The Ontario government announced on Saturday (April 25) that emergency orders under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act will be amended to permit the use of allotment gardens and community gardens across the province.
The gardens, which are a source of fresh food for people including those who face food insecurity, were previously not considered an essential service.
With the growing season fast approaching, many advocates for food security and community gardens raised concerns that the gardens were forced to remain closed under Ontario’s state of emergency.
Local medical officers of health will provide advice, recommendation and instructions that the gardens must meet to operate, such as physical distancing, and cleaning and disinfecting commonly used equipment and surfaces.
There are more than 40 community gardens in the City of Peterborough alone.
The largest community garden in the Kawarthas is Edwin Binney’s Community Garden in Lindsay. It comprises 30,000 square feet of Crayola Canada’s previously unused land that the United Way and Fleming College staff have developed into a fully operational community garden.
The garden is maintained by staff from both United Way City of Kawartha Lakes and the Sustainable Agriculture program at Fleming College’s Frost Campus, as well as several volunteers from Crayola Canada, Farm Credit Canada, and the community.
In its first year of operation in 2019, the garden harvested 5,500 pounds of vegetables, all of which were donated to social service agencies, food banks, shelters, and children’s programming agencies. The estimated dollar value of the food donated to the community to date is more than $14,000.
