May 11, 2009 - Today, the Food Action Network joined with Roots to Harvest and the Lifecycles Project to launch the Sharing Backyards Program in Thunder Bay. This web-based program links people who have a yard to share with those looking for a place to garden. Thunder Bay is now listed on the Sharingbackyards.com website where people can post their backyard or find garden space for free. 

One of the biggest barriers to growing food in the city is access to land, despite the fact that many yards have plenty of room to spare. The goal of the Sharing Backyards Program is to make sure that anyone who wants to can garden and grow food for themselves. 

Thunder Bay resident, Heather Morrison, has been sharing her backyard for a year now.  She read about other communities doing this and offered her backyard to friend, Melody Allaire.  Her goal was more garden and less lawn. Allaire prepared a small plot in Morrison’s backyard and went on to plant tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, and beets.  “It was a win-win for both of us,” said Morrison.

The garden was small but the yield was bountiful and Morrison now wants to expand the garden. Several neighbours who were impressed by the quantity of vegetables grown are offering their yards to share this year. 

“Heather’s suggestion for us to use her yard opened our minds to new possibilities in urban agriculture,” said Allaire.  “We could see that potentially large amounts of food could be grown instead of grass.“ Allaire and her partner have been growing, canning, drying and preserving their own food for many years.  Last year alone, they canned close to 300 jars of food, all grown within city limits.

“We are very excited to bring this program to Thunder Bay,” said Catherine Schwartz-Mendez, Co-chair of the Food Action Network and Public Health Nutritionist. “The more people garden, the more fresh produce they are eating and the healthier they will be. We know people have been sharing yards informally through word-of-mouth, but this helps more people get connected faster.” 

The Sharing Backyards Program was created by the Lifecycles Project Society in Victoria, BC.  They offer free use of the mapping tool that was developed to help people see where garden space exists within their immediate area.  Connecting people with under-utilized spaces to enthusiastic gardeners helps build each community’s food supply, one garden at a time.  Currently, the Lifecycles Project Society has partners in 12 major cities in Canada and the USA.  In Thunder Bay, it is affiliated with the Food Action Network and Roots to Harvest who will to manage the local program.   

The Thunder Bay Food Action Network (FAN) is a non-profit coalition working to improve access to safe, personally acceptable, nutritionally adequate food through a sustainable local food system.  The Roots to Harvest project inspires young people in urban & rural Thunder Bay to engage in issues about food security within a science & technology framework. It is a YSTOP project funded by the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation.  For more information on these and other community food programs, visit rootstoharvest.org and nwofood.ca. 

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