Other than a strong wind, it was a pretty perfect day for a field trip when Sudbury MPP Jamie West and students from Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School toured the Sudbury Shared Harvest Food Forest on May 23.
This 8,000-square-foot edible forest garden is located at Delki Dozzi Park, filled with a variety of plants that form their own sustainable ecosystem.
A mix of cherry and apple trees, as well as several edible plants, the forest is grown according to permaculture principles. It’s part of Sudbury Shared Harvest’s mission to support the community by offering the knowledge, skills and resources they need to access or grow their own food in a way that enhances their urban environment.
The $67,000 they received from the Trillium Fund in 2023 was used to enhance their educational programming, and they now offer curriculum-based videos and hands-on experience for students.
The funding has helped Sudbury Shared Harvest created four videos, in both French and English, explaining the fundamentals of the food forest, with information that crosses into several subjects, from chemistry and biology to geography and climate change.
“The videos introduce the idea of a food forest and the benefits of it, as well as some of the drawbacks of a traditional garden,” said Carrie Regenstreif, executive director of Sudbury Sudbury Harvests. ”Really, to show students that this way growing food can be more environmentally sustainable”
The students were on a field trip from Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, organized by teacher Colin Veevers. He brought the students for some hands-on ecological-experiences after watching the newly-created videos, something Grade 11 student Abigale Trotter, and Grade 12 student Alicia Lemelan said he does routinely in his mission to educate them. You can read more about Veevers here in a previous article.
Both students told Sudbury.com they were excited not only by the idea of a food forest, but that a project like this existed in Sudbury.
“This stuff is all around in our city,” said Trotter. “It's nice to know that it's here and that we can do stuff like this.”
The food forest is the work of volunteers, and is tended at “work-bees” every Wednesday in the summer, said Regenstreif.
For West, he was happy to see that the Trillium Fund was doing what it was made for: enhancing the community.
One of the things the Trillium Fund really tries to do is community projects where people come together; people who are experts coming together to work with people who want to learn,” he said. He also said while this past winter was a mild one, other years have kept Sudburians “hibernating” for much too long. “Something like gardening is a great way to get out and see your neighbours, to enjoy the beautiful weather in a great place.
And as for the bee balm leaf he tasted? “A little sour, a bit leafy,” he said with a laugh.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com.
