THUNDER BAY -- Michael Spence had never grown anything before earlier this year joining Roots to Harvest’s ambitious urban farm project.
On Wednesday he stood proudly over a reclaimed field adjacent to the Volunteer Pool on Thunder Bay’s north side, surveying the vegetables of his labour.
Spence was one of eight youths who took part in the employment project, partially paid for with $194,000 in Ontario Trillium Foundation money.
Spence, originally from Constance Lake First Nation, has been in Thunder Bay for 2.5 years. Initially he was seeking to enroll in a millwright or welding program through Kiigenomaga Kikienjigewen Employment and Training Services, but leapt at the chance to work at the urban forest and learn a brand new set of skills.
“I didn’t really know what to expect, to tell you the truth. I was just trying to go with the flow. But it was way more than I expected with all the sod lifting and the shoveling and filling in the gardens,” Spence said at a ceremony celebrating the project’s first crops.
In addition to learning how to grow peas, Spence said he learned plenty he hopes sticks with him as he seeks full-time employment down the road.
“I learned dedication and coming in every day and fulfilling my duties. I’ll probably take that with me, as well as being more patient with people,” he said.
Erin Beagle, executive director at Roots to Harvest, said the idea’s been brewing for about 15 months. First they had to find a suitable plot of land, convince the city and other government partners to jump on board, then set out to find suitable employees.
Along the way there were neighbourhood consultations.
The goal of the project, which employs people between 18 and 30, is to provide work experience to people with little to none on their resumes.
“A typical day involves weeding and harvesting and maintaining or building, doing some lifestyles workshops on where this goes and how that looks in the future and what’s next,” Beagle said.
“It really focuses on building their resiliency so we can build prosperous people who have sustainable livelihoods.”
Crops grown include beans and peas, carrots, beets and lettuce. The farm is also home to an apiary, which produces honey to go to market. The produce is sold twice weekly during the summer at Roots to Harvest’s community garden on Algoma Street.
Beagle said the garden as it looks today is only the beginning.
“We have to build the soil. We have to build the yard. We’d like to bring in different aspects of farming and agriculture,” she said. “We’d like to grow in more space, and that still in negotiations with the city as to what goes where.”
MPP Michael Gravelle (Lib., Thunder Bay-Superior North), called it a good use of taxpayer dollars.
“Attachment to Mother Earth is the key to perhaps all that’s good in the world. And that’s what you are doing,” Gravelle told dignitaries and neighbours gathered for the celebration.
The ceremony was interrupted briefly by a neighbour alleging he was not in favour of the project and had not been consulted. He claimed his children used the field to play in.
