Author: Jason Ash. Long time Thorncliffe resident and community activist.
Spring is here again, and another growing season at Thorncliffe Park Urban Farmers has begun!
When I think about the impact of TPUF, of course I think about the much-needed and much-appreciated fruits and vegetables being grown for our community.
More than that, I think about TPUF’s importance in educating aspiring urban farmers, building friendships among neighbours, and raising the profile of our Thorncliffe Park community, locally in the Don Valley, and across Toronto.
In my opinion, every apartment building in Thorncliffe Park should provide some gardening space for its residents to program, grow, and celebrate together. It is wonderful that TPUF counts amongst its community partners two apartment building owners who are providing land, and opportunity, for Thorncliffe Park families to come together. The neighbourhood is hungry for more renter-property management collaboration, and urban farming is a great way to get everyone involved.
As a child, I was fortunate to play, and sometimes to plant, in my grandparents’ backyard garden. I didn’t live in a house, and I didn’t have a balcony either, so being in their backyard on summer weekends was a big deal. With a green thumb, my grandfather could make anything grow including, one year, what turned out to be a bumper crop of pumpkins that we planted together very late in the season when we decided that a “store bought jack-o’-lantern” just wouldn’t do.
My grandfather’s love of gardening came from his own childhood experiences in 1920s and 30s Brandon, Manitoba. Nobody had much money back then, the modern supermarket did not exist yet, and year-round shipments of fruits and vegetables from places afar to Canada was unheard of.
So, families grew what they could, whatever would grow in the prairie climate, whether they rented or owned their homes. Some of it was for immediate need, but much of it was canned or jarred and stored in their cold room, to be opened for winter consumption. And I would be remiss not to mention that many families in that era also owned their own dairy cow. My grandfather’s family named theirs Bessie.
Whether you are growing pumpkins or calabash, urban farming is a great tradition that teaches practical, life skills. You will gain good experience and make some great memories with TPUF.
