Toronto’s first Urban Ag Summit was held last week. It was three jam packed days full of inspiring ideas, people and activities. The Urban Ag Summit was presented by FoodShare and Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. The summit brought together a wide diversity of people including, urban planners, social housing advocates, architects, urban and peri-urban growers and developers. People came from all over Canada and the United States. I met people from Milwaukee, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and Little Rock.

Will Allen, Executive Director of Growing Power

The summit was full of highlights from seeing Will Allen of Growing Power speak to all the different skill building workshops. The skill building workshops generated a lot of conversations about the possibilities of rooftop gardens, SPIN farming, and community composting programs. The highlight for me was tabling for Not Far From The Tree at city hall and hearing all the excitement about what we do from people who live all over the United States and Canada.

Not Far From The Tree also co-led a tour with The Stop Community Food Centre. The tour went through a Toronto neighbourhood and visited three different Yes In My BackYard garden plots and then finished with a fruit tree pick. The lucky tour members took part in an elderberry pick (one of my personal favourites). Participants actively learned about Not Far From The Tree and the fruit tree picking program. They all took home containers full of elderberries and recipe ideas, including elderberry balsamic vinegar, elderberry chutney, and elderberry pie.