THIS HISTORY OF THE WE SENIORS COMMUNITY GARDEN
We are excited to announce we are accepting applications for this year’s garden . If you are interested in having a garden spot or have any questions, please reach out to Heather Riberdy at 780 483 1209 or He*****@*******rs.ca
We thought this is the perfect time to tell the story behind this great initiative. We recently chatted with WE Seniors Event Manager, Heather Riberdy, who was the staff member who took the lead on the garden.
What Originally Inspired The Garden Initiative?
The idea for the community garden was inspired by a late summer 2024 conversation between myself and my son Ryan, who is a student at the U of A. As part of his program in Environmental & Conservation Sciences he was looking for a community project to work on for a certificate in sustainability. We knew that there was a large green space at the centre that was not being used and with rising food costs, we thought it might be a great spot for a community garden.
What Your Initial Vision Looked Like?
While building our plan, we wanted our main focuses to be on sustainability, senior support, accessibility and community connection. We wanted the garden to be a place where members of the centre and members of the Terra Losa Community could come together, stay active, grow healthy food and connect.
There Must Have Been Lots Of Planning Taking Place. Can You Give Us An Idea On What The Timeline Was From Idea To Launch.
We came up with the idea in late summer of 2024, and we started doing some research that fall to see what kind of financial support might be available. We also spent time visiting other community gardens in the city to see how they set things up and what some of their challenges were. We then took measurements of the space at our centre and looked at what resources we already had – tools, water sources, security etc. to figure out what we were going to need in the spring.
Through the winter of 2025, we worked on planning out the space, looking at options for raised garden beds and had our first meeting in January of 2025 to gauge the interest of the community. We were really happy when about 25 people came to the event. These were people who were either interested in renting a garden bed or were willing to volunteer for the project.
Spring soon arrived so we formed a Community Garden Committee and had our first meeting March 2025. Our committee members came with a wide range of experience including previous community garden builders, woodworking and construction, urban farms and event planning. The groundwork was laid to start applying for grants and approaching area businesses for potential donations. We also created a schedule for follow up meetings and our building and planting dates.
At the end of April 2025, we received notification that we had been approved for a $4500 grant for Sustainable Foods Edmonton through the City of Edmonton as well as a donation of about $300 in seeds from West Coast Seeds. One of our volunteers had also been busy at work securing in-kind donations and potential discounts from area businesses such as Canadian Tire, Home Depot, Golden Spike Lumber and Edmonton Landscape Centre.
To promote sustainability, we began collecting used cardboard and picking up bins of free compost from the City of Edmonton. Ryan also started on our seedlings to get a head start on planting.
By the end of May 2025, we were still waiting on receiving funds so with assurance from Sustainable Food Edmonton that they would be coming soon, our CEO gave the go ahead to start making purchases so we could get the garden going.
Lumber and soil were ordered and volunteers got to work putting together all our raised garden beds and hauling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of soil and compost down to the garden area.
At the end of June, we received the unfortunate news that the grant we were to receive had been cancelled by the city. Our CEO saw the value in the program and agreed that WSAC would cover the costs. The gardens were officially ready to be planted by June 10, 2025.
What Were The Major Steps, Decisions, Or Challenges In Getting The Garden Set Up In Its First Year?
Some of the major steps were compiling information and filling out grant applications, securing in kind donations and organizing volunteers
One of the biggest challenges was securing and receiving funding. It was hard to plan out the garden while we waited to receive our funding. Plus, planting was started late due to funding delays so we had a much shorter growing season. Moving materials from the front parking lot to the back of the centre was a lot of work too.
Who Were The Key Supporters Or Partners Early On, And How Did Those Relationships Form?
As I mentioned, the Terra Losa Community Association and ElderCare Edmonton provided letters of support for our grant application. West Coast Seeds provided seeds, West Edmonton Canadian Tire and West Edmonton Home Depot provided in-kind donation of plants and tools – approached by volunteer
Building the raised garden beds could have been a major expense but we were fortunate to receive discounts on lumber and soil/compost from Golden Spike Lumber and Edmonton Landscape Centre. Apache Seeds donated a bee house and provided us with discount coupons for garden members and the non profit organization Adaptabilities provided volunteer to assist with garden maintenance.
The First Season Experience – How Many People Participated And What Stood Out
We had a total of 18 volunteers and one WSAC staff member participate. What stood out for me was the physical work people were willing to do to get the garden set up . It was also wonderful to see how quickly people got their gardens planted and things started growing with the late start date.
One thing I was surprised to see was how interest in our Community Garden grew through the summer. We hosted a Garden BBQ and 70 people attended. Many of them inquired about rental plots in 2026.
What Were Some Of The Highlights
It was wonderful to see the gardens produce several harvests throughout the summer and at least once a week there were fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, zucchini, beans or apples for members to take home. The rental plots gave people in the community the ability to grow their own food, stay active and connect with their neighbours.
Volunteering is an important initiative for our centre and as the Volunteer Manager, I was really happy to see the garden open up volunteer opportunities for our members as well as individuals from Adaptabilities. This was a fantastic way for them to stay active and give back to the community. I think we also took an unused space at our centre and turned it into something special.
Any Personal Insights You Would Like To Share
It would be a definite pride for my family who volunteered their time especially my son Ryan for all of the planning, research and physical labour involved. I am also really proud of our volunteers for taking on the project and making it thrive. Things always look easier on paper and you never know what kind of roadblocks you’re going to run into but when you have challenges you come up with solutions, it is really gratifying.
What Do You Hope This Initiative Will Grow Into Over The Next Few Years?
I hope that we will have a longer growing season this spring so we hopefully will have a bigger harvest that we can share with our community. I am also looking for ways to involve outside youth groups in the garden as well as learning opportunities around apartment gardening, food preservation and seed harvesting.