A Rocha’s Urban Agriculture Coordinators reflect on a summer spent growing good food

By Hillary Jorgenson and Mariel Roehr, Manitoba Urban Agriculture Coordinators 

Sept 5, 2024

It’s the end of August and the seeds planted at the beginning of the season are now in full bloom. As A Rocha’s Urban Agriculture Coordinators, we have had the pleasure of spending the summer helping out at Metanoia Farm, a CSA farm focused on sustainable agriculture practices, and managing the Just Growing Garden at Saint Margaret’s Anglican Church. It has brought us great joy to be able to donate the produce from Just Growing Garden to The Madison, a long-term supportive living facility operated by Siloam Mission, and Acorn Family Place, which aims to support families in need by providing essential resources, such as healthy, nutritious food! We also spend some time at Vimy Ridge Park, watering trees for the park’s Community Orchard project and watering the community garden beds.

We’ve been lucky enough to taste some of the sour cherries and haskaps from the new orchard. It’s been so rewarding to help the community gardeners with their plots and watch their veggies grow! Unfortunately, some of the berry bushes and trees were stolen this month, which has been heartbreaking. But the community gardeners have come together to support and encourage each other, continuing to invest in the space even if some of their produce is taken.

This year, we’ve planted lots of vegetables at Saint Margaret’s and they are growing beautifully. We have already donated over 92 lbs of produce, with lots more to come! While the lettuce and arugula have been coming in abundance, as well as some spinach, we are getting very excited for squash and tomato season. More recently, the peas, beans, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, and turnips have been flourishing. This year we’re doing a bit of an experiment: we’re attempting to grow tomatoes from a hanging pot that’s hooked to the middle of our arch trellis. So far, so good… but only time will tell!

Earlier this month, we hosted a workshop on soil health and biodiversity at Just Growing Garden where we did a pH test of partcipant’s soil, as well as other soil tests, and learned about soil drainage, composition, and amendments. We also went on a little walk to see what plants (commonly understood as weeds) were growing in the neighbourhood and how those plants could be used to benefit one’s garden. Last week, we were thrilled to host a farm-to-table dinner party using produce from Just Growing Garden and Metanoia Farm. This event was meant to be a celebration and a “thank you” to all those who have been connected to us or have crossed paths with us this season in one way or another. A friend was kind enough to let us use her 5000 lb, mosaicked and bedazzled brick pizza oven, and we had a blast connecting with community members over good, fresh food.

In addition to those events, we also got the opportunity to exercise our creativity by writing and designing a Soil Zine to go along with our soil workshop, as well as painting some new signage for Just Growing Garden. The goal of these signs is for them to welcome people into the space and celebrate the partnership between A Rocha and Saint Margaret’s Church. 

Overall, we are feeling incredibly proud of everything we have accomplished so far, and are feeling very blessed by the abundance of produce and the amazing people we have had the pleasure of connecting with throughout the summer. We look forward to more harvest days and garden chats with friends.