Demand for Cambridge community gardens grows as price of food rises

With higher prices at the grocery store, people are turning to alternative sources to get their food.

Amanda Strickland is the director of the garden at the Fiddlesticks Community Centre and thinks what you can grow this summer will help alleviate some budget pressure of higher food prices.

“I definitely say that what a person can produce out of that would justify the money that's spent and even save you some money as well,” said Strickland.

At Fiddlesticks it costs $20 a year for a plot. Although this won’t be enough to hold you over for the winter,

Strickland says it's an eco-friendly way to cut costs.

“I would say it's enough to kind of supplement someone's meals, but it's certainly not enough to be canning and it's not like a year's supply of food. That space is really just not enough for that,” Strickland says. 

With very limited space she says that the city should be looking into expanding the community garden program. 

“We actually only have space right now for about 12 gardeners. That's really not a lot for this size of neighbourhood,”  Strickland adds.

She noticed that in Kitchener and Waterloo, there is a dedicated person to oversee the community gardens and programs and would like to see the same in Cambridge. 

She says the lack of space in their garden at Fiddlesticks prevents them from advertising to the public, because there is just not enough room for new gardeners. 

“We basically aren’t even taking a waiting list, because we just know that we would never be able to take care of the demand. We need more space,” Strickland says.

In the UK, there are things called allotments, which are very large gardens made for the community to come and grow as much food as they want.

Strickland thinks these allotments would be a good way to meet the needs of Cambridge residents. 

“They could have a huge amount of space for one family and that would be more likely to be able to produce a lot of a person's vegetable intake for the year. They'd actually be able to freeze and jar and have food to last them throughout a good part of the winter,” she says. 

The city of Cambridge has a master plan focused on all services and amenities in the parks including community gardens. This plan is anticipated to start in the coming months.

The plan will assess the city’s needs for more of these plots and work with the community on where to plant them.

“A parks master plan is anticipated to begin shortly that will help identify any greater needs for community gardens balanced with all other needs for amenities within the park lands we have available,” says Chris Ziemski, manager of park operations infrastructure services for the city. 

There are currently four community gardens that are operated by the city and run by the Community Neighborhood Associations.

These gardens are; Kinbridge Community Centre, Fiddlesticks Community Centre, Preston Community Garden and Greenway Chaplin Community Centre. 

There is a lot that goes into their set up and care, he adds. They require a constant water source, waste management and direct access points, all of which can be very expensive and will require additional funding from the city’s budget.

“And additional ongoing operating budgets are needed to support a successful community garden," Ziemski adds. 

"We anticipate the demand for them will be increasing in the coming years and will be part of the planning and budgetary processes in Cambridge.”

While the demand for these gardens continues to rise, local organizations have started their own gardens to help vulnerable members of the community.

519 Community Collective operates a community garden in Cambridge at The Kiwanis Club of Cambridge.

Some of the produce they grow is put into a community fridge so anyone in need can access it.