Community gardens benefit everyone in Thunder Bay.
"The whole community benefits from the beauty of them; you can see the beautiful flowers as well as the produce that gets grown here," said public health nutritionist Catherine Schwartz-Mendez at the garden next to Lakehead University’s Hangar Tuesday afternoon.
Individuals benefit by learning to grow their own food and by providing space for those that don’t have access to a backyard or any land, she added.
The Hangar’s garden was the last of five stops on the Food Action Network’s Community Garden Tour Tuesday. Anyone with an interest could tour the gardens located on city property.
The community gardens are tended to by a wide variety of people, said Schwartz-Mendez. Everyone form single mothers wishing to grow food for their families to expert gardeners pitch in.
Beginners can also come to the gardens to learn from the more seasoned green thumbs.
"On the tours, we’ve learned about the different ways people are coming together as a community to garden," she said. "They’re learning all kinds of technical things about gardening, too. There have been lots of questions … about certain weeds, or what to do about certain blight."
Community gardens were first planted in the city 10 years ago and they’ve been slowly growing throughout the city, said Schwartz-Mendez.
For more information see www.nwofood.ca
