Development has displaced too much food production, but people like urban farmer Chris Hildreth are showing it doesn’t have to be that way. Hildreth is setting out 2,400 pots on vacant land at Dockside Green. His plan is to grow produce that will supply three nearby restaurants with fresh greens and vegetables.
Never mind the 100-mile diet — this is the 100-metre diet.
The capital region is a great place to grow things; there’s no reason more of its landscaping can’t be edible, especially as concerns grow over nutrition, food safety and rising food prices.
Urban agriculture is a growing movement, increasingly supported by municipal governments. The City of Victoria, for example, allows gardening, within certain guidelines, on boulevards, the city-owned strips of land between private property and streets. It has regulations and guidelines for community gardens.
A good example of successful urban agriculture is the Mason Street City Farm, which has been growing food for more than 20 years within three blocks of city hall. As well, the Food Eco District has been developed on Fort Common downtown, with goals that include lining restaurants up with local ingredients.
Urban farming is not restricted to fruits and vegetables. Hundreds of kilograms of honey are harvested each year from hives on downtown hotel properties. Municipalities allow people to keep chickens in their yards.
Land that grows lawns, shrubs, trees and flowers could just as well be producing food. That doesn’t mean all lawns should be plowed up and planted to potatoes — urban agriculture can be sized to fit each circumstance. It can be as big as a huge backyard garden; it can be as small as a couple of pots on a balcony. Rooftop planters can yield an amazing amount of food. A couple of fruit trees among the landscaping can provide more than enough produce for one family.
The advantages are many. When you grow your own food, you know which chemicals, if any, were used in its production. You know that it is fresh and nutritious. You know that huge amounts of energy were not expended to bring it to you.
By incorporating composting into gardening, less waste is sent to landfills and the environment is enriched.
If you grow a surplus of one thing, you can trade with neighbours for their surplus produce. Besides getting exercise and fresh air, you will be cultivating good community relations.
There are disadvantages, of course. If you don’t put in protective measures, urban deer will chomp down your greenery as fast as it sprouts. Rabbits — the feral kind and the invasive eastern cottontail — will nibble to nubs almost anything you grow. Robins and Steller’s jays can make short work of a ripening cherry crop. Squirrels and raccoons will harvest your apples, pears and plums if you don’t get to them first.
But dealing with the realities and challenges of nature is part of the experience. You’ll be stronger and healthier for it.
Some enthusiasts call urban agriculture the most important movement of our time, and it certainly has great potential. But it’s scarcely new or revolutionary — it’s what our grandparents did as a matter of course. A couple of generations ago, many families relied on their own gardens for much of their produce. Many kept chickens in the backyard to supply eggs and meat. What was old is new again.
Vancouver Island is a beautiful place, because nature’s such a lavish spender here. There’s no reason it can’t feed the body as well as the soul.
