Volunteer organisations working together to help feed those in need.
Ottawa Little Theatre had a garden that was underutilised but had a lot of potential. A seed of an idea was planted to turn the raised beds along OLT’s property at 400 King Edward Avenue and along Besserer Street into an urban community garden to help feed those in need. OLT reached out to the Ottawa Horticultural Society and The Ottawa Mission to partner on this community garden. The idea came to fruition quite quickly and OLT’s garden is now a beautiful, nutritious addition to the neighbourhood.
“The garden project is an ideal opportunity for Ottawa Little Theatre to use its assets to benefit the greater community. Utilizing our raised garden beds to grow vegetables and herbs for The Ottawa Mission provides much needed food for those less fortunate. Our contribution of property and volunteers to maintain the garden is an addition our partners’ contributions, particularly the Ottawa Horticultural Society who drove the front end of the project to prepare and design the garden plot. We were delighted the OHS accepted our proposal and saw the benefit of this project for the greater good. Working with the OHS and the Ottawa Mission’s staff have been an absolute delight.” – Cate Proctor, Managing Director, Ottawa Little Theatre.
“The Ottawa Horticultural Society has a long history of creating and refurbishing gardens in public spaces in Ottawa. We were really pleased this year to be asked to transform the gardens at Ottawa Little Theatre into productive herb and vegetable beds to be used by The Ottawa Mission in their kitchens. To prepare new gardens, during the course of two intense work parties, volunteers dug up the beds, removed unwanted vegetation and salvaged some for other uses, dug in quantities of manure and planted seeds, bedding plants and several ornamentals concentrated in two shady areas. Food production in an inner city garden in semi-shade presents some interesting challenges. Throughout the summer and fall, we hope to learn what works well and best serves the needs of The Ottawa Mission and the theatre.” – Deborah Watt, Ottawa Horticultural Society.
Weekly harvesting has already begun! “We are grateful for the time and effort taken by Ottawa Little Theatre and the Ottawa Horticultural Society to contribute fresh produce to the kitchen at The Ottawa Mission. The variety of herbs being planted, along with other vegetables, will improve the quality and taste of the hundreds of meals our volunteers and staff serve every day. Every little bit helps!” – Chef Ric Watson, Manager of Food Services, Ottawa Mission.
Ottawa Little Theatre would like to thank the Ottawa Horticultural Society for providing the garden design and initial manpower, OLT staff and volunteers for the ongoing weeding and watering, and The Ottawa Mission whose team come to harvests each week. On your next visit to Ottawa Little Theatre, be sure to stop and look at new community garden.