Gimli residents who don’t know a thing about growing vegetables or flowers may be able to tap into the expertise of those with green thumbs after a cultivation exchange gets off the ground.
Brittany Isfeld said she wants to harness the food and flower-growing knowledge held by the community’s older generations who might be willing to share it with the younger generation, and she’s received lots of positive feedback from the community after posting her idea on Facebook last week.
Isfeld used to work in tourism and economic development for the municipality and is known for her seamless ability to generate ideas, which have included a winter festival (which has now blossomed into the Gimli Ice Festival) and bringing in a circus to perform on Gimli Beach.
“I love my town and I like to share ideas with people,” said Isfeld. “I believe that by uniting generations through the language of gardening we can cultivate not just plants, but also bonds that will stand the test of time.”
She said the basic idea is to promote social cohesion between older people who know how to grow food and younger people who don’t but who might have another skill they can share in exchange for gardening knowledge. That can include things youth are good at such as computer skills.
“Gardening is something that’s really magical for a lot of people because it keeps their minds occupied. This partnership could keep this tradition alive. We have a community with lots of retirees, some of them living in condo complexes with no green space. We also have a generation of people who grew up on farms and know how to grow food,” said Isfeld. “Maybe someone with gardening expertise would be willing to come over to my place and tell me where and how to plant vegetables. In exchange, I can show them how to use Facebook – something I’m good at – so they can find their grandkid’s photos.”
In addition to facilitating a knowledge exchange between people from different generations, Isfeld said she wants to promote food security through gardening as the continuing high cost of nutritious food such as fruits and vegetables in grocery stores is putting immense pressure on families and single moms like her.
“As a single mom, I know it’s much cheaper and easier to feed my kid all that crap [i.e., ultra processed food] on the shelves than it is to buy something nutritious and is really expensive. It’s depressing, really. Some of the retired generation could also be living on a budget and could benefit from not only helping someone grow food, but also sharing it if they can come to an agreement on that,” she said. “This initiative could even become a trading post where one person grows, say, corn and someone else grows carrots then we can exchange that food amongst ourselves. Or we could even donate vegetables to our local food bank.”
She’s had hundreds of “likes” and comments on her post, with some people sharing their personal stories about how a garden would benefit them, she said. A person who identified as an amputee, for instance, said she wants a flower bed beside her window, but can’t do the work. A single mom said she’d love to have someone show her how to grow vegetables.
After receiving positive feedback, Isfeld said she’s going to reach out to the local garden club and to people who responded to her Facebook post so that she can cobble together ideas as to how to get the initiative off the ground and start “matching” those with gardening expertise with those who need a little mentorship.
“I think other people’s input can help direct this idea to grow community and foster connections. I need other organizations to be a part of this. We could all benefit from having our garden club members sharing their expertise. They work so hard year after year beautifying our community [planting flowers around town]. Maybe we could get some younger people interested in being an extra pair of hands during the club’s annual planting and that’s how they can learn to grow flowers,” said Isfeld. “Once I hammer out who wants to be involved, I can get this exchange organized. I think there are enough people in our community with an interest in being a part of this. With the amount of comments I’ve seen – and I know comments don’t always translate into boots on the ground – I think this could turn out to be a really positive thing for our community.”
For more information on the gardening exchange, email Isfeld: socialbutterflyzmarketing@gmail.com or contact her through her Facebook page where she is known as Brittany Jade.
