It is through social events that gardeners begin to know each other, connect with their community, share knowledge and seeds.
On May 14th, 2022 Green Venture hosted our Spring Garden Festival and annual seedling sale and celebrated the community garden opening day. We were thrilled to have several local organizations, small businesses, and garden enthusiasts join us to celebrate the arrival of spring and kick off the growing season. It was fantastic to see so many people engaged in gardening and environmental education right in our own backyard. Thanks to our community partners BeeKissedSeeds, Halton Master Gardener, Bird Friendly Hamilton Burlington’s , Food For Life’s , Ward IV , Kitchen Island , Jason Allen, Michael Hillson, Shared Harvest Community Farm, Terra Greenhouses, and volunteers that made the day a success.
Shared harvest seedling sale at Spring Garden Festival
Heather Govender, Environmental Education Program Manager hosting Dandelion Fritter Workshop
Food For Life Dianna Williams (Right) at Spring Garden Festival
With the Spring Garden Festival and seedling sale behind us, we’d like to highlight some of the other ways Green Venture’s Garden Programs are working towards a healthier, more resilient community.
Connecting Communities
Green Venture is pleased to announce three new partnerships working towards creating a more sustainable food system, optimizing healthy active living, and improving gardening skills in our city. In 2022, our garden team will support:
The Riverdale Community Salad Bowl Garden building new accessible garden plots and adding indigenious plantings, a project made possible by the City of Hamilton’s placemaking grant pilot program with support from the Patrick J. McNally Charitable Foundation
Hahn Plastics raised bed at Riverdale Garden
The Immigrants Working Center (IWC Hamilton) Newcomer Women Gardening Group as they pilot their new entrepreneur endeavor to provide the local community with fresh culturally appropriate herbs at Green Venture’s EcoHouse Community Garden and a group learning to tend to the land at Riverdale Community Garden.
IWC Women Gardening Group with Green Ventures Executive Director and Garden Program Coordinator visit at EcoHouse Community Garden
The SCORE project, led by Dr. Sonia Anand, Professor of Medicine at McMaster University on their proposed “connecting to nature” intervention that “seeks to nurture love of the outdoors, gardening, hiking among new immigrant families and optimize healthy active living to prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes”
Promoting Wellness
Green Venture’s Grow A Row initiative is also launching for 2022. The program aims to increase access to fresh produce. Through garden donations we increase the availability of local, seasonal produce. Given knowledge about the fragility of food systems, it’s an opportune time to encourage our communities to plant, grow and harvest an extra row of vegetables for Neighbour to Neighbour and Community Fridges Hamont.
Photo of Grow A Row 2021 donations
Working Together to Enhance the Environment
Here are a few ways you can get involved with Green Venture’s garden programs:
Grow A Row : Do you have space in your garden to grow a little extra? Sign up here.
Garden Bee Thursdays: Are you looking for an opportunity to get outside to learn about gardening, gain volunteer experience or just try something new? Join us every Thursday.
Native Plants: Join the Native Plant Club.
Drop by EcoHouse to support our Native Plant Seed fundraiser or email garden@greenventure.ca. We have Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa), Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), and Grey-headed coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) seed packs available.
‘Bee’come a Pollinator Pal : As a pal you commit to starting native plant seeds and sharing any extra seedlings back to us next season- so we can keep sharing the love for native plants and pollinators.
Are you interested in sharing your garden knowledge? Get in touch garden@greenventure to run a workshop in one of our community gardens.
