Urban garden reminds people where food comes from

By Frank Stirk  |  Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Rudi Krause oversees three urban gardens in East Vancouver. FRANK STIRK PHOTO

VANCOUVER, BC—"There's a story of one educator," says life-long gardener and orchardist Rudi Krause, "going into a classroom with a potato and asking the Grade 3 kids, 'What is this?' And they didn't know.

"Then he showed them some French fries and he said, 'Did you know that you need this to make that?'"

A student at Regent College, Krause is trying to overcome what he calls the "great disconnect" surrounding the food we eat by overseeing three urban gardens in East Vancouver.

Krause is assisted by several fellow students and community volunteers who plant, tend, process and distribute food to 35 shareholders—people in the area who support the project financially as best they can.

The distribution schedule is tied to the Christian calendar. Every two weeks between Advent and Easter, shareholders receive their share of the food along with a pamphlet of Bible readings, prayers, poetry and recipes.

"Particularly since the Second World War, the whole web of life—where our food comes from, the ethics of food and the ecology of our eating habits—has become unraveled in a bad way," Krause says. "We want to be part of something that reconnects some of that."

The largest of the three gardens is at a busy intersection on land owned by Grandview Calvary Baptist Church. It was started two years ago and has been expanded every year since then. The other two are backyard gardens a few blocks away.

This fall, they expect to harvest zucchini, lettuce, kale, leek, tomatoes, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, beans and basil.

"The fruit we had available last year—plums, pears, apples—is not going to be as abundant this year, just because of the weather," Krause says. "So we just have to go with what is given us and work with what we've got."

Krause says there has been "a great response" from the community, from some people coming to help out to retirees who can no longer garden "cheering us on."

"Last year, a homeless man came and worked with us and for us for months," he says, "and ended up through the JustWorks [social enterprise] program at Grandview Church getting a part-time job."

Krause is encouraged by what he sees as a growing movement among urban dwellers to start growing their own food again. As of last December, 2,029 garden plots had been registered with the City of Vancouver, compared to only 950 just four years ago.

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