COVID-19 Community Garden Closures

Dear Community Gardeners,

It has been brought to our attention that the Provincial Government announced on Monday March 30th, that a new order would close all communal or shared, public or private, outdoor recreational amenities everywhere in Ontario, including outdoor community gardens. https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2020/03/ontario-extends-emergency-declaration-to-stop-the-spread-of-covid-19.html

While we know that it is still early for gardening to be started, we wanted to make sure that you are aware of this order for community gardens to be closed. This means that we are requiring all gardeners to avoid going into the community gardens at this time. We all need to support the important measures that are being put in place to allow social distancing to be successful and over the next month we will continue to monitor these new developments and how they will impact your ability to get into the gardens in the spring. As we have new information or updates, we will continue to share them with you, including if and when gardeners are able to start working in the gardens. We thank-you for your understanding at this time as we …

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The CK Food Policy Council is Looking for New Members!

Are you interested in helping Chatham-Kent to be a healthy community with a vibrant, local food system where the healthy choice is the easy choice?  Do you want to help promote local foods, develop strategies to support healthier foods for everyone in Chatham-Kent or have a say in what the food system in Chatham-Kent can look  like?  This might be the opportunity you have been looking for! The Chatham-Kent Food Policy Council is looking for new members!

The Chatham-Kent Food Policy Council was created to encourage and facilitate dialogue and collaboration among food related organizations, agencies, services, food producers and distributors, consumers, business and government within Chatham-Kent.

Members must live or work in the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. Members may, but are not expected to, formally represent or speak for their organizations, but will be selected on the basis of their ability to speak to issues from the sector or key interest area they come from. The Council membership shall be representative of the key interests and sectors of the Chatham-Kent food system.

We are currently looking for the following members:

Health Care Sector/Health Related …

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Tuna and leaf lettuce salad

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Print Recipe

Tuna and leaf lettuce salad

Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 0

Servings person

Ingredients 1/2 can tuna drained 1/2 pepper red baby bell diced 1/2 cup cucumber sliced 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 0

Servings person

Ingredients 1/2 can tuna drained 1/2 pepper red baby bell diced 1/2 cup cucumber sliced 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

…

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CK Gleaning Project

The Chatham-Kent Food Policy Council has determined that food access is a priority area and have been working to develop a gleaning project for Chatham-Kent.

Gleaning is one initiative that aims to support food security by increasing food availability, food access, and food use. Gleaning is commonly understood as the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields after they have been commercially harvested, or collecting produce individual homeowners who have excess in the gardens or on fruit trees.

As a first step, in June 2014, a forum was held to bring together individuals who were interested in hearing what had been done in other communities. In February 2015, a literature review was conducted to determine best practices for a gleaning initiative here in Chatham-Kent. Following this report, we conducted a pilot project over the summer and fall and were successful at bringing leftover produce to local service agencies in the community. We are now ready to expand the program to include more local agencies and more local farmers, and would like to invite you to participate in the Chatham-Kent …

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Grown in CK Brand

Would you like to know if the food you are eating is gown in Chatham-Kent?  Are you looking for a way to promote your locally grown food in Chatham-Kent?

The Chatham-Kent agriculture community is announcing a new initiative to show people in Chatham-Kent and around the world that we really do “grow for the world”.

A new branding program has been developed through partnerships with Chatham-Kent Agri-Development (CKAD), Chatham-Kent Food Policy Council, Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit, and Chatham-Kent Economic Development Services. Together, they are launching a “Grown in CK” brand.

The “Grown in CK” brand has been developed to be used by farmers, producers, or any business people in the value-added food chain who want to promote Chatham-Kent agricultural products, both within and outside of Chatham-Kent.

This brand will help people to know where their food comes from by providing a recognizable logo that they can use to buy foods that are “Grown in CK”.  Look for the logo or ask if your grower is part of the branding …

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Interested in Starting a New Community Garden?

Are you interested in starting a new community garden location in Chatham-Kent?  We have finished the development of our new Community Gardens Policy for Chatham-Kent as well a supporting manual for anyone interested in starting up a new community garden.

For more information or to get started, click on the links below:

CK Community Gardens Policy

Manual for Development of New Gardens

Checklist

Application for a new garden Form #1

Site Usage Survey Form #2

Letter of Committment Form #3A

Liability Waiver Form #3B

Code of Conduct Form #3C

The CK Community Gardens Committee will review applications at their monthly meetings.  If you need help or have questions about the process, contact Lyndsay Davidson at or by phone at 519-352-7270 ext 2478.

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