The Acadia Community Garden & Art Society was created to provide neighbours with a place to practice their gardening, to find & celebrate art within the community, and to enjoy the beauty the Garden offers.

We provide affordable raised bed rentals as well as a wide variety of free u-pick options in our Community Food Forest as well as in our Community Vegetable Beds.

The Society regularly holds community events including festivals and picnics, while offering a connection to like-minded individuals in the greater area.

Currently in our 7th year of operation, the Acadia Community Garden & Art Society is dedicated to contributing to increasing the standard of living for the people in our neighbourhood.

Our mission is to create & nurture community within Acadia through gardening and the arts. Our vision is to create a welcoming space that fosters an appreciation of nature, art, and the interconnection of our community.

2020 PROJECTS

Despite recruiting the largest Board of Directors we’d ever enjoyed, the onset of COVID-19 meant we had to throw out our plans and draw new ones up on the fly.

We knocked it out of the park. ????

Here are a few things we accomplished this season:

• We developed a COVID safety & awareness campaign including digital messaging, signage, a professionally produced video, and a sanitizing routine that allowed us to open as an Essential Service to our community.
• Thanks to an SNI Grant, we installed multilingual signage throughout the Food Forest to better engage our diverse community.
• We planted new trees and shrubs into our Food Forest, including a 3-variety grafted pear, goji berries, and 2 types of saskatoon bushes.
• We installed a decorative shrub bed in the SW corner of our lot made from entirely donated materials.
• We painted the long bench with phrases about our community and little houses with messages of hope.
• We grew & donated 175 pounds of food to the Calgary Food Bank.

2021 PROJECTS

Over the next 3 months, our Board of Directors will get together to identify our 2021 project objectives. 

Here are a few ideas we’re considering for next season:

• building and installing wheelchair accessible raised beds
• building and installing a wheelchair accessible shed
• building and installing wheelchair accessible pathways
• building and installing no-kneel raised beds
• starting Phase 2 of our Food Forest which could include removing turf, digging swales, and installing base layer plants
• building and installing a more user-friendly compost system
• sprucing up the existing artwork & adding clear coat to protect it from the elements
• adding new art pieces, including a central sculpture
• revamping our website
• revitalizing the soil in all the garden beds
• increasing the size of the pollinator garden
• increasing the number of mason bees
• working with community stakeholders on the creation and installation of a sensory pathway
• working with schools to create a ‘Learn to Garden’ course

But of course, we’re open to suggestions. If you have questions or concerns about any of our upcoming ideas, we look forward to hearing from you.  

Should you wish to participate, why not volunteer?

Reach out to Volunteer@GrowingAcadia.ca and join a team of passionate, community-building people.

Laurie Vanderwal
Vice President

Acadia Community Garden & Art Society is committed to providing an environment free of discrimination and harassment, where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, can contribute fully and have equal opportunities.  If you experience any discrimination or harassment, please contact us on our phone or media sites.

At our Community Garden, we have three types of raised garden beds. First, we have raised beds that people can rent for the season. (Just a heads up – We were sold out by February this year, with quite a waitlist. If you’re interested in a bed for next season, look for our contact info at the end of this article.) We also have beds that we have planted for anyone to pick. We talked about those in last month’s issue. They are labeled “Community Bed – Yes!”.

Our third type of beds are dedicated for donations to the Food Bank. These were harvested by our many volunteers at the beginning of September. Psst – We love to welcome new volunteers, regardless of your interests, we will find something fun for you to do. You don’t need to rent a raised bed to get involved!

We were excited to share 175 pounds of produce to the Calgary Food Bank! Thank you to all you hard-working volunteers and board members! In case you’re wondering, we gave carrots, parsnips, beets, beet greens, zucchini, squash and swiss chard. And…157 pounds of potatoes!!!

We experimented with some different growing methods for growing our potatoes. Pictured is a straw tower. In addition to the raised beds, we also planted potatoes in some of our home gardens. The raised beds produced the biggest and largest quantity.

Thank you all our wonderful volunteers. These are just some of them!

Laurie Vanderwal
Vice President

Acadia Community Garden & Art Society is committed to providing an environment free of discrimination and harassment, where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, can contribute fully and have equal opportunities.  If you experience any discrimination or harassment, please contact us on our phone or media sites.

How Does Our Garden Grow?Perhaps you’re new to the concept of a Community Garden? The basic idea is that people collectively use a plot of land to garden, usually growing vegetables, herbs or fruits. At our Acadia Community Garden, we have raised beds, which people can rent and other spots that are available for harvesting by the public.

I’m sure you can imagine that our renters are none too happy when they have worked hard all season, only to come out and discover someone has plucked their reward away! To help make things clearer, there is signage, so ya’ll know what is up for grabs.

Hint: No Picking means – DO NOT TOUCH!! But…. Community Bed “YES!” = HELP YOURSELF!!!

Last month we talked about painting our benches and picnic tables.  I asked what kind of welcoming messages we could use on the benches. Let’s explore that a little bit more.

As I walk around our neighborhood, I notice people have moved their chairs and patio sets to their front yards. Many of us are either not working or working from home. Some are retired, but group activities have halted. Kids are home all day. We are missing our work, social, recreational, and scholastic relationships. There are those amongst us who are lonely.

Good morning friends,

Sunny skies and Cherry news. 

Aren’t we glad we cleared stage one of the Covid-19 Calgary city reopening schedule ahead of the timetable? We can expect some more return to normalcy in the next few days.

Are you interested in adopting some cute little fluffy pets, but don’t have the space or time necessary? Perhaps you would like a little family project with a great learning opportunity? Or maybe you just want to help mother nature out a bit?

Introducing…

Morning Everyone,

Uplifting news has been rare in this season. Thankfully, Spring is officially and physically here and gardening season is upon us.

Hope you have had a chance to bask in the good weather these past few days?

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, our Annual Garden & Art Tour, which was to be held on June 20, has been postponed until next year.  We would like to thank all those who volunteered to be involved. We are only pausing. Once we have a new date, we’ll be sure to let ya’ll know. Pause…… it’s a great word to describe this very difficult time. We are waiting, sheltering in our homes, for the blizzard of COVID-19 to dissipate. Perhaps….one way to avoid feeling all this uncertainty that is enshrouding us is to think about some of the small things we can accomplish. Like – gardening – especially veggies!