Two photos by Lucia Araiza of Sustainable Expressions – Common Roots celebration Our friends at Common Roots Urban Farm have been busy. The landscape of the farm, a productive food and green retreat in the heart of Halifax, keeps expanding with each growing season! You may recall our blog updates on the greenhouse constructed this summer, or perhaps you visited the farm to buy produce from … Continue reading Kids Dig It at Common Roots Urban Farm
The Our Food Project of the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) regularly partners with community organizations and groups to support the development of food and gardening projects. Over the winter they heard that community members in Mulgrave Park were interested in starting a garden. Mulgrave Park is a large public housing community home to over 250 families in Halifax’s North End. With the EAC also being … Continue reading Growing Mulgrave Park Community Garden
The 2014 growing season has been a busy time for the HUGS Community Garden. Despite challenging weather and a generous helping of slugs the garden is looking better than ever. In a previous post I talked a little about the HUGS Revitalization Project. In a nutshell, this large garden in the West End of Halifax had fallen into a state of inactivity. In collaboration with … Continue reading Hooray for HUGS: Embracing Community Food Security in Bayers Westwood
It was a gusty day in June, and Common Roots was a site to see. In every corner of the farm there was activity. Student farmers were harvesting a mesclun medley in the market gardens, alongside Deep Roots farmers from ISANS. Volunteers were wheelbarrowing backfill, while others were assembling the shade sail frames for what will soon be an enchanting children’s garden. And then on … Continue reading Behind the Green: Building a Greenhouse at Common Roots
With activity around the HUGS garden growing, I wanted to invite some of our most active gardeners to come to the Ecology Action Centre and start some of the seeds that they will later transplant into their garden. Earlier in March I sat down with some gardeners and local residents of the Bayers Westwood community to discuss what they would like to see grown in … Continue reading Seed Starting with Our Friends from HUGS Garden
One of the many gardens that the Our Food Project supports is the Hilda’s Unity Garden Society (HUGS) garden in the Bayers Westwood community. The garden was started 4 years ago by a group of active residents interested in creating a space to grow food and community. The Bayers Westwood community is one of Halifax’s largest public housing units. Most residents live below the average … Continue reading The HUGS Garden Revitalization Project
This story came to us through CEED, highlighting the amazing work of our foodie friends at Common Roots Urban Farm. So much great food work happening! “Thursdays are my favourite day at the farm,” says gardener and organizer extraordinaire Jayme Melrose. Her strawberry blonde hair and infectious smile were nearly as warming as the sunshine that poured over Halifax’s Common Roots Urban Farm. Located in one of … Continue reading A Bucolic Treasure in the Heart of Halifax
In the early morning (7:30 AM) of June 19th, a plethora of volunteers met beneath a rain resistant tent at Common Roots Urban Farm (CRUF); at their avail were a selection of egg muffins, juices and coffee supplied through Jane’s of Halifax. With rain on the horizon, this group, along with organizers from Fiskars and Canadian tire embarked upon an incredible task to build a … Continue reading Fiskars Project at Common Roots Urban Farm
The office is relatively quiet on this sunny Friday afternoon and I’ve finally had the chance to read some articles that others have been sending to me. I wanted to share them with you. The first is an article on new legislation to support urban gardening in San Francisco from Grist magazine. The article says: The legislation follows zoning changes last year that made it … Continue reading Food for Thought: Articles on Food Activism
