OUR STORY

The World In A Garden is a multicultural urban agriculture project that educates community and youth on the nutritional, cultural, social and environmental benefits of a just and local food system.

The garden was established in 2007 with the vision of nutritionist, Tricia Sedgwick and the immense support of her Director, Charlotte Katzen, of the Jewish Family Service Agency. The project was intended to teach participants about the seed to table process and promote cross cultural acceptance. In addition food is donated to the food bank and local food programs, increasing access to fresh, nutrient dense food.

The garden is located on city land in Kerrisdale, Vancouver, at West 57th and East Blvd. Most recently a second site was established at Vancouver Montessori School for students, aged 5 – 13.

This multicultural project is a vision turning to reality where a diversity of plants, community members and programs have come together. The project has been sculpted by the community who has built it and continues to grow and expand as we look to innovative and financially viable solutions to sustain it.

Sustainable income is generated through sources such as plant and flower sales, market sales, responsible entrepreneurship programs, garden tours, food and gardening workshops, The World in a Garden products (greeting cards, t-shirts and seeds), community partnerships and our annual film screening.

About Diversity:

The World in a Garden exemplifies diversity from the wide range of heirloom vegetable varieties it grows to the biodiversity it attracts. It represents cultures of the world with culturally significant crops and invites in people of all backgrounds.

We believe that honoring diversity creates unity as we learn to honor and respect the complimentary ways in which to coexist.

About Food:

Food is simple. It’s a basic need we all share, a common thread. It’s a vehicle to bring us together and to connect cultures from around the globe. All this makes food fun! Shared in community and in celebration it nourishes our body as well as the soul…just ask our gardeners!

A Long Term Vision:

Tricia’s vision is not small and taking all that she has learned through the building of The World in a Garden in Vancouver she intends to move the project beyond the Canadian Borders. Next stop? Hopefully Guatemala, then Israel and then Africa! Each garden chapter can learn about each other through modern technological advances such as skype and with a social business model in place to help generate funds for start up costs of new projects.

What Happens at the Garden?

Since the beginning, countless hours of planning, construction, planting, seeding, volunteer work and love has been put into that piece of land. It has become a space where community thrives. The site consists of a children’s garden, a pizza garden, a cultural garden and a community garden. We hold potlucks in the garden, work days, tours, fundraisers, education programs, harvest days and more.

At the peak of it’s summer season, the garden is a spectacular site. With grains from around the world, crops revealing an array of colors, wild flowers, butterflies, bees and bright colored berries, it is quite easy to fall in love with! Throughout the summer and the year we have hundreds of “passer bys” who share their enthusiasm for the garden’s existence and development.