The Rural Voice, 2003-07, Page 37up to $60,000 to a single
farm.
Morgan has done research
into the foods imported into
Toronto and feels there are
crops that could be grown in
Ontario to meet the culinary
needs of the East Indian
population. She's looking at
experimenting with the
gardening program to try out
some of these varieties.
The Good Food Box
program has led to offshoots,
such as the "Wellness Box"
which provides food for
women who are battling
breast cancer. There's also a
school produce program
which provides apples and
salads for students. Through
this program 55,000 apples
are sent every second week to 120 schools — about 350
schools all told would like to be part of the program but the
program can't handle that volume.
As well as being the main revenue centre for the oper-
ation, the Good Food Box begins the cycle of food
production. Vera Top, who runs the composting and
greenhouse operations, explains that with trimmings from
the fruits and vegetables put into the food boxes and other
organic waste, there is 400-1,000 pounds of organic
material to be composted every week. In the backyard,
beneath the lip of the Gardener Expressway, staff and
volunteers operate a nine -bin composting system that turns
lettuce leaves and other waste into the fine organic soil in
just nine weeks. The soil is used in the roof -top
greenhouse.
Nearby sit six beehives. Even in the middle of this
concrete jungle, the bees find trees and plants to
pollinate. In the early season the honey's taste
reflects a mixture of nectar from a variety of plants. In
September and October the honey has a definite taste of
goldenrod. Last year the hives produced 500 pounds of
honey which was sold to the Good Food Box program.
Here in the heart of the city there can be heartbreaking
crop failures too, however. Like many beekeepers in
Ontario, Food Share's beeyard suffered badly during the
winter of 2002-2003 and, working with the owner of the
bees, they're struggling to keep some of the hives alive.
If the rooftop and the concrete backyard of the
Foodshare building are food production centres, so is the
basement. Here during the winter, they run a sprouting
operation turning seeds into an edible crop in just five
days. The seeds need attention twice a day but the results
are profitable. The sprouting operation, here and at the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, turns $20,000
worth of seeds a year into products like pea sprouts that
sell for $6.99 per pound.
Elsewhere in the basement is a large, well-equipped
kitchen that's part of another profit centre. Assisted by a
$100,000 donation of equipment from Union Gas, the
kitchen is now home to a $130,000 a year catering
business. Morgan says the
catering business was started
because Food Share tries to
provide jobs for some of the
young people who come
through its short-term work
programs.
FoodShare regularly receives
grants through Human
mi. Resources Development
Canada to employ young
people, often people who had
previously lived on the street.
"We try to have a few of the
young people stay on for the
next program," Morgan said.
That kitchen is also used as
an incubator for small scale
food processing businesses.
4i, .. '" ", The food operators can rent
the facilities, saving the cost
of setting up their own
commercial kitchens. Eight successful businesses, most
producinghigh-end products, use the kitchen, helping
spread the costs of the salaries and fixed assets.
There are other programs that aren't profit -centred,
like a clinic for mothers to learn how to make their
own babyfood. In Toronto's diverse ethnic mix, that
can mean 15 women in a room speaking 30 languages, as
they exchange information, Morgan says.
That diversity is also displayed in the warehouse on
packing day when friendly, smiling volunteers and staffers
from many backgrounds, organize to pack Good Food
Boxes. In early spring, most of the food comes through the
Toronto Food Terminal and includes everything from
seasonal treats like fiddleheads and rhubarb to very
unseasonal items like corn on the cob.
Volunteers are a valuable part of the operation because
there's never enough money for labour, Morgan says. On
one day, in the rush following the May 24 holiday Monday,
members of Huron County's Field to Table committee,
here to get tips, on running their own Good Food Box
program, pitch in to help fill boxes to complete an order
that must be delivered by a certain time.
The building is an old produce warehouse and is ideally
suited to the needs of the organization with loading docks
and large freezers where whole skids of food can be
transported on fork -lifts.
As money has allowed, Food Share has been improving
the building, though it doesn't own it. It's on loan from the
city and tenancy is not guaranteed.
Still, the city has been generous, part of many
supporters for the $3 -million -a -year operation.
Corporations have helped out and even individual farmers
like Jeff Wilson, former head of AgCare who called
recently because he had some small potatoes and wondered
if they'd be of any use in the program (they were gladly
accepted).
For the visitors from Huron County the visit to
FoodShare showed what passion and drive combined with
an entrepreneurial spirit can create, even in the harsh
realities of the concrete jungle.°
Volunteers pack food boxes with nutritious, affordable food.
JULY 2003 33