villagevibe March 2010
News and views from the heart of Fernwood
City considering food production in parks Potential for more public garden space
›› Lee Herrin On a rare sunny day last November, Bejay Mills and Tamara Schwartzentruber walked through the neighbourhood with staff from Fernwood NRG. They were contracted to City Hall’s Parks, Recreation & Community Development Department and were consulting with neighbourhood groups about the potential for permaculture on city-owned properties, including parks. The group toured Haegert Park (noting the guerrilla gardening on the northern edge), the common (a longstanding permaculture project), and Stevenson Park, which was empty at the time despite the fair weather. “Permaculture” is a word coined by Australian Bill Mollison in the 1970s. “Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems,” says Mollison in his book, Permaculture: A designer’s manual. Permaculture landscapes don’t look like farmer’s fields—they look like gardens or even semi-wild landscapes but with yields that match or exceed conventional production on a per square foot basis. “The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions, rather than asking only one yield of them; and of allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions.” Last year, Mills and Schwartzentruber approached the City and urged them to consider food production on City-owned property as part of a sustainable urban landscape. In particular, they urged the City to consider permaculture which blends the productive and the aesthetic. Surprisingly, the City responded by giving a small contract to the pair to do some consultation and report back on the findings. “So far, there’s been a lot of support [inside City Hall],” said Doug Demarzo,
A permaculture development site in progress. The cardboard is used to suppress the growth of grass and other unwanted plants and is a safe, nontoxic alternative to herbicides.
Senior Parks Planner, when asked why the city was considering a departure from the standard lawns and ornamental gardens of city parks today. “There is a lot of demand for places to garden [from renters and apartment dwellers]. Also, it gives us another tool to offer landowners…the average person thinks of urban gardens as highly intense, high input…we need a site—a ‘living laboratory’—that will
change how people view what’s possible.” Mills and Schwartzentruber submitted their report to the Parks Department last December. A second discussion paper, this one on food systems by consulting firm Masselink Environmental Design, was also submitted in December to the Community Planning Department. It wasn’t focused on parks per se, but rather on what is needed by way of policy at the municipal
Neighbourhood Non-Profit
Feature
Gleanings
Compost Education Centre page 3
My Kind of Revolution page 4
The Garden in March page 6
level to “develop an urban food system that enhances the social, ecological, economic and nutritional health of Victoria and its community.” It remains to be seen what happens once all this research bubbles up to the political level for discussion, hopefully later this spring. But at this point, these reports are interesting and promising seeds that have been sown.
in this issue To get the Vibe digitally, sign up at fernwoodnrg.ca