Christian Gammon-Roy
Tribune
With lots of people in town gardening and growing produce, a new initiative by the WN Community Health Centre (WNCHC) gives them the opportunity to donate or swap their extra veggies and herbs for others they may not grow themselves, ensuring nothing goes to waste.
The Health Centre is hosting a produce kiosk throughout the summer as part of their youth community garden project. The kiosk has been open to the public on various days since June 18, and the WNCHC invites people to exchange plants and herbs or just come and take home some fresh items for free. The next exchange days are August 13 and 27, September 17 and October 1 from 11:30 am to 1 pm at the centre on Michaud Street.
According to the project lead, Registered Dietician Brooklyne Buckley, the kiosk serves as a community-building component of their project. While people are welcome to just take items, the main point is to encourage exchange. “It’s an opportunity to redistribute food throughout the community. It encourages the building of community, growing together and sharing memories,” she describes.
So far feedback has been positive, Buckley said after the most recent, July 30th session. “Today for example, we had cucumbers and green peppers, and those were gone in a minute! We have things like kale, and in the future, we’ll have potatoes and tomatoes, which always go really quickly. Snap peas and green beans always go really fast,” Buckley says. However, she mentions that it’s not all about edible items, as they’ve been getting flowers as part of their community exchange, and that they’ve started to incorporate those into the garden as well.
