Halifax wants to help neighbours grow vegetables and communities one seed at a time

The Halifax Regional Municipality opened applications for its Neighbourhood Seed Kits this week, with the goal of helping people make community connections while learning how to garden.

There are twenty kits to go around and five different kinds of seeds — basil, kale, Swiss chard, zucchini and beans.

It is part of HRM's larger neighbourhood place-making program, where neighbours are encouraged to work on projects together. The program is looking for people who want to create more connected communities. 

Kate Moon is a community developer with HRM who's working on the project. She told CBC in an interview that the program grew out of the pandemic and is now in its third year.

"During COVID, we all learned how valuable it is to have connections with the people around us in our neighbourhoods. That can create such a great sense of well-being," Moon said.[

Moon hopes the initiative will improve mental health and break down walls that create social isolation. 

"The more that people know each other, the stronger our communities are able to take care of ourselves and be sustainable," she said. 

Ellen Helmke is the owner and operator of Otis and Clementine's Books and Coffee in St. Margarets Bay, N.S. The used bookstore is a beloved neighbourhood gem that serves coffee and fosters cats and kittens.

Helmke and her neighbours participated in the program last year and plan to apply again this March. As a local business owner, she is always looking for ways to improve the community and saw the seed kits as an opportunity.

"St. Margarets Bay has always been full of a lot of forward-thinking individuals and groups working towards preserving the beautiful atmosphere that we have here: the environment, the animals, the plants, the coast," she said.

With the restrictions of the pandemic and an influx of newcomers to the area, Helmke said the initiative was a great way to create new bridges and re-establish old ones. 

"The neighborhood seed kit was the perfect tool at the perfect time to connect new residents to this community's attitudes towards sustainability," she said.

"I think it's a great community initiative in terms of not only educating people about how to grow your vegetables but that this is something that all your neighbours are doing or many neighbours are doing," she said. 

Moon says feedback about the program has been spectacular. She hopes that, like the last two years, the seed kits will help neighbours start talking. 

"We want to find reasons for people to be able to take that first step, which is sometimes just getting to know one anothers' names in a neighbourhood that can lead to something greater and bigger over time," she said. 

Interested applicants have until the end of the month to apply online. Moon said the seeds can be used for community gardens or private ones, as long as neighbours are using the program to involve more people.