Unfortunately, the Community Garden project at The Working Centre is closed. We are not able to offer volunteer positions or garden space. Thank you for your interest. You may want to connect with Community Gardens at The Region of Waterloo.
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The Working Centre Market Garden is a volunteer-driven community enterprise engaged in ecological food production, hands-on cooperative work, and knowledge sharing. The garden is a space for cultivating relationships among gardeners through the work of growing food and building a more sustainable community-based food system.
The Working Centre Market Garden aims to...
- Be a place for inclusive, collaborative work and skill-building.
- Grow healthy food in partnership with natural ecological processes and in partnership with each other.
- Understand and teach sustainable food production and gardening methods.
- Develop financial sustainability through our Community Supported Agriculture share program.
- Share fresh local food with those participating in the garden community.
Work as Gift: Many of the gardeners at The Working Centre Market Garden are volunteers! We are continually working to be an inclusive space where all are welcome to the collaborative work of growing food and tending the earth. We seek to appreciate each gardener's different skills, knowledge, and contributions toward our common work. Get Involved!
Common Work: Different than community gardens where gardeners have their own plots, at The Working Centre Market Garden everyone works collaboratively to produce food for a 160+ member CSA share program, local retailers, and to share with the community. Through hands-on, satisfying work done in community, the garden welcomes many to belong, enjoy the outdoors, and learn about growing food.
The garden sits on the traditional territories of the Neutral, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. We are on a path of learning and transformation centered in relationship, openness, and inclusivity that acknowledges ongoing colonial injustices while working to ensure that our common work does not perpetuate them. We welcome your engagement, feedback, and questioning on our shared journey of reconciliation and decolonization.
Ecological Farming: We are a thriving 1.5 acre garden that grows over 30,000 pounds of food each season! In addition to growing an abundance of vegetables, the garden also includes cut flowers, native plants and pollinator strips, and a wide array of fruit-bearing trees and shrubs. Ecological food production is centered on striving to protect, restore, and support the natural processes that enable us to grow nourishing food. As we work together to grow healthy and abundant food, members of the garden community can learn, practice, and teach a diverse range of ecological farming methods. These include soil building best practices such as no-till and cover cropping, supporting beneficial insects, organic weed and pest management, and lots more!
Community-Based Food Systems: Small-scale ecological farming nourishes the land and the people!
A community-based food system aims to...
- Develop relationships between producers and consumers.
- Reduce dependence on food from outside the local community.
- Provide more diverse, healthy food choices.
- Recognize the specific cultural and social food needs of the community.
- Build skills and economic vibrancy through food and agriculture.
Produce grown and harvested at the garden is distributed through several avenues. Sales to local retailers and our 160+ member CSA program help build financial sustainability, while abundant food is shared among volunteer gardeners and other members of the garden's expansive community. Food is also shared through several Working Centre projects and other community food organizations. Beyond food, the garden provides many diverse and often intangible benefits to the gardeners, the community, and the land!
