The Fresh Roots Food Forest & Garden Program: A Hidden Gem in Downtown Owen Sound
A Neighbourwoods North columnist shares an introduction to the Fresh Roots Food Forest & Gardens, including information on garden box rentals, volunteer opportunities, and upcoming events.
COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION
by Mike Vair-Haley for Neighbourwoods North
The Fresh Roots Food Forest and Garden Program is a social enterprise of CMHA Grey Bruce, Mental Health and Addiction Services that opened in 2018. It employs individuals with mental health and/or addiction experiences.
The gardens provide healthy produce for the Fresh Roots Cafe and Catering business and is otherwise shared with gardeners, community members and other local organizations offering meals.
The CMHA Fresh Roots Food Forest and Gardens features a labyrinth designed by Thomas Dean, opened in 2019. Since then, it has expanded to include a native plant garden, edible perennial and fruiting shrub gardens, all surrounded by fruit trees.
This tranquil space offers a calming environment for meditation, accessible through a wooden arbor and lined with plants like lavender, sage, and cedar.
The gardens are considered a hidden gem even though they are located right downtown just off of 10th street behind the St. Georges baseball diamond.
Far too many people in town don’t know they exist. Even though the gardeners kind of like it that way, everyone is welcome to come check out what we have growing and enjoy the space together.
This year we have scheduled several events and workshops, including:
May 10th - Plant Sale
May 31st - Garden Box Planning
July 5th - Open House Day with a Wildflower Foraging and Arrangement workshop and the wood fire pizza oven open and selling pizza
Sept 20th - Preserving and Canning workshop
October 11th - Mushroom Cultivation workshop
A monthly newsletter is available to keep the community informed about what is happening at the gardens. People can sign up by visiting www.freshrootsgardens.ca and joining the newsletter list.
Information about garden box rentals, volunteer opportunities, and upcoming events is also shared through the newsletter and on the website. People are always welcome to stop by the gardens, especially on Fridays when management is usually on site and happy to show visitors around.
Grey Bruce is full of people and organizations working to make things better for everyone, including the vulnerable among us. It’s not surprising – given our lovely setting and the role of agriculture in our lives – that many of the groups use nature as part of their work
This year everyone - growers and wanna-be growers alike – have good reasons to seek out and learn productive practices that calm the mind and nurture the body. For anyone curious to see native plants and edible growing in action, there is a place in the centre of Owen Sound to visit and learn from.”
This is the sixth of a series of monthly columns on a range of local environmental topics written for The Owen Sound Current by volunteers with NeighbourWoods North and other local climate action groups.
Submitted by Mike Vair-Haley, who has managed the Fresh Roots Community Gardens and Food Forest for the past four years. Mike runs Sound Outdoors, a landscape construction and garden care company based in Owen Sound.
Thank you to sponsors of The Owen Sound Current Writers’ Fund, who make these community contributions possible. Contributions from the community do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.
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A well written article Mike. Thanks for doing this. I’m looking forward to learning more and revisiting the garden this summer. A real gem in the heart of our city.
Thank you for this article. I’ve driven by this many times and always wondered about it. What a fabulous asset in downtown Owen Sound!