GROW FOOD!

Grow for yourself — or as a job, self employment, volunteer...

Whether you're looking for work, or just want to get outside and pitch in, make this the year to get growing! Options include your own backyard, neighbour's backyards, local community gardens, or working on nearby farms...

(1) Learn fruit & veggie gardening...

• Books: Gardening & Growing Food | Farming & Homesteading | Food & Gardening | Others: Chapters Indigo | Amazon | Reviews: (1) (2) (3) (4)
• Online articles, tips, how-to's: Google | wikiHow | Wikipedia | YouTube (2) (Especially on YouTube and social media, the info might represent only one person's opinion, who might not share your situation, soil type, or plant hardiness zone.)
• Where to find local, diverse, resilient seeds: Where to find local seeds in Canada | Canadian Seed Companies | How to Save Seeds (2) (3)

(2) Team up!

Local food growing groups & exchanges: Connect with other gardeners and local food groups in your area — this can be a great source of info, inspiration and resources:

• By location: Ontario | Toronto (2) (3) | Ottawa (2) | Guelph (2) | Vancouver (2) | Victoria (2) (3) | Edmonton (2) (3) | Calgary (2) (3) | Regina (2) (3) | Winnipeg (2) | Montreal (2) (3) (4) (5) | Fredericton | Halifax (2) | St. John's (2) | ACGA (US & Canada)
• Other cities & towns: Try googling the name of your city or town, plus one of these phrases: "urban agriculture" or "urban farming" or "community gardens" or "permaculture", or more generally, "gardening". For best results, try each phrase, one at a time. Same with facebook groups or Meetups.

(3) Get to work...

From casual to full-time, there are many opportunities to grow food:

• Work on sustainable/organic farms & gardens:
• Grow food jobs on FoodWork.ca: FoodWork.ca/GrowLocal
• Other roles (nonprofits, admin, retail, policy...) FoodWork.ca/Now
• Why grow organic? | Transition to organic
• Work on 'conventional' farms / non-organic farm jobs: (across Canada)
• Farmwork to Feed Canada — farm work jobs: FarmworktoFeedCanada.ca/farmwork/
• Farm job websites and employee resources: agr.gc.ca/agriculture-jobs
• Note: 'Conventional' farms sometimes use pesticides, monocultures and other practices that in the long term, may harm health, the environment and sustainability of our food supply. This is not a criticism of these farms or farmers, who are usually doing their best, given a social and economic environment that expects them to minimize expenses ...at any cost. Alternatives: Organic farming | Sustainable agriculture | Agroecology | Regenerative Agriculture | Sustainable food system
• Start your own local food business:
• Get some experience from working on a farm or urban agriculture, then decide if you want to start your own.
• How to start a small business: Entrepreneur.com | GoodWork | WikiHow | More

(4) Learn more...

These organizations have many great resources. Please use them, join them, support them!

• Community Gardening:
  Ontario | Toronto (2) | Ottawa | Guelph | Vancouver | Edmonton (2) | Winnipeg | Montreal (2) | Halifax | American Community Gardening Association (includes Canada)

• Horticulture, Gardening and Community Gardening Clubs: Google "community gardening", "urban agriculture" or "horticulture association", plus the name of your municipality. Some horticulture associations are focused on ornamental/flower gardens, while others are much more into local food.

• Choose Canada Organic
• Organic Consumers Association (USA & Canada)

• Canadian Organic Growers
• Certified Organic Associations of BC
• Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network (ACORN)
• Canada Organic Trade Association

• Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario
• Regeneration Canada

• National Farmers Union
• Small Farm Canada
• FarmFolk CityFolk (Vancouver)

• Seeds of Diversity | How to Save Seeds | more

• SeedChange (formerly USC Canada)
• Pesticide Action Network
• Canadian Biotechnology Action Network

• Community Food Centres Canada
• Food Secure Canada
• Centre for Studies in Food Security (Toronto)
• BC Food Systems Network
• FoodShare (Toronto)
• Just Food (Ottawa)

• Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
• Faculty of Land and Food Systems (UBC)

Have we missed your organization? Let us know!

Wikipedia: organic gardening, community gardening, allotment gardens, urban agriculture, food security, local food