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Building Roots

in the Ashbridge Estate

Building Roots exists to bring healthy food to all neighbourhoods.


We work with builders and community partners to create urban agriculture,
kitchens, markets, retail and food hubs in housing developments and
renewals.
We establish successful and lasting food projects that engage communities
and bring people together.
Building Roots envisions all neighbourhoods having places to grow, cook,
share and buy healthy food.

Building Roots
Launched successful discussion on food and development in 2013, with Daniels
Corporation, Heart & Stroke Foundation
Food expert consulting team has established food projects with Lanterra
Developments, ERA Architects, Toronto Community Housing, City of Toronto
Founded out of Food Forward, five year old Toronto food non-profit organizing on
new solutions for food access, street food, urban ag
Centre for Social Innovation 2015 City Builder, Agents of Change
Proud to be working on the #11WellesleyMarket with such a great organization!
- Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam

Team
Lisa Kates and Darcy Higgins, Partners
Tare Egbedi, Urban agriculture and education consultant
Marcela Crowe Greenhouse and environmental management consultant
Thompson Nguyen, Designer and heritage consultant
Jen Broadbent, Project manager
Advisors:
Michael McLelland, Partner, ERA
Bronwyn Underhill, Director, Parkdale Community Health Centre
Partners include:
Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, Heart & Stroke Foundation, Native Womens Resource
Centre, Friends of Allan Gardens, TD Bank, Bay Cloverhill Residents Association, Ryerson
University, caterToronto, Centre for Social Innovation, Whole Foods

Ashbridge Estate
The Ashbridge Estate is a beautiful historical property kept by the Ontario Heritage Trust. The
grounds are well valued by neighbours and visitors/shoppers in Leslieville as a place to enjoy, relax
and walk. The space has been used informally for walks and community/school groups, with recent
events drawing greater interest and with very favourable outcomes by all stakeholders.
It has a great potential to balance uses that include residents in innovative programming that is
community-led and in partnership with local groups and schools. Projects and programming on site
would restore natural and cultural heritage that replicates historical uses of the site, which would
have included agriculture, fruit orchards and vegetable gardens, as well as pre-European
settlement food and medicine growing.
Our proposal will make use of nearly all possible site uses suggested by the OHT, including arts
and culture, educational, heritage and festivals, through a theme of good food, which is the best
ingredient in bringing people together.

Engaging community through food


Building Roots proposes to lead a kind of community engagement that will bring successful
partnerships to create value for the Ontario Heritage Trust along with Leslieville residents and visitors.
The estate could benefit greatly by this kind of animation. Our work will support meeting the following
goals:

Develop community interest, stewardship and volunteering, and event opportunities;

Create new, more formalized partners and friends of the estate including schools, local groups
and small businesses;
Create beneficial social and educational programming;
Restore food-based cultural heritage to the Ashbridge Estate and provide community education
on this topic;
Significantly increase awareness of the Ontario Heritage Trust in the community.

Community vegetable garden would be great for a section of the grounds, in keeping with the
fact that the house would originally have had such a garden
-

Ontario Heritage Trust survey commenter

Engaging community through food


This project also supports current objectives of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, as
outlined by the Premier, and may gain further support from government:
Supporting Community Partnerships and Engagement
Continuing to build partnerships and engage communities across the province, including Aboriginal
communities. You will continue to support the conservation of built heritage and archaeological
resources, strong public libraries, a vibrant arts sector, sport, para-sport and recreation, Aboriginal
community recreation, and economic opportunities including Aboriginal tourism (Ontario.ca)

Engaging through food: Gardens


Building Roots will facilitate the most appropriate area partners to grow and maintain community
gardens at Ashbridge Estate.
The process of establishing herb, vegetable and pollinator gardens will involve research, outreach,
project development, programming, implementation and facilitation with ongoing maintenance,
harvesting and use of herbs and vegetables (with community use of food grown).
We would like to start with the quadrant garden currently unused, followed by the grassy area on the
west side near Queen Street. They may be programmed differently, perhaps the first as a more publicfacing garden, and the west-side garden with a focus on one or two community and school partners.
The first garden should be planted mid-summer, with the second set of beds being prepared this fall.
The gardens could incorporate vegetables and herbs previously grown at the site, as well as First
Nations herbs and crops, with educational interpretation. Awareness of pre-European settlement
appears from survey results to be an important potential growth area.

Engaging through food: Events


Building Roots will create on-site programming that engages the community in some type of monthly
activity that connects food with heritage, ecology and recreation.
We will take advantage of Building Roots, Ontario Heritage Trust and other experts to facilitate events
that include workshops, festivals, demonstrations and tours that provide educational value. Topics may
include uses of traditional herbs, heritage gardening, seed saving, edible plants in nature and other
childrens activities or simple social events like neighbourhood picnics or afternoon tea.
Building Roots will be the primary manager of events planned on site, including publicity and logistics,
with support from OHT. During winter, we will work with nearby partners to plan programming indoors
and perhaps an outdoor event. We can also support coordination of others to program the space.

There should be a public event at least once a month from spring to fall at this location, this
location is not used enough and if public taxes are paying for it then it should be used in the
public benefit.
-

Ontario Heritage Trust survey commenter

Engaging through food: Events


Included in programming, we propose the organization of a Fall Harvest festival for the community.
The event will include entertainment, food vendors, and urban agriculture/harvest education, and work
with OHT to educate the public about Ashbridge Estate and its history.
We will also the use the opportunity to explore past and future uses of the site (orchards, apple cider,
fresh apple pies!) and gain interest from possible volunteers to do urban agriculture and adopt more
supportive gardening and horticulture on the grounds.

Urban Harvest Festival in Allan Gardens, Fall 2014, by Building roots and partners

Engaging through food: Longer-term


Building Roots sees incredible potential for Ashbridge Estate to be a model site in animated heritage
space that engages and creates community. By creating new community agricultural infrastructure, we
can perform cultural heritage restoration, and create more active elements on the estate as it was
previously used.
Many survey commenters desired a museum on site, and while that may not be feasible, interpretive
elements could make use of the grounds - not a sitting museum building, but a dynamic location that
actively involves people of different ages in its uses and education of history, food and more.

Engaging through food: Longer-term


We wish to facilitate the transformation of the greenhouse into an exciting space for community use.
Our team which includes both heritage building and greenhouse developers can create a vision,
assessment and plan to take to funders, and create partnerships and programming to use this space
long-term. It is too valuable an asset, and this was noted by many commenters who would like to see it
used for food growing and community benefit.
Building Roots would also like to create a community orchard with heritage apple trees on site. A
community orchard, rather than a commercial one, is used and stewarded by the neighbourhood,
perhaps families or school classes who may adopt the care of trees. This has been successful in
Toronto including Ben Nobleman Park, Lotherton and Malvern/Rouge Valley. The project would include
educational workshops and facilitation of site selection, planting and maintenance.

Engaging through food: Partners


Building Roots will take advantage of diverse existing partnerships, while finding and creating new ones
to accomplish more together at Ashbridge Estate. We will work with OHT to confirm and desired
partners in the community, make connections and gain approvals.
Potential partners could include: Applegrove Community Complex, area schools, nearby seniors
residences, clubs and co-operative housing, FlightCafe, Leslieville Farmers Market, Councillor MaryMargaret McMahon, Toronto Seed Library, Leslieville Historical Society, ERA Architects, Live Green
Toronto, Orchard People, caterToronto, George Brown College, Canadian Women in Food, Transition
Toronto.

Engaging through food: Timeline


Timeline

Deliverable

Expenses

Fees

Summer-Fall
(July 15-November 15)

- Research/develop and implement of two


community gardens
- Develop community partners and volunteers
and associated programming
- Host Fall Harvest Festival

- Program management $11,200


- Festival promotion
$4,000
and supplies, garden
bed prep, tools, soils,
plants

Winter
(November 15-March 15)

- Spring garden planning, urban agriculture


education
- Monthly event/workshop open to community

- Program management $11,200


- Educational materials $1000
and workshop supplies

Spring-Summer
(March 1-July 15)

- Support partners and volunteers in


developing/maintaining spring gardens with
ongoing sustainability
- Monthly event/workshop open to community,
including partner-led events for sustainability

- Program management $11,200


- Garden soils and
$1,000
plants

Option for phase 2


Summer-Fall
(July 15-November 15)

- Planning and planting of community orchard


- Create vision and plan for greenhouse,
develop programming, community consultation

- Program management $11,200


- Trees, supplies
$3,000
workshop

Program management paid @ $2,800/month. Expect to bring in-kind value from project partners and volunteers of $5-8,000

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