Saturday July 20, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated July 22, 2024]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Growing natural food in urban spaces is what Urban Food Resilience Initiatives Society (UFRIS) is all about.
The non-profit group with a regional mission got started in January this year thanks to some insightful grant support from the City of Langford. UFRIS has been growing along with the spring and summer seasons to expand their activity in the food-growing and emergency preparedness communities.
What UFRIS does:
UFRIS is about advocating for food-growing capacity in all built-structures. That includes houses, townhomes and condos, office buildings, schools and more. The food-growing space could be in household yards, on balconies and patios, in community gardens in a strata space, or indoors with vertical farming technology.
The UFRIS group is connecting with municipalities about the development permit process (every permit should now include a food-growing requirement) and is exploring the setup of frozen food storage capacity within neighbourhoods and communities.
UFRIS is connecting with residents to learn what they’re growing and to provide information on food-growing success.
July 24 expert panel:
A panel of experts will address urban food growers and leaders in municipalities and communities on Wednesday July 24 from 1 to 3 pm.
The event is being held at the Esquimalt-Metchosin community constituency office at 104-1497 Admirals Road in View Royal. That’s in an open plaza with easy parking.
UFRIS executive lead Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Cert PR has assembled a panel of speakers who are local experts in the urban food growing sector.
Speakers:
The speakers will address various key issues around successful food-growing and storage in urban communities.
- Michaila Frawley – soil science specialist and soil supplier
- Brianna Stewart – managing director at FED Urban Farm
- Nathan Tenney – cafe operator who overhauled his entire urban backyard into a food-growing garden
- Steve Unger – lead, microgrid development with SHIFT solar energy
The panel presentation will be followed by Q&A and networking.
Attending on July 24:
Anyone with a serious interest in the urban food-growing sector — from a food supply or emergency management perspective — is welcome to attend. Free admission. Air conditioning. Refreshments.
RSVP is helpful but not necessary. Questions can be sent by email to info@urbanfooddevelopment.ca or call 250-588-7091.
===== RELATED:
- Emergency food storage for local emergency response (June 18, 2024)
- Urban Food Resilience group pitches new approaches for Langford (February 27, 2024)
- West shore community leaders take on urban food resilience (February 10, 2024)
- Urban food resilience requires municipal leadership (October 29, 2023)
- Urban food resilience directions in Langford (June 9, 2023)