It was “incredibly exciting” for Jennifer Vachon to hear the announcement deeming community gardens an essential service.
With an emergency order in place in Ontario to slow the spread of COVID-19, it wasn't until last weekend that the government added community gardens to the list of services allowed to operate.
Vachon, who’s the executive director at Anti-Hunger Coalition Timmins, said community gardens provide food security and allow local residents access fresh, healthy produce.
The non-profit organization also partners with different agencies in the community, such as TWIG Timmins, to grow food for emergency food shelters and organizations.
“A lot of food is grown within those plots, so that’s a lot of individuals, households and emergency agency organizations that benefit from the community gardens in Timmins,” she said. “Having that increased access to food for a lot of people is incredibly important.”
Timmins Community Gardens include the Kidd Operations Community Gardens site and the Rotary Community Gardens site at Northern College, with 86 plots and 36 plots respectively.
Currently, gardeners can register or renew their plot rentals, while the organization is working with the Porcupine Health Unit on developing enhanced safety measures. Once the guidelines are finalized, people will be able to start gardening in the plots.
Some of the potential measures may include having gardeners work on schedule to minimize large gatherings, requiring to maintain a two-metre distance and frequently sanitizing equipment and gardening tools that are often shared between gardeners. There could also be disinfecting sprays, wipes and gloves available on site, Vachon said.
People grow a wide array of produce in the gardens like kale, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, hot peppers or squash, Vachon said.
“Growing your own food is economical. It’s also incredibly fresh and healthy.”
“It’s also an important factor to be eating food grown as much close to home as possible, especially during these times. It’s really nice the community gardens offer that opportunity to grow your food and to rely less on imported food in those long supply chains.”
Celine Devins, who started using community gardens in Timmins last season, said she was really happy to hear the provincial government included community gardens as an essential service.
“There are a lot of people, especially with the current situation, who either don’t have the financial capability to buy fresh produce for a household or people with families (who) don’t have yards,” she said. “It provides a space that people can use communally while still maintaining their social distance.”
Devins said she doesn’t think gardening will change much after the pandemic is over.
“I was there almost every day to tend and water my garden last summer and there were very few times when it overlapped with other gardeners even being there," she said. "Maintaining six feet of distance is not going to be an issue, in my mind.”
