Hands-On Growing: Urban Gardens

In order to build the Green Line LRT, land needs to be acquired for the station areas and guideway for the tracks. As various sections of land are awaiting construction, the Green Line team is looking for unique opportunities to activate the space and support local communities. Hands-On Growing has done just that, repurposed Green Line owned land in Auburn Bay for urban gardens.

Joshua Hebb, the founder of Hands-On Growing, wanted to find a way to better the relationship that Calgarians have with their food. Having a background in civil infrastructure and construction allowed him to see first-hand how the city was built and use this to develop a plan to target food security while simultaneously addressing environmental stewardship and community vitality.

“Our mission is teach people how to grow so they grow and teach others,” said Josh.

As part of their plan to address the lack of knowledge surrounding consumables and their origins within local communities, Hands-On Growing started an initiative to build various mobile gardens out of recycled materials that can be leased out to members of these communities and used to grow an assortment of produce of their choosing. Through a partnership with Hands-On Growing, the City of Calgary was able to temporarily lease Green Line LRT land in the community of Auburn Bay to Hands on Growing to initiate their urban gardens concept.

Once the Green Line LRT has been fully developed, the Hands on Growing would like to work with the City to strategically place a few of these mobile gardens close to a couple Green Line’s stations to beautify the space and help spread Hands-On Growing’s vision of a locally food resilient, self-sustaining city.

For more information, visit the Hands-On Growing website or follow them on their Twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram accounts.

Hands-on Growing
40 Auburn Meadows Street S.E.

Website
www.handsongrowing.org

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