The Edible Garden

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The Winnipeg Community Action Centre is unique in that one of its major focuses is teaching children and adults about the Jewish values of sustainability. The Edible Garden project was established in October 2010 at the centre. The $225,000 project is jointly funded by The Asper Foundation, the Jewish National Fund of Canada and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and managed by Beit Moriah. The Edible Garden is modelled on The Edible Schoolyard, a non-profit program located on the campus of Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkeley, California.

The primary user of the Edible Garden will be the sizeable Ethiopian-Israeli community in the Winnipeg Community Action Centre neighbourhood. The focus of the project is to enable its participants to realize their personal potential. Not only are they personally responsible for the garden and its upkeep, thus assisting them in developing their sense of responsibility and capability, it acts as a tool to empower the youth and be used as a therapeutic intervention to deal with an array of issues. In addition, working the land increases environmental awareness within the Ethiopian-Israeli community and encourages learning about the various aspects of nutrition. Since the roots of the Ethiopian community are planted well in the culture of agriculture, first-generation immigrants are presented with opportunities to draw on their past experiences to spearhead the activities, while at the same time creating a platform for reducing inter-generational gaps within families.

The root of the Edible Garden project is the belief that through their participation in the community garden and their personal involvement in creating something from the start, disadvantaged youth will flourish into cultivated individuals. The garden acts as a ‘greenhouse’ for nurturing life skills. By providing an opportunity for normative and healthy behavior, and through their involvement in specific roles and tasks, the youth are building up their sense of responsibility and conscientiousness thus strengthening their feelings of capability both individually and as a group.

The youth, with the assistance of a qualified team of professionals, are responsible for the design, creation and up-keep of the garden, thus allowing them to express their voice, ideas and opinions and providing them with a space which is entirely theirs and to which they learn to feel a sense of attachment and belonging. Simultaneous work on the garden will take place with their parents.