Community garden takes root at SMU

Student Adjala Thomson-Kurz shares her passion for food and gardening with the Saint Mary's University community

Adjela Thompson Kurz working in her community garden at Saint Mary's University. Photo: Julia Pagel

Adjala Thomson-Kurz always believed that food from her father's garden was tastier than that bought in the grocery store. She grew up in the small town of Kaslo in the interior of British Columbia. Her whole family helped their father maintain the garden, get firewood and keep track of the livestock.

"We would eat root vegetables stored in the root cellar. We would buy local honey." But in her youth she didn't really appreciate how special this was.
Gardening was a chore as a child. Now, it's her passion.

Thompson-Kurz has found a way to share this passion with Saint Mary's University by starting the schools first community garden.

She takes environmental studies and focuses on co-operative education at Saint Mary's. She wanted to create a space at the school where people could learn and connect to the earth and community within an urban environment.

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The raised beds were created out of recycled tire containers, a creative solution for the gardens lack of funds. Photo: Julia Pagel

Thomson-Kurz believes gardening helps people understand the world they live in. She says that gardening is especially important in the city where there often is a disconnect between people and the natural world.

"If you don't know how intricately connected you are with the plants, the forests, the mountains, then you can't have a sense of responsibility for it," says Thomson-Kurz.

The Saint Mary's administration was supportive of the project. But all the work fell to the Thomson-Kurz and her group of 24 volunteers. The administration gave the garden group $400. This was not going to be enough to cover the costs of seeds, tools, and the boxes to put the flowers in.

"That first year, we were running around, with our heads cut off, there was so much to do," she says.

She has learned a huge amount from the robust urban gardening community in Halifax. Places like the ecological action centre here in Halifax share her passion for urban gardens, and community building. The action centre has an urban gardening network that offers workshops, resources, and a set of "extra hands" to whom ever asks for it.

But, the Saint Mary's garden needed more than just inspiration and advice; they needed cash. All of the grants they applied for didn't come through and Saint Mary's wouldn't give them any more money.

They had to get creative.

A father of one of volunteers worked at Michelin Tire and gave them 32 plastic shipping boxes for tires, filled them with dirt and compost, and began to plant.

And just like that, the garden began to grow.

Thomson-Kurz spent countless hours working in the garden with the volunteers. Everyone who volunteered took home food such as beans, tomatoes, kale and herbs. She also managed to rent some plots to community members.

Thomson-Kurz says setting up a community garden at Saint Mary's has helped members express their passion for food, food justice and community development. She has seen first hand the joy that her garden participants found in being part of a community and feeling empowered by growing their own food.

Thomson-Kurz is now putting the garden to bed for the winter. She smiles as she thinks of what is to come next year. She hopes to get more student volunteers, integrate the garden into some of the environment classes at Saint Mary's and reach out to nearby elementary schools.

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