FoodCycles

Inspired by the Occupy Movement, Occupy Gardens Toronto represents the next step in our (vegetable) stand against inequality, corporate corruption and greed, growing hunger and the destruction of life itself. As global food prices continue to rise, and as food is continually wasted, commodified, centralized and unjus...tly distributed, food insecurity will continue to threaten the security of millions of people and entire nations. This depravity, if it is to continue, will only cause more unnecessary violence and destruction. We cannot have peace without peas, food security is international security. As such its time we started valuing food more than super high-tech jet fighters. Once that occurs there is little stopping us from growing all of our food within the city all year round. The industrial food system is rapidly depleting the Earth's arable soil and cutting down remaining forests, polluting our air, water and land. We are force feeding our children junk food, resulting in a most perverse epidemic of child obesity. As Earth's population continues to grow we MUST grow alternative means of food production in order to feed ourselves, each other and our children and allow other forms of life on Earth to flourish. A system motivated primarily by profit and the accumulation of capital, without reference to human or environmental need, is doomed to failure. Now it is our chance to create a food system based upon peas, love, cooperation and harmony. The FOOD tent at Occupy Toronto was one of our greatest success stories, serving hundreds of people free meals every day. Now it’s time we start think about and plotting out the future, imagine the possibilities if we all grew together. It's thyme, Lettuce Occupy Gardens for World Peas! Mission : To grow a sustainable network of community gardens around Toronto and the world; to grow FREE FRESH FOOD FOR ALL FOREVER. CONTACT US: occupygardenstoronto@gmail.com ------------------------------------------ "THE PLAN" so far... We are nurturing a growing collective of gardeners and anyone interested in food. We intend to plant food all over the city, tend to the gardens as a community, then tenderly share the produce with everyone who's hungry. With support from Occupy Toronto we can outreach to gardens, gardeners, and potential growers all across the city, and call for solidarity with other occupied cities. We have months until we start planting in the Springtime. Before then we will meet regularly to organize, educate and plot out our seeding of the city. Check this page for regular updates, on twitter @OccupyGardensTO , or join our mailing list – email occupygardenstoronto@gmail.com. See our global campaign on FB - Occupy Gardens for World Peas - www.facebook.com/occupygardensforworldpeas - "WORLD PEAS expo - SATURDAY FEB 11th - We are organizing a World Peas expo for Saturday February 11th. Locations are still being sought - possibly UofT. The theme of the event will be the relationship between food and peace, how food security relates to security on a personal, collective and natural scale. We will demonstrate how growing food together builds community, bridges difference, reduces conflict and nurtures peace. The structure/schedule of the event is still open, but it will likely include some or all of these things and much more: - World Peas General Assembly - space for displays/information - workshops/skill sharing - seed exchange - peace/non violence - guest speakers - unconference space - Plotting for Peas - discussion groups for the mass action in the spring. - lunch - free food to share It will be a free event open to anyone. It will be a chance for all of us to connect, share ideas, resources, energy and passion, and to inspire each other. We need help planting and tending to the event, lettuce know if you can help, email occupygardenstoronto@gmail.com to get involved. More details to follow.. - "Garden Walk" or "The Radish Revolution" - Plan for a Big Spring March/Parade/Celebration - At the beginning of the growing season we will walk by the thousands down city streets carrying shovels, seed bombs, plants, truckloads of compost and then Occupy Gardens and plant food. Potential gardens include Queens Park, City Hall, Universities, and other high profile public spaces as a statement of the importance and value of food. We can ask local institutions, neighbours, friends and family to plant food with them on their property. Where appropriate we will dig up grass and plant food. We will build raised beds, containers, and pots and grow food in them. We will construct coldframes and greenhouses to extend the season and the harvest. We will maintain these gardens as a community and then share the produce with everyone in the community, specifically young people and those in need. We will occupy where ever there is safe space to grow. Lettuce create public space for the public good! - Media - Getting the word out - We must use both social and traditional forms of media. We’ll use this FB page, twitter @OccupyGardensTO and the email occupygardenstoronto@gmail.com to stay connected. With more (your!) support we can venture into other social media platforms, website/blog, telephone calls, print out flyers, poster the city, etc. - Community - There are hundreds of guerilla gardeners, community garden and urban agriculture projects in this city doing AMAZING things. We must connect with them, support their work and learn from them. We can connect with University and other schools agriculture projects. We’ll send invites to anyone we think might have a stake in a more just food system. Let us know if there is a local group/individual who might be interested in getting involved. - Bridging generations and cultures - Gardening, and food in particular is an amazing way of bringing people together from a wide variety of backgrounds. We can celebrate the diversity of this city and learn and share with cultures from all over this wondrous planet in our own backyards. We can tap into the knowledge of our elders and provide them an opportunity to educate youth in tradition skills and knowledge which have nearly been lost and forgotten. - Education and Health - Occupy Gardens will focus on educating young people about FOOD and food security. Our schools do not teach us about food, yet it ought to be one of the most central aspects of our lives. We will teach youth how to grow it, cook it and share it. These gardens will become living laboratories where people can learn about the earth, about health and nutrition, history, social skills, and about anything else people want to share. We’ll organize a FreeSkool to teach permaculture, the hows and why's of gardening, seeds, soils, plants, spaces, cooking, canning + preserving, fruit trees, bees, chickens, etc. The gardens will be a safe space for healing and nourishment - socially, psychologically, physically, spiritually and ecologically. Give a child some junk food they eat for a day and are fatter, sadder and die sooner than their parents. Teach a child to grow real food and they live longer, healthier and happier than ever before. - Where do we get the MONEY to do all of this? - This is a resource/love based project. There is no profit or exploitation in community gardens, everyone and everything is treated equally and with respect. There will be little money to grow these gardens. Luckily, everything we need to grow either exists in abundance between us all, or falls freely from the sky, it is simply a matter of opening up and learning to share. Let’s avoid asking for monetary donations, and or becoming dependent on external funding, rather let's be creative and resourceful with what we have. Do the best with what we can find, and develop relationships between the haves and have-nots. We shouldn't charge money to participate, or sell any of the produce. Growing delicious organic food and sharing it with those in need, without money exchange, is an incredibly powerful statement. - Community Relations - Gain support from workers and communities - It will be vital to talk with workers who maintain these public gardens and space, and the people who frequent them, and let them know of the plan. We must work with them to make sure the gardens are not a source of conflict, or are destroyed, but rather grow beautifully. We must ask local institutions, schools, and faith communities etc. to participate and ask if they need help starting their own gardens. - @WIKI FARM - Open Source Agriculture - Imagine the Occupied Gardens like a Wiki Farm. Unlike Wikipedia, the Wiki Farm is a physical site that people can visit and contribute to. Imagine hundreds of garden sites all over the city, all of which are free, open and accessible to anyone. We must harness the same open-source collaborative spirit of the Occupy Movement and apply it to other areas of life. Wiki farms are accessible open spaces which allow for mass participation and collaboration in the food system. You don't have to be an expert to contribute, every little bit helps. We will all be editors in the garden; planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, sharing and eating. If possible, down the road, we could create a website which lists all of the gardens by location, by time of operation, what’s growing and what needs to be done, as well as other useful information. The better we can communicate with each other and share information the more efficient we will be with our time and resources. We will need to train and educate hundreds of 'wikifarmers' to coordinate and cultivate these gardens (platforms). The ultimate goal is to enable anyone to participate and grow, whenever or wherever they are, and however they can. - Share Occupy Gardens - Share this idea with other Occupied cities and friends around the world and get them to grow in their cities and communities. Share your stories here and with others as to inspire, support and encourage one another. We are in this together. This is as much about building community and practicing common values as it is about growing food. We need help promoting and organizing - if interested in contributing, or if you have other ideas let us know at occupygardenstoronto@gmail.com or post on this page. OCCUPY GARDENS for World Peas! See More