Our Garden
The Riley Park Community Garden is a story of opportunities. An opportunity to address the needs of the community, to strengthen our existing connections and to create new connections.
We aim to address food security and community involvement, and bring our community members closer through participation, education and events. The garden is an inclusive gathering point reflecting our core visions to improve food security, ecological sustainability and community development. We promote food security by supporting those in our community who need extra food support. The garden is a collective public space where people can engage in co-creation, feel a sense of belonging and ownership, and increase networks. Long term sustainability depends on the development of social capital and the intention to grow produce that may be given back to the community.
The garden will allow our vision to be implemented by:
creating a hub for discussion, ensuring that the garden green space is community-based, both in theory and practice;
using public spaces for skills development;
creating discussion space where community members leverage collective expertise and local resources; and
supporting food literacy education.
The garden reflects the commons design principles guided by the eight design principles for sustainable management of Common Pool Resources, developed by Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom.
History
The demolition of the Riley Park Community Centre in 2012 saw a need for an alternative community gathering point. When the VPB approved a community garden, a group of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers with diverse experience in horticulture, landscape architecture, art, and soil science gathered to create what we know as the “Riley Park Community Garden.”
The community garden encompasses an area of 1065m2 in Riley Park along East 30th Street, extending approximately 30m along Ontario Street and is bounded on the South. The dimensions of the garden are roughly 50m from East to West and 30m from North to South. In 2020, we started the Yard Garden Harvest project to grow food in neighbours yards for clients served in the Food Distribution Program.
Our Common Garden Beds
In our garden, we share food equally. We share customs and stories around the food we grow and eat together. We promote generosity. Our priority is to support those who are food insecure in Little Mountain Riley Park. Those who come to the work parties will also get produce. Everyone is welcome.
Vegetable production in our Main Garden is with Accessible Beds: 5 accessible beds, 1 m wide by .6 - .9 m high; and Raised Beds: 14.5 ground level beds, 1 m wide by .3m high, intended for annual vegetable production.
Our Learning Garden, a tribute to Ed Shum, provides space and activities to learn about our food.
This is a unique, biodiverse Community Garden!
The Field House — Potting Studio
The “Potting Studio” is used to house garden tools and supplies, host community meetings on food literacy and facilitate workshops to improve food security, ecological sustainability and community development.
Little Mountain Neighbourhood House Society has agreements with the Vancouver Parks Board (VPB) to steward the Potting Studio and the Riley Park Community Garden.
The video was created by SFU, School of Interactive Arts and Technology students with support from the City Studio Program.
THE SHED
The Shed is a space for community residents to meet, learn, teach, store and create. It represents the Greenest City Action Plan to demonstrate re-purposed materials, rainwater harvesting and collection, renewable energy with wind and solar power, and to store garden tools. It is our Riley Park Science World.
