I arrive at the Loutet Farm to write a story. I become the volunteer who works in the field and the market. The Loutet team is hard at it, farming in my backyard (FIMBY), and it entails farm duties whether on harvest or market days.
Since 2005, the Edible Garden Project has done the groundwork. They have forged relationships with the University of British Columbia as well as North Shore schools, churches, shelters and childcare centres — networking with the Food Bank, the North Shore Food Hub, and a half dozen community gardens along with like-minded organizations, donors and funders. The groundwork paid off when Loutet Farm broke turf in 2011 as the first Canadian urban farm on public parkland.
Twelve years have passed, and Loutet Farm is now a program of the North Shore Neighbourhood House. Urban farming has mushroomed around the world (although mushrooms aren’t yet on the plate). Most salad greens are.
Ready in early summer — scallions, cucumbers, beets, carrots, kohlrabi, salad turnips, garlic, fennel and zucchini combine with floral bouquets (prepared by Helen, a volunteer with a knack for composition) for tasty, fragrant offerings.
One month into summer — garlic, cucumber and tomatoes are on their way. On tap for late summer/early fall are eggplant and winter squash (Red kuri is their chest-nutty variety resembling a small, smooth-skinned pumpkin).
The Loutet Farm’s .2 hectare is situated in North Vancouver’s lower Lynn Valley. Jack Loutet was a founder from the first half of the 20th century who wore multiple hats as city mayor, reeve, provincial councillor, realtor, postmaster, notary and insurance agent. So too, farm staff (two full-timers), part-time workers and around 100 volunteers now wear many garden hats. They fulfill a mandate — to grow fresh-picked produce, to share within the community, and to teach adults and children about sustainability and healthy-eating practices.
Statistically…
*6,350 kg was grown and sold in 2021
*Over 2,721 kg was donated to 1,200 vulnerable residents
*2,000 children and adults were trained and taught about food security
I discover the farm while touring Gerry’s Garden, next door to the Loutet Farm, as part of 10 North Shore gardens on show with the Arts in the Garden initiative sponsored by North Vancouver Arts Commission. Gerry, grieving the loss of his son, created the garden in his ’80s before passing away last spring.
A plaque dedicated to Gerry sums up what gardening can do:
“He lived to be one hundred and two
Shall we last as long — me and you?
…In the paradise patch that he grew.”
I tour the farm with one of 11 interns on site. She coins one crunchy vegetable “an alien-baby kohlrabi.” I am inspired to do a volunteer orientation with the Education & Program Coordinator, Becka. By the time I return to the garden, I look fondly at the purple aliens, big as grapefruits.
Seniors, youth volunteers and workers set up tables and shade – providing tents on a hot summer’s day.
Farmer Claire, as Farm Coordinator, buddies me with Jane who’s been volunteering for a year at the farm. “It’s like meditation,” says Jane of the simple pleasures of working outside on a community project.
Jane likes the seasonal changes from topsoil mulching in the fall to harvesting in the summer. Harvest days happen the day before market days, which are Wednesdays (2-4 p.m. with no vendors) and Saturdays (10-2 p.m. with vendors selling everything from craft to confection).
Today’s harvest covers salad turnips (looking like white golf balls of goodness minus the dimples). The greens are good to eat too, both raw and stir-fried.
“Jane, how come your turnips are bigger than mine?” I say. “They’re just inches apart.”
“I’m picking from the south-facing side,” she says. “It makes all the difference.”
That’s been a surprise for me along with the clean efficiency of agribusiness. Surfaces are soaped and scrubbed. We wash our hands and roll up our sleeves.
Farmer Claire demonstrates how to layer and stack produce in crates — for easier washing, bunching and weighing later. Volunteers work both ends of the row and fill crates. Jane and I grab snippers and half-full vases. We make our way to the perfumed shade of the sweet pea section.
Passersby call out from the adjacent walking/cycling path that loops Loutet with Sutherland Secondary School and its Shared Garden: “When’s the garlic ready?”
“How are the tomatoes and cucumbers coming along?”
There’s more buzzing than honeybees at this hub. Loutet partners its hives with Alveole, a company connecting bees to people in urban areas.
Back at the tent, more pickers join us with crateloads of beets, a popular seller. We pick off yellow leaves and under-sized pickings for the compost bin, or the volunteers’ take-out at the end of shift.
I meet Rita in the salad-bagging area. She started out weeding at Loutet six years ago and is a seasonal volunteer. She switches up services with the garden club, North Shore Streamkeepers, and the library.
“Put your fingers here,” she shows me. “Spin the bag and knot it. That way the bags are fluffy and the leaves aren’t crushed.”
Rita reminds me that it’s a philosophy at work here as we gather greens.
“Some people come here to remember their childhood gardens,” she says. “For others, it’s a bridge between cultures. There’s a mix of ages. All types can be what they need to be.”
Fellow salad keepers with Rita are Irma and Tina. I help Irma bag and weigh the greens. She’s been bagging for five years with her friend, Tina, who’s had knee surgery. Irma plans to visit afterwards with some veggies.
“Oh yes, very good friends here,” says Irma with her gorgeous smile.
Saturday Market volunteers have been laying out produce and picking sweet peas by the time I arrive. If we run out, Larry restocks.
“We used to work on the farm,” Larry says. “For now, it’s market days.”
His wife, Shari, is my shopping buddy. “The baskets are numbered,” she says. “We basket the produce that the customers point out.”
By the time we fill one basket, another 20 patrons are waiting their turn in line. It’s fast and furious for the first hour.
“Fun, eh?” says Shari.
There’s something intimate and satisfying about handing over locally-grown produce to a community, my community, about to consume it with their families. Hands-on, farm-to-table fare doesn’t come by air, by truck or by train. That’s farm fresh food security.
WorldBank.org says, “Based on the 1996 World Food Summit, food security is defined when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”
Upcoming is the Loutet Harvest Festival in mid-September, and Pumpkin Patch, October 14th. This backyard bounty leads us with freshness and grace in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.
For more info:
https://ediblegardenproject.com/
https://www.alveole.buzz/about-us/
https://www.facebook.com/gerrysgardenNV/
https://northvanarts.ca/events-exhibitions/arts-in-the-garden-2023/
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