Richmond Sharing Farm Field Trip

Minoo organized a field trip to the Richmond Sharing Farm for the community kitchens for a change. Three of the community kitchens participated in this field trip, i.e. the Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen, the South Arm Community Kitchen and the Caring Place Community Kitchen. We met at the South Arm Community Centre and boarded a school bus for the trip.

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This field trip is to introduce us to the Richmond Fruit Tree Project located at the end of Gilbert Road and at the Terra Nova Rural Park. The Sharing Farm Project was initiated in 2001 by a group of volunteers. In six years, over 90,000 pounds of food has been harvested and donated to the Richmond Food Bank. Every week, the food bank feed over 800 people in which 40% of them are kids. Volunteers are always welcome to lend a helping hand in the farm. For those interested in volunteering, the farm is opened from Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 4pm.

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You can rent a plot from the city which is three meters by seven meters for $40 a year. For those who are interested to have a little farm, the number to call for the waiting list is (604) 244-1208.
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The individual plot of land is planted with all sorts of plants including vegetables and flowers. Here are some beautiful garlic chives and …

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… lavenders.

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While we were there, there were a group of students in the farm. Here is also the location for the Terra Nova School Yard Project, founded by Ian Lai.

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Here, Arzeena (in a purple jacket), the outreach coordinator of the Richmond Fruit Tree Project was briefing the group.

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Here is a plot of the land with some green vegetables.

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A bed of herbs.

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A compost bin.

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We found a duck nested in between some vegetables.

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This is the place where the seedlings are being nurtured in a green house. In Richmond, vegetables can be grown all year round due to the mild climate. In winter, the vegetables were grown in green house which is merely a plot of land covered in heavy plastic.

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Some vegetables are grown for their seeds like these Swiss chard.

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At the end of the trip, we were invited to harvest some pea shoots. The group had lots of fun hands on harvesting the pea shoots.

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A mini green house in use.

This is certainly a very knowledgeable trip. Minoo and Arzeena, thank you for organizing this trip.

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  1. pasaker

    Thank you for posting this! I currently living in Calgary, but planning on moving to Richmond next year. It’s great to see that Richmond has such a close nit community- especially the Sharing Farm where people can come and have a little “out of house” farm.

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