Save Garrison Flats: Preserve Toronto's Historic Community Garden and Wildlife Habitat
The Issue
Please view our video to see what is at stake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzGmlafKC1s
In 1997 residents of the Niagara community in downtown Toronto put their energy together to transform a deserted, littered pocket of land at Wellington and Strachan into the members’ garden that became Garrison Flats Community Garden (GFCG). Today we are in danger of losing GFCG with the impending development of the Strachan House property.
OUR ROOTS: Garrison Flats began as a collaboration between the local community and Strachan House and was established in the East end of the property. Today, in its’ 27th year of existence, Garrison Flats has 55 member gardeners who rent their plots each season to grow vegetables and flowers. In addition there are a number of specific areas devoted to native and pollinating plants as well as community plots that provide space for shareable crops – such as our fruit trees, berry bushes, and potato patches.
OUR INTENT: Our intent is to provide a space for our community members to grow food, to garden, to connect, to gather and converse. We also strongly believe in giving back to the community by actively engaging with our surrounding neighbors through opening up the gates for walk-throughs, as well as sharing in its harvests via the “free produce” stall at our front gates. Many who have toured the garden are moved by the overall beauty and uniqueness of the space, calling it a “Zen place amidst downtown's noise”, and even “It is truly a Sanctuary”.
Our reason for wanting to remain in existence rests on our belief that our garden - 27 years in the making - is a community asset that, as it now stands as a growing space and habitat, is irreplaceable. We also believe that Strachan House and Garrison Flats Community Garden are a perfect match, we’ve worked and collaborated in the past, let’s not opt for one without the other.
A SPACE FOR PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE - Located in an ever densifying part of downtown Toronto, Garrison Flats Community Garden is a unique self-financed people-run space. It has no corporate ties and the noise that emanates from it is majorily birdsong. It’s also a place people want to join.
In addition to its current membership, GFCG has some years long waiting list of local and nearby residents who continually voice their interest in becoming members of our garden That list, along with the number of people that inquire throughout the year, alone verifies the need for a community garden the size and scope of Garrison Flats.
In a community that doesn’t have a community gathering place of its own – GFCG becomes that. It provides a space for people of any age to meet other residents, participate in activities, get educated about plants, learn about good and bad bugs, or just see a friendly face. In this way, it’s a space that can help mitigate some of the isolation and loneliness of life in a big city.
GFCG is also, importantly, a habitat – with its native and pollinator plantings as well as fruit-bearing trees, it’s a refuge for all sorts of wildlife, insects and pollinators in an ever expanding city scape whereby habitats are being eroded and eradicated through condo and infrastructure development, and privatization.
In addressing these multiple and diverse needs, it’s our belief that this space should be regarded as nothing less than a community asset. One that is needed right now and will certainly be needed MORE in the future, as an emotionally and physically “grounding” spot in a loud, bustling, city.
While we believe that Garrison Flats and the redevelopment of Strachan House can be a compatible use, the powers that be may see it differently. We have already been told that 2024 will be our last year. Hopefully, as we continue to plead the case for the garden to stay, the garden can, in much of its entirety, be included in the plans so that ALL the community - from Strachan House residents to the isolated condo dweller, to the rental shut in, to the live-alone senior, to the young gardener looking to learn about plants, to the migratory birds looking for fodder on their way south, can continue to have a welcome, and a place in our community.
The loss of Garrison Flats Community Garden in our community would be felt by many including our local and migratory wildlife. We need your support NOW, please sign our petition and voice your concern for the potential loss of Garrison Flats Community Garden and certified wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.
https://www.facebook.com/GarrisonFlatsCommunityGarden/
https://garrisonflatsgarden.wordpress.com/
2,506
The Issue
Please view our video to see what is at stake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzGmlafKC1s
In 1997 residents of the Niagara community in downtown Toronto put their energy together to transform a deserted, littered pocket of land at Wellington and Strachan into the members’ garden that became Garrison Flats Community Garden (GFCG). Today we are in danger of losing GFCG with the impending development of the Strachan House property.
OUR ROOTS: Garrison Flats began as a collaboration between the local community and Strachan House and was established in the East end of the property. Today, in its’ 27th year of existence, Garrison Flats has 55 member gardeners who rent their plots each season to grow vegetables and flowers. In addition there are a number of specific areas devoted to native and pollinating plants as well as community plots that provide space for shareable crops – such as our fruit trees, berry bushes, and potato patches.
OUR INTENT: Our intent is to provide a space for our community members to grow food, to garden, to connect, to gather and converse. We also strongly believe in giving back to the community by actively engaging with our surrounding neighbors through opening up the gates for walk-throughs, as well as sharing in its harvests via the “free produce” stall at our front gates. Many who have toured the garden are moved by the overall beauty and uniqueness of the space, calling it a “Zen place amidst downtown's noise”, and even “It is truly a Sanctuary”.
Our reason for wanting to remain in existence rests on our belief that our garden - 27 years in the making - is a community asset that, as it now stands as a growing space and habitat, is irreplaceable. We also believe that Strachan House and Garrison Flats Community Garden are a perfect match, we’ve worked and collaborated in the past, let’s not opt for one without the other.
A SPACE FOR PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE - Located in an ever densifying part of downtown Toronto, Garrison Flats Community Garden is a unique self-financed people-run space. It has no corporate ties and the noise that emanates from it is majorily birdsong. It’s also a place people want to join.
In addition to its current membership, GFCG has some years long waiting list of local and nearby residents who continually voice their interest in becoming members of our garden That list, along with the number of people that inquire throughout the year, alone verifies the need for a community garden the size and scope of Garrison Flats.
In a community that doesn’t have a community gathering place of its own – GFCG becomes that. It provides a space for people of any age to meet other residents, participate in activities, get educated about plants, learn about good and bad bugs, or just see a friendly face. In this way, it’s a space that can help mitigate some of the isolation and loneliness of life in a big city.
GFCG is also, importantly, a habitat – with its native and pollinator plantings as well as fruit-bearing trees, it’s a refuge for all sorts of wildlife, insects and pollinators in an ever expanding city scape whereby habitats are being eroded and eradicated through condo and infrastructure development, and privatization.
In addressing these multiple and diverse needs, it’s our belief that this space should be regarded as nothing less than a community asset. One that is needed right now and will certainly be needed MORE in the future, as an emotionally and physically “grounding” spot in a loud, bustling, city.
While we believe that Garrison Flats and the redevelopment of Strachan House can be a compatible use, the powers that be may see it differently. We have already been told that 2024 will be our last year. Hopefully, as we continue to plead the case for the garden to stay, the garden can, in much of its entirety, be included in the plans so that ALL the community - from Strachan House residents to the isolated condo dweller, to the rental shut in, to the live-alone senior, to the young gardener looking to learn about plants, to the migratory birds looking for fodder on their way south, can continue to have a welcome, and a place in our community.
The loss of Garrison Flats Community Garden in our community would be felt by many including our local and migratory wildlife. We need your support NOW, please sign our petition and voice your concern for the potential loss of Garrison Flats Community Garden and certified wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.
https://www.facebook.com/GarrisonFlatsCommunityGarden/
https://garrisonflatsgarden.wordpress.com/
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Petition created on September 4, 2024