Flemo Farm Community Meeting -January 30
Orlando Gomez
On January 30, 2020 there will be a community meeting at 6pm at the Flemingdon Health Centre to provide an update and discuss the farm project. Please attend and share it with your networks!! The Flemingdon Health Centre is at 10 Gateway Blvd, North York.
Free child-minding and light refreshments available
Please RSVP to flem...@gmail.com
For more information, email us or call Mussarat at 647-465-0567 or Carl at 416-363-6441 x211
Flemingdon Community Farm (FCF) Context:
The farm is directed by a Steering Committee and is a Community Engagement and Economic Development (CEED) project with many community-oriented goals:
To create a welcoming enjoyable nature-focused space
To engage the community in the growing of food
To increase access to affordable healthy produce
To be an economic development opportunity for prospective farmers
We particularly encourage attendance from prospective Community Farmers -- people interested in pursuing micro-farming as a means to earn supplemental income. The Community Farmer program is not designed for home or community gardeners. Instead, the Community Farmer program is intended for those interested in growing on a larger scale with a goal of achieving some profit. Community Farmers will:
Be given access to approximately 2,400 sq ft of prepared garden space
Have access to all infrastructure and equipment necessary to manage their plot
Participate in the workshops and trainings offered by an experienced farmer
Keep any money they make from what they grow in their own garden plot
There will be an application process to become a Community Farmer. A Selection Committee reviewing applications will prioritize residents of Flemingdon Park (Ward 16). However, residency in Flemingdon Park is not an absolute requirement; applications from residents neighbouring Flemingdon Park will be considered. The first workshop for potential Community Farmers will be on Thursday Feb 6 at 6pm.
The City of Toronto and Toronto Urban Growers are collaborating on the Community Engagement and Entrepreneurial Development (CEED) project to use Hydro Corridors to grow vegetable crops. Two sites have been selected for this pilot initiative and Flemingdon Park is one of these sites.
Flemingdon Community Farm is a community-owned and community-developed initiative that has been in the works since 2014. To accurately capture the needs and wishes of the Flemingdon Park community, consultations were held in the fall and winter of 2015-2016. It has taken 4 years to secure all the permits and approvals and funding necessary to launch the project, but the farm is finally happening!
The farm is the result of a collaboration between FoodShare Toronto and Flemingdon Health Centre, with funding from the Weston Family Foundation, Park People, and Live Green Toronto. The Ontario Trillium Foundation funded the initial community-directed planning of the farm.
Feel free to forward this email to anyone you think might be interested. You can also print out a poster and information about the program to share with others. These two documents are attached to this email.
