not far from the tree

When a group of friends and community members met around my kitchen table last January, we dreamed up a city-wide fruit picking program but knew we couldn’t encompass the entire GTA in one go. We needed to grow the project sustainably, and so we envisioned a network of neighbourhood-based hubs. First we established our roots by creating not far from the tree and then we grew our first branch in Ward 21. And now, as our first successful season reaches its crescendo, we proudly announce our second neighbourhood hub: Woodbine Heights!

It is with great pleasure that I introduce Marnie Saskin, Hub Coordinator for Woodbine Heights. Marnie was cooking up a fruit tree project of her own, with a focus on preserving, when she heard that not far from the tree was already going. We’ve teamed up to make our efforts even stronger.

Now a resident of Toronto, Marnie Saskin was transplanted from the farming regions of Niagara where her childhood experience on the family farm instilled in her a passion for sustainable practices. Her small business as an artisan, under the name girl number twenty, is also rooted in sustainable living, as her work is created using all recycled and repurposed textiles.

The Woodbine Heights Hub will be partnering with the Shoelace Collective, a neighbourhood anti-poverty group in Woodbine Heights. Together, they will provide urban-harvested food to neighbours via community meals and the neighbourhood food bank. Their long-term goals are to reinforce food security within the neighbourhood, build community, and become a source of food knowledge and integrity.

This is sure to be an excellent fit, the perfect start for us to grow to other interested neighbourhoods. After all, much of Marnie’s art is fruit tree-inspired and her young daughter is already a very promising fruit picker: