Downtown Vancouver community garden heals people

Photo by ARLEN REDEKOP — The Province. James Oickle was attracted to the Hastings Folk Garden near Columbia Street. “I didn’t think I had a healing process I needed, but it did become that,’ he says.

Garden gets green thumbs up – Passers-by call out, ‘Good job!’ says its creator

BY ELAINE O’CONNOR
The Province
3 Nov 2009

It’s not hard to turn urban wasteland into urban farmland. You just have to plant the seed. PHS Community Services Society’s Peter LaGrand planted that seed in late 2007 when he had the idea of turning an abandoned lot owned by Concord Pacific into a vegetable garden for the residents of the Downtown Eastside.

Since then, the Hastings Folk Garden on Hastings Street near Columbia has grown into a gathering space for green thumbs.

Where once there was garbage and discarded needles, today there are lettuces and beets, swiss chard and potatoes. This year’s harvest includes kale, corn, tomatoes, squash and pumpkins.

Fragrant basil, mint and chives flourish among the brick-cobbled beds and winding paths. Along the perimeter, pear, apple, fig and cherry trees grow against a backdrop of blueberry bushes and kiwi-fruit vines. Red and pink blooms and sunflowers pop out against the green.

“Some people lived here. Some people got beat up here. It was just kind of an eyesore. I thought we should make it into something for people in the neighbourhood,” says LaGrand, manager of the Roosevelt Hotel and garden co-ordinator.

“The thing that planted the seed was residents of the Sunrise [Hotel] were talking about growing up in the country and how there’s no green space in the Downtown Eastside.”

So LaGrand decided to create one, although one day he may have to give it up if Concord Pacific wants to develop the plot.

“It was always the vision to have a place that was growing food but was also sort of an oasis,” he says, pointing to seating areas and flowers.
“Although you can still hear Hastings, you can still see the alley, you’re also in a place that’s green. This is one thing people haven’t had. And they love that this is here. If you’re standing in here, they’ll yell, ‘Good job!’ I think it gives people hope. It’s something positive.”

During the growing season, the garden gates are open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The plot is tended by volunteers from singleroom-occupancy hotels, the Salvation Army and clients in the OnSite detox program.
James Oickle was among those attracted to the garden and it’s helped change his life.

“I was wandering around the streets homeless and wanted something to do to kill time,” he recalls, eating a fresh tomato. “I didn’t think I had a healing process I needed, but it did become that,” says Oickle, who had a large garden in Fredericton before ending up broke here.
He’s now back on his feet with a place to stay and work to do.
PHS partnered with the Environmental Youth Alliance’s Vancouver Community Agriculture Network, which provided seeds, soil and expertise. Simon Fraser University students built a compost bin and some other students are working on a new shed.

See complete article in the Province here.