Not Just Mayonnaise - Hellman’s Providing Urban Gardens in Canada
By Vanessa Richins
Hellman’s Mayonnaise is committed to expanding the real food movement - which, as their website says, “is all about eating, cooking, and planting local, fresh, whole foods bursting with flavourful ingredients.”
On the website, they offer a message board for discussion (including comments from a professional chef, Rick Hughes), a virtual tool where you can plot out your own garden (and they will send you a blueprint and a seed list) and more about the real food movement.
This year, for the second time, they are also providing vegetable garden spaces for people who don’t have a place for their own garden.
Their partner in the project is a non-profit organization called Evergreen that is dedicated to improving cities and making them more livable. They have provided 94 of these 8′ x 4′ plots, which are located on sites that are already run by community garden organizations.
Potential gardeners must apply and say why they should be chosen for one of the plots. If they are selected, they receive the garden plot, seeds, and other garden supplies. Participants are also able to learn from gardening experts about proper techniques for their new garden.
It also helps build the communities around them. A reporter from the National Post noted that they “told me about the camaraderie of those on-site and how it appeared also to strengthen the communities where the garden patches were located.”
Let’s hope that projects like these keep growing. Though Hellman’s garden program is only located in Canada now, perhaps it can someday spread across all of North America, and inspire other companies to do the same.
Have you heard about any other projects like this recently?
