Farm & Food Care Ontario started a Garden in a Box program in the spring of 2021, connecting Ontarians learning how to garden for the first time. Participants received a box of seeds, gardening gloves, a gardening journal, and the ability to participate in an online community.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a growing interest in Ontarians planting their own gardens,” says Alicia Becker, Community Engagement Manager for Farm & Food Care.
Farm & Food Care Ontario is a registered Canadian charity, bringing farmers, agricultural professionals, related businesses, government organizations and other groups together to build public trust in food and farming in Ontario and across Canada.
Garden in a Box not only helped people build meaningful connections with farmers and food producers, but it provided a perspective of the challenges and variables farmers are faced with when growing crops every year.
“Farmers deal with weather, pests and soil conditions in their fields, and our gardeners got a sense of the decisions farmers have to make every day while taking these considerations into account in their own backyards,” explains Bonnie den Haan, Chair of Farm & Food Care Ontario and Ontario dairy farmer.
“It’s important for the public to have a sense of the heartbreak that can be felt and also how wonderful it feels to eat food that you’ve grown through your own hard work.”
At the end of a successful gardening season, 500 Garden-in-a-Box kits were sold, and a portion of the proceeds were donated to Feed Ontario. Farm & Food Care Ontario presented the province’s largest collective of hunger-relief with a $5000 cheque.
Food banks, industry partners and local communities work together delivering fresh and healthy food, developing innovative programming, and driving change through research and advocacy to end hunger and poverty.