Scarborough urban farm expanding to help more people grow their own food
Malvern Urban Farm currently supports 17 farmers in Toronto’s east end
An urban farm that helps address food insecurity in Toronto's east end is about to get bigger and allow more people to grow their own food within city limits
On Saturday, the Malvern Family Resource Centre announced its urban farm, located in the Finch hydro corridor in Scarborough, is gaining nearly half a hectare of land.
"We are playing a vital role in addressing food insecurity throughout Scarborough," said Claire Perttula, urban agriculture and food program manager for the Malvern Family Resource Centre.
"Expanding the farm will allow us to increase that impact, creating more farming businesses and growing more food locally."
The expansion represents a nearly 50 per cent growth for the urban farm. It was made possible with help from the City of Toronto and provincial government, which helped the resource centre secure the land.
The farm is currently about 0.8-hectares in size and supports 17 farmers who each maintain a plot just over 200 square metres in size.
"We have some who are really trying to make farming like a primary source of income. Others it's more supplementary to what they're already doing," Perttula said.
"But there's a real like sense of joy that the farmers have from being out here working in this space, contributing to food security in their community."
While some of the produce grown at the farm is sold at a weekly farmers market from June to October, part of the produce harvested at the farm is donated to local food banks, Perttula said.
The expansion was prompted by a petition that was sent to the resource centre and to Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie from community members calling for more access to the farm, Perttula said.
Perttula said the centre currently has a waitlist of about 15 people who want to use the urban farm. Once complete, the expanded farm will enable eight to 12 more people to establish crops there.
"With this expansion, we'll be able to get a lot of those community members off the wait list and into the farm," she said.
The resource centre is also opening the Scarborough Urban Farm Lab, which will offer training for people and organizations looking to establish their own urban farms just like the one in Scarborough.
'Does your soul good'
Sharon and Clovis Grant have been planting crops with their son, Isaiah, at the Malvern Urban Farm for nearly four years, since it was launched in 2021.
The family comes to the farm three times a week. It's a break from daily life that offers a way to connect with each other and their community.
"I think just does your soul good to be an environment like this," Sharon said.
It also gives Isaiah, who has autism, a chance to build life skills and feel included, Sharon said.
"Society needs to create more welcoming spaces where persons with disabilities can go, be included, do something valuable, meaningful and be appreciated in larger society," she said.
"So I really appreciate from the bottom of my heart how Malvern, how the farm, how all the participants are at the farm have really embraced our son and really included him, and how he just feels like he's home."
By expanding the farm, more people will get to experience the same benefits their family has seen, Sharon said.
"It just makes us better as people, so I think it's really exciting that other people are going to be able to experience what we've experienced."
The expansion is expected to be complete by mid-summer.
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With files from Naama Weingarten