Emily Jubenvill at The Edible Garden Project at Second Wave in Vancouver, BC

Back when Emily Jubenvill was studying environmental science she got an assignment to find a positive story. “There was no good news,” she said. But then she found urban agriculture. “Here it was, a way to make a difference.” The assignment led to her first garden at a community garden which led to an internship with the Edible Garden Project that turned into her current job as community coordinator.

The Edible Garden Project was started seven years ago to use garden space to grow food for the needy of North Vancouver. The project started small but has grown exponentially ever since its start. They depend on volunteers at every level. Volunteers donate space and time growing in backyards, and along boulevards and in community gardens. Businesses to donate garden space like the back lot I visited behind the Second Wave Skate shop in Northern Vancouver.The tiny productive plot had everything from beans, corn, tomatoes and squash and even potatoes.

Emily she said the project had netted 3,000 lbs of produce  in 2011 and they had since then doubled their growing space. They get their funding from grants and donations and the food goes directly to the needy in the community. They started Loutet Farm in an underutilized park ane they even involve kids with their Fed Up program in local schools.

The Edible Garden Project uses a native american growing technique called “three sisters.” Beans that enrich the soil with nitrogen, grow on the corn. Squash grows as groundcover below.