SUSAN TOWNDROW
Do you like magic tricks? Most of us do! To see something appear or disappear right before our eyes gives us a thrill and a sense of mystery. Although we take it for granted, we experience magic every day – when we eat something delicious, a fresh fruit or vegetable, something that started as a tiny seed and has grown into food that nourishes us and gives us pleasure as well.
The Incredible Edible Plant Giveaway, hosted every spring by the Food Action Group of Transition Cornwall+, to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and build local resilience, is just this kind of magic! The purpose is to encourage everyone to grow some of their own food. In this way, even in the tinies of spaces, like a pot by the front door, each one of us can experience a connection with nature and the satisfaction of a harvest. For example, of the give-away tomato varieties this year, the tiniest tomato plant I have ever seen called “Whipper Snipper” turned out to be a delicious, abundant producer!
How a community of volunteers comes together to grow, distribute and give away over 3,000 vegetable seedlings at various community locations, happens, as if by magic. Hidden behind the scenes is a small army of volunteers who make this yearly event possible. I would like to introduce you to one of these hidden volunteers.
Tony McCadden, is one of the 14 people who grew some of the seedling for this year’s plant give away, something he has been doing for the past five years. When I went to talk with Tony at his home in Morrisburg, as we drove up to his home, it was easy to spot his place where his front yard, on a regular sized property, was overflowing with every variety of plants and beautiful flowers. Not a blade of grass in sight! The soothing sound of water from a small stone fountain by the front made it feel as if I had stepped into a magical kingdom.
Tony grew up in Ottawa, and always knew he wanted to be a farmer. Before retiring, he worked in the nursery business and still grows much of their own food for himself and his wife Pat, some of it on a country property close by that he shares with friends. He feels that the ability to grow food is vital, just like cooking. He says, “My view of the future is fairly dystopian and so in the back of my mind is a message – you need to know how to look after yourself.”
Tony’s seeding for Incredible Edibles takes place under grow lights in his basement and then the seedlings are potted up and moved to his small backyard, lean-to greenhouse as the weather warms up. “Seeing the way all the seeds in our garden develop, gives me hope”! He loves being part of the plant give away event that “allows you to work with all kinds of amazing, interesting people, share your knowledge and get a lot of appreciation from the customers.”
When I spoke to Penny Bateman, who coordinates the whole Incredible Edible operation, I was amazed to learn that, along with the growers like Tony, and the organizing team of ten, there is an army of more than fifty volunteers who carry out jobs such as publicity, labelling the thousands of plants, receiving the plants from growers, transporting them to a site where they can be repotted and mixing soil for the pots. On the day of the plant giveaway they spring into action to sort the plants, distribute them from a central location, gather all the equipment like tents, tables, banners, chalk boards, name tags, clip boards for the question survey and get them to delivered to the four giveaway sites around the city as well as ensure there’s an experienced gardener at each location to offer advice – whew!
In addition to all this, the day before the giveaway, more than 10 different organisations come to pick up plants. Clement Gwanyama of Canadian Mental Health Association recently wrote: “I just want to reach out and personally THANK YOU & the Volunteers for being an ongoing yearly donor to the gardeners of CMHA Champlain East (most especially the Starbright Centre). People like you are the reason we can continuously support gardeners in need, and we truly can’t thank you enough.”
Then to top it off the volunteers plant boxes in different city parks so that people can harvest vegetables throughout the growing season to supplement their groceries. Even more volunteers keep track of these planter boxes by watering and weeding through the growing season. The City of Cornwall also plays a key role, providing the planters, and on the day ensuring we have the compost, water, a forklift and palettes needed for the operation.
As Tony says “If you have time – get involved. There are different areas within the organization that provide opportunities to meet all sorts of interesting people and have some fun”.
So – we would love you to be part of this incredible operation – even for just a few hours. Please let us know if you’d like to be involved. Contact with Penny at tcplusevents@gmail.com. We’d love to meet you.
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