Royal Roads University is repurposing one of the historic Hatley Castle gardens to donate food to local food box programs.
The DunsmuirB次元官网网址檚 old walled kitchen garden has now been dubbed the B次元官网网址淕iving GardenB次元官网网址� with the university partnering with local non-profits like Iye Creative and Upbeet Garden, which pack fresh food boxes for families in need. The garden produces 120 pounds of food weekly and a thousand pounds of food are set to have been harvested by the end of the fall, with plans to expand the gardenB次元官网网址檚 offering in the future.
B次元官网网址淎t (our) kind of scale, it was so helpful for us to just build a box that was even more nutritionally rich,B次元官网网址� said Jesse Wallis, a volunteer with Upbeet Garden. The food box collective harvested tomatoes, eggplant and collard greens from the Giving Garden, which helped them better serve their patrons.
B次元官网网址淎 big push for us this year was very small, culturally relevant foods because itB次元官网网址檚 one thing to make the food accessible but a lot of Black, Indigenous and people of colour donB次元官网网址檛 have access to food that is culturally relevant to their culture.B次元官网网址�
As well as community groups, students helped in the development of the garden. Emily Mulroney, a fourth year in the bachelor of business in sustainability and innovation program at Royal Roads, was part of a class of students who developed business ideas for the garden when it was first getting started and volunteered with the harvesting portion when her class was done.
B次元官网网址淚 have a personal passion for growing B次元官网网址� thatB次元官网网址檚 something that I do in my free time and I just feel like itB次元官网网址檚 empowering. I think it gives people the tools to survive, in a way.B次元官网网址�
Mulroney said projects like these are important to help address food insecurity while also building community.
The garden is part of Royal RoadsB次元官网网址� plan to restore and reimagine the gardens in and around Hatley Castle.
ALSO READ: B.C. food-aid programs seeing spike in hungry students amid high inflation, grocery costs
bailey.moreton@goldstreamgazette.com
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