Late last fall in the rain, I interviewed David Buddle of Prima Properties about the community garden his development company was setting up in downtown Vancouver.

Just eight months later, on a sunny June Saturday, I interview a very happy community gardener who is successfully growing food on her plot.

The Davie Village community gardener interviewed, Ann Marie Fleming, is an award-winning independent filmmaker, writer, and artist. I am a huge fan of her illustrated memoir, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam.

The book: The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam here.

The film: The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam here.

Sleepy Dog Films here.

October 2008 – Davie Village Garden

Davie Village Community Garden from Michael Levenston on Vimeo.

Photo: Urban farm located in central Caracas, Venezuelan next to the Hilton Hotel.

“In 2003, Venezuela, supported by FAO, launched a major experiment in urban agriculture. The government installed 4000 microgardens in poor neighbourhoods of Caracas and started 20 horticultural cooperatives in and around the city.

“Vegetables formerly brought from distant farms or imported from a neighbouring country are increasingly grown a few steps away from the family kitchen. Microgardens – metre-square shallow trays on wooden legs, filled with aggregate such as pebbles and fed a nutrient solution every day – have been set up by the national government in the city’s poor neighbourhoods, or barrios.

“A single tray can produce either 330 lettuces, 18 kilos of tomatoes or 16 kilos of cabbage a year in multiple harvests.

“The project has also established 21 hectares of compost-based vegetable gardens run by small cooperatives in and around the city – even in the shadow of downtown office towers – employing people and providing fresh produce for eager consumers.”

Be sure to read stories and see photos linked in the blue sidebar at the FAO site. “Gardening for the poor”, “New gardeners tell their stories” and “Photo gallery”.