Churches harvesting, canning and sharing food
TORONTO, ON—There are beets growing next to the marigolds in the flowerbeds at Woodbine Heights Baptist Church. Behind the church, pastor Bob Paterson-Watt is edging a vegetable patch with the commemorative shovel that was used to break ground on the church some 50 years ago.
"It had just been hanging on the wall all these years," says Paterson-Watt, "My wife M.J. pointed out we could be putting it to better use."
Helping people get access to good, locally grown food is important at Woodbine Heights. The church gives away the vegetables they grow on site to clients who come to the food bank, which M.J. runs.
They also use them in community meals through the Shoelace Collective—a local community group that seeks to alleviate the long-term results of poverty.
"It's so gratifying to give out tomatoes we had just gone out and picked that morning," Paterson-Watt says. "We give fresh food to people through the food bank. We use it in our community meals every Tuesday. We preserve it, and use it throughout the fall and winter. In fact, just this week we made fresh homemade zucchini bread from zucchini we picked last fall.
"God invites us to care for creation and for each other. Environmentally, the church has to get on board with doing things which make sense—like using the resources which are right here, to feed ourselves and our neighbors."
The Shoelace Collective, based at the church, serves as the East York hub of Not Far From the Tree—the Toronto-based organization that sends volunteers to pick the fruit growing in the city's downtown core. The fruit is then shared between the pickers, the tree owners and local charities.
"There's fruit hanging on trees all over the city," Paterson-Watt says. "It's going to waste, falling to the ground and rotting, which is just silly. Why shop for apples from China or Chile, when you've got apples growing two doors down?"
Not Far From the Tree expects to bring in nearly 5,000 kg of fruit this year, ranging from common fruits like cherries, apples and plums to things like service berries, sumac and ginko. They collect black walnuts which are donated to St. John's Bakery, and last year they made their first batch of locally harvested maple syrup. They also help facilitate preserving and canning workshops.
Laurel Atkinson, program coordinator, says while Not Far From the Tree gets offers from all across the Greater Toronto Area, they focus their efforts on places their volunteers can reach by foot, bicycle or public transportation.
But she urges everyone to look for local solutions to help those in their community have access to "good, healthy, wholesome food".
"There are so many different pockets of people getting together to address the problem of food security," Atkins says. "What's amazing about churches is they often have such wonderful resources such as a kitchen and people who are willing to lend a hand. It's not about reinventing the wheel. It's about connecting with other community groups and seeing how people can work together to help fight poverty and food insecurity."
"Being both on the harvesting end and the receiving end last year really brought home to me how effective local food systems can be," adds Marnie Sakin, who coordinates both the East York hub and the church kitchen for The Shoelace Collective.
"Not only is picking fruit in the city fun and a good work-out," she says, " it's a great way to make lasting community ties—with home-owners, with volunteers, with people walking down the street who wonder what in the world you're doing."
The Shoelace Collective runs Monday night preserving parties, where they preserve some of the fruit and vegetables to use or give away throughout the winter. They also collect the food which local markets would otherwise throw away.
"A great mix of people show up," Sakin adds, "Retirees, young parents, students, women and men all show up ready and willing to learn the preserving ropes and help close the local food loop."
"It's a blast," Paterson-Watt says, "and we get to interact with folks from the community we would never meet otherwise. We're building relationships. We are making connections.
And we're opening up people's eyes to the church as a place that's open for more than just Sunday mornings."
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