Effort to grow food for struggling Calgarians hopes for support from new city council

A non-profit organization that's growing vegetables on unused City of Calgary land hopes to expand with the help of the new city council.

Some hardworking volunteers are hoping Calgary’s new city council will support expanding their efforts to help feed struggling people in the city.

Volunteers with the Highfield Farm non-profit organization were out Monday harvesting crops after their first season of growing food on unused land owned by the City of Calgary in an industrial area in the city’s southeast.

“(Growing) cabbages, cauliflower, chard, carrots, dill, sage, parsley,” Highfield Farm’s Heather Ramshaw said.  “Basically, anything you can grow in Calgary, we tried.”

After growing about 50 different vegetables and herbs, the organization is turning over the crop to the Calgary Food Bank and the Mustard Seed.

Highfield Farm says its efforts are especially needed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With COVID, we saw the supply chain can be disrupted,” volunteer Corinne Zamonsky said. “Growing your own food, in your own city, in your own backyard, is probably going to be more important now, more than ever.”

Highfield Farm is hosting a fundraising event called ‘Spooktakular Soupalicious’ on Saturday, Oct. 23, with more information available online.

The event features soups made by Calgary chefs using local ingredients.