Market-fresh food isn’t enough for some.
Lark Fairgrieve, also known as Farmer Lark, likes her vegetables straight from the ground.
Fairgrieve, co-ordinator of the Farm Yard Gardens project, spends about eight hours each week in a field on Southview Drive where she grows, weeds, mulches, harvests and sometimes nibbles on fresh vegetables.
Farm Yard Gardens, a program put in place by The Foodshed Project two years ago, gives students the opportunity to learn about food sustainability and healthy eating through farming.
Fairgrieve said “expert farmer” Dillon Davekis donated property to the project, and also shares her expertise with the aspiring farmers.
Fairgrieve explained that the interns involved in the project “all have an interest in gardening, or they have an interest in the science of it.”
This year, the Farm Yard Gardens interns grew organic foods like squash, onions, peas, lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers.
“A lot of people aren’t aware of how much you can actually grow, and how much will actually succeed, in Sudbury,” she said.
A lot of people aren’t aware of how much you can actually grow, and how much will actually succeed, in Sudbury.
Lark Fairgrieve,
Farm Yard Gardens coordinator
After food produced by Fairgrieve and the other students is harvested, they are free to do anything they want with it.
This year, Nickel Chef Tom Reid will create recipes especially for the interns, using the produce they grew. Fairgrieve said she looks forward to preserving some produce too.
Interns involved in the program also have the opportunity to visit other Ontario farms to learn more about their techniques and procedures.
Doreen Ojala, Foodshed project manager, said the program came about to promote the “concept of biodiversity of our food system” to young people, and “to educate people about food sustainability and develop education tools which included a sort of holistic approach.
“If we ever wanted to be locally food self-reliant, there’s a lot of gaps in our local food system.”
The program is targeting those aged 18 to 30. They are more likely to be receptive to eating locally, Ojala said. She said she also wants the program to influence students’ career choices.
Fairgrieve, a 25-year-old Belleville native, said that when she was growing up, “gardening was in our everyday lifestyle.”
When she’s not at the farm, the Laurentian University student said she does some container gardening on the balcony of her Sudbury apartment.
She said she looks forward to having property with acreage one day.
“I want to have a future career in healthy eating,” Fairgrieve said. “(Farm Yard Gardens) will help me out in the future.”
For more information about The Foodshed Project or Farm Yard Gardens, visit www.foodshedproject.ca.
