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The Working Centre Market Garden

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Kitchener, ON
The Working Centre Market Garden

A volunteer-driven community enterprise engaged in ecological food production, hands-on cooperative work, and knowledge-sharing. Get Involved!

A place for cultivating relationships among gardeners through the work of building a sustainable community-based food system. The Working Centre Market Garden is a volunteer-driven community enterprise engaged in ecological food production, hands-on cooperative work, and knowledge sharing. The garden is a space for cultivating relationships among gardeners through the work of growing food and buil

ding a more sustainable community-based food system. The Working Centre Market Garden aims to...

- Be a place for inclusive, collaborative work and skill-building.
- Grow healthy food in partnership with natural ecological processes and in partnership with each other.
- Understand and teach sustainable food production and gardening methods.
- Develop financial sustainability through our Community Supported Agriculture share program.
- Share fresh local food with those participating in the garden community. Work as Gift: Many of the gardeners at The Working Centre Market Garden are volunteers! We are continually working to be an inclusive space where all are welcome to the collaborative work of growing food and tending the earth. We seek to appreciate each gardener's different skills, knowledge, and contributions toward our common work. Common Work: Different than community gardens where gardeners have their own plots, at The Working Centre Market Garden everyone works collaboratively to produce food for a 160+ member CSA share program, local retailers, and to share with the community. Through hands-on, satisfying work done in community, the garden welcomes many to belong, enjoy the outdoors, and learn about growing food. The garden sits on the traditional territories of the Neutral, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. We are on a path of learning and transformation centered in relationship, openness, and inclusivity that acknowledges ongoing colonial injustices while working to ensure that our common work does not perpetuate them. We welcome your engagement, feedback, and questioning on our shared journey of reconciliation and decolonization. Ecological Farming: We are a thriving 1.5 acre garden that grows over 30,000 pounds of food each season! In addition to growing an abundance of vegetables, the garden also includes cut flowers, native plants and pollinator strips, and a wide array of fruit-bearing trees and shrubs. Ecological food production is centered on striving to protect, restore, and support the natural processes that enable us to grow nourishing food. As we work together to grow healthy and abundant food, members of the garden community can learn, practice, and teach a diverse range of ecological farming methods. These include soil building best practices such as no-till and cover cropping, supporting beneficial insects, organic w**d and pest management, and lots more! Community-Based Food Systems: Small-scale ecological farming nourishes the land and the people! A community-based food system aims to...
- Develop relationships between producers and consumers.
- Reduce dependence on food from outside the local community.
- Provide more diverse, healthy food choices.
- Recognize the specific cultural and social food needs of the community.
- Build skills and economic vibrancy through food and agriculture. Produce grown and harvested at the garden is distributed through several avenues. Sales to local retailers and our 160+ member CSA program help build financial sustainability, while abundant food is shared among volunteer gardeners and other members of the garden's expansive community. Food is also shared through several Working Centre projects and other community food organizations. Beyond food, the garden provides many diverse and often intangible benefits to the gardeners, the community, and the land!

09/09/2022

Grapes! Excited that we can send over 300lbs of them off to be pressed and shared with folks in the community!

04/15/2022

Garden Update!
Though the garden is undergoing some major changes this season, we are pleased to share that we will be open Mondays 1pm to 4pm and Tuesdays 9am to 4pm beginning in May!
We’ll focus on preserving and harvesting our perennial fruit and flower crops, and tend a small demonstration patch of vegetables. Let us know if you’d like to get involved!
[email protected] or 519-575-1118
https://garden.theworkingcentre.org

04/09/2022

Another sign of spring!
Last May we planted a short row of parsnips in the garden just for the fun of it. And here they are!

03/26/2022

If you hadn’t heard already, you may have seen some news about the garden in today’s Record. We’d encourage you to visit our website for a more complete summary of some of the amazing work we’ve been doing all these years!
https://garden.theworkingcentre.org

12/17/2021

Are you craving some local greens or perhaps some delicious locally roasted coffee to see you through the cold months ahead? Look no further: the Working Centre's Winter CSA is here!

https://garden.theworkingcentre.org

Order now and pick-up your items each Wednesday between 4:00pm and 6:00pm at the Queen Street Commons Cafe! Shares will begin Wednesday, February 2nd and run for 10 weeks until Wednesday, April 6th. Order now, space is limited!

11/04/2021

Fall sale! The online store is now open! Pick-up this Saturday at Cafe Pyrus Outpost
https://garden.theworkingcentre.org

10/15/2021

Garlic in the ground! This year we’ve got a VERY thick stand of oats, buckwheat, mustard, and radish to plant into! A bit extra work, but that’s fine by us. (It’ll do wonders for the soil and, allegedly, the mustards help limit nematode pressure, which is an issue for us). We mostly plant softneck varieties that seem to do better in our heavy slightly alkaline soil. Thanks to for helping to bump up our seed stock!

10/07/2021

Mornin’ 👋

09/22/2021

Did you see the harvest moon? Happy Moon Festival and first day of autumn! On a rainy day like this, it’s all the more timely to express gratitude for such beauty and abundance!

09/07/2021

Peppers!

08/20/2021

CSA shares are looking lovely! (A welcome distraction from irrigation troubleshooting :/ )

08/18/2021

It’s been a while since our last post, but here’s a small taste of what we’ve been up to at the garden! Apples are abundant, our summer tatsoi is a real winner, and the flowers have been putting on a show! Things are feeling a bit dry out there though, so join us in hoping for some rain!

07/02/2021

Excited to meet people interested in a *4 Month Market Gardener Position* at the garden this season!
Visit our website for details https://garden.theworkingcentre.org

06/29/2021

Very excited to plant a new patch of native shrubs, grasses and wildflowers from
Thanks to .a.ecology at the Waterloo Wildflower Seed Library and the Region of Waterloo Community Environmental Fund for supporting these exciting additions to the garden!

06/15/2021

CSA season is here and the harvests are abundant! Excited to get all this good stuff into over 160 kitchens in KW!

06/10/2021

The onion patch looking lovely after some rain and w**ding!

06/08/2021

Woot woot! CSA shares are set to begin next week! CSA members, check your email for all the details!

05/26/2021

Looking good out here!

05/20/2021

A quick pass through the overwintered spinach before the peppers go in! Watch out for those thorny gooseberries!

05/07/2021

Kohlrabi

04/30/2021

Phew! Plaaaanting in a big way these days! Between that and all the prep for the rest of the garden crew starting next week, we just keep forgetting to take pictures! But a couple times the camera clicked this week...
1. the apple blossoms are ready to burst! 2. the kale, kohlrabi, napa, arugula, mustards, radish, and turnip are in and tucked away under some row cover. (Not to mention the parsley, lettuces, spinach, cilantro, green onions, carrots and beets that’ve been planted too!). 3. A red tailed hawk spent nearly an entire day hanging out with us... agitating the crows, swooping in for the odd mouse. 4. A few lambs quarter seeds that came into the greenhouse on the straw were looking too delectable to leave alone and made for some great w**dy salads!

04/14/2021

Up and running!

04/09/2021

The final touches! Ready to pack it full of seedlings!

04/01/2021

Super excited about these farmer-bred Renegade Red Peppers!

From the catalogue: Renegade Red is genetically diverse and not completely uniform and so retains the potential to further adapt to your garden or farm if you wish to save the seeds. Bred and selected cooperatively, in and for organic growing systems, by us at Kitchen Table and three other farmers across three farms in Ontario - Greta Kryger, Rebecca Ivanoff and Kim Delaney - with the support of Cornell University's Michael Mazourek and the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario’s Farmer-led Research Program.

03/25/2021

A day of visitors!
So thrilled to host Jenn and Ekk for a farm tour and a chin-wag today! And Nikola from who left some amazing honey in exchange for some cuttings from our fruiting shrubs! And arborist extraordinaire Joseph who’s powering through the apple pruning! And of course Charlie the cat who is trying his best to keep the mouse population down!

03/25/2021

Getting to be that time of year...

03/23/2021

Before and After! Thinking we just might get some peaches this year!

03/18/2021

Oh, hi there!

03/16/2021

Cover crops! If you’re eager to learn about this and other ways to build, restore, and protect soils and the things that live in them, a garden internship or some time volunteering might be for you! https://garden.theworkingcentre.org

03/14/2021

Whaaat?! A momentous morning at the garden!
Still a little ways to go, but getting close now! A new greenhouse opens up so many exciting possibilities - a new tool to use and share!

Address

1254 Union Street
Kitchener, ON
N2H6K4

Website

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