SDSS Eco Club cultivates urban farm community garden with local support

Grade 11 and 12 culinary class students pick vegetables at Stratford District Secondary School’s urban farm to cook back at the school.

In Stratford’s West Village, a once-empty strip of grass now overflows with produce. The Stratford District Secondary School (SDSS) Eco Club, with support from residents and City of Stratford staff, has turned the land into a shared community garden.

This year, the city and Communities in Bloom, an advisory committee for Stratford council, contributed funding for fresh topsoil and compost to help the West Village community garden thrive. 

The garden, located on the corner of Matilda and Smith Street, has made a visible difference, turning what was once poor soil into a fertile growing space for vegetables and herbs from the support received from the city and Communities in Bloom

With the city’s help and the SDSS Eco Club’s continued involvement, the garden has flourished, producing an abundance of food while promoting composting and sustainable practices among residents.

“This garden was started by the SDSS Eco Club two years ago. It was originally just grass, but we partnered with the West Village condo development and the city to turn it into something really special,” said Christine Ritsma, advisor to the club. “Now, it’s a shared space where anyone in the community, not just residents of the village, can come, pick vegetables, and be part of what we’ve created.

“We learned a lot from our first year – how to plan better, how to work with the soil and how to make the most of our composters. It’s really taken off since then and has been a great success. The culinary class at SDSS is harvesting tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, squash and all kinds of herbs to take back and use in their cooking.”

Timothy Elliott, representative of West Village, said food is something everyone needs, but cities have lost their connection to where it comes from. While many people understand that connection intellectually, he said there’s something entirely different about getting your hands in the soil pulling up carrots and picking beans yourself.

“I was involved with the Local Community Food Centre, which operates an urban farm behind the Dufferin Arena,” Elliott said. “They were looking for new locations for community farms, and since I live in the West Village condo development, I noticed this piece of land and reached out to the Local. That connection led to a partnership with the City of Stratford and Stratford District Secondary School and that’s really how this garden came to life.”

 He encourages people to help themselves to the garden’s produce, adding that the experience has been rewarding and a lot of fun for everyone involved.

“It’s field to table. Students are coming out here and seeing how it’s grown and what’s ripe and I think receive a better appreciation of where their food comes from,” said Ritsma. “The Eco Club comes out here, and we give it to food banks and other community members, nothing goes to waste.

“We try to promote the idea that students will start coming out here and getting their volunteer hours and working with people and building those experiences.” 

Ritsma, who served as former teacher and now a staff advisor with the SDSS’s Eco Club, said that although she’s now retired, she remains actively involved with the group. She explained that the idea to create a community garden began with the club and West Village, and their first year brought valuable lessons despite challenges with poor soil quality and heavy runoff.