GUEST SPEAKERS
Name of Speaker: Carol Vandersanden and Michelle Perry from “We Grow Food”
Carol was introduced by Janice Coupland. Many Rotarians know that prior to creating, We Grow Food, Carol (Carol Cavallari) was owner of Pelican Catering (one of Oshawa’s finest Catering companies) and also owner of The Table By Carol Restaurant in downtown Oshawa.
We Grow Food (be sure to see their website and Facebook pages: http://www.wegrowfood.org/ ) .
Carol Vandersanden, with nearly 30 years in the food industry, knows best how to engage the community in interesting and innovative projects. When, in 2013, she saw how eager children were to sacrifice their afternoons and weekends to learn more about gardening, Carol decided that she had a new calling: to install a series of “public vegetable gardens” in a project that would become known as “We Grow Food.”
In 2014, the We Grow Food team of volunteers jumped on the construction and maintenance of more than 30 gardens in the Oshawa area, about half of these were open to the public. Volunteers would be assigned a place and time to meet. From a central meeting point, vans filled with garden tools and gardeners would head out to a location and start creating what would become a vegetable garden in a few short weeks.
Today, they focus on 5 community gardens (some in their 6th year) :
The Pepper Patch – John & Albert Streets
The Berry patch – John & Albert Streets
The South Patch at Cordova Park (on Glen Street)
King Street geared to income Seniors residence
Alexandra’s Bounty – on Simcoe Street, just north of the Hospital (the old Dr Rundle residence)
It is gardening in safe spaces; no waste (food or compost); ”enoughness” (sharing the bounty & not hoarding).
All beds are raised, and wheel chair accessible.
People who use the food bank can also pick their own at the gardens.
There are many educational opportunities with grades 1 through 12 in association with the Durham District School Board, including how to grow food, how to harvest, bees, the importance of good soil, how to work the gardens. Hands-on learning.
Carol is looking to get grants for 4 students next summer.
She has a signage program to name all of the various plants and also a seedling project (with 2,000 seeds from the City of Oshawa).
A grant from AVIVA has helped finance a greenhouse at Alexandra’s Bounty.
They have an annual harvest feast and open garden tours (started in the fall of 2013) with now over 200 people attending back at CAREA (Carea Community Health , a registered charitable organization providing a variety of free, community programs and services to people of all ages across Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax and Pickering). The feast is hosted by volunteers – with 20 different dishes - all plant based.
Their newest project is a 31 foot trailer, a working classroom that can tour the area to the schools, growing all sorts of vegetables. Solar panels help with the growing. The mobile trailer can meet larger groups at their location.
Many community partners including the City of Oshawa, CAREA, Durham Region, Feed The Need, Durham District School Board, Durham College, the International Association of Firefighters, and Companies Who Care. Carol is making presentations to many of our local service clubs and would very much like the Rotary clubs in the area , in particular, to join We Grow Food and assist.
Volunteers are the key to any organization.
On August 25 from 11:30 am to 7:30 pm, they are having a “Garden Day” open to the public, with tours of each of the gardens followed by the family activites at each garden, and dinner served after. Bring your own dishes and cutlery. These are garbage free zones. If you are interested, please register on their website.
We Grow Food has been completely funded with private donations from local residents and businesses. Along with the land on which the community garden rests, there is also a large garage for the storage of gardening equipment and a set of timber stumps in a circle used for gatherings. Volunteer gardeners of all ages, backgrounds and abilities show up consistently throughout the growing season and for planning meetings through the winter.
Carol and Michelle were thanked by Dan Pantaleo.
IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT, MAKE UP : Go online at www.rotary.org go to the club locator and find a club or clubs near your destination. Or you can add the free App Rotary Club Locator to your phone for instant look up of any club in the world. Please mail or fax your make-ups to Secretary Robbie Larocque, or give your make-up card to the attendance/registration officer at the next club meeting.