◼ Thorncliffe Park residents dig in and plant their own food,
With community gardens shut down, residents reimagine growing food
As communities across Toronto navigate the thorny task of cultivating shared gardens during COVID-19, residents in one of the city’s densest neighbourhoods are using the pandemic to reimagine how they grow food together.
On Sunday, volunteers planted 37 fruit trees — including cherry, peach, apple and pear — in the green spaces around nine apartment buildings in Thorncliffe Park. At the same time, work is underway to transform one of the neighbourhood’s community gardens into a high-yield urban farm, to increase production and access.
Organizer Susan Wright said the idea to create an “edible landscape” in Thorncliffe Park took root in early spring, when COVID-19 shut down community gardens.
“You see beautiful stories everywhere, where people have taken this opportunity to pivot a bit and try something new and that is kind of what has happened with us,” said Wright, who is managing director of the non-profit summerlunch+, which delivers healthy food to kids in Thorncliffe Park, and started one of the neighbourhood’s community gardens.
“We saw an opportunity to do something differently and we are doing it better as a result,” Wright said.
Wright, who lives in Seaton Village, partnered with Thorncliffe Park resident Michelle Delaney, who runs Thorncliffe Park Urban Farmers.
The initiative is a collaboration between these groups and two land owners, Park Properties and Starlight Investments. A handful of organizations, including The Neighbourhood Organization and Grandtree, provided funding and support. The COVID-19 lockdown has been gruelling in Thorncliffe Park, where more than 30,000 residents are packed into 34 apartment buildings near Don Mills Road and the Don Valley Parkway.
“There’s just not enough space when you’re crammed into the same apartment day after day after day,” Delaney said. “It’s like the apartment gets smaller as the days go by.”
Delaney helped plant the community garden where she lives with her two daughters, that is now being transformed.
Earlier this month, Toronto public health officials announced they would allow community gardens to reopen, with restrictions in place to allow for physical distancing and cleaning.
“I’ve had some people come out, they’ll volunteer with us in the garden for an hour, and they’re like ‘I miss being outside,’ ” Delaney said. “It’s a little bit of a mini escape, even if it’s for an hour.” In a community made up largely of newcomers to Canada, Delaney said the urban orchard will be a source of food — and “nostalgia.”
“Food is grown everywhere in a lot of other countries around the world,” Delaney said. “It’s a way for them to feel connected to the community and build a sense of community.”