By Kathie Wallace

Entrance to Davie Street garden

There is a growing movement in Vancouver that is re-defining what “community” means. Community gardens seem to be an important part of it. According to City
Farmer, 44% of Vancouverites are involved in urban gardening in some way.
The gardens are life-affirming places where people come together as equals for
the companionship, joy, and fun in connecting with the earth. The City of Vancouver exceeded its
goal to create 2010 gardens by 2010. Gardens are sprouting up everywhere in Vancouver, even in front
yards. http://growingedibles.blogspot.com/

Front yard corn and sunflowers on 4th Avenue

One defining feature of this urban back-to-the-land movement is the notion of expanding our world view so we are willing to share our own bountiful harvest with others. The City has both “Sharing
Backyards” and “Grow
a Row, Share a Row” programs.

A community garden that stopped me in my tracks and brought tears to my eyes miraculously appeared downtown at the corner of Burrard and Davie Street in 2008. I repeatedly walked by it because I could not believe what I was seeing. It looked like a
shimmering new-world scene, vitally alive and openly welcome to everyone, that
had been inserted into this old world paradigm of downtown concrete, high rises
and businesses.

Crops at "Davie Village"

Chris Barber is one of the gardeners at “Davie Village”. She said that the garden is a collaborative effort with a volunteer steering committee establishing guidelines and the people who show up at meetings
sharing topics and arriving at solutions by consensus. Chris said that many
people in her apartment building, which is adjacent to the garden, have small
balcony gardens which they hope to expand on. She mentioned the nearby sidewalk
gardening that has blossomed along Pendrill
Street and shared that these efforts have inspired
others to create gardens at their own locations.

Pendrill Street garden

Even edible boulevards are being considered as gardens in one North Vancouver initiative. Chris said she has talked with many people from other countries who want to see more of these green and growing spaces in their
cities.

A successful composting program has been started in Chris’ apartment building by putting up a poster in the laundry room suggesting what people can add to the compost bins and by simply encouraging people to take part in the
program. There are compost bins on the east and west side of the gardens.

I asked Chris what it meant to her to touch the soil and connect with nature. “I have always had a garden. My earliest memory is when I was three years old. I remember my father pushing me in a wheelbarrow out to our garden.
I find it totally magical to plant seeds and see them grow into beautiful
flowers and vegetables.”

There are over 100 designated shared plots at this garden and around the perimeter is a communal plot planted by the whole community of gardeners. Some plots are shared with the Food Bank. Chris also hopes to plant a communal
garden for “bountiful vegetables” like zucchini and lettuce that everyone can
freely make use of. “My patch produces so many zucchinis I’ve been giving them
away.”

More of the crops at "Davie Village"

The reaction of passersby has been incredible. “Every time I’m there someone stops in and asks me how it’s managed, expressing pleasure and pure joy in discovering this garden in the center of the city. Many come and just sit. It’s
wonderful to just sit and breathe it all in. There is a little vandalism and
some people collecting bouquets for themselves without asking; but it’s not a
big problem for such a public space. It is helped by the fact that the
community values this garden.”

Chris told me that the significance of having a garden in downtown Vancouver is that “it brings a greater awareness to more people of the need for us all to do our bit to beautify our city. Growing live things softens the city landscape. If it
only provides calm and beauty in someone’s busy day, it is valuable. There
needs to be more of these spaces and hopefully this garden inspires others to
do something in their area of the city.”

I asked Chris what she gets out of gardening. “There is pleasure in the experience. You get to meet others. It addresses big city loneliness because you get to meet so many members of the community you wouldn’t otherwise. I feel
more a part of this community with the garden here. It’s uplifting for the
whole community.”

Video telling how "Davie Village" began

This article first appeared in the on-line Vancouver Observer. http://www.vancouverobserver.com/