Farmers on 57th
Farmers on 57th is a non-profit organization inspiring growers with urban agricultural greenscapes. Our vibrant community includes harvest shares, accessible community gardens as well as educational and therapeutic programs driven by volunteers and professionals.
We grow food, flowers, berries and fruit using ecological growing methods and distribute it to over 1000 people every growing season. We currently operate a 1 acre urban farm, accessible community gardens and a therapeutic gardening program on Vancouver Coastal Health land in Marpole as well as therapeutic gardens for families in Bobolink Park, South Vancouver.
About The Land
Farmers on 57th operates on unceded Territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (pronounced MUSS-quee-um), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (pronounced Squamish or Skohomish)and səlilwətaɬ / (pronounced: slay-wa-tooth, also known as Burrard) Nations Unceded. Unceded means that this land was never given as a gift, traded, surrendered, relinquished or handed over in any way.
George Pearson Centre (GPC) is a long-term residential care home for people with disabilities operated by Vancouver Coastal Health. Young and old, everyone who lives at GPC uses a wheelchair and has varying complex care needs. ‘Pearson Hospital’ as it was then called, was built in 1952 as a Tuberculosis Hospital with 264 beds on 10 hectares (25.4 acres) of landscaped grounds. It is primarily a one level building with lots of outside access, and includes a purpose-built south-facing grow room inside to nurture seedlings.
Vision
People have meaningful and proximal access to local and sustainably grown food, witness and participate in small scale food growing, and relate with nature and one another within a vibrant and rejuvenating food ecosystem.
Mission
We nurture life, soil, vegetables, flowers, new growers and connectedness through educational and therapeutic growing programs, ecological growing practices and community partnership.
Values
Love, respect, kindness, generosity, connection and possibility.
OUR PROGRAMS
MARKET GARDEN
1 acre growing space cultivating mixed vegetables, flowers, and fruits
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May - October
Join for 20 weeks of fresh veggies + flowers throughout the growing season.
Limited spots available.
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Subscription bouquets throughout the growing season or for special events
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March - October
Join for 1 day a week, for 30 weeks, over the course of the growing season.
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Farm tours and educational programs.
COMMUNITY GARDENS
Personal garden plots for our neighbours to grow, side by side
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A comprehensive, hands- on learning opportunity with a professional educator and grower.
Limited spots available.
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4’x6’ garden plots for community members who seek to tend a plot and help with the communal tasks that help our community grow.
Limited spots available
THERAPEUTIC GARDENS
Immersive garden programs on and off-site
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A weekly Garden Club for Pearson residents, which matches volunteers with resident gardeners to help assist in planting, tending and harvesting.
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A bi-weekly program that welcomes families who are refugees, low-income or new immigrants from the South Vancouver neighbourhood who are interested in learning about the pleasures of growing and eating their own garden harvest, growing a food secure community, one harvest at a time.
How it all started…
Farmers on 57th was inspired by the creation of a community garden in the Nation of Gitxaala where Jen Rashleigh, a documentary filmmaker, witnessed first-hand the community satisfaction and empowerment that comes from creating a new grow space. While riding past George Pearson Centre (GPC) on her bike, Jen got the idea for a community integrated farm & accessible gardens in the city. Jen’s mom Nina had worked at GPC as a physiotherapist for many years, sharing stories of the people who lived and worked there.
In 2008, Jen pitched her idea to GPC. The proposal bounced around and landed on the desk of Sarah Wenman, who was working with the Disability Alliance of BC’s CARMA project and the GPC Residents Council. Sarah’s role focused on supporting residents to achieve their goals and help make GPC more like a home and less like a hospital. A garden seemed like a perfect fit. Jen and Sarah brought the idea to GPC Residents Council and residents were immediately very keen. Many of them had grown up with vegetable and flower gardens and were excited for the opportunity to garden in their own backyard.
With the support of the Disability Alliance of BC (DABC), they raised funds and built community partnerships, ready to build new wheelchair accessible gardens and market garden in 2009. Initial funds were generously provided by Vancity and TD.
By 2009, Karen Ageson, Jess Henry, and others had joined the project. Together they transformed one acre of land, patio and boulevards at GPC into a farm and gardens.
The name “Farmers on 57th” comes from the first location of the market garden - just west of Cambie Street on West 57th Avenue in Vancouver, BC. Farmers on 57th began as a project of the Disability Alliance of BC, and became its own Non-Profit Society in 2016.
March 3, 2009 :The very beginning. Katherine and Jen cut sod, and begin rolling, in preparation for the market gardens.
March 14 : Work party, shoveled 50 yards of compost. It’s starting to look like a garden.
The greenhouse underway. Siting, foundations and frame done. Now for the plastic cover. The parents help.
March 31: Seed starting. Aimee works her magic with chopsticks and seeds.
March 9: And then it snowed!
Wheelchair accessible gardens are ready to go!
March 13 : Our first garden club meeting. We divvied up plots and talked about growing chocolate.
Some of the first treats from the market garden! Yum!
Our Timeline
2008
The vision of a community integrated farm and accessibility gardens is proposed to George Pearson Centre’s Resident’s Council. The residents wholly approve and are our first champions.
early 2009
Official approval is given by VCH, the operator of George Pearson Centre. Vancity is the first funder to support our vision. People are recruited and Farmers on 57th starts to take form. Shovels go into ground and community building begins. It snows in early March!
2009
Farmers on 57th dives into our first year of operation, hiring our first Horticultural Therapist, Aimee, to lead the GPC residents’ Garden Club.
The Market Garden and Flower Farm grows with the help of many people, and starts distributing produce via Vancouver’s Main Street Farmers Market. Volunteers at AMS Bike Club transport the harvest to market.
2010
Market Garden Year 2 shifts to a CSA model - Community Supported Agriculture - which continues to this day! Karen Ageson and Tessa Wetherill launch farm apprenticeship program and the CSA model. Jess Henry launches the Flower Program.
Our first CSA year we grew for 12 shares.
Garden Club plants a medicinal garden.
2011
A LOT happened in 2011. After 2 years of nurturing the soil and getting to know our neighbours, we have a bloomin’ growth spurt!
Fon57th is the thrilled recipient of a United Way 3 year grant 2011-2013, supporting the growth of our operations and programs.
Our Market Garden expands to produce for 20 CSA shares. Karen and Tessa launch the Grow Your Own Food Course (our first GYOF class alumni go on to create Cambie Park Community Garden)
Garden Club expands to include two important programs: 1) flower-cutting gardens, so less mobile residents in Pearson can enjoy the delights of fresh flowers each week, and 2) fresh juicing program, transforming the harvest of residents’ gardens into fresh super-nutritious smoothies - providing essential digestive enzymes and living nutrients in appropriate textures for people with chewing/ swallowing issues.
Growing Eden starts! We set up under the tree in the market garden. Fon57th partners on the first of many research projects, both undergraduate and graduate work at Kwantlen Psychiatric Nursing, UBC Occupational Therapy and UBC's Land and Food Systems.
Fon57th hosts our first Internships: 1) SOYL Youth Leadership - a 6 week internship with 8 students focused on improving the wheelchair accessibility of our market gardens, 2) Horticultural Therapy Internship - the Growing Eden Program provided clinical training hours for part of a 1000 hour internship for a trainee HTI.
Fon57th becomes part of the new South Vancouver Food Security Network, contributing to a growing conversation on enhancing food security in the South Vancouver area.
GPC Residents and Farmers on 57th learn that the planning process will soon begin to redevelop the 25 acre land parcel that includes our homes and gardens.
2012
Market Garden expands to produce for 30 CSA shares.
Our elder agrarians volunteer pool grows with Eva and Patti joining - bringing their wisdom and tenacity. (Eva and Patti will still be volunteering 10 years later)
Fon57th partners with Churchill Secondary School on a brand new Leadership 10 course focusing on Youth Leadership.
2013
Market Garden steps up to 40 CSA shares and is led by Tessa while Karen goes on 1st parental leave (our timeline includes many baby-having breaks)
Growing Eden moves off our main site. It emerges that our participants predominantly live in Southeast Vancouver, meaning a long walk/bus ride for many. We establish a partnership with Sherbrooke Mennonite Church and take over the vacant lot directly adjacent to the church, shifting our program time to coincide with their Refugee Food Bank. The move brought in more families and connected us far better to pre‐existing social programs and services.
2014
Market Garden leadership shifts again as Tessa leaves for amazing new farmy things - UBC Practicum Alumni Susheela Kundargi and Katie Selbee (of Twin Island Cider) co-farm the Market Garden, maintaining 40 CSA shares.
2015
Market Garden is lead by Karen again, joined by Jess, fulfilling 40 CSA shares for the season.
Growing Eden moves again! Our site partner is selling the lot where our garden sits. Through excellent new partnerships with the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House, we secure a City‐owned space, nestled between the South Vancouver Family Place, a licensed preschool, a large City park and an elementary school.
Garden Club grows its first giant pumpkin, weighing in at 290 lbs! When we are done guessing its weight, we chop it up and share among staff, residents and families.
The landowner of our site changes - VCH sells 22 acres of the 25 acres to Onni. Change is in the wind but for now we stay.
2016
Farmers on 57th formalizes into our own not-for-profit organization. We work on envisioning our future and developing a business plan.
Market Garden is led by Jess supported by new farm intern Jacx while Karen takes parental leave #2.
2017
Market Garden has Karen returning as Lead Farmer supported by Jacx.
Garden Club and Growing Eden are now robust programs, run by Jen Rashleigh and Sarah Wenman, filled with lots of gardening and laughter. Sarah takes parental leave.
2018
Received notice from the developer of the Pearson-Dogwood site - we have to move the Market Garden by 2019, from the land we’ve tended since 2008. Our community rallies - GPC and VCH work with Farmers on 57th to find new lawns to convert on the westside of this 25 acre property.
We start to prep the new farm site by laying down tarps on the lawn in early 2018. By the end of 2018, we MOVED THE FARM and we are endlessly thankful to all those who helped make that happen, too many to list here. We build new rows, sheds, gathering spaces, pathways, etc.
We say goodbye to our soil, and get to working nurturing the new site. SPEC assists for the first time with soil testing, a partnership we have gladly maintained. Soil health is so important!
2019
NEW SITE (same property) We launch the new Market Garden with Karen as Lead Farmer supported by two farm interns now - Jacx & Angeli. Our first growing season at new market garden site sees an increase to 50 CSA and a new cosyness with GPC’s wheelchair accessible Garden Club.
Our Elder Agrarians group grows as Ron joins us.
Flower Grower Incubator Program launches with Thanushi Eagalle who goes on to form Wild Bee Florals.
Garden Club regrades the pathways between garden beds. Lumpy bumpy pathways are not great for wheelchair users.
2020
A unique year for all of us. The pandemic and the unique dependencies Farmers on 57th has on a long term care facility made for particular challenges. We lost access to toilets and indoor space in general.
The Market Garden perseveres with isolated farm work teams. Karen is Lead Farmer with new farm intern Nicco. We increase the CSA shares to 60. Thanu continues to grow beautiful flowers.
Sadly, we are unable to run GYOF course or Garden Club. Growing Eden tries to connect with members via online means.
2021
Market Garden continues to refine its processes and formalize roles - this year sees Nicco as Lead Farmer and Karen as Farm Manager and Executive Director. We increase again to 65 CSA shares. Newcomers to Flower Incubator program are Marina & Nicki.
Garden Club, Grow Your Own Food Course, and Growing Eden programs run once again. Yay!
2022
Market Garden steps up to CSA shares to 70 this year. Karen and Nicco continue to lead the farm. Flowers are grown by Marina and newcomer Lauren.
Market Garden expands our storage shed and seedling growing capacities to keep step with our increased harvests.
2023
Market Garden is led by Karen with interns Hannah & Britt. CSA shares are up to 75. We might be at land capacity, while maintaining the diversity of harvests that we love to produce. Flowers are grown by Lauren and Nicki.
At the end of the growing season, Karen steps down from Executive Director and Farm Manager roles, after 15 years of incredible growing. Sarah takes on ED role and Britt becomes Farm Manager.
2024
A new farm team learns and works hard together - weathering heatwaves, pests and theft, oh my! Grow Your Own Food Course shifts to offer classes ‘a la carte’ so that folks who can’t commit to the full course, can now drop in for one specific topic.