Anthony Chum is helping his community grow fresh food.
What started as a community garden program has been recognized with the Excellence in Agriculture Award at the 2023 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.
Chum said the award came as a surprise to him.
“I had no clue,” said Chum. “The ministry came through town, and they were looking at all these things happening in the community, and they happened to see the work I was doing, and I guess they were watching.”
The community garden program in Moose Factory started in March 2019 with two gardens, one in front of the elder centre and one behind the Anglican Church in town.
He said the community garden has also been an excellent space for elders to enjoy.
“They come in to get a cup of coffee in the morning, and they see the garden, they get to walk over and check it out,” he said. “It’s nice to be outside. That’s one reason I started doing this. I like to spend the time out there.
“We got a group together, and the community was sharing ideas, and it was mostly the elders that were coming out to the meetings,” said Chum. “That year, we grew carrots, potatoes and we tried green onions, but they didn’t come through.”
He said the support the program received from University of Ottawa professor Michael Robidoux and his students has been a great help.
“They came into town, and they helped some of the community members that were interested in the personal gardens,” he said. “We’ve been opening it up to the community, asking what they wanted.”
Funding for the 40 personal gardens came from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) climate change grants. So far, they’ve broken ground on 21 plots, with plans for the rest in the spring.
“This coming season, we plan on getting the last 19 people set, and if the funds are available, we’re going to reach out to more people,” said Chum.
The trip to Toronto to accept the award was exciting, said Chum.
“It was an awesome experience to go out there and accept the award,” he said.
There are also plans for a greenhouse project with the local schools' science classes.
“I see a lot of growth happening in the community,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll get a greenhouse put up there to help them learn about growing during their school projects. There’s also the volunteer hours that they need to graduate. That’s the plan right now.”
If funding becomes available, the program will continue to expand and sell some of the vegetables at the local farmers market.
“We will try to contribute to that so we can keep the program going without relying so much on other funds,” he said.
There are always new things to grow, too.
“We’re going to be trying watermelons,” he said. “We’ve had some community people grow pumpkins, so maybe next year, we’ll try to have a pumpkin patch!”
