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Garden concept grows in Yorkton

Many people find it difficult to grow their own food, perhaps because of a lack of experience, a lack of time or even a lack of space around their homes.
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IT ALL STARTS with an empty field. A new Community Garden, started in collaboration between the Alliance Church and the Assiniboine Food Security Alliance will soon see vegetables growing for people in the community. This patch, says Fred Schneider (pictured), will grow potatoes in its first year, while a second garden will be used to grow other vegetables.

Many people find it difficult to grow their own food, perhaps because of a lack of experience, a lack of time or even a lack of space around their homes. A new community garden, started in collaboration between the Alliance Church and the Assiniboine Food Security Alliance (AFSA) aims to help get people in the community growing more food.

Fred Schneider with the Community Garden Alliance says that this year's garden is a first step in the process of growing a viable garden. Gardens are divided into two patches, one which is being used to grow potatoes this year, and a second dedicated to other produce.

The first patch will be the permanent home of the garden in future years, but the decision to plant it with potatoes was made to help prepare the soil, as it is the first year it is being used.

"It just got plowed under, so it takes a little while to get what was there before worked in," Schneider says.

The garden itself is located near the Alliance Church on grounds owned by the church itself.

The plot being used for vegetables this year was donated for a year by a local couple. Schneider says that it was a good fit to work with the Alliance Church on the project, as they both had the land and are involved in helping feed people in the community, doing things such as hosting the Soup Haven.

"They've got a wonderful vision for helping the community," Schneider says.

The community part of community garden will be a large part of the focus of the project. Some of the produce harvested will be donated to community organizations like the Soup Haven and Salvation Army, and Schneider also hopes to get children involved in the project, so they learn how to grow their own food and learn more about gardening overall. Also, for people who have never gardened before, Schneider says they are looking for mentors, to help teach them about how to grow food as healthy as possible.

"We are hoping that we can help people... We're trying to think community-wise, and how we can help people growing healthy food and using good practices," Schneider says.

The food grown in the garden will be all organic, and the use of pesticides and herbicides will not be allowed. The decision to go organic, Schneider explains, was both because they wanted the environmentally sound option, and to make it as healthy as possible for everyone eating the produce.

The garden is part of AFSA's goal to help people grow food in the city. Other projects include directories of local producers and the Prairie Sun Seed Festival, which focused on everything from starting to grow to what one can do with the harvested produce.

"AFSA wants to focus on providing good, local, healthy food to all people," Schneider says.

To learn more about the Community Garden or get involved, people are invited to call Schneider at 783-4266. One can also visit the AFSA website at www.afsamatters.ca to learn about this and other AFSA projects.