops and events to learn and share their knowledge.

In April 2011, Statistics Canada reported prices for basic food purchases increased by 3.7% during the last 12 months. Prices for fresh vegetables increased by 4.3%. With the expectation of food costs to continue to rise, Frog Hollow’s community garden is an important resource for families to gain access to affordable healthy food and to learn about gardening.

“I like to refer to it as the experiential garden,” says Katherine. Encouraging all to participate, Katherine and volunteers have planted many different types of vegetables, from Chinese broccoli gai lan to edible flowers for the summer salads to be served with a hot lunch at the family drop-in sessions. Everyone gets a chance to spend time in the garden. Preschool children from the Frogs in the Park program plant their very own seedlings and spend the last two weeks of the summer tending the garden.

Katherine is a single mother of two grown children and has lived in the north-east Vancouver community for more than 15 years. Her daughter Allura having been identified with developmental delays was able to take advantage of the after school programs at Frog Hollow from grades one to seven. Over the years, the family participated in various programs at the neighbourhood house including the food security programs. Today, Katherine teaches as well as assists with a variety of duties for Eva Aboud, the Food Security Coordinator.

“She is a knowledgeable resource for the community garden,” says Eva. “She is a real help.” Katherine helps with some administrative duties, as well as coordinating planting, workshops and an online blog for the community garden.

To celebrate the garden and its community, Frog Hollow organizes an event on the last day of the Frogs in the Park program. A harvest festival is held on September 1 at Clinton Park. The festival includes a vegetable growing contest, food from the garden and lots entertainment.

United Way of the Lower Mainland donors are helping to fund the garden by supporting Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House food security programs.