City Farmer in Vancouver: an urban wonderland

City Farmer entrance from the greenway

I spent a lovely couple of hours on two occasions visiting the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden, AKA City Farmer, exploring this magical garden and enjoying the company of the wonderful Michael Levenston and Joan MacNab. I rode a bicycle to get there (Vancouver is very bicycle friendly) and marvelled at the position of the garden - located in a residential street adjacent to three community gardens (Kitsilano Community Garden, Maple Community Garden and Cyprus Community Garden) as well as a community share, reuse, and repair hub (Kitsilano Thingery).

Michael Levenston and Joan MacNab

The Vancouver Compost Garden started in 1981 and is funded by the City of Vancouver and Metro Vancouver. They work with a variety of City Departments (e.g.Solid Waste, Water Design, Parks, Green Streets) to provide environmental education for residents, schools and visitors about backyard and worm composting, water conservation (rain barrels, drip irrigation, permeable surfaces) safe pest control and natural lawn care. Rather than asking people to sit in a classroom and watch PowerPoint presentations or download an app, they impart knowledge by making it possible to see, touch and smell examples of living composting systems, food-growing techniques and harvesting and conserving water. Features of the site include a climate adaptation garden, a green roof, a cob tool shed, organic food gardens, a permeable surface lane, natural lawns, waterwise gardens, and various worm and backyard compost systems.

Wisteria vine archway

The garden is a wonderland of delights – abundant with flowers, winding pathways, hidden nooks, hanging fruit, curiosities and artworks. Shady corners reveal unexpected miniature tea parties and protected sunny patches contain seats strategically placed to catch warming rays. Dotted throughout are working examples of compost bins and worm farms, but the most powerful benefits of composting are revealed in its practical applications – by creating such a thriving urban environment.

Examples of compost systems are strategically located throughout the garden.

Michael and the staff at the garden assist the residents of Vancouver to create and use compost by:

· Offering compost workshops and “wormshops” to the public

· Taking visitors on tours through the garden

· Testing and researching compost bins and systems

· Displaying a variety of working compost systems

· Operating a phone Compost Hotline for the City of Vancouver and the Greater Vancouver Regional District whereby they answer compost problem-solving questions

· Sales of discounted compost bins provided by the City of Vancouver

· Contributing daily articles, photographs, links and other relevant information to their own City Farmer News newsletter.

Michael demonstrates one of the worm farming systems.

In the time I spent at the garden, Michael answered a number of compost questions on the phone hotline and in person as people came to the garden, either by chance or for specific reasons. People are welcomed into the garden to pick a bay leaf or two, ask questions or simply enjoy the space. Visitors, such as myself, come from far and wide and have included delegations from many countries, filmmakers, journalists, tourists and researchers.

As Michael says:

“Since we started our Demonstration Garden in 1981, we have greeted thousands of visitors from around the world. People of all ages enjoy learning about our many projects. The youngest children are excited by worms and our fairy garden, volunteers happily pull out buttercups and are refreshed by the time they leave, students from elementary schools and universities take away ideas about better understanding the urban environment, and policymakers learn what they can do at a government level to make our cities more liveable.”

A tea-party for fairies.

Visiting the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden was part of research for my Churchill Fellowship exploring education methods and partnership models to support community composting. For more details visit the Churchill Fellows Portal where you can also download the full report.