by Jo Barnes | photos by Jen Rashleigh –
It is a hub for building connections and growing food locally. It is a place to create a living community right down to the soil … quite literally.
For over a year now at Sandown Centre for Regenerative Agriculture, Peninsula residents have been working together to tend the land, grow food, enhance biodiversity and restore ecological systems. This has all been accomplished through many programs including a new Sandown Soil Lab.
“We’ve seen a great response from the community to Sandown,” shares Jen Rashleigh. “The idea behind the Sandown Soil Lab is there is science behind the soil. Soil is a living community of microorganisms. Soil is sacred.”
The Soil Lab is a three-year project made possible through funding by VanCity. It is led by Brooke Hayes, a biochemist, who formerly worked with the Ministry of Agriculture. She is currently working on her PhD at the University of Victoria and focusing on soil science.
“It is fantastic to have Brooke on board,” says Jen. “She will be training us and also volunteers in making soil extracts for use on site.”
Healthy soil has a balance between bacteria and fungi. The ratio between these items impacts the health of the soil and organisms that grow in it. The work of the Soil Lab includes soil testing, creating and application of soil extracts to enhance the soil and cultivate better produce.
“We can custom blend an extract to boost soil to what you want it to be,” says Jen. “It can change the microorganisms in the soil.”
The Soil Lab is just one of many components contributing to the overall objective of Sandown which is to develop, care for and use the Sandown lands for food production, biodiversity and education.
During 2021, programs to foster new growers, restore the Sandown environment and educate the community about food production all generated a healthy response. Community members came out to “Sandown Saturdays,” learned about local ecology and history, met some of the new growers at Sandown and reconnected with the land.
“It was great to see community connection during Covid,” says Jen. “We have a great group of folks, and they work well together. We’ll be meeting regularly through a variety of different programs in the new year.”
For information about how to get involved at Sandown, visit www.sandowncentre.com.
A priority at Sandown is fostering a new wave of growers through its Farmpreneur Program. There was a very positive response from the community, and seven applicants were selected to farm their own leased plot of land. The crops of these enthusiastic growers ranged from flax to berries and herbs for both culinary and medicinal purposes. The farming interests were very diverse. After a successful first year, these new Farmpreneurs head into 2022 with continued support from Sandown but with a new focus.
“The first year was paying attention to horticulture and to the land,” comments Jen. “The second year is focused on getting produce to market and business planning.”
The “Grow Your Own Food” course kicked off last year with a healthy response from Peninsula residents who learned valuable lessons on food production. In 2022, Stephanie Jacobs of Fireweed Farms will design the course.
“It will be a comprehensive home gardening course that will run weekly from March to October and will teach people how to build and maintain a vegetable garden,” comments Stephanie. “The many reasons why we should be gardening like food security and community building will be interwoven throughout the course.”
Right now the temperatures have dropped; the rain and snow have arrived. It is winter and time for taking stock and planning. Prior to now, however, there has been a hive of activity taking place at the 83-acre Sandown site. As well as maintaining an intricate infrastructure of greenhouses and cold storage, soil conditioning and irrigation, invasive species removal, planting and water testing took place. Long-time residents of the area will recall the old racetrack which existed on these grounds. It took a lot of work to reclaim the former parking lot and make it suitable for agriculture.
“We had rock picking parties!” exclaims Jen. “The rocks were repurposed for French drains (trench with perforated pipe).”
Sandown, at its heart, is a place where the desire is to heal and feed the land so it can feed us. It is a new year, a fresh start, and with a pandemic still at our heels, the importance of health and food production remains vital.
“I believe it will be another year ahead where local food systems will shine!” remarks Jen.
Food security affects all of us in the community. Sandown offers opportunities to grow food and to cultivate and care for the very land we walk on for the health of our community and the future.
