Urban agriculture is blooming in Niagara.
At the beginning of the month, Climate Action Niagara announced it had received $72,000 from Ontario's Trillium Foundation to develop new community gardens in low-income areas of Niagara.
They made the announcement at the group's first pilot project garden off Oakdale Ave. in St. Catharines, where area residents not only tend their own veggies, but also harvest produce for Community Care and other agencies.
Turns out when veggies grow, so does interest in gardening.
"It's working out beautifully, and more and more people want to be involved," said CAN director Jane Hanlon, who made the funding announcement in front of about 40 people at a harvest festival at the garden.
That blossoming interest, combined with new funding, means the Oakdale Ave. plot is growing into a Niagara Community Gardens Network, Hanlon said.
The Trillium funding will help other community groups in St. Catharines, Fort Erie, Port Colborne and Crystal Beach get growing on self-sustaining city agriculture, too.
CAN is also holding canning courses at Start Me Up Niagara between 6 and 9 p.m. on Nov. 2, 9 and 23.
The surge in urban green thumbs doesn't surprise Hanlon.
"People recognize we have a changing climate, and they see the need," she said.
Sarah Pennisi agrees. The social assistance director for Niagara Region said community gardens help green and feed the neighbourhood -- but they also help grow sustainable futures.
"Poverty is more than a lack of income," Pennisi said. "These gardens ensure people have access to a source of healthy food and they engage people in their community ... It really is about reclaiming a sense of community."
The Region spends about $1.5 million each year on the Niagara Prosperity Initiative, which aims to provide special help to impoverished neighbourhoods. Part of that money goes to community gardening programs in Welland, St. Catharines, Grimsby and Niagara Falls.
In St. Catharines, some of the funding went to a Haig St. community garden project that benefits local residents and Community Care.
A different venture sees clients of Start Me Up Niagara learning to plant and cultivate their own vegetables and fruit trees on land provided by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.
In each case, local residents are teaming up with non-profit agencies, local government and even neighbourhood businesses to make gardens grow, Pennisi said.
The Region just recognized three businesses -- Martin Farms Ltd. of Vineland Station, Universal Resource Recovery of Welland and Stokes Seeds of Thorold -- for their help in getting seeds, tools and soil to NPI projects.
Interested in learning more about local garden projects? Visit www.niagararegion.ca,contact CAN at can.info@cogeco.net or fill out one of their surveys at www.surveymonkey.com/s/F8PC2VS.
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